Which atlas company was better?

Started by CapeCodder, October 17, 2018, 10:12:15 PM

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CapeCodder

I've been doing searches on Amazon for old road atlases. One name consistently pops up: Gousha. I have the Gousha New England Road Atlas, which promises a "pilgrims progress" of the New England States. The other, of course, is Rand McNally. Both were HQ'ed in Chicago. I wonder why one survived and the other foundered? Gousha had this different color scheme for roads. Interstate symbols were black with white numbers. The highways were a pale red color. Turnpikes, of course, green; not that electric green RM uses, but a dark green.

I like Gousha. RM comes in a close second with me. AAA a distant third.


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Brandon

Quote from: CapeCodder on October 17, 2018, 10:12:15 PM
I've been doing searches on Amazon for old road atlases. One name consistently pops up: Gousha. I have the Gousha New England Road Atlas, which promises a "pilgrims progress" of the New England States. The other, of course, is Rand McNally. Both were HQ'ed in Chicago. I wonder why one survived and the other foundered? Gousha had this different color scheme for roads. Interstate symbols were black with white numbers. The highways were a pale red color. Turnpikes, of course, green; not that electric green RM uses, but a dark green.

I like Gousha. RM comes in a close second with me. AAA a distant third.

Gousha actually moved west to California in 1947, and was purchased by RMcN in 1996.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gousha
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

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froggie

Anyone remember the "American Map" series from the past 2 decades (also used by National Geographic at one point)?  I've liked their style of cartography much better than Rand McNally.

Here's an example of their cartography.

nexus73

Gousha's style was what I preferred.  I have their last atlas, the one from 1996. 

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

vdeane

My favorites are MapWorks and Jimapco.  I also liked MapArt; alas, they're pretty much defunct.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

webny99

Quote from: vdeane on October 18, 2018, 12:40:57 PM
My favorites are MapWorks and Jimapco.

My Jimapco Finger Lakes Street Atlas is riddled with inaccuracies, many of which I've attempted to fix with white-out and fine point markers. The Thruway's Exit 46 was probably the biggest "construction" project in this regard. This atlas is also close to ten years old - between fixing technical errors and drawing in new neighborhoods I've made a personal contribution to over half of the pages!  :-D


Quote from: froggie on October 18, 2018, 12:14:52 PM
Anyone remember the "American Map" series from the past 2 decades (also used by National Geographic at one point)?  I've liked their style of cartography much better than Rand McNally.
Here's an example of their cartography.

Yes!! I have never understood the love for Rand McNally. My past two atlases have been National Geographic, and the coloration and overall design is a hundred times better; not even comparable IMO. Every time I see a Rand McNally I'm shocked at how faded and antiquated it looks.

briantroutman

Quote from: froggie on October 18, 2018, 12:14:52 PM
Anyone remember the "American Map" series from the past 2 decades (also used by National Geographic at one point)?  I've liked their style of cartography much better than Rand McNally.

If I recall correctly, "American Map"  was one of several American imprints of ADC, which in turn was a division of Langenscheidt, a German publishing company. I see that Langenscheidt closed its U.S. division back in 2010. I had a few ADC maps and liked them well enough.

Having worked at a few AAA clubs over the years and having highlighted countless maps (typically upside-down), I'm partial to AAA's older maps. Around the early 2000s, though, new editions of maps started appearing with a callout on the front proclaiming "New digital cartography!" . But in my opinion, these new maps were a major downgrade in terms of look and feel. But even as many state series maps were transitioned over to the new look, the regional and U.S. map continued to be updated in the older style.

A Rand McNally atlas was my first, so for what it's worth, I've always looked at their maps as being kind of a standard–not necessarily the best, but a solid example of decent cartography.

Honestly, one of may favorite map styles is what's used for PennDOT's Official Transportation Map. I think it provides an excellent level of detail for a state map, and I like the colors, the iconography, etc. I don't know if this is an entirely homegrown map or using a third-party company's cartography.

vdeane

Quote from: webny99 on October 18, 2018, 12:54:47 PM
Quote from: vdeane on October 18, 2018, 12:40:57 PM
My favorites are MapWorks and Jimapco.

My Jimapco Finger Lakes Street Atlas is riddled with inaccuracies, many of which I've attempted to fix with white-out and fine point markers. The Thruway's Exit 46 was probably the biggest "construction" project in this regard. This atlas is also close to ten years old - between fixing technical errors and drawing in new neighborhoods I've made a personal contribution to over half of the pages!  :-D
I should probably clarify that I'm referring to their state level atlases (so the NY and New England ones) and fold-out maps; I don't understand why their regional atlases use a bluish gray monochrome.  The fold-out maps used to be in monochrome as well, so there's hope, at least.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

02 Park Ave

I preferred the "American Maps" also.  They provided a great deal of information with great clarity.

They used to be General Drafting of Convent Station NJ and provided all of the foldout maps available at ESSO and ENCO stations then.
C-o-H

PHLBOS

For road maps & North American atlases; my personal favorite was the pre-1980 Rand McNally graphics.

For street atlases; my favorites were ADC (from about a decade ago) and Arrow (for New England locations).
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swhuck

Clinched: I-2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 35, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 55, 59, 65, 66, 68, 70, 71, 72, 76 (both), 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 (W), 85, 86 (W), 88 (W), 93, 94, 96, 97
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CapeCodder

Quote from: PHLBOS on October 18, 2018, 03:35:40 PM
For road maps & North American atlases; my personal favorite was the pre-1980 Rand McNally graphics.

For street atlases; my favorites were ADC (from about a decade ago) and Arrow (for New England locations).

I loved Arrow. St. Louis has Wunnenbergs. I get one every Christmas.

DTComposer

I have always preferred Gousha to Rand McNally - especially the RMcN post-1980 (which feels loose and sloppy). In modern atlases I much prefer American Map, which has the feel of what RMcN could have been had their standards been higher.

I thought the pre-1980 RMcN maps were certainly better than post-1980, but the all-caps font (Copperplate, I think?) they used for titling and larger cities always felt a little harsh, and the cartography was still a bit loosey-goosey.

More locally, I always thought the CSAA (Northern California/Nevada Auto Club) cartography and design was quite a bit superior to the ACSC (Southern California) version.

webny99

Quote from: vdeane on October 18, 2018, 01:35:49 PM
Quote from: webny99 on October 18, 2018, 12:54:47 PM
Quote from: vdeane on October 18, 2018, 12:40:57 PM
My favorites are MapWorks and Jimapco.

My Jimapco Finger Lakes Street Atlas is riddled with inaccuracies, many of which I've attempted to fix with white-out and fine point markers. The Thruway's Exit 46 was probably the biggest "construction" project in this regard. This atlas is also close to ten years old - between fixing technical errors and drawing in new neighborhoods I've made a personal contribution to over half of the pages!  :-D
I should probably clarify that I'm referring to their state level atlases (so the NY and New England ones) and fold-out maps; I don't understand why their regional atlases use a bluish gray monochrome.  The fold-out maps used to be in monochrome as well, so there's hope, at least.

Yeah, that makes more sense; I'm not a huge fan of the color scheme either. I do like the street-level detail in rural areas, which has come in handy on leaf-peeping trips, among other times. I just wish they did better with freeway interchanges, but overall they aren't bad atlases.

jon daly

When it comes to atlases, I like the Rand McNallys that divide the US into regions as a complement to some of my others that have pages for the states in alphabetical order.

jp the roadgeek

Always used Rand NcNally.  I still see the Jimapco maps near the checkout area of a local supermarket.  One thing I like about them is the use of authentic state route shields.
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roadman

Always partial to Rand McNally (just picked up a new 2018 for short money on eBay), but I carried a Michelen atlas in my car for a few years that was pretty decent.
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oldparoadgeek

I am not a big fan of most Michelen  Atlases or the 20 miles to the inch ones covering Most of the US.  I wish they had used the scale of their New
England  and Mid-Atlantic maps for the whole country. Having said that I think their latest editions  are not quite as good but still decent.

cjk374

DeLorme's was my favorite. The showed every single county road and broke down each part of the state very well.
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SSR_317

Quote from: cjk374 on October 19, 2018, 11:01:55 PM
DeLorme's was my favorite. The showed every single county road and broke down each part of the state very well.
DeLorme is the absolute best for non-Interstate highway details. For many Western states, Benchmark had some great state-level atlases as well. Rand McNally is adequate for the non-Road Geek crowd.

Roadrunner75

Quote from: briantroutman on October 18, 2018, 01:27:44 PM
Honestly, one of may favorite map styles is what's used for PennDOT's Official Transportation Map. I think it provides an excellent level of detail for a state map, and I like the colors, the iconography, etc. I don't know if this is an entirely homegrown map or using a third-party company's cartography.
Same here.  That's probably my favorite map too.

Beltway

I really liked the Gousha format, but one Rand McNally fan (in my real life back before internet days in the 80s and 90s) always claimed that Rand McNally was generally a lot more accurate.
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sparker

Always liked the old Gousha methods of delineating road surfaces, city/town populations, county seats, and interim mileage.  But I always found McNally to be more prompt with regards to showing new facilities and alignments.  Back in the '60's, when I acquired one of each per year, I used Gousha for detail and navigation and McNally for developmental information (they depicted future Interstate routes early on, whereas Gousha only showed the ones deployed in the field).

jon daly

How did the two companies compare when it came to listing historical sites, state and national parks, and other sites of interest? That's one of the main things I look for on maps in addition to roads. Most of my collection is state level maps but I know that Rand McNally had separate maps for national parks in an atlas I have from the 1960s.



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