Why don't North American road atlases include Cuba?

[bandit957]

How come the road atlases that cover most of North America and are marketed to U.S. customers don't cover Cuba? They include Puerto Rico, which is much further from the U.S. mainland than Cuba is. So why not Cuba?

[kphoger]

Puerto Rico is part of the USA. Do said road atlases cover any other Caribbean nations, say ones that Americans have actually been able to legally travel to? You know, like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, et al.

[SectorZ]

How come the road atlases that cover most of North America and are marketed to U.S. customers don't cover Cuba? They include Puerto Rico, which is much further from the U.S. mainland than Cuba is. So why not Cuba?

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

[kphoger]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

And how many of those did not drive at all during their stay? A lot.

[Brandon]

How come the road atlases that cover most of North America and are marketed to U.S. customers don't cover Cuba? They include Puerto Rico, which is much further from the U.S. mainland than Cuba is. So why not Cuba?

Puerto Rico is a part (territory, has vote a few times on becoming a state) of the US.  Cuba hasn't been since 1902.  As for Mexico, one can drive there.  Cuba, not so easy.

[english si]

Cuba also has the issue of the embargo, meaning US-based companies had issues.

How often do North American road atlases include Jamaica, Hispanola and the Lesser Antilles?

[Scott5114]

Due to the embargo, it was illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba without a license up until 2014. You still have to have a license unless the purpose of your visit falls into certain categories, like visiting relatives, participating in humanitarian aid, etc. Simple tourism isn't one of those categories.

[tdindy88]

The AAA road atlas does feature the U.S. Virgin Islands along with their Puerto Rico coverage (complete with highways feature interstate shields.) But those are American territories and Cuba isn't, not anymore anyway.

[AlexandriaVA]

My guess is that it mostly is due to the low market share of potential tourists to Cuba who would need a road map. It is cheap, by my understanding, to hire a driver in Cuba, plus with spotty fuel situations and undermaintained roads, I doubt your garden-variety American would even want to bother.

[bandit957]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

Nobody but they sure get driven a lot more by Americans and include parts of the Interstate system much like Puerto Rico.  Don't underestimate how much impact the old Cold War days still has on a lot of things.  I don't see anyone calling for maps of North Korea and Siberia much either.

[skluth]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

I rented a car when I vacationed in Hawaii. It was 35 years ago. But I could rip out the page and pack the map.

[kphoger]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

I'm still not sure if you're being serious or not...

Last I checked, there are a lot of car-owning Americans living in Hawaii who might at some point need to know how to get around.

[bzakharin]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

That reminds me of this Kia commercial from 1998. I loved it back then. Found it just recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBTjoieqzDQ
Not that I drive a Kia or anything, but they had a lot of quirky commercials during their first few years in the US

[Katavia]

How come the road atlases that cover most of North America and are marketed to U.S. customers don't cover Cuba? They include Puerto Rico, which is much further from the U.S. mainland than Cuba is. So why not Cuba?

Because 1950s.

[vdeane]

The AAA road atlas does feature the U.S. Virgin Islands along with their Puerto Rico coverage (complete with highways feature interstate shields.) But those are American territories and Cuba isn't, not anymore anyway.

I have the 2015 AAA atlas.  No US Virgin Islands and no interstate shields in either territory.

[GCrites]

For most people, I doubt the inclusion of Cuba would affect their decision whether to purchase the atlas. It would add extra expense to the atlas though and would require communication with the Cuban government regarding updates.

[english si]

no interstate shields in either territory.

PR is the only territory with interstates. And if there's no VI, what's the other one you are referring to here? Guam?

How often do North American road atlases include Jamaica, Hispanola and the Lesser Antilles?

I forgot to add to this, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama

They say North America (or do they? my RMcN one just has "U.S. | CANADA | MEXICO") but they mean USA and Canada, with an overview map of Mexico (like how "Great Britain and Ireland" ones typically used to have one double page for Ireland at a similar scale to the smaller scale overview pages for Britain).

Last I checked, there are a lot of car-owning Americans living in Hawaii who might at some point need to know how to get around.

And would surely do better with a state road atlas than one that gives the islands maybe a page (in the '07 RMcN I have in front of me, it gets half a page - sharing with Atlanta)?

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Heck, the 2011 Michelin North America road atlas I have (it doesn't specify year so I searched the copyright) devotes two pages to Hawaii! That is pupule (Hawaiian for 'crazy') considering how many people would bring their cars there.

[kphoger]

As mentioned, you don't need to bring your car to Hawaii in order to drive there.  Plenty of rental car agencies.

[US 41]

If I owned a road atlas company I would leave Hawaii and Puerto Rico out of the atlas. It's stupid to even include them in my opinion. I'd include maps of Canada and Mexico since you can directly drive to those places from the continental US. If you live or are going to be visiting either Hawaii or Puerto Rico it makes more sense just to buy a map once you get there.

[leroys73]

Probably because 1 out of every 100,000 buyers of said road atlases are going to be driving within Cuba on a yearly basis?

Then why do the road atlases have Hawaii? Who in their right mind drives to Hawaii?

Hawaii is a state so why not have it in the atlas.  Many people fly there and rent a car.  I have rented a car on three different islands.  I planned my driving before leaving the Republic of Texas. Then I took the atlas with me.

I think a major reason for not having Cuba in the Atlas has already been stated clearly, travel has been restricted since I was a kid. Even if you went to Cuba during all those years I doubt you would be able to have the freedom of driving a car by yourself let alone select your route.   

[kphoger]

I'm still not 100% convinced this thread wasn't started in jest.

[vdeane]

no interstate shields in either territory.

PR is the only territory with interstates. And if there's no VI, what's the other one you are referring to here? Guam?

I was referring to tdindy88's assertion that there interstate shields in the PR and VI inserts (mine doesn't even have a VI insert!) in the AAA atlas.  Given that that atlas uses a yellow and red version of the interstate shield for Quebec's autoroutes, a lack of interstates doesn't necessarily mean the shields aren't there (plus PR's interstates are unsigned anyways).

[jeffandnicole]

If I owned a road atlas company I would leave Hawaii and Puerto Rico out of the atlas. It's stupid to even include them in my opinion. I'd include maps of Canada and Mexico since you can directly drive to those places from the continental US. If you live or are going to be visiting either Hawaii or Puerto Rico it makes more sense just to buy a map once you get there.

Because no one ever plans their driving in advance?