People who use maps usually aren’t the people who commissioned them. This is why you get such crap maps from rental car companies.
“And here is your map.”
“Er… it doesn’t unfold.”
“No, it’s just one sheet… much easier.”
“But we are in California.”
“That’s why it’s legal size….”
Maps can be bad for many reasons: too much detail (Not a risk in the car rental business), not enough detail, wrong emphasis (topographic info: critical for cyclists, irrelevant for motorists), skewedness (a word I made up…. when the cartographer fills in blank spaces with towns that wouldn’t see the light of day in the more populated parts of the map).
And now, Cartastrophe, a blog dedicated to poor cartography, is here to help teach us why some maps are useless and some are outright bad. Ah, yes.
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I've always liked maps. I got that from my Dad. I would pour over them for hours.