What Kind of Maps Do You Use?

thom1842

Well-Known Member
Up here in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area we have these King's Companion map books that are fantastic. They split the entire metro area into pages that are about 5 miles by 3 miles, and list basically every street with an index in the back telling you where a street is. As a cover driver I get the $24.95 out of it.

Here is a picture: The real life savers are the zip codes, address numbers ("6000" in this case so an address of 6020 would be close by here), on/off ramps to freeways, and the grid to locate stuff on a page (There are letters along the top to go with the numbers on the side).
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
We use a map book made by Aero Survey down here. They are expensive at about $65, but are the most up to date. They will have all the new streets, unlike most of the ones in the stores that will be out dated by about five years. These are very detailed, they will often have streets in them before they are built.
 

JustTired

free at last.......
Maps...............we don't need no stinking maps............

Hey....doesn't EDD tell you where to go next? Your next stop should be real close to your last stop!! LMAO
 
Maps...............we don't need no stinking maps............

Hey....doesn't EDD tell you where to go next? Your next stop should be real close to your last stop!! LMAO

LOL Yeah EDD, the great savior. Up here the best maps are the ones the drivers make by hand with a pen and paper. Yep, we're that far north! Old school works best in the woods.
 

BURMDPsupe

Well-Known Member
In the D.C. Metro area, there is a company ADC (Alexandria Drafting Company) that produces great maps for about $12.00 or so. This company has been around for a while and most of our cover drivers won't be caught without one of the ADC maps.

M-
 

Babagounj

Strength through joy
In metro Boston area I always tell the air drivers to use not only a street map but most importantly a street directory guide ( I call it my bible ). No matter how up to date your map is there are always errors and impossible to located on the map some small streets. Knowing at which house numbers to find the start of one of those impossible streets can be a blessing.
 

disneyworld

Well-Known Member
Up here in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area we have these King's Companion map books that are fantastic. They split the entire metro area into pages that are about 5 miles by 3 miles, and list basically every street with an index in the back telling you where a street is. As a cover driver I get the $24.95 out of it.

Here is a picture: The real life savers are the zip codes, address numbers ("6000" in this case so an address of 6020 would be close by here), on/off ramps to freeways, and the grid to locate stuff on a page (There are letters along the top to go with the numbers on the side).
Pages that are 5 miles by 3 miles? Wow, those must be a pain to fold back up.
 

edd_tv

Cardboard picker upper
wasnt it on mythbusters not too long ago that you can only fold it 8 times anyway. where would you keep it ? lol


we are old school enough to have note cards and hand drawn maps by the older drivers. are biggest "city" is only 31 streets long by about 11 cross streets, so once you get in the right direction you are good.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
As far as I'm concerned, it is UPS's responsibility to provide me with a map of whatever area they want me to deliver. We have what is called a "Thomas Guide" map book around here. If I need a map I just borrow one from one of the sups.
 

bad company

semi-pro
Also popular in the Atlanta area is Rand McNally's Street Guide which come in an easy to use 8x11 spiral notebook design. It is updated yearly and contains block numbers. They are about a quarter of the cost of Aero Survey books which Scratch mentioned. And since our center is pretty much focused on one geographic area, I can buy a more detailed edition like this one pictured below for South Atlanta.

0528858718.jpg
 

Forty6and2

I'm Broken
Maps...............we don't need no stinking maps............

Hey....doesn't EDD tell you where to go next? Your next stop should be real close to your last stop!! LMAO

yeah...your next stop SHOULD be close to your last stop. Unless youre on a junk/crap/split route.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
"As far as I'm concerned, it is UPS's responsibility to provide me with a map of whatever area they want me to deliver. We have what is called a "Thomas Guide" map book around here. If I need a map I just borrow one from one of the sups. "

That may be all well and good but I know most of the casuals (that is what we call cover drivers in our center) have their own map books and use them to add their own notes or whatever else they would like to make their day on that run that much easier. I think that the $10 or $20 invested pays huge dividends when you are in the middle of nowhere and can't remember where a certain road is or perhaps what street is closest to the 5600 section of Oak St. Relying on your center team to have the proper map and that it is up to date is something that I would rather not bet on. Besides, you can deduct the cost of the map as a non-reimbursed job expense on your taxes.

Of course, with PAS/EDD we no longer need maps, right?
 

feeder53

ADKtrails
In the Albany New York area, I use the Jimapco maps when needed. I have been doing it for many years and I have a good memory of the area. For a while when I had the same route, I knew who some of the residents were. At UPS feeders, I have a GPS that is programed for all the terminals I go to until I memorize them. UPS gave me hand drawn maps to some of them.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
One of the routes I used to Cover had a Map drawn on the aluminum
above the driver with a sharpie... worked great Until they retired the truck...
Also had all the gate codes, written on the driver side alum above the door.

Edit: Otherwise the on car had a book of tattered old photocopied maps..
practically usless, thankfully they just rotated me around 6-8 routes
that I knew very well.
 
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