The dawn of the smartphone age had us cheering for GPS chips and easy, on-the-go navigation. No longer were we beholden to sites like MapQuest (which still exists as a mobile app, by the way) and printing out directions. Instead, we could open up our maps app, input a destination, and receive live, turn-by-turn directions.
It was like having a pocket-sized Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, or Ferdinand Magellan as your permanent wingman. It was surely also a death blow to paper maps — but it didn’t stop there.