Travel Tip: Smapping

MikeachimThe EverydayLeave a Comment

Whenever I go anywhere new, I keep an eye out for information boards, so I can smap them.

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Smapping is the process of taking a digital photograph of a map that you won’t have access to later, except if you take a snap of it.

My first smap was of the Durham train station ‘You Are Here’ glass-encased map.

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Smapping also works nicely with maps and guides that other people want to take away and read.

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At first sight, squinting at a tiny digital camera screen might seem a frustrating and fruitless exercise – until you remember that you can zoom in, making the map detail many times larger than real life if need be.

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(Of course, if you don’t speak the language it’s in, more detail might not help you too much).

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Smapping also works for taking a record of something you want to read later.

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The main disadvantage is that your smap runs on batteries. So take plenty of them.

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The final reward of being a compulsive smapper is that your photographic record is stuffed full of automatically-gathered facts and figures to work into your diary write-up or post-holiday bragging. All without using a scrap of paper.

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(All maps property of map illustrators/sponsors, as displayed).