17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Consistently Good Atlas, May 29, 2009
This review is from: Rand McNally 2010 the Road Atlas: United States / Canada / Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico) (Paperback)
Rand McNally's atlas is always good. I have collected the atlas for years, and was kind of dissappointed with the lack of updates in the 2010 version. The more I got to thinking about it, however, I realized it wasn't Rand McNally's fault! Fewer and fewer roads are being built.
With that said, the atlas is great. Every traveller should get this atlas if they do not have a recent version. Even with all of our fancy GPS equipment, it never hurts to have a trusty paper atlas available. You never know when your electronic device is going to malfunction, but your paper atlas will still be there for you.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another fine entry in the Rand McNally series!, December 19, 2009
This review is from: Rand McNally 2010 the Road Atlas: United States / Canada / Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico) (Paperback)
Each year, I buy one of these atlases. First, I want to have a Rand McNally Atlas in my car as a ready reference source. Second, I want to stay as current as I can, since roadways change over time. Third, the new features (online and GPS) add a solid component to the whole package. Fourth, I want my son to have an up-to-date atlas when he takes one of his long trips (I get the hand me down atlases, so I do update each year as I inherit his old atlases!).
This atlas has maps of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. I like the feature in which maps show especially scenic routes. This atlas has a "Best of the Road" feature, indicating routes that are scenic but that also feature good places to eat and so on. Through the web site, one can determine what roads are under construction.
But the thing I most enjoy about such atlases is the firing of one's imagination. Even when I was a kid, I would trace cross-country trips, to encompass places I really wanted to see. It was an adjunct to my geography classes! And I still enjoy looking at states (or provinces) and imagining how I might get from one place to another, while maximizing the cool places that I could visit in the process.
In short, this is a terrific product, to my mind, and I am happy to make the acquaintance of the 2010 addition to the series--before it goes into my son's hands!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let Rand McNally Guide You on a New Adventure, February 26, 2010
This review is from: Rand McNally 2010 the Road Atlas: United States / Canada / Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico) (Paperback)
Rand McNally Road Atlases are a product with consistent quality and I have been relying on Rand McNally to guide me from place to place for more than twenty years. This road atlas has always come through for me, providing complete and clear maps indicating the different highways, cities large and small, and various points of interest to be found as you travel across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Rand McNally includes maps for each of the U.S. states. Some of the more heavily populated states have multiple pages, due to their large number of roads, cities, etc. But even with the less populous states, Rand McNally's Road Atlas includes loads of information. The guide shows much more than roads- it also indicates counties, parks, historic sites, etc., along with other useful information to make travel more efficient. Mileage charts, a quick state summary that indicates the state's nickname, land area, population, largest city, a "Best of the Road" red ribbon to indicate roadways that offer great scenery, dining, and shopping, and small, close- up maps of the state's major cities and national parks are among the extras that you get with this road atlas.
What I like best about Rand McNally's road atlas is its use of contrasting colors and words to indicate the different places on the map. Considering all of the information contained on these maps, one would assume that they are cluttered to the point where they would be unreadable. But this isn't the case at all and the reason is because of Rand McNally's use of contrast. Each item, whether it's an interstate highway, national park, county name, or something else, is labeled in its own unique way so that it becomes distinguished from everything else on the page. For example, the county names are printed in orange and the county lines are indicated with a dashed orange line. If you focus on these, you will distinctly notice them and have no trouble finding the. Now, take you focus off the counties and focus instead on the roads. It is almost as if the county lines and county names are no longer there. This method of contrasting works beautifully. It allows thousands of pieces of data to be presented on the same page without everything blending together.
I use my Rand McNally Road Atlas for many purposes. Besides looking for different travel routes, one fun thing to do with the family is to pull out the road atlas and look for a new place to visit. It is often surprising to find points of interest right in your local area- places like a nearby National Wildlife Refuge, state historic site, or other point of interest that receives little or no publicity. There is no worry about getting lost. The maps contain so many pieces of information- from number of highway lanes, to rest areas, to mileage distances between cities- that you need not worry in any way.
I have used other road atlases and found them acceptable, but I always come back to Rand McNally in the end. The overload of travel information and the excellent contrast make Rand McNally the best in its class.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
