GPS is critical where we travel in the USA and overseas. We use maps with GPS location information so we don't miss a turnoff on some rural road. Often places are not on the maps whether they be AAA type maps or National Geographic maps or topo maps or USFS maps so I use the latitude and longitude for the location with the GPS to navigate to them. Many guide books to ghost towns for example will depend heavily on GPS coordinates for routing.
I use maps for trip planning and print out key sections along our route where we will leave a main highway. But the further off the major freeways you travel the less valuable the maps become. I will use maps to locate a place to cross a river as the GPS routing at times is less than optimum or may even be in error if a bridge did not get added to the GPS database.
GPS is great and a huge improvement over maps and a compass which depend upon first knowing exactly where you are to provide guidance to get you to your destination. I grew up using charts and a compass to navigate and later used a satnav to confirm my position which I could do at most twice a day as the satellite passed overhead and sometimes I would go days without a fix. Having GPS and getting an exact fix in seconds is something it would be foolish not to use when it is readily available and a GPS unit costs under $100.
