Just a Gripe About Mapping Services (i.e. MapQuest, Google Maps)

[rtpoe]

So I'm planning out a little trip to visit some area wineries this Saturday. Thanks to a regional wine association's website, all I need to do is select the ones I want to visit and it plots out the best route on Google Maps (complete with directions!).

Now I have neither a GPS device nor a smartphone. I'm good enough with maps so I don't need them. Just give me a printout, and I'm good to go.

Here's the problem:

My main route runs along the north-south axis. Thanks to monitors all being in landscape orientation, I cannot get the whole route on one screen at a scale good enough to be useful. MapQuest at least has the decency to set it up so the printout is a square. But Google, f**k them! You just get a thin horizontal rectangle.

You'd think it would be really, really, easy to have a button that lets you rotate the map 90 degrees to give your route the best possible fit in the window, but everyone is stuck in the "North at the top" mindset. And I'll be damned if I have to assemble screen caps to make a decent map.

If I ever find a mapping service that lets you rotate the map for the best fit, I will use it exclusively.

[TheZookie007]

But doesn't Google Maps on an Android phone/tablet allow you to twist the map in any direction/orientation you want? 

[MasterDragonfly]

But doesn't Google Maps on an Android phone/tablet allow you to twist the map in any direction/orientation you want? 

Now I have neither a GPS device nor a smartphone.

[rtpoe]

It's the sort of thing that they should have thought of BEFORE smartphones and portable GPS devices.... How tough can it be to rotate something 90 degrees?

[TheZookie007]

I suppose you could always turn the printout in the desired orientation

[rtpoe]

Here's what I mean.

Either I have to print out a couple of pages where the map has the route at a legible scale, or I have to spend time pasting together several map images and then editing that map image for the best fit on a single sheet.

How hard can it be to have a button somewhere that says "Rotate map"?

[MasterDragonfly]

There was a time when there was one monitor which could be changed by rotating it on its pedestal by 90 degrees. Doing so sent a signal to the driver to rotate the image in the opposite direction by 90 degrees. So instead of widescreen, it was more of a long page layout.

So here's what I'm thinking: there might be an option for your display to rotate it 90 degrees. It might kink your neck temporarily, but at least you'd be able to do the desired Google search and print accordingly.

(This of course may not be of any real use, under real conditions.)