We're­ all familiar with maps. They're those pieces of pa­per we pull out of the glove compartment -- those crispy documents that unfold so large our view of the road i­s completely obstructed. They make us wish we had go-go-gadget arms that stretched to their widths and two sets of eyes -- one focused on the road and one on the plotted path. They make us wish the voice of that woman on the GPS system hadn't led us down a dead end street.

Different maps serve different purposes. If you're trying to drive from Point A to Point B, a regular road map is the way to go. But if you've strayed from the road, perhaps on a backpacking trek, you need to see the terrain and the contours of the land. And that means you need to be able to read a topographic map.