I started my career working for NAVTEQ, a company that made digital maps for navigation. So I’m a little bit of a geek when it comes to maps and navigation systems.
For anyone who has ever used a navigation system, and driven (or walked) beyond where the map has coverage, you were probably prompted with a message warning you that, “You are not on a digitized road,” meaning that the detailed directions will cease, and you are on your own until you return back to civilization.
I left NAVTEQ in 2010, and shortly thereafter was taking a road trip through Kentucky, visiting friends and family. As I was driving through the back roads, looking at the fall foliage, my navigation system warned me that I was…yep…no longer on a digitized road.
At that moment in my life, that rang very true, and sounded more profound than, I’m sure, the developers of the nav application had intended. Sure enough, I was not on a digitized road. I was about to embark on a year-plus of traveling the world. And when I returned, I was going to …. Who knew what?? This was all new to me: exciting and unchartered.
I have yet to turn back onto a digitized road — and I am loving every minute of it.