I think the bigger problem with maps a few decades ago was that most people didn't have access to detailed maps of most places near them, so had to rely on bad directions and guesswork to get them where they needed to go. Even now, I almost never use any type of sat nav because I can generally memorise the route to anywhere I'm going from a map in a few seconds, but I still need to see the map in the first place and that wasn't possible 20 years ago!