DRAGGED INTO THE 21st CENTURY, RELUCTANTLY

Although we are 20+ years into the new century, which may seem late for bringing this up, my thoughts turned to the phenomenon of how much has changed since the much-dreaded Y2K Apocalypse which never happened.  Remember how the world was going to end and all computers were going to stop working?  In was in the shadow of this paranoia that my first maps were created, followed not long afterwards by my first website.  And it now looks it!  It was a great stride forward, at the time, to be able to sell on the internet.  Just imagine, the invention of the I-Phone (2007) was still a twinkle in Apple’s eye and the idea of making sure that www.coastalartmaps.com would be “hand-held device, format friendly” was not even on our radar.  But now it’s 2022 and it became overtly, painfully apparent that the website was “stanco” (tired), as my Italian colleagues would politely describe it.

The expectations of the map-buying public have advanced so far in the passing years that it is almost impossible to recall that we once lived without all-knowing mobile devices.  That time seems akin to when people set sail and crossed the oceans with a map, employing only the wind, and hoping to arrive wherever they thought they were going.  So, as we debut the new, updated Coastal Art Maps site, with one-click navigation to 36 maps instead of 6, I couldn’t help feeling a bit dated and nostalgic acknowledging how important it is to change with the times and keep up with (or even stay ahead) of the curve.  But then, isn’t that the very essence of what maps were invented for?  Codify and analyze new information as it was gathered, incorporate it with what was already known, and use the compilation to forge a new, more secure path forward into the unknown.  Kickin’, 21^st Century, here we are!