Once, every car had one of these, usually under the front seat

Though you had to pity the poor out of staters trying to navigate our fair commonwealth.

I might still have mine ... under the pile of Delorme Atlases (& Gazetteers) of Maine, New Hampshire, and other assorted states we'd drive through/to.

9 or 10 books in a Shaw's bag in my trunk. Still there. Why not?

Sometimes it is easier with paper if you have to go multiple places and / or want to avoid Interstates so you can take in the local scenery.

Route 119 will take you from Brattleboro to Groton which takes you through to Lexington and almost no one else on it. Google will make you go 91 to Route 2 and then you get pulled over in Erving because the local cops like sticking it to outsiders. Blah.

Even if mostly let the GPS pick the route these days, the maps require no batteries nor cables nor electronic signal and it never yells at me when I decide to ignore a turn.

Central MA is in my trunk, and Western MA and the Cape volumes have survived several moves, and a couple cars, and are in the stacks if I need them. Metro Boston got lent out like 20 years ago and never returned :(

But these were no less useful to me because of that. There have been times when my work or interests have taken me all over and into every corner of Boston.
Smart phones and GPX are great but I still often just look at a map online and memorize it or screenshoot it.
As Boston evolved, it was necessary to buy new ones and try to remember the mistakes discovered when using the previous one.
The last one I put in the recycling bin was in tatters.

But these were no less useful to me because of that. There have been times when my work or interests have taken me all over and into every corner of Boston.
Smart phones and GPX are great but I still often just look at a map online and memorize it or screenshoot it. Those methods know their place and don’t interrupt or spin around or direct me to step off a wharf into the harbor.
As Boston evolved, it was necessary to buy new ones and try to remember the mistakes discovered when using the previous one.
The last one I put in the recycling bin was in tatters.

I have always loved maps. I loved to look at these as a kid. I really loved AAA's trip thing where you could flip the pages as you drove the way it was marked. I was a weird kid.

It's hard to get the big picture on a small screen. Before venturing into terra incognita we always spread out our old AAA or Arrow maps on the kitchen table (and then tape them back together).

Before I spent significant time each day browsing Google Maps, I spent significant time each day with this atlas.

… other cities I’ve lived in or spend time in regularly.
You can really get lost in looking at those and imagining a different time. I especially like the ones that show property lines and owner’s names.
Some good websites for these too.

On a shelf with other atlases.

I don't seem to have that one, but I have:

Hagstrom Metropolitan Boston Atlas and vicinity (yes, that's the real name of it) - 1991

American Map by Kappa Map Group - "Boston Greater" (copyright inside says Arrow Map Inc) - 2008

DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteers - 1998 Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 2003 Vermont

Rand McNally Road Atlas of US, Canada, and Mexico, sponsored by the St. Paul Insurance Companies. I can't find a copyright date anywhere inside, but the index refers to the 1960 US census and the 1956 Canadian census for population figures. The Boston inset map doesn't include the Mass. Pike inside Route 128, even as a proposed route, so this must be from the early 1960s

Rand McNally Road Atlas - 1999

AAA Road Atlas - appears to be from 1992

None of these are really practical to use on a bike, because of their size and bulk.

In the 80s they had a Street and a Road with the same name on opposite sides of my town, and the atlas that everybody had a copy of only listed the Street in the index.

Despite my detailed instructions over the phone on how to get to my house and specifically mentioning that if they were using the Atlas it was going to bring them to the wrong place, more often than not if I was trying to get something fixed or delivered, I'd get a phone call past the estimated arrival time that they went there and couldn't find house #64..

Once the 9-1-1 system went into effect they had to eliminate duplicate street names, so the Street got renamed to something else.

If drivers still relied on maps?

Growing up in upstate New York, I used Jimapco a lot. For those who don't know, New York has a lot of numbered county roads, and they can be super confusing. Jimapcos were the way to figure them out (and may still be the best way, given my Garmin's tendency to refer to roads by some obscure name that is not the highway signs..."Turn right on...Elmer...Flarglebargle...Highway."). These were absolutely essential for navigating around the 'dacks. I love the convenience of GPS, and not having to stop and look at a map (which isn't always possible or safe), but it's probably worth picking up an up-to-date Jimapco book if you plan on spending much time in that area.

...don't ask me the last time I used it....