The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the phasing out of the cartography division that serves the California State Automobile Association.   By the end of the year, the twelve-person cartographic unit will be disbanded with mapping services done only by AAA’s national headquarters in Heathrow, Florida.  The cause for the demise is the widespread availability of online map directions and in-car navigation units which cut demand for the paper maps by 13% in 2007.  The high degree of research needed to keep current with local changes in roadways and street name changes leads some to question how well the national office will be able to provide accurate local maps.  “I don’t know if (AAA has) the resources, now that this is suddenly dumped in their laps,” said Curtis Carroll, sales and marketing director of Benchmark Maps, also in Medford, Ore.  Carroll further predicated highly detailed local papers maps will be a thing of the past: “Street maps with the level of detail as we know it on a paper sheet may not be with us in a decade,” Carroll said.

• Auto club’s paper map unit nears end of road - San Francisco Chronicle