Very true. I couldn't remember what Houston used and it is different for every city. D/FW uses the Mapsco grids for almost everything from deliveries to RACES storm spotting and public safety. The block numbers are pretty standard in Dallas and you can find the general area by those but that doesn't always extend to the 'burbs. Online/PC/MDC/GPS mapping is great but a Mapsco in Dallas is still a necessary tool. After awhile you learn the grid layout and you can get where you're going just by somebody referencing the grid number(s).
Russell
I first used a Mapsco when working a summer job for what was then 'Lone Star Gas' in the late 60's (now Atmos Energy). Once I realized how handy they were, I've made it a point to keep one in my vehicle ever since. Now, I usually have the latest edition in the truck, with the previous in my home office. When I get a new one, the retired version is passed along to one of my friends.
When the pc driven maps (Delorme, Rand McNally, & M/S Streets & Trips) first came out, one of them, I believe Rand McNally, showed a large 'island' in the middle of White Rock Lake, even had it named. Most of the map vendors, including Mapsco (now acquired by KappaMapGroup) have a few red herring entries, to help spot copy-cat counterfeiting.
For the rural counties of the state, I keep the compact version of the
Roads of Texas in my SUV. It shows all the county roads, and some of the private roads, as well as other data. For the larger cities, you do see a blown up page with the major thoroughfares, though not all residential streets. This also comes in handy when I'm trying to identify the user on some new frequencies, not yet listed in the database. It gives me a handy resource to cross-check the possible location, and possibly identify the user. When I'm at my friends' place out in Stephens County, I can hear agencies 50 miles, sometimes farther, away, and a lot of the frequencies are used more than once within my listening range.
