The best answer is "both of the above." As a field archaeologist,I had a lot of map and compass experience before GPS came along. In 1991-92, I acquired my first GPS (no map, the size of a brick, lousy battery life, cost $3000), and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Even so, GPS is not perfect - deep canyons and tall buildings can deflect signals and generate inaccuracies, but what an improvement!