Before mobile maps one would buy a street map for something like EUR 5,-. I still do, because I learn the big picture of a city much faster than with an app.
EDIT: <stallman>And the paper map doesn't track you.<\stallman>
EDIT: <stallman>And the paper map doesn't track you.<\stallman>
I find I often learn the big picture better by studying the satellite picture+map views and the topographical views
Paper maps are a pain and messy. Constantly folding and unfolding causes annoying creases. It takes longer to work out where you are and what route to take. Am I really arguing about why a map app is superior to a paper map?
I've noticed this in particular since occasionally using a map app to navigate around my own city, new friends or people that have moved, if I just follow the map app navigation on my bicycle, good chance I'll have to look it up again next time I go there. Before that, I looked it up at home, memorized the route, and went out (if I forget or get lost, no worries, there's backlit city maps every couple of streets on the back of certain advertisements) and next time I don't need to look up anything.
And it's not just because I memorized it once, a big part is also that I'm actively doing the navigating myself, looking around, orienting, I'm navigating the city instead of following the blue line on the screen, which is really navigating the map.
Very similar to how I, back in the old days, I had more than ten phone numbers memorized in my head (maybe even more, I don't quite remember), without really trying, just because I had to look them up in my physical (paper) address book and physically type in the (10-digit) numbers. After a while you just start to memorize the common ones.
Not saying that map apps aren't useful obviously. But I wouldn't dismiss a good road atlas that quickly.