Nothing beats a paper map for general route planning across a region. You can't get the same breadth of feel for a region with a phone or a tablet, IMO. Also, detailed paper maps for some places have a wealth of information which tools like google maps are presently lacking. Having said that, my phone has been helpful at times when I've been on my bike, including reaching an isolated location yesterday, and also a few weeks ago on some rural roads I was biking on in Mexico. As for ACA maps, I recall encountering a cyclist in the Rockies who was strictly following an ACA route. I made a suggestion to him about something nearby worth seeing. But he had no other maps and therefore was afraid to venture off the ACA route because he had no idea where he was once he left the narrow band shown on the ACA map.