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Thomas Guide is the title of a series of paperback, spiral-bound atlases featuring detailed street maps of various large USA metropolitan areas, primarily in the Pacific Coast states, plus the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas. The map books are usually arranged by county; for example, separate Thomas Guides have been published for Los Angeles County and San Diego County. There are also guides that will have two or three counties combined (for example, Los Angeles and Orange County). Each guide has a detailed index of streets and points of interest, as well as arterial maps for easy page location. Thomas Bros. Maps, the publishers of the Thomas Guide, started in 1915, and was purchased by and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rand McNally & Co. in 1999. Updated editions are released annually.
Thomas Guide atlases are often referred to colloquially as a Thomas Brothers (for Thomas Bros. Maps). They are so commonly used in Southern California that businesses (as well as someone giving directions to a private home or party) will often refer to the page number and map grid to help specify a location [1] (http://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/company/cmpProducts.jsp?oid=-1073754281).
Businesses often use the large Thomas Guide wall maps, which are also available in custom versions. One common use for the wall maps is for delivery businesses, such as a local pizza restaurant.
There are also CD-ROM digital editions of the Thomas Guide atlases available (Microsoft Windows only).
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