I wonder why this hasn't been a standard for maps for years. By far the most frustrating thing about road trips (pre-iPhone) used to be dragging out the map then trying to put it away again.
Also, as a total aside, this: "over their conventionally folded*" should be punishable by death. Putting an asterisk next to something then not explaining it is pure evil.
Traditional map folding allows you to reference a portion of the map without unfolding it entirely. When I realized this, I stopped hating the map folders.
Actually, the same professor (Miura) who invented the fold I talked about in that note came up with another way of folding (that also involves binding part of the map) that does "reference a portion" much better than the traditional way manages. You can find it if you google for "Design of portable maps enabling longitudinal access" Miura, 2006
That looks cool but actually sucks for map's because it does not handle edge transitions well. The according method which most maps use is designed so you can open a reasonably arbitrary section of map at the same time which is important when you want to do things like compare routes which cover 4 folds at the same time. All the while being able to quickly flip it over and see what's on the other side.
Often times hiking maps are so large that you couldn't practically unfurl the whole map. In these cases it would be great if you could easily access individual map sections.
If you've ever had your map fall to pieces in the snow, you'll learn to appreciate tyvek maps.
I'm just guessing, but it would make sense for large paper maps not to use this fold so that you can partially unfold it and look only at the portion in which your are currently interested, instead of having a giant unfolded piece of paper. This would be especially nice in a small car where you would lack room to move a completely unfolded map around.
Err, if you can issue me a pardon here, that was meant to be a footnote but I got the markdown wrong. The footnote should read: "By conventionally folded I mean folded first horizontally and then vertically such that each folded unit is rectangular."
If you look at the kickstarter page, they state that it's because automated map folding works poorly for this folding method. I doubt that it's impossible, but it's a hurdle to overcome.
I used to keep a local city map folded up this way in my backpack just in case I needed to go somewhere I hadn't been before or got lost biking, or somesuch, it was super useful.
However, the advent of smartphones has made that sort of thing less useful. And for serious wilderness navigation this kind of map folding is very unhelpful since maps tend to be big and it helps to keep the map partially folded so you can focus on one area.
Also, as a total aside, this: "over their conventionally folded*" should be punishable by death. Putting an asterisk next to something then not explaining it is pure evil.