Mapless GPS

[Stroller]

On 22 May 2008, at 11:27, Alexey Feldgendler wrote:

>
> Randall Munroe, the author of XKCD, suggests an excellent idea:
> http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/05/20/gps-cyborg-implant/
>
> Simply put, it's a GPS navigator that only repeatedly gives you the  
> direction towards the target (in “three o'clock” style) and the  
> distance to it, without using any maps at all. It probably won't  
> help you in a maze of twisty passages all alike, but should be good  
> enough when navigating in a city or suburb where roads are made to  
> enable you to reach places.


Blimey! You must be young - you're writing like this like this is a  
new thing!!
When I was using GPS - I bought my first one 10 years ago, but it was  
an end-of-line model then - they were all like this.
<http://www.gpsnow.com/images/gm12b.gif>

You're quite right that this is quite an effective user interface. A  
GPS with full maps and which gives street directions is FAR more  
complex to program, but is not orders of magnitude better at getting  
you to the destination, for all the reasons you observe (although I  
snipped this bit from your post). You basically point yourself in the  
same direction as the needle and don't worry too much about the finer  
details until the needle swings approaching 90 degrees (because it  
obviously tends not to do so until you're very close). Even if you  
already think you're on the right road, the "compass" display is very  
reassuring - one is frequently wary of directions given over the by  
phone by another party, but the needle pointing down the road in  
front of you confirms they're (probably!) correct.

The speech interface is a nice addition, and I would imagine one  
would find it quite useful.

If I suddenly develop oodles of free time and programming insight  
when my Freerunner arrives then this is the first type of GPS I'll be  
writing. I'll leave maps & directions to the boys and girls of Google  
- there's sure to be one or two of their engineers who buy a  
Freerunner, and having used their Java-based Google Maps on my Sony- 
Ericsson P990i (and knowing that the Windows Mobile version can use a  
phone's built-in GPS) I am optimistic that Google Maps will be  
available for Freerunner at some point.

I _really_ want to see an Openmoko application where you can just  
choose a contact and have your position sent to them by text message.  
When their Freerunner receives the message it automagically opens a  
GPS application that points to your position - this would be SO  
useful for meeting up with friends, finding a party or a bar or  
whatever, joining them at a deserted picnic spot in the woods. I  
wrote about this before <http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/ 
community/2008-April/016318.html> and I see no need for something  
more complicated than a "GPS compass" display like this.

Stroller.