<table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0' ><tr><td style='font: inherit;'>I'ts a great idea, is like a compass but with a selectable north :)<br><br>--- El <b>jue, 22/5/08, Alexey Feldgendler <i><alexey@feldgendler.ru></i></b> escribió:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">De: Alexey Feldgendler <alexey@feldgendler.ru><br>Asunto: Mapless GPS<br>Para: "List for OpenMoko community discussion" <community@lists.openmoko.org><br>Fecha: jueves, 22 mayo, 2008 12:27<br><br><pre>Randall Munroe, the author of XKCD, suggests an excellent idea:<br>http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/05/20/gps-cyborg-implant/<br><br>Simply put, it's a GPS navigator that only repeatedly gives you the <br>direction towards the target (in “three o'clock” style) and the<br>distance <br>to it, without using any maps at all. It probably won't help you in a maze <br><br>of twisty passages all alike, but
should be good enough when navigating in <br>a city or suburb where roads are made to enable you to reach places.<br><br>This has a lot of advantages:<br>* Dead simple to implement.<br>* Doesn't require display. This allows to save power (usually GPS <br>navigators have to keep the screen backlight on all the way) and use a <br>headset to speak directions -- especially useful for cyclists.<br>* Doesn't require maps that are often expensive (especially routable <br>ones), are in proprietary formats, get outdated, use a lot of memory or <br>require a persistent internet connection. Only a one-time access to Google <br>Maps or alike is necessary to obtain the target coordinates; or they can <br>be saved from the current location of the device, sent to each other in <br>SMS etc.<br>* Equally suitable for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.<br>* Doesn't insist on taking you blocked roads it doesn't know about.<br>* Makes following the directions more
interesting because you actually <br>make decisions and don't feel following directions like a robot.<br>* You get a chance to learn different roads and the way they connect <br>instead of just taking the same path every time (important for the <br>“navigation idiots” like myself who doesn't ever leave home without<br>their <br>GPS navigator).<br>* The idea can be easily extended to more complex cases, like having <br>several targets and having the user, not the machine, make decisions as to <br>in which order to visit them; having two OM users find each other by <br>getting directions towards each other's location; taking note of the <br>routes the user follows, comparing them by distance travelled and duration <br>and giving hints like “last time you turned right here”; etc.<br><br><br>-- <br>Alexey Feldgendler <alexey@feldgendler.ru><br>[ICQ: 115226275]
http://feldgendler.livejournal.com<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Openmoko community mailing list<br>community@lists.openmoko.org<br>http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community</pre></blockquote></td></tr></table><br>
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