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North Paw

sensebridge.net

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Re: North Paw

#81

Post by throwup »

hex4def6 wrote: post #36
isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

I worked with the guy that designed this gadget (Hi Eric!), back in ~2009 or so. It would be really cool to see another version with smaller electronics, flex PCB, etc. Other features, like connection to a smart phone for waypoint navigation would be neat.

I'd love to see a smaller version too! The GPS-tracking-bracelet aesthetic isn't really for me, but I'm still intrigued by the idea.

The key components are a compass and motors, and since 2009 those have been dramatically miniaturized, thanks to the smartphone industry. Combine that with flex PCB and I bet you could fit everything in the form factor of a slap bracelet.

Re: North Paw

#82

Post by permo-w »

isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

does the intuitive sense go wrong when you go to a different part of the world? how does that work out?

Re: North Paw

#84

Post by stjohnswarts »

isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

You never said "you wouldn't want to know why..." ?

Re: North Paw

#85

Post by MisterTea »

isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

> and I got tired of questions/comments :)

I'd be very attempted to gruffly retort "murder and racketeering charges" and see how fast they stop being curious.

Re: North Paw

#86

Post by roughly »

ok_dad wrote: post #67
staplung wrote: post #31

IIRC Oliver Sacks was interested in this kind of thing. Think there's an episode of Radiolab where he talks about how ho used to carry around a couple of extremely strong, oblong magnets in his pockets that would stay oriented north even while he moved around. He wanted to see if his brain could learn to make sense of the input and develop a new sense, akin to the magnetic navigation that retain birds have. Not sure…

In Hawaii people still use "mauka" (towards the mountains) and "makai" (towards the ocean) to describe where they are, so you might say, "it's on the makai side of downtown," to describe an area or, "go mauka from the intersection" to indicate a directional vector. They also use "windward" and "leeward" to describe sides of the island sometimes, and will give you directions from local landmarks (Zippy's is a good one…

There was an article posted here not too long ago which talked about decoding an old Polynesian map, which the sailors used to navigate between islands in the pacific, and it turned out to be similarly situational - the map wasn’t useful for telling objectively how far you were from one place to another, but it was very useful for navigating from one spot to another based on references to what you could see.

I’ve mentioned it a few times around here, but James C Scott’s Seeing Like A State* has a fascinating look at the way language changed to prefer “overview”-type ways of describing location/distance/etc, as opposed to these more situational/embodied measures & directions which were previously commonplace.

* https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780300078152

Re: North Paw

#87

Post by idiotsecant »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #69
dfc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is a question of how far you are from magnetic north. The north paw device helped people identify where magnetic north is relative to your current heading.

I am pretty sure by "how far from" he meant the delta of magnetic north to heading angle. Since an Apple watch doesn't have the ability to vibrate any where except the watch body it can't "point" at magnetic north like the North paw does, it would have to indicate magnetic north some other way.

Yes, this was my (clumsy) intention, 'far' in the sense of angular deviation. The thing about our analog brains is that we are very good at processing signals that vary proportionally to some quantity but not very good at internalizing 'limit switch' type signals.

Re: North Paw

#88

Post by Baeocystin »

permo-w wrote: post #82
isaacdl wrote: post #5

I own one of these - bought it pre-made years ago rather than assembling the kit myself. It's a ton of fun, and really does give me a more-intuitive sense of direction. After wearing it for a while around places I go to regularly, I keep that intuitive sense of direction without having to wear it. I've mostly stopped wearing it though, because it looks a lot like a GPS-based parole-monitoring device, and I got tired…

does the intuitive sense go wrong when you go to a different part of the world? how does that work out?

Not OP, but I've traveled a lot, and it takes me a few days to adapt to the new surroundings. I can't consciously point to what it is that my brain is locking on to, but I can feel 'it' click on, and then I can trust my sense of direction, like I normally do. Before 'it', I can get turned around much more easily than normal.

Re: North Paw

#89

Post by ytdytvhxgydvhh »

lucasgonze wrote: post #78
kelnos wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downside of a belt is that you have a much longer way around your body, which means longer wires, and perhaps an easier chance of breaking something. A belt also implies pants that can accept a belt, which probably wouldn't work for a lot of people, at least not every day with every type/style/color of clothing. The anklet is reasonably unobtrusive, and unless you are wearing form-fitting pants, you can keep it under…

Underpants. Northpaw Underpants.

Based on the interest around the recent chess cheating rumors I’d suggest an insertable version: The North Paw Grandmaster.

Re: North Paw

#90

Post by roughly »

googlryas wrote: post #3

I thought about building something like this about 20 years ago, but decided not to.This is actually a skill you can teach yourself if you just start paying attention. It works pretty much everywhere except for in labyrinth-like buildings. The last time I couldn't figure out which Way North was was in Lord Leicester hotel in warwick 5 years ago.

During the daytime, if you know roughly what time it is and roughly where the sun is, that’s good enough to give you close enough to the cardinal directions for most purposes not involving a 10mi trek out of the woods.
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