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Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

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Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#71

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Arizhel wrote: post #42
learn_more wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you train yourself to use a static orientation however, you develop a much better "big picture" awareness of the city you drive in, eventually freeing yourself from requiring navigational assistance. The additional cognitive load is worth it for me.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't want navigational assistance. The only time I drive without my GPS is if I'm going somewhere I go frequently, along a route I normally travel, and it's a short distance. Any place new, and I'm using GPS, and even if I'm going someplace familiar, and I'm familiar with the route, if it's a good distance away I use the GPS anyway to make sure I don't miss a turn and also, very importantl…

>I can't imagine why you wouldn't want navigational assistance.

Most navigational aids are terrible at picking good routes to places outside a few very highly trafficked city.

Sure it might pick a good route if you just want shortest distance or least time but if you're willing to add 10sec to avoid a shitshow intersection you're gonna have to do that yourself.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#72

Post by kalleboo »

TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #5
teddyh wrote: post #2

Interesting to read about alternative, non-centralized, forms of navigation. I wish modern cars which already have all the necessary sensors would use this method as a fallback, since GPS reception is not always available.

I think some smartphone navigation apps do temporary dead reckoning, using the accelerometers that are built into the phone. Dead reckoning using just acceleration data loses accuracy quickly. Using turns to reset position is a really good idea. I think I've seen my iPhone do a similar "recovery" procedure when it gets a little off track.

I've used navigation apps that do this on iPhone, but the navigation portion of the app didn't realize I was in the tunnel, so it kept telling me to make turns on surface roads...

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#73

Post by dsfyu404ed »

civilian wrote: post #63
RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I don't care that using a map would make me a "better navigator" the same way I don't care that driving stick would make me a "better driver." I don't enjoy driving at all, it's purely a mean to an end, so I'll take any aid that would make the experience more pleasant, and / or reduce my cognitive load. If I ever start making FU money, and fully self-driving cars are not yet a reality, I would definitely…

But I mean, it's not about enjoying driving. It's about being an attentive and safe driver. One of the things my Driver's Ed class went over is that: Even if you are the victim of an accident, there's a decent chance that there is something you could have done to avoid it. Things like: Making sure you have 2 of your 4 directions clear, leaving extra space, and watching other drivers. I think you're wrong that GPS red…

>Even if you are the victim of an accident, there's a decent chance that there is something you could have done to avoid it.

Sounds like a politically correct way of saying "you screwed up but the other guy had a 51% chance to do something that would have avoided the outcome but you had 49%."

Kind of like how in 100% of "oops I missed my turn" rear ending the second guy pays but the first guy deserves to be slapped for doing something dumb.

FWIW I agree with you on following GPS instructions being far from the optimum.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#74

Post by dsfyu404ed »

ams6110 wrote: post #67
Arizhel wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't want navigational assistance. The only time I drive without my GPS is if I'm going somewhere I go frequently, along a route I normally travel, and it's a short distance. Any place new, and I'm using GPS, and even if I'm going someplace familiar, and I'm familiar with the route, if it's a good distance away I use the GPS anyway to make sure I don't miss a turn and also, very importantl…

I find that if I use GPS/Nav to get somewhere, I have no real awareness of where I am or how to get back. Having spent the large majority of my life without a smartphone (or a mobile phone of any kind) I don't really like that feeling. If I look up where I'm going in advance, or use written instructions, I can generally backtrack to my origin without too much difficulty.

x2

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#75

Post by neotek »

Bushnell is one of my all-time heroes. He struck the motherlode with Atari, and then parlayed that success into a bunch of different ventures that were way ahead of their time, most of which failed spectacularly, none of which failed spectacularly enough to dissuade him from pressing on to the next thing.

I truly believe he is as much a visionary as Steve Jobs ever was, the difference being that Jobs had the patience to wait for technology to catch up to his vision, whereas Bushnell did his level best to invent it.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#76

Post by problems »

theamk wrote: post #6

FYI, here is a part which is still relevant today: "the system continuously ironed out accumulated errors over time by comparing actual distances driven and turns made with road shapes on the map. Honey calls the technique "augmented dead reckoning." That means driving through a long stretch of straight highway could begin to trip up Etak's system, since there were no turns and no distinct roads for the computer to a…

A surprising amount of stuff still relies on - or quite recently relied on what they call "inertial navigation systems" (INS for short).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system

I work in aviation and it's still used as a fallback and to compare radio-based equipment with in some cases. Full GPS transitions in aviation are still just getting off the ground in most places.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#77

Post by oh_sigh »

sidegrid wrote: post #27
oh_sigh wrote: post #23

A little side note Stan Honey is also the person who spearheaded the virtual 'yellow line' visible on every NFL game.

This is stated in the article.

Yes, but not until the very end(which is why I called it a side note). I'm assuming this article follows the journalistic inverted pyramid paradigm.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#78

Post by anticodon »

Arizhel wrote: post #42
learn_more wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you train yourself to use a static orientation however, you develop a much better "big picture" awareness of the city you drive in, eventually freeing yourself from requiring navigational assistance. The additional cognitive load is worth it for me.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't want navigational assistance. The only time I drive without my GPS is if I'm going somewhere I go frequently, along a route I normally travel, and it's a short distance. Any place new, and I'm using GPS, and even if I'm going someplace familiar, and I'm familiar with the route, if it's a good distance away I use the GPS anyway to make sure I don't miss a turn and also, very importantl…

I'll add my two cents: when driving motorcycle with GPS assistance, I can't concentrate on the driving and get fun from the driving motorcycle. When I'm driving my bike, I prefer to clear my head of all things and concentrate on the road and feelings in my body. This way I get maximum pleasure from riding. When I use GPS, it immediately breaks this state of bliss you can experience while driving bike. Driving with GPS feels like tedious work instead of pleasure.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#79

Post by hvidgaard »

strictnein wrote: post #29

Surprised no one has mentioned its similarity to a Pip Boy: https://b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagec... And a Fallout Pip Boy for reference: https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/120/images/16096-1...

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the inspiration for the Pip Boy. Fallout is absolutely loaded with obscure references in a Mad Max inspired world.

Re: Who Needs GPS? The Story of Etak's 1985 Car Navigation System

#80

Post by et-al »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #73
civilian wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I mean, it's not about enjoying driving. It's about being an attentive and safe driver. One of the things my Driver's Ed class went over is that: Even if you are the victim of an accident, there's a decent chance that there is something you could have done to avoid it. Things like: Making sure you have 2 of your 4 directions clear, leaving extra space, and watching other drivers. I think you're wrong that GPS red…

>Even if you are the victim of an accident, there's a decent chance that there is something you could have done to avoid it. Sounds like a politically correct way of saying "you screwed up but the other guy had a 51% chance to do something that would have avoided the outcome but you had 49%." Kind of like how in 100% of "oops I missed my turn" rear ending the second guy pays but the first guy deserves to be slapped f…

> Sounds like a politically correct way of saying "you screwed up but the other guy had a 51% chance to do something that would have avoided the outcome but you had 49%."

I didn't take it that way at all. It's very likely civilian is just a more defensive driver who understands a lot of risks can be minimized through awareness and the choices one makes.

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