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When one speaks of a navigation system nowadays, it almost always refers to something which depends almost exclusively on GPS. Sure, there're enhancements and even location detecting alternatives to GPS, but all nav systems depend on outside data to know where they are.
I propose a system which is
capable of functioning even if it's only knowledge of where it is is provided manually. In other words, it can function "blind" with respect to GPS.
It would have a built in set of maps, plus accellerometers, gyroscopes, and compasses; also, it would have voice sysnthesis and voice recognition.
If it can't get a GPS signal when it's turned on, it will ask it's user, aloud, where it is, using a sequence of questions similar to those used by computerized versions of the "Twenty questions" game.
Once it's figured out approximately where it is, it would use dead reckoning in order to continue to know where it is.
Naturally, if the device does detect a GPS signal, it would use it, but if at any time it loses that signal (e.g., you drive into a tunnel), it could switch to dead reckoning.
In all other respects, it would be just like a regular (GPS based) nav system. (It might feature an option to use the 20Q style of questioning, together with voice recognition, to program in a destination... but that's a seperate idea).
Non-GPS Navigation
http://www-personal...Papers/paper120.pdf
[21 Quest, Apr 22 2009]
Personal Dead-Reckoning System
http://www.citeulik...nek/article/1398977
[21 Quest, Apr 22 2009]
This one Bakes it
http://www.mydigita...-for-non-gps-areas/
[21 Quest, Apr 22 2009]
[link]
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I once posted an idea (not sure why, but it seems to have been deleted. Maybe I did it and forgot why?) called Electronic Trail of Breadcrumbs which used an accelerometer to *make* a map. Basically, once you activate it it records every movement it makes and displays them as lines on a blank screen. Not the same as what you're proposing, but it might've helped you. It won't tell you where you are, but it'll tell you how to get back from whence you came. I'll do a bit of searching to see if anything like this exists in the real world. |
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Edit: see below annotation: |
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//Lightweight and miniature, NaviSeer combines the technology of GPS and Dead Reckoning (DR) with a system of algorithms to keep users informed of their location in real time. The device has three accelerometers, three gyros, a baro altimeter and a magnetometer.// |
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//The product is extremely appealing to fire, police, Swat and the US military. While GPS is enabled, the device collects and stores information which will kick into action once the user is out of the radar. Advanced motion classification algorithms accommodate any changes in movement and factor these in to give the precise location to a user.// |
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Your product has a few things this lacks, such as voice recognition and the ability to input data, but in all other respects it's identical. Besides, I don't believe the 20-questions game would work. What questions would it ask you, aside from star patterns? And what good would star patterns do in the middle of the day or if there's cloud cover? |
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I found all 3 links on my first Google search using the term "Non-GPS Navigation". Sorry, but I just don't think your idea is unique enough to stand as an original invention. [-] |
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It would ask you what contry, state, county, or city you're in, what street you're on, what the crossstreet is, etc.. It might also ask if you see certain landmarks (e.g., "do you see a Starbucks?") |
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Naturally, the device would contain a map with this sort of information on it... curiously, none of the three links you posted mention anything about maps, only "location", which could merely mean longitude, latitude, and altitude. |
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The other plus of including a map is that it can be used to help correct for accumulated error in the dead reckoning measurements -- it could ask the user, "Are you still on street [whatever]?", if location estimates indicate the user is travelling on a non-road area parallel to a real road, or has seemingly jumped from one road to another without using a crossroad. |
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