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ananova.com - 8/18/2008

World's first sat nav - from 1920

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It doesn't speak to you or give live traffic updates, but this is the world's first sat nav - invented in the 1920s. The Plus Fours Routefinder /Rex The Plus Fours Routefinder was designed to be worn on the wrist - relying on good old-fashioned paper maps wound around wooden rollers, which the driver turned en route. The tiny scrolls also showed the mileage and gave a "stop" instruction at the ...

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1920s SatNav Out-Performs iPhone
Wired: Gadget Lab — ... revealing, you guessed it, turn-by-turn directions. And with the rather awkward one-and-a-half handed operation (it's wrist mounted), the Routefinder took care of another modern day essential: the ability of cellphones to disastrously distract you from the road ahead. This last might not have been the killer it is today, though. The same lack of cars which led to the poor sales and eventual demise of the Routefinder probably meant that a car crash was all but impossible. World's first sat nav - from 1920 [Ananova] ...

Old watch-like navigation gadget from 1920
CrunchGear — ... Alas, it was ahead of its time and “never really took off,” according to Ananova, since there weren’t very many cars on the road back in 1920 (the device was for UK drivers). Call it an “early” early adopter device. It’s now on display in London’s British Library. ...