Satellite Guidance For Lost Shoppers

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

Fri, May 2nd 2003 9:43am — Mike Masnick

Roland Piquepaille writes "Do you sometimes feel lost in the aisles of your giant supermarket and frustrated because you don't find what you are searching for? If the answer is yes, satellite-guided carts will soon be able to help you. "Murray Laidlaw has designed a hi-tech trolley that will use a sophisticated Global Positioning System to make shopping trips more methodical and less confusing and time-consuming. Receiving information from satellites orbiting the earth, the trolley will 'know' its location in the store, and can advise on special offers and products in nearby aisles." Prototypes of these GPS carts should be available in six months. Check my blog post for more details." Anyone else think GPS is a bit of overkill for such a system? I know that there are plenty of other solutions that are being worked on that require a bit less effort. Besides, as I've pointed out in previous posts about "shopping cart technology", these things are going to get banged around and break (assuming they weren't stolen first) within a week of being launched. It's going to get pretty expensive to have to replace a GPS receiver every week.

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Roland Piquepaille, 2 May 2003 @ 10:47am

Wireless PDA Software Helps Shoppers
Mike,
I agree with you. I don't think that GPS can be successful here. But I found the idea quite amusing -- I'm not a UK taxpayer.
Besides that, I already wrote about other technologies which might help shoppers, but with PDAs.
Big Brother? Minority Report? Or help from technology? You'll decide with your money.
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dsg, 2 May 2003 @ 11:01am

GPS
I really don't understand all this talk about using GPS indoors. I'll admit, it's been about two years since I used my GPS device (on a daily basis), but last I heard, you need a clear view of satellites overhead. I've experienced accuracy way out to 60 feet or so in dense foilage and can't imagine how that would be useful in a supermarket that has a roof and who knows what other electrical devices/wiring in the ceiling. Even on my best day, in an open field with not a cloud in the sky, I can only get 6 feet accuracy. Great for the outdoors, but not all that great in a store, I'd imagine.
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