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

[cpzilliacus]

[H/T MDROADS]

FastCompany.com: Who Needs GPS? The Forgotten Story of Etak's Amazing 1985 Car Navigation System - With backing from Atari's cofounder, an engineer-navigator brought high-tech driving directions to cars–during the Reagan Administration.

Thirty years ago, a company called Etak released the first commercially available computerized navigation system for automobiles. Spearheaded by an engineer named Stan Honey and bankrolled by Nolan Bushnell, the cofounder of Atari, the company's Navigator was so far ahead of its time that the phrase "ahead of its time" seems like an understatement.

To appreciate just how amazing the concept of car navigation was in 1985, you need to recall that the Global Positioning System–the constellation of satellites operated by the U.S. government–didn't come fully online until a decade later, in 1995. Even then, the feds crippled GPS to be no more accurate than within 100 meters to ensure it wouldn't help bad guys aim guided missiles. In 2000, that restriction was lifted, allowing a new era of consumer GPS navigational gadgets to flourish.

[NJRoadfan]

A lower tech solution involving plastic map inserts was available in 1981 from Honda.
http://world.honda.com/history/challenge/1981navigationsystem/index.html

ETAK gets a mention at the end.

[kurumi]

Another article that overlaps the Fast Company piece (some of the same photos), but still of interest: https://maphappenings.com/2024/04/11/story-of-etak/

Bonuses: A Thomas map scan old enough to predate I-110 in Los Angeles; the true origin of the "your vehicle is here" symbol