An Very Early Version Of Auto-Navigation...!

Time and time again, we think of ourselves as being so smart as to invent an auto-navigation device only to find out we were certainly not the first after all. Turns out a very early version of this device showed up way back in 1932! From Listverse, here is the story about this surprising idea.

The Iter Auto

Photo credit: gislounge.com

It seems difficult to believe that early personal navigation systems could predate GPS or even satellites, but the first attempt at a commercial navigation device was made when cars were barely past the age of the hand crank in 1932. Produced by an Italian company, the Iter Auto was a console connected to the car’s speedometer and used interchangeable, scrolling maps to guide users to their destinations.

It was the first device to show a user’s position in real time, and it worked—so long as one didn’t make a wrong turn. Of course, the user also had to start from a predetermined point, and many trips were long enough to require multiple scrolls to complete the trip, so the user would have to pull over and change out the scroll for the next one in the sequence every so often. While the device didn’t exactly catch on commercially, it was an ambitious first crack at a technology that wouldn’t begin to reach fruition for over 60 years.

Sometimes I think that we today even surprise ourselves about how smart our forefathers actually were. We sure don't give them enough credit sometimes!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Temps yesterday got up to low 80s, so all should be good today!