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Analog GPS: Scrolling Wrist and Car-Mounted Maps of the 20s and 30s (2016)
Long before the days of celebrity voices calling out directions while you drive, paper-based attempts at mobile mapping generated an intriguing array of proto-GPS systems, including this quirky pair of manual and automated moving map displays. As early as 1927, the Plus Four Wristlet Route Indicator came with single-journey scrolls plugged into a wrist-wearable device. The watch-like gadget needed no batteries, and
A similar but more advanced device developed in 1932, the Iter Avto likewise employed a paper scrolling system but with a twist: the pages moved automatically as the vehicle progressed. Developed in and for Italy, the featured map set of this device included various major cities and towns, and its marketing ( translated from Italian) boasted its granular accuracy and usefulness: “Motorists, the Iter-Auto is your patron saint on Earth that will guide you by the hand showing you in your travels with impeccable accuracy, by means of a map-route carried on in perfect synchronization with the driving of your car, the way to go as well any data or information practices of those continuing needs such as: crossroads – bridges – bumps – level crossings – turns dangerous – supplies – relief – garages – hotels, etc.. advising in a timely manner (about three kilometers before) the driver must slow down at the face of danger.”
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