GPS Shopping Carts! Gotta Love it!!

[+Team WO9LF]

I came across this while reading the news:

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Frustrated shoppers who spend hours searching for an elusive item are to be given help -- in the form of a satellite-guided shopping cart.

Product designer Murray Laidlaw has invented the trolley, fitted with a global positioning system (GPS), to guide shoppers to their products, the Daily Mail newspaper said on Wednesday.

The device, which will sit on the trolley handle, will also suggest recipes, advise on special offers and work out the quickest route around the store.

"Lots of people just don't shop in a methodical manner," the paper quoted Laidlaw as saying. "This device will make shopping trips less confusing and time consuming."

GPS, initially designed for the U.S. military, will guide shoppers by showing arrows on a screen which take them to the correct shelf.

Laidlaw has been given a 30,000 pound government grant to develop the trolley and hopes to have a prototype within six months.

 

Now, I am thinking....Micro-caches in the canned goods isle!!!

 

Laugh now, but I've got plenty to do when I'm the last person on the planet

[Kerry.]

GPS guided shopping trollies IN super markets, aren't we sort of missing something here

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go

[martmann]

I hope the buildings have thin roofs, reception's gotta suck inside the store.

 

_________________________________________________________

If trees could scream, would we still cut them down?

Well, maybe if they screamed all the time, for no reason.

Click here for my Geocaching pictures

[+TEAM 360]

Hey, now the homeless can get free GPSr's every time they scam a shopping cart...more players! (Just have to figure out how to enter the coords for a cache)

[+The Leprechauns]

The news on November 1, 2003

LONDON (Reuters) - Designer Murray Laidlaw today unveiled his prototype of a shopping trolley, fitted with a global positioning system (GPS), to guide shoppers to their products, the Daily Mail newspaper said yesterday.

The device, which will sit on the trolley handle, will get shoppers to within 20 feet of the desired item. "You may need to go down several aisles," Laidlaw said, "but after all, the thrill is in the hunt, not the item you take."

 

Tests of the prototype have uncovered two practical problems. First, shoppers are encouraged to only visit the supermarket when four or more GPS satellites are arrayed in a good triangulation pattern. Second, a project is now underway to replace the roofs of all grocery stores in the greater London area with clear plastic sheeting, at an estimated cost of two billion euros.

[+Rich in NEPA]

quote:

---

LONDON (Reuters) ... The device, which will sit on the trolley handle, will get shoppers to within 20 feet of the desired item. "You may need to go down several aisles," Laidlaw said, "but after all, the thrill is in the hunt, not the item you take."

---

Or, you can simply decrypt the hint.

 

Cheers ...

 

~Rich in NEPA~

 

 

--- A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. ---

[+TEAM 360]

Hey, maybe if they are really smart, they will go with a revolutionary hi-tech idea: AISLE SIGNS that consumers can READ, this will tell them exactly which aisle to go down...oh, wait a minute...

[+nincehelser]

About 10 years ago, I used to shop in a store that had a system similar to this, except the communications were infra-red. There were a bunch of receiver/transmitters near the ceiling, and a small receiver/transmitter on the shopping cart. You could key in requests and get answers as to where things were located, and would also be alerted when there was a special near you.

 

It was a fun toy for a while, but it really seemed kind of pointless if you were used to the store.

 

I've never seen another store with this system, so I guess it never caught on.

 

George

[GLSailor]

Let's see now... You use the GPS to find what you're looking for in the store and then use the handy-dandy little key fob thing to identify yourself to the store and a "frequent shopper" or whatever. They now know what you were looking for and who you are... target marketing or Big Brother???

 

Makes you think...

 

GLSailor

[Captain Chaoss]

So if I tear open a box of Fruit Loops for the free toy inside, do I still have to trade up?

 

Two roads diverged in the woods and I,

I took the one less traveled,

and that is how I found the cache.