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GPS Mouse

Unlimited Range, Limited Point!
 
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I've tried everykind of mouse going... ball... optical... corded... cordless, and they all have their pros and their cons.
What i would love to try is a GPS controlled Mouse.
The mouse would have no ball and no optical sensor, but the cursors position on the screen would reflect its Global Position, and mouse clicks could be broadcast by satellite uplink.
The sensitivity of the mouse could be adjusted to use a standard mousemat, a whole room, a football pitch... The World???
Possible flaws spring to mind. Current GPS satellites are accurate to maybe a meter or so, but in time this will improve (and what better reason for scientists to get on with the upgrading than this?) Also the cost would be high for a mouse, and it may suffer from being indoors...
But come on, when has practicallity and cost ever stopped consumers before (see ferrari, designer clothes and cornflakes for examples), and how cool to have a mouse powered by military technology.
The possibilites are limited...
MikeOliver, Apr 02 2004

(?) Baked, and quite useful in 3D version. http://www.memagazi...surng/measurng.html
Expensive, but can you really put a price on freeform mousing? [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Archive of the above link http://web.archive....surng/measurng.html
[notexactly, Apr 09 2019]


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Annotation:







       Is GPS totally blocked out indoors? Well they need to do something about that.
At work i sit right by the window, so i'm set! And of course laptop users.
MikeOliver, Apr 02 2004
  

       //cornflakes// eh?   

       Pointless and useless (+)   

       I have an image of some tin-pot dictator, with his minions carrying said GPS mouse running about a field on their masters orders as he trys to play Minesweeper (genuine explosions on hitting a mine optional).
suctionpad, Apr 02 2004
  

       Would lead to interesting usage should the US ever turn the accuracy back down.
engineer1, Apr 02 2004
  

       Well you'd want to keep a back up regular mouse in case of such eventualities (or for when you get bloody fed up of standing by a window, outside, not under a tree etc.)
MikeOliver, Apr 02 2004
  

       Make your own mini GPS system for the mouse with three sender/receivers mounted to the ceiling.
Nitehawk, Apr 02 2004
  

       Yeah, what nitehawk said!
MikeOliver, Apr 07 2004
  

       perhaps when the GPS signal drops, it switches to inertial guidance mode using accelerometers.
dooper, Apr 07 2004
  

       "Teresa, it's Laura. John's cursor just showed up on George's computer screen and if he'd like it back just send the mouse with your butler, and we'll reconfigure them."
"Oh, honey. She says they're in Mozambique and are getting their calls forwarded like you did in Florida"
"Well, La-dee-da"
dpsyplc, Apr 07 2004
  

       "//mouse clicks could be broadcast by satellite uplink// Just dumb... don't get me started on this one."
Well i gotta say, i am a little curious.
MikeOliver, Apr 08 2004
  

       You're a sucker for punishment, Mike.
waugsqueke, Apr 08 2004
  

       The Transmit & Recieve from the speakers is a nice idea for a batteryless mouse, but location ain't everything. How would we deal with the mouse clicks?
PainOCommonSense, May 04 2004
  


 

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