The magnetic sense. Well, that’s GPS… except if it really is a sense, it should be instantly appreciated, and you shouldn’t have to look at your dashboard to figure out where you are.

So here’s the idea: while you’re using your GPS routefinder in your car and you just have to drive forward, it’s completely quiet, as it is now.

When a decision-point is approaching, it starts making a soft noise which gets louder and louder. Not piercing or distracting, but it elevates to a certain volume, just so you know something’s going on. If you know the way, you can ignore it. But if you need help at that choice-point, you say “what?” and it reads out the instructions for you. That’s idea #7.

Image source: This image is not to do with GPS—it’s the cover of JJ Gibson’s incredible book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, about how animals see, and vision through a body in the world.

Matt Webb, S&W, posted and presented on 2006-06-01