GPS Shoes Help Navigate You Home Wizard of Oz Style
18 Dec 2012In light of the classic and beloved movie The Wizard of Oz being aired three times on TNT this weekend, we thought we’d showcase a story of an imaginative inventor inspired by both the movie and GPS technology.
In an exciting creation, The Wizard of Oz meets modern GPS technology with the newest invention by designer Dominic Wilcox.
The invention is shoes that are embedded with a GPS technology that will help you find your way home, literally, with a click of the heels. The wearer of the shoe can click his or her heels — just like Dorothy did with her infamous ruby red slippers — and follow the flashing arrow located on the left shoe. The right shoe is also working by measuring how far the wearer still has to go on their journey.
The fact that the concept of the shoes reminds people of Dorothy — otherwise known as Judy Garland — and The Wizard of Oz is no accident. Wilcox has admitted he got the idea from the beloved childhood movie.
Dominic Wilcox, originally from Sunderland, UK, told reporters: “When I decided to make shoes that can lead you home, I thought about the Wizard of Oz and how Dorothy could simply click her shoes.”
Like other GPS devices, the embedded navigation and tracking device in the shoes requires computer programming before it will find your destination. This means inputting the address of your home or other destination in the computer and syncing the address to the shoes for proper navigation. Syncing is a simple process, which requires uploading the coordinates to the shoe with a USB device. Once the coordinates are synced with the shoes, you will activate the GPS by clicking the heels of the shoe, which will cause the lighted arrow appears on the left shoe.
Wilcox’s GPS-powered shoes require the same batteries you have in your mobile phone and the flashing arrow on the front of the left shoe is provided by LED lights. These LED lights are connected to the small GPS unit located in the back of the shoe. The shoes themselves appear like ordinary loafers — that is, until they’re activated. The LED lights are visible in the daytime even in direct sunlight as well as at night. There are also LED lights on the right shoe which appear like red and green lights to show the start and end of the journey, while that shoe’s GPS device is tracking how far the wearer has walked and how much longer their journey is.
Like the majority of LiveView GPS trackers and devices, the shoes work wirelessly with a red tag on the back of each shoe that contains the GPS antenna. This antenna points upwards, but it is small and not obvious to others that you’re wearing the GPS shoes.
Wilcox’s prototype is fully functional and was featured in London at a solo exhibition in September 2012. His prototype was made with the help of shoemaker Stamp Shoes and arts and technology expert Becky Stewart. Wilcox hopes to see more interest for the shoes and being able to provide them to consumers soon.
For those who love the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz will be aired on TNT on Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 7:00 PM and 9:15 PM, and again on Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 9:30 AM.
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