The concept of GPS shoes is nothing new, but this pair designed by Dominic Wilcox don’t report your whereabouts to mum, or an authoritarian government or something. Instead, they’ll help you shuffle home if you get lost somehow.
Commissioned by the Global Footprint project in Northamptonshire, these functional prototypes have a GPS device implanted in the heel with an antenna pointing out the back, and two sets of directional LEDs in the toes. The circular LED display points in the appropriate direction, and the straight one indicates distance. And how do you turn them on? You click your heels, duh.
Before use, all you have to do is upload your destination — stereotypical “home” or otherwise — to the shoes using a map program and you’re good to go. Admittedly, the toe LEDs seems little silly, but it’s a neat idea. Replace the LEDs with some sort of directional haptic thing, and you might be onto something.[Dominic Wilcox via Mashable]