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You are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves
The story of the rise of modern navigation technology, from radio location to GPS-and the consequent decline of privacy
What does it mean to never get lost? You Are Here examines the rise of our technologically aided era of navigational omniscience-or how we came to know exactly where we are at all times. In a sweeping history of the development of location technology in the past century, Bray shows how radio signals created to carry telegraph messages were transformed into invisible beacons to guide ships and how a set of rapidly-spinning wheels steered submarines beneath the polar ice cap. But while most of these technologies were developed for and by the military, they are now ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Our phones are now smart enough to pinpoint our presence to within a few feet-and nosy enough to share that information with governments and corporations. Filled with tales of scientists and astronauts, inventors and entrepreneurs, You Are Here tells the story of how humankind ingeniously solved one of its oldest and toughest problems-only to herald a new era in which it's impossible to hide.
What does it mean to never get lost? You Are Here examines the rise of our technologically aided era of navigational omniscience-or how we came to know exactly where we are at all times. In a sweeping history of the development of location technology in the past century, Bray shows how radio signals created to carry telegraph messages were transformed into invisible beacons to guide ships and how a set of rapidly-spinning wheels steered submarines beneath the polar ice cap. But while most of these technologies were developed for and by the military, they are now ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Our phones are now smart enough to pinpoint our presence to within a few feet-and nosy enough to share that information with governments and corporations. Filled with tales of scientists and astronauts, inventors and entrepreneurs, You Are Here tells the story of how humankind ingeniously solved one of its oldest and toughest problems-only to herald a new era in which it's impossible to hide.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
22 people are currently reading
558 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 10, 2014
There's some truly interesting information packed into this book, which begins by describing ancient navigational techniques (from observing the ocean waves to astrolabes) and expands swiftly to explore the implications of advances in aviation, missile tracking and other military applications, radio, man-made satellites, Wi-Fi, then the more familiar GPS that most of us carry with us along with our smartphones.
I was engaged enough to diligently work my way through it all, chapter by chapter, but never felt really compelled to read on. The tone struck me as too journalistic: focused on just the facts, and unwilling to branch out to follow the little odd intersections of any history. The explosion of the shuttle Challenger, for example, rated only a paragraph, and sure, it was peripheral to the matter at hand (its relevance was the impact on the U.S. space program), and it's probably well-known enough not to have to delve into details, but it lacked any emotional power. Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress and co-patent-holder of a frequency-hopping system, was given similar short shrift. Bray seemed to prefer profiling corporations to people, as MapQuest and Google and Apple and their maneuvering in this space were covered more thoroughly than some of the key individuals along the way.
Worth picking up if you need to find out more on this subject, but I wouldn't generally recommend it as pleasure reading.
I was engaged enough to diligently work my way through it all, chapter by chapter, but never felt really compelled to read on. The tone struck me as too journalistic: focused on just the facts, and unwilling to branch out to follow the little odd intersections of any history. The explosion of the shuttle Challenger, for example, rated only a paragraph, and sure, it was peripheral to the matter at hand (its relevance was the impact on the U.S. space program), and it's probably well-known enough not to have to delve into details, but it lacked any emotional power. Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress and co-patent-holder of a frequency-hopping system, was given similar short shrift. Bray seemed to prefer profiling corporations to people, as MapQuest and Google and Apple and their maneuvering in this space were covered more thoroughly than some of the key individuals along the way.
Worth picking up if you need to find out more on this subject, but I wouldn't generally recommend it as pleasure reading.
June 13, 2014
Disclaimer: won in a First Reads contest
This book is a well-researched summary of cartography and navigational aids throughout history. The book focused too much on military navigation for my interest level, but others may find this aspect of the book appealing.
However, this book suffers from one serious oversight: there are no pictures or images in this book. Considering this book's topic, it seems reasonable to expect at least a few images of maps, compasses, or navigational devices. This is particularly a failing in the first chapter, which focuses on early map-making.
This book is a well-researched summary of cartography and navigational aids throughout history. The book focused too much on military navigation for my interest level, but others may find this aspect of the book appealing.
However, this book suffers from one serious oversight: there are no pictures or images in this book. Considering this book's topic, it seems reasonable to expect at least a few images of maps, compasses, or navigational devices. This is particularly a failing in the first chapter, which focuses on early map-making.
October 6, 2019
Zaujímavá publikácia, z ktorej som sa aj ja ako odborník dozvedel nové informácie. Predovšetkým ale cieli na verejnosť, ktorá sa zaujíma o problematiku lokalizácie a navigácie. Kniha začína rozprávanie už v staroveku, potom sa zameriava na určovanie polohy pri moreplavectve, venuje sa výskumu časomerov, postupuje k svetovým vojnám a radaru, nástup družíc, GPS, mobilné prijímače a internet (názov je teda trochu zavádzajúci, kniha začína ďaleko pred kompasom a končí ďaleko za GPS). Niektoré kapitoly sú popísané veľmi podrobne, až únavne, iné sú veľmi stručné. Niektoré kapitoly sú veľmi technické, iné sa zase veľmi zaoberajú právnou a politickou stránkou veci. Na to, že sa jedná o populárne-náučnú knihu a navyše ju vydáva MatFyz, chýbajú mi akékoľvek doplnky k textu - kniha neobsahuje obrázky, diagramy, tabuľky..., hoci by tieto boli textu veľmi nápomocné. Preklad je urobený mierne fušersky, obsahuje veľké množstvo chýb a preklepov. Taktiež mi mierne vadilo, že autor (najmä v poslednej tretine) dosť často vyjadroval svoj osobný pohľad na vec a nie vecný vedecký pohľad. Celkovo je kniha skôr priemerom, ale verejnosť môže zaujať.
October 2, 2014
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
An interesting book detailing the evolution of location technology, from a guy staring up at the stars, to GPS units and digital mapping. A pretty interesting read touch up on how the various technologies evolved over the years what brought them about, and the benefits and detriments that they bring to society. Seems a little biased against big corporations, especially Google, it all together touches upon the benefits and drawbacks of technology. Not a bad read if you're interested in the subject.
An interesting book detailing the evolution of location technology, from a guy staring up at the stars, to GPS units and digital mapping. A pretty interesting read touch up on how the various technologies evolved over the years what brought them about, and the benefits and detriments that they bring to society. Seems a little biased against big corporations, especially Google, it all together touches upon the benefits and drawbacks of technology. Not a bad read if you're interested in the subject.
March 25, 2015
Good overview of the history of navigation and location technologies. A bit oddly organized by concept rather than chronology, and the more current sections have a definite "why are we giving our privacy away, people?" doomsayer feel. But the book provides a great overall explanation for how we have gotten better and better over the past few hundred years (and the past decade, especially) in determining where we are and where we are going.
May 19, 2018
A fascinating book! I really enjoyed this book. One thought? Big Brother is alive and well and we don't really care because of all of the advantages that being tracked can give us.
As the title says the books starts off with the development of basic map making 1000's of years ago, to how the compass was developed, to all the way to GPS. Most modern technology was developed for use by the space program which was in turn used by the military. Again, fascinating!
I learnt how traffic movement is kept up to date by tracking the phones in cars all without the driver realizing what was happening, more up to date than a helicopter calling into a radio station.
How do all of those businesses know where I am and what I like?
What happens when I am asked if a business wants to know where I am? If I say yes that information is kept forever!
I will probably listen to this book again sometime as there was so much information.
As the title says the books starts off with the development of basic map making 1000's of years ago, to how the compass was developed, to all the way to GPS. Most modern technology was developed for use by the space program which was in turn used by the military. Again, fascinating!
I learnt how traffic movement is kept up to date by tracking the phones in cars all without the driver realizing what was happening, more up to date than a helicopter calling into a radio station.
How do all of those businesses know where I am and what I like?
What happens when I am asked if a business wants to know where I am? If I say yes that information is kept forever!
I will probably listen to this book again sometime as there was so much information.
April 24, 2022
There is a lot of history and innovation taking civilization from the early days of navigation to RFID tags and GPS-enabled wrist watches. From what I can tell, the highlights are all here. The writing is tight and journalistic, but there isn’t much room for reflection on what our increased ability to locate ourselves and others (and move accurately between those locations) has changed about our attitudes and patterns of life. Changes in military strategy are abundantly apparent, but I suppose that makes sense as they were a prime driver behind the development of GPS and related technologies.
December 23, 2016
This book was interesting in the academic sense but the execution was flat to the point where I might even call it boring. You can tell the parts of history that the author liked because they shined and the parts they shuffled through just to cover the whole of the subject. The modern stuff - the mobile phone amateur mapmaker stuff - was fascinating and hit the nail on the head of future developments like Pokemon Go and the like.
September 12, 2017
You Are Here is a part history of cartography, part explanation of the evolution of location technology, and part dissection of modern, location privacy issues. I found it to be both interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. I learned a lot - both about location tech and some issues surrounding location tech - and I would definitely reccomend this book to others.
February 24, 2017
Good technical history, doesn't really break any new ground, but for someone who's not deeply versed in the technology of location (whether that means sextants or GPS or anything in between), it's a great intro.
July 29, 2017
Extremely fascinating review of military history intertwined with industry and now tech companies! I am still on the fence about the utility of privacy regulation, but increasingly believe we need to try.
Read
August 27, 2024A bit dry at parts with LOTS of military history, but ultimately a fascinating read. Very dated too, but it was actually interesting to end at a time a decade past and consider how far we've come with technology.
July 20, 2017
The story of how we got to this point in term I
If being in the map; good history of mapping and GPS development walkthrough; little outdated.
If being in the map; good history of mapping and GPS development walkthrough; little outdated.
September 9, 2017
Great book, wonderful chronology, historical anecdotes give great context to technical advances
September 5, 2020
What it lacks in detail or accurateness it makes up for a good story about how we find where we are and where we're going
January 15, 2015
Really good book to feed my paranoia--the NSA is watching...and so is Angry Birds!
The first half of the book is a history of mapping and navigation. It was very interesting, though a little fast at times. The Polynesian sailors who would memorize wave patterns to navigate hundreds or thousands of miles over open sea are pretty amazing. I also learned a lot about magnets, compasses, and clocks. Time is even screwier than I thought. Atomic clocks are interesting.
The second half quickly moves from satellite cartography to the amazingly freaky amounts and types of data being gathered through our cell phones. The NSA is watching and there's little we can do about that for now. The phone companies track you from tower to tower for good purposes like responding to your 911 calls, but they also create very, very detailed profiles about each of us, which they absolutely sell, though often in nameless form. e.g. I get ads targeted at 30-something white guys who like the outdoors and grocery stores.
They get much more specific though. This is the crazy part! A bunch of companies continuously send vehicles around mapping out literally ALL of the wi-fi hotspots everywhere. As you walk and drive around, every time your phone can just detect the bars from some wi-fi, even the secure ones you can't use, the phone does much more precise triangulation than is possible from just the cell phone towers, tracking literally which side of the street you are on and from room to room in your house. After doing this for a few weeks, these total strangers can predict with over 70% accuracy where you will be at any given moment. And besides the phone company, most of the apps on your phone can gather this data too. The company behind Angry Birds is gathering your location data continuously even when the app is not on. The companies say this stuff in very vague language in the long Terms of Service that we click "I Agree" without reading. Then they all separately sell that info to different advertisers in different pieces so your info is gone and everywhere.
The book quotes a bunch of experts that society thinks it's awful when they hear about it, but aren't actually willing to do anything about it. We'll shrug and be commoditized for convenience. I read an article last week with similar opinions plus the possible scenario where the wealthy can buy more private versions of everything while the rest of us rapidly give up the expectation of privacy. It's interesting and quite literally the same as some of the dystopian scenarios we read about in our favorite stories. We willingly carry our personal trackers.
So we just got our first smart phone, and I turned off as many of the tracking things in my Privacy settings as I can. So I think the phone company is still tracking us, but at least not all the other companies. However, our phone uses Android, and it literally won't let you log out of your email, so Google can link the metadata very specifically to your account. So Shauna gets to have her account on the phone and I'll just wait to email at home.
Cue Twilight Zone music: do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do....da-da-da-da-da-DUM.
The first half of the book is a history of mapping and navigation. It was very interesting, though a little fast at times. The Polynesian sailors who would memorize wave patterns to navigate hundreds or thousands of miles over open sea are pretty amazing. I also learned a lot about magnets, compasses, and clocks. Time is even screwier than I thought. Atomic clocks are interesting.
The second half quickly moves from satellite cartography to the amazingly freaky amounts and types of data being gathered through our cell phones. The NSA is watching and there's little we can do about that for now. The phone companies track you from tower to tower for good purposes like responding to your 911 calls, but they also create very, very detailed profiles about each of us, which they absolutely sell, though often in nameless form. e.g. I get ads targeted at 30-something white guys who like the outdoors and grocery stores.
They get much more specific though. This is the crazy part! A bunch of companies continuously send vehicles around mapping out literally ALL of the wi-fi hotspots everywhere. As you walk and drive around, every time your phone can just detect the bars from some wi-fi, even the secure ones you can't use, the phone does much more precise triangulation than is possible from just the cell phone towers, tracking literally which side of the street you are on and from room to room in your house. After doing this for a few weeks, these total strangers can predict with over 70% accuracy where you will be at any given moment. And besides the phone company, most of the apps on your phone can gather this data too. The company behind Angry Birds is gathering your location data continuously even when the app is not on. The companies say this stuff in very vague language in the long Terms of Service that we click "I Agree" without reading. Then they all separately sell that info to different advertisers in different pieces so your info is gone and everywhere.
The book quotes a bunch of experts that society thinks it's awful when they hear about it, but aren't actually willing to do anything about it. We'll shrug and be commoditized for convenience. I read an article last week with similar opinions plus the possible scenario where the wealthy can buy more private versions of everything while the rest of us rapidly give up the expectation of privacy. It's interesting and quite literally the same as some of the dystopian scenarios we read about in our favorite stories. We willingly carry our personal trackers.
So we just got our first smart phone, and I turned off as many of the tracking things in my Privacy settings as I can. So I think the phone company is still tracking us, but at least not all the other companies. However, our phone uses Android, and it literally won't let you log out of your email, so Google can link the metadata very specifically to your account. So Shauna gets to have her account on the phone and I'll just wait to email at home.
Cue Twilight Zone music: do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do....da-da-da-da-da-DUM.
May 4, 2014
Nowadays, almost everyone are using a smartphone of some sort. One of the useful features of the smartphone is the ability to find nearby gas stations or help you navigate to your destination with precise driving direction since it knows exactly where you are. Yet few of us think much about the technologies we have in our hands that provide such convenience are only available to us recently. Like most high technologies for consumers, they started out from the military. The GPS that most of us rely on nowadays came as a result from the Cold War where the US need to find a way to find out its enemies and to guide the missiles in the event of a nuclear conflict. It was less than 15 years ago that these technologies that give us such high precision became available to civilians.
The book describes the fascinating journey of how mankind in the recent history try to map out the world and to find its own location. Sometimes, it is hard to imagine how people could be fighting in the past world wars with such lack of information of where they were and where they were going.
I really enjoyed reading about the comprehensive list of technologies from celestial navigation to gyroscope to inertial navigation to the GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation. While the author doesn't go deep into each technology, it is a rare book containing such a collection of technologies in a readable format.
The book ended with an outlook of where this is heading, how we will be able to not only see where we are in a freeway, but also inside building structures. With such convenience, we sometimes forget that we are in fact giving up our privacy. One can argue that some companies are abusing the technologies (I didn't know that the company behind Angry Bird still collect the users' location information in the background even if the users is not playing the game). Both corporations and governments now have massive amount of data giving them the ability to track individual and predict with high accuracy the likelihood of where someone will be next. Law makers need to balance between the need to protect its citizens vs. their privacy. Smarter technologies and better laws may protect us from abuse of authorities and corporations but we will never again be able to travel anonymously and hide ourselves.
The book describes the fascinating journey of how mankind in the recent history try to map out the world and to find its own location. Sometimes, it is hard to imagine how people could be fighting in the past world wars with such lack of information of where they were and where they were going.
I really enjoyed reading about the comprehensive list of technologies from celestial navigation to gyroscope to inertial navigation to the GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation. While the author doesn't go deep into each technology, it is a rare book containing such a collection of technologies in a readable format.
The book ended with an outlook of where this is heading, how we will be able to not only see where we are in a freeway, but also inside building structures. With such convenience, we sometimes forget that we are in fact giving up our privacy. One can argue that some companies are abusing the technologies (I didn't know that the company behind Angry Bird still collect the users' location information in the background even if the users is not playing the game). Both corporations and governments now have massive amount of data giving them the ability to track individual and predict with high accuracy the likelihood of where someone will be next. Law makers need to balance between the need to protect its citizens vs. their privacy. Smarter technologies and better laws may protect us from abuse of authorities and corporations but we will never again be able to travel anonymously and hide ourselves.
December 9, 2014
If I could, I would rate this book 3 3/4 stars or maybe 3 1/2. I didn't REALLY like it, I just kinda really liked it. Mr. Bray gives a thorough yet concise history of navigation, timekeeping as relates to navigation, and map-making. For most of the book, the tone is matter-of-fact. It proceeds at a good pace. There is a lot here I did not know. Overall, I found the book very interesting but not really engrossing like the story of polar exploration is engrossing, for example. I don't fault Mr. Bray for that. This story just doesn't have a lot of natural drama.
Minor criticism: I wish the chapters would have been arranged into subsections. A lot of times, books like this have little breaks built into them every few pages. This one doesn't. Each chapter pretty much flows smoothly from start to finish.
The book comes up a little short on dealing with the future of "how we find ourselves", contrary to the subtitle. Here, the author's insights are rather mundane and obvious, and he begins editorializing a little too much. It would have been better had he solicited more input from subject matter experts instead of making assertions as he does on page 226: "However, the cause of personal privacy would be ill-served by fifty different legal standards for locational privacy. The United States needs a unified federal standard. It ought to cover both real-time data ... and access to historical location data ... ." Maybe that is so, but it is an advocacy position and somewhat out of place in a book that mostly deals with historical fact. In looking forward, I expected the author to tell me what he thinks will happen based on his research into the subject, not on what he thinks ought to happen. This is a small point because most of the book isn't like this.
All in all, You Are Here is an interesting but not fascinating historical account of the subject. Some of the stories, like that of the development of inertial navigation, are actually kind of fascinating when you get right down to it.
Minor criticism: I wish the chapters would have been arranged into subsections. A lot of times, books like this have little breaks built into them every few pages. This one doesn't. Each chapter pretty much flows smoothly from start to finish.
The book comes up a little short on dealing with the future of "how we find ourselves", contrary to the subtitle. Here, the author's insights are rather mundane and obvious, and he begins editorializing a little too much. It would have been better had he solicited more input from subject matter experts instead of making assertions as he does on page 226: "However, the cause of personal privacy would be ill-served by fifty different legal standards for locational privacy. The United States needs a unified federal standard. It ought to cover both real-time data ... and access to historical location data ... ." Maybe that is so, but it is an advocacy position and somewhat out of place in a book that mostly deals with historical fact. In looking forward, I expected the author to tell me what he thinks will happen based on his research into the subject, not on what he thinks ought to happen. This is a small point because most of the book isn't like this.
All in all, You Are Here is an interesting but not fascinating historical account of the subject. Some of the stories, like that of the development of inertial navigation, are actually kind of fascinating when you get right down to it.
April 13, 2014
I love maps in all shapes and sizes. As a kid on summer vacations I got to act as navigator for the long drive and somehow managed to keep us on the right track. Later in the military that early learning came in very handy. I have a collection of paper maps that span the world, almost literally. I enjoy the patterns and colors, but most of all I like the depth of information a map can give you in such a handy, pocket sized tool.
It is hard to imagine a world without maps, with out instant access to where you are, where you were and how to get where you are going, but in the span of just a few hundred years we have gone from navigating the globe in an almost blind fashion to being able to whip out a phone and locating the nearest coffee shop, hamburger joint, or the best road to Seattle.
In YOU ARE HERE, Boston Globe technology reporter Hiawatha Bray guides us through the technological revolution that has lead mankind from being lost in the woods to circumnavigating the planet on, above and under the surface. Noting that much of this development in technology is the result of two world wars and the need to better kill each other without losing our own troops along the way, Bray manages to inject this tale with a lightness which is usually not found in a book such as this.
If you are looking for in-depth reporting on the intricacies of radio direction finding or how major communications companies are using your phone to track you even as you read this, you may want to look elsewhere, but if you want a great read to lead you into this rewarding area of study, this is the book for you.
This was a Goodreads win and a welcome addition to my collection of all things map related. There is a growing sense of the Orwellian paranoia coming to fruition as local police and federal agencies have almost unlimited access to the location signals your phone emits, but for many that is a small price to pay to get a great latte.
It is hard to imagine a world without maps, with out instant access to where you are, where you were and how to get where you are going, but in the span of just a few hundred years we have gone from navigating the globe in an almost blind fashion to being able to whip out a phone and locating the nearest coffee shop, hamburger joint, or the best road to Seattle.
In YOU ARE HERE, Boston Globe technology reporter Hiawatha Bray guides us through the technological revolution that has lead mankind from being lost in the woods to circumnavigating the planet on, above and under the surface. Noting that much of this development in technology is the result of two world wars and the need to better kill each other without losing our own troops along the way, Bray manages to inject this tale with a lightness which is usually not found in a book such as this.
If you are looking for in-depth reporting on the intricacies of radio direction finding or how major communications companies are using your phone to track you even as you read this, you may want to look elsewhere, but if you want a great read to lead you into this rewarding area of study, this is the book for you.
This was a Goodreads win and a welcome addition to my collection of all things map related. There is a growing sense of the Orwellian paranoia coming to fruition as local police and federal agencies have almost unlimited access to the location signals your phone emits, but for many that is a small price to pay to get a great latte.
December 25, 2016
The book provides an interesting survey of maps and its associated technology up to present times, including our hyper-connected, totally present age. It is a good primer. Unfortunately, consideration of the impact of current technology on privacy are pretty superficial, and there is almost no attention given to the prospects for the future. GPS along with connected devices and software are developing much faster than our ability to assimilate the impact on policy and culture. For example, the author believes it might be possible to protect some annonimity and personal privacy with a mix of appropriate technology and policy that define what information can be maintained, by whom for what purposes and length of time. This argument seems to assume that the technology stands still and that policy will keep up with progress in areas like commerce and military. It seems to me that this is a struggle for the generation that straddles the two eras - one characterized by almost complete positional annonimity and the current one by almost complete (and increasingly comprehensive) connectedness. From a computational perspective, locating a person is easy-peasy once the infrastructure is in place. The points of connection and the ease of solving the positional problem will only increase with more devices and as more of our lives are connected. Further development of computers, algorithms and memory will also have an impact. The coming age will be one where we are not largely invisible, and younger generations will not really appreciate the world before or, to a large extent, concerns with privacy. These issues will require a more informed debate, but policy should not be driven by an unrealistic 1960s definition of privacy - it doesn't exist any more.
October 9, 2015
So you mean to tell me that people refused to use RFID badges for location tracking because they represented the Mark of the Beast according to the Christian scriptures. I can’t even.. Anyway! :)
This was an easy read and a great mix of science and history lessons! This is the story of how we find our location on earth. From the sailors who relied on the stars, to the compass and the first crude maps of the world, the amazing technological advancements made during the first and second world wars and the cold war era, the rise of the GPS in the 90s and the smartphone era where it is almost impossible to get lost whether by chance or on purpose. The author manages to provide a very fluid equilibrium between the historical contexts in which these developments happened and how the technology itself works (from the compass, to gyroscopes, radio waves, location via cell towers, wifi and IP addresses, GPS satellites and many others in between ). Light reading that kept me engaged like few others have in a while. Loved it!
This was an easy read and a great mix of science and history lessons! This is the story of how we find our location on earth. From the sailors who relied on the stars, to the compass and the first crude maps of the world, the amazing technological advancements made during the first and second world wars and the cold war era, the rise of the GPS in the 90s and the smartphone era where it is almost impossible to get lost whether by chance or on purpose. The author manages to provide a very fluid equilibrium between the historical contexts in which these developments happened and how the technology itself works (from the compass, to gyroscopes, radio waves, location via cell towers, wifi and IP addresses, GPS satellites and many others in between ). Light reading that kept me engaged like few others have in a while. Loved it!
February 7, 2017
3.5 stars. Solid and concise history of navigation, ranging from guidance by star sighting to man-made satellites. Bray does a good job on a whirlwind tour through how humans have found themselves (physically) throughout time, highlighting the tenuousness of location in history, how challenging navigation used to be, and how the ubiquitous nature of today's technology makes getting lost seem the exception rather than the norm (a complete 180 from what was the human condition for most of our history when exploring unknown surroundings). The technical information is sometimes a bit dry, but never irrelevant. Bray finishes up by touching upon the privacy concerns that invasive and omnipresent technology gives rise to. Nice little book with a timely perspective.
July 4, 2014
An interesting but somewhat flawed treatment. Billed as a history from the compass to GPS, it falls short in its treatment of navigation in antiquity to the age of exploration. Bray does a much better job in addressing 20th-century advancements, but there are some issues there as well. A generally outstanding discussion of inertial navigation development is flawed by his assessment of Einstein's equivalence of inertial and gravitational forces (used as an argument that inertial navigation systems were impossible).
The author does an excellent job of describing the current state-of-the-art in location services and trends.
The author does an excellent job of describing the current state-of-the-art in location services and trends.
December 29, 2016
This book looks through the history of location. The book skips over some early technologies likes sunstones, lodestones, south-pointing chariots and the like and really takes off when sea navigation becomes common. From there, the book goes through new technology with a big focus on the early satellite, and WWII rocket technologies.
Also included are in-depth discussions of technologies like Skyhook that find location based on wifi broadcasts and cell tower triangulation. There's no huge narrative nor much look to the future, but it delivers what the title sets out to do, say how you know where you are.
Also included are in-depth discussions of technologies like Skyhook that find location based on wifi broadcasts and cell tower triangulation. There's no huge narrative nor much look to the future, but it delivers what the title sets out to do, say how you know where you are.
July 31, 2014
You needn't start out thinking this will blow your mind, because it's not that kind of book. It's also somewhat skewed - the first millennia of spatial orientation are pretty much glossed over, and much of the book is actually given to the last decades. Which, admittedly, are the sexiest and most relevant to us, so I'm not exactly surprised.
It is, all in all, interesting. I didn't pick up much - except for why it's a good idea to have the wifi on for location purposes - and the closing question about privacy vs. convenience is already a classic conundrum. But it was worth a read.
It is, all in all, interesting. I didn't pick up much - except for why it's a good idea to have the wifi on for location purposes - and the closing question about privacy vs. convenience is already a classic conundrum. But it was worth a read.
December 30, 2016
Unfortunately, the book is rather disjointed and uneven. It would appear that the author is trying to do a bit of everything, succeeding at very little: from a grand sweep of history in early chapters to corporate histories in the second half of the book combined with what felt like a tacked-on and shallow discussion of privacy in the 21st century. I quite liked some chapters, but the book lacked a real cohesive through line that would have made it a better read. I would have rated it 2.5 stars if Goodreads permitted that option.
April 13, 2014
Where shall I start? Pun intended. While this is a review of the development of location finding devices, it is also an examination of what that means to us. I haven't decided how I feel about it, but having read this book I have the tools to consider. The stories the author tells are interesting and bring out the problem and how important the solution was. I required reading book for the modern technocrat.
January 2, 2015
Good book. Clearly, much good research was done to put this together. A significant omission: a description of the SR71 program, which took over the intelligence chore after the U-2 program ended.
Book makes an interesting point: privacy is basically gone. If you have a cell phone, you can be found.
My copy is an "advance uncorrected proof" (paperback), which was clean except for a spurious "\" on page 11, and a spelling error on page 187: "hoard" should have been "horde".
Book makes an interesting point: privacy is basically gone. If you have a cell phone, you can be found.
My copy is an "advance uncorrected proof" (paperback), which was clean except for a spurious "\" on page 11, and a spelling error on page 187: "hoard" should have been "horde".
January 9, 2015
Great book on the history of navigation. It's a bit technical at times, which is hard to avoid with this subject matter. Since I have a background in tech, that made it more interesting for me.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in maps and location privacy today.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in maps and location privacy today.
October 2, 2014
A great overview of place and technology! The beginning was a bit slow, then I love the majority of the book. At the very end it got a bit slow again (focused on cell phone and legal issues of privacy). I enjoyed the GPS narrative (and NDS got ~1/3 of a page!).
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