So I am always using the Location Based Service or GPS functions on my smartphone for searching places. Sometimes it’s just for maps, sometimes for driving, maybe just to see how far someplace away is, or where the closest Italian restaurant is and how good is it. It made me think about how we got around before we had the simplicity of location based service applications and the first mobile navigation service I ever used. Before Google Maps, what did we used to rely on?

Back in late 1990s, we had cell phones. Simple cell phones for making simple phone calls. No ring tones, no texting, no data access, no apps. Hard to believe we ever got anything done!

However, many of us also had PDAs or Personal Digital Assistants and the king of the PDA market was the Palm Pilot. I carried it everywhere, using the stylus to scribble notes with letters shaped, well, not like normal letters. It was great to have your calendar and contacts in your pocket that would sync with the PC application it came with. The Palm was the first touch screen device I ever used, except I kept losing the little stylus you needed to type or use the Palm Script for. It was easy to use and fit in my pocket. It had no wireless data connection, but that’s what you used the PC sync function for. Download something to the PC and sync it to your Palm.

As the Palm matured and apps started to become available. I recall reading about this new company that had a cool new service – Vindigo. Vindigo turned my PDA into a personal navigator. Tell it where you are or where you’re going and Vindigo gave you a list of the closest restaurants, stores, ATMs, bars, clubs, parking lots, movies, and more. To help you get to your destination, Vindigo provided (depending on the city) maps, step-by-step directions, and public transit information. It had professional reviews, new listings, and current movie times which were updated whenever you performed your sync. I believe my monthly subscription was $12.95. I used it all the time and I had to sync it all the time to keep it current. I recall standing in Manhattan and wanting some good Korean food, I typed in my current location (remember it had no wireless data capability), intersection of 6th and Broadway and bang a nice list of restaurants’ and the distance to each. Vindigo was very popular – everyone I knew had to have it. In later years the cost went down to about $30 per year. Vindigo was no longer available as of early 2009, although some sites claim to still allow people to download it, but with no new data to sync with I can’t imagine it would be useful.

I can’t say I miss it, not with all the apps that come on my smartphone. I do miss writing in that Palm Script though; I got pretty good at that ☺