GPS Shoes - One Business Idea, Different Approaches

GPS devices have become an essential part of our lives today. They can be found in various forms such as mobile phones, car navigation systems, GPS for motorcycles and bicycles, handheld navigators, and more. Apart from the traditional approach to determining the location of an object, there are also innovative ideas. One such idea is to embed a GPS navigator in footwear. Why shoes specifically and not other apparel? The answer is simple: you are unlikely to forget your shoes when leaving home.

Dominic Wilcox and His LED Shoes

Imagine finding yourself in an unfamiliar city without a car, walking, perhaps to a job interview. Your hands are full, snow is falling, and you don't feel like looking at a map or asking passersby for directions. Your goal is to reach the subway station as quickly as possible, and then to your meeting place.

Back in 2012, British designer Dominic Wilcox came up with the idea of creating GPS shoes. And he did just that. The shoes he designed can actually guide their owner in a certain direction. The unconventional footwear has a typical, even formal appearance, but the uniqueness lies within – a GPS system is integrated into the sole.

Dominic himself admitted that the inspiration behind creating such shoes came from a story in "The Wizard of Oz" where the main character, Dorothy, could tap her heels together to get home. Thus, participating in the Global Footprint project (Northamptonshire), where the designer was tasked to create shoes, Dominic wanted to invent footwear that could lead a person to any place.

The working principle of the shoes is as follows: first, the destination address is entered via USB and a special program. Then, just like in a fairytale, you need to click your heels together (activating the GPS embedded in the heel). Subsequently, LEDs light up on the left toe showing the direction and on the right toe showing the distance to the destination.

In addition to Dominic, the development of the shoes also involved an expert in interactive sciences and technologies, Becky Stuart, and the master of the local footwear company Stamp Shoes.

Of course, the British-designed shoes may not be convenient in certain aspects:

• Having the navigator embedded in the shoes makes it inconvenient when switching shoes, for example, to boots.
• Connecting dirty shoes via USB to a computer and inputting information into a special program before each outing can be quite cumbersome and time-consuming.

It is therefore believed that the pair of shoes invented by the British designer is just a prototype embodying an idea and does not aim for mass production.

Smart Le Chal Shoes for the Blind and Beyond

Contrary to the British designer, former MIT Media Lab employee Anirudh Sharma, along with his colleague Krispian Lawrence, took a step further by creating footwear for the blind and visually impaired. After two years of continuous work, this concept materialized into the innovative product Le Chal. The shoes are a tactile navigation device with the capability of connecting to a smartphone.

The usage principle is simple: you dictate the final destination through your smartphone, and after confirmation, each step you take is guided by vibrations in your pair of shoes. When you should turn left, the left insole vibrates, and vice versa (the insoles can be detached from the shoes and used in any regular footwear). As you approach the destination, the intensity of vibrations increases.

The development of the smart shoes took place over several years in India at the globally renowned L V Prasad Eye Institute.

In addition to the aforementioned functions, the smart shoes can count steps taken, distance covered, and calories burned. The shoe application will run on all popular mobile platforms.

The name Le Chal translates from Hindi as "Let's move forward," which is highly fitting for this product. The manufacturer's price for the visually impaired and blind citizens is subsidized at $50. For all others, the novelty will cost $100.

The fact that this business idea was proposed in at least two solutions indicates a demand for such products and, as a result, the emergence of a new business niche.