Thread: GPS for inside shopping

On Feb 14, 9:19*am, Metspitzer <kilow...@charter.net> wrote:
> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...lost-in-a-stor...
>
> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
> directly in front of me and I can't find it. *I need a smart phone
> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>
> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. *Just make a floor map
> available on the Internet.
>
> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
> order of the isle.

Just learn where things are fer christ sake!!

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:29:24 -0800 (PST), Chemo the Clown
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On Feb 14, 9:19*am, Metspitzer <kilow...@charter.net> wrote:
> > http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...lost-in-a-stor...
> >
> > I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
> > directly in front of me and I can't find it. *I need a smart phone
> > that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
> >
> > Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. *Just make a floor map
> > available on the Internet.
> >
> > If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
> > order of the isle.
>
> Just learn where things are fer christ sake!!

It sounds like you don't go shopping often enough to figure out that
they are constantly changing where things are put.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Metspitzer <[email protected]> wrote:

> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...st-in-a-store-
> the-lightbulbs-can-beam-you-an-escape-route/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_
> medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiscoverDiscoblog +%28Discoblog%29&utm_
> content=Google+Reader
>
> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
> directly in front of me and I can't find it. I need a smart phone
> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>
> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
> available on the Internet.
>
> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
> order of the isle.


I remember in 1992 a supermarket had LCD touch screens on each shopping
cart.

An antenna on the cart was tall enough that it didn't lose a "GPS
connection." It was two way reception.

It displayed a floor plan and if you chose "mustard" from the items list
it would blink where it was located and drew a path from your cart to the
mustard.

Also if you passed something in the aisle that was on sale, it displayed
a coupon-like screen for you to decide on. Carting passed it put the
main screen back up.

It was a very powerful and advance-for-it's-day system.

Then one day, months later, they went out of business.

I've never seen an identical system ever since.

My iPhone, using the built-in camera can scan and read barcodes and with
the location manager will call up the product AND show prices of other
supermarkets in a given radius for price comparisons. Interesting concept
but in generally not cost effective.

Another app "CardStar" maintains a list of stores that have membership
cards. You pick a store, put in your membership bar code number and it
creates a barcode image in data file that can be scanned at the store.
Thinned down my wallet a bit but it slow compared to pulling out a card
and slowing check-out of others. Works at my two supermarkets, library
and wholesale club.

CardStar is one of those "because it can be done" novelty apps. Similar
apps are available on other cell phones.

Andy

On 14/02/2012 12:29 PM, Chemo the Clown wrote:
hat tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>>
>> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
>> available on the Internet.
>>
>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>> order of the isle.
>
> Just learn where things are fer christ sake!!

My late brother in law was an retired engineer with some obsessive
compulsive traits. He spent a lot more time planning chores and tasks
than he spent doing them. He had a hand drawn map of the town with the
locations of the stores where he shopped and floor plans of the
stores... pretty much to scale. He liked to use coupons and would sit
down and plan out his shopping day, taking into account which coupons he
would be using in order to write down an itinerary that mapped out the
order in which he would visit the stores and the locations he had to go
to in each store. He got really upset when they moved their stock around.

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:29:24 -0800 (PST), Chemo the Clown
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Feb 14, 9:19*am, Metspitzer <kilow...@charter.net> wrote:
>> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...lost-in-a-stor...
>>
>> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
>> directly in front of me and I can't find it. *I need a smart phone
>> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>>
>> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. *Just make a floor map
>> available on the Internet.
>>
>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>> order of the isle.
>
>Just learn where things are fer christ sake!!

Most stupidmarkets are arranged pretty much alike; produce as you
enter, dairy at the opposite corner, meat on the back wall, deli and
bakery on the wall opposite the meats, and everything else aisle by
aisle, if you see pasta you'll also see tomato sauce, pet foods all in
one aisle, and so forth. Aisles are typically well labeled with
overhead signs... and most importantly don't be ashamed to ask. The
stores I shop regularly I have pretty much memorized... it's rare they
place something elsewhere unless it's on sale and then there's a big
end of aisle display you can't miss. Stores are purposely laid out so
that customers need to transverse the entire store several times for
locating the most often purchased food items... more than half the
items sold at the average grocery store are non-food... that's one of
the things I like about Walmart, they have only food items in their
grocery section, no cleaning products, no paper products, no
housewares, no OTC meds, etc., just food. I haven't been able to
figure out what people don't like about Walmart, the only food I don't
buy there are fresh meats, all other food items are exactly the same
as anywhere else only they're priced substantially lower. In fact any
branded items are exsactly the same as the same items sold
elsewhere... and if you choose not to buy items made in the orient
then you're SOOL, you'll have to do without because everywhere else
sells exactly the same items made in the orient. Very few items are
still made in the US.

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:19:57 -0500, Dave Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On 14/02/2012 12:29 PM, Chemo the Clown wrote:
>hat tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>>>
>>> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
>>> available on the Internet.
>>>
>>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>>> order of the isle.
>>
>> Just learn where things are fer christ sake!!
>
>My late brother in law was an retired engineer with some obsessive
>compulsive traits. He spent a lot more time planning chores and tasks
>than he spent doing them. He had a hand drawn map of the town with the
>locations of the stores where he shopped and floor plans of the
>stores... pretty much to scale. He liked to use coupons and would sit
>down and plan out his shopping day, taking into account which coupons he
>would be using in order to write down an itinerary that mapped out the
>order in which he would visit the stores and the locations he had to go
>to in each store.

He didn't have much of an IQ, not if he couldn't remember which store
sold milk and bread and where it was in the store... normal six year
olds can learn that in one outing.

On 14/02/2012 4:08 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>arn where things are fer christ sake!!
>>
>> My late brother in law was an retired engineer with some obsessive
>> compulsive traits. He spent a lot more time planning chores and tasks
>> than he spent doing them. He had a hand drawn map of the town with the
>> locations of the stores where he shopped and floor plans of the
>> stores... pretty much to scale. He liked to use coupons and would sit
>> down and plan out his shopping day, taking into account which coupons he
>> would be using in order to write down an itinerary that mapped out the
>> order in which he would visit the stores and the locations he had to go
>> to in each store.
>
> He didn't have much of an IQ, not if he couldn't remember which store
> sold milk and bread and where it was in the store... normal six year
> olds can learn that in one outing.


It's the engineer aspect of him. It is an anal existence that involves a
compulsion to make lists. The first time he showed up here he had notes
on distance between the locations where he had to turn. My wife went
with him to a cousin's funeral in Indiana. When he was driving he had
her writing down the mileage between all the highway intersections. Of
course, on the way back the same way he had to double check them all.

On Feb 14, 4:16*pm, Dave Smith <adavid.sm...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> On 14/02/2012 4:08 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
> >arn where things are fer christ sake!!
>
> >> My late brother in law was an retired engineer with some obsessive
> >> compulsive traits. *He spent a lot more time planning chores and tasks
> >> than he spent doing them. *He had a hand drawn map of the town with the
> >> locations of the stores where he shopped and floor plans of the
> >> stores... pretty much to scale. *He liked to use coupons and would sit
> >> down and plan out his shopping day, taking into account which coupons he
> >> would be using in order to write down an itinerary that mapped out the
> >> order in which he would visit the stores and the locations he had to go
> >> to in each store.
>
> > He didn't have much of an IQ, not if he couldn't remember which store
> > sold milk and bread and where it was in the store... normal six year
> > olds can learn that in one outing.
>
> It's the engineer aspect of him. It is an anal existence that involves a
> compulsion to make lists. *The first time he showed up here he had notes
> on distance between the locations where he had to turn. *My wife went
> with him to a cousin's funeral in Indiana. *When he was driving he had
> her writing down the mileage between all the highway intersections. *Of
> course, on the way back the same way he had to double check them all.

It's not an engineer thing. Most of the engineers I've ever known were
sloppy, slovenly mother****ers who sleepwalk through life. Scientists,
on the other hand...

Metspitzer <[email protected]> wrote:
> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...=Google+Reader
>
> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
> directly in front of me and I can't find it. I need a smart phone
> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>
> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
> available on the Internet.
>
> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
> order of the isle.

I think most large buildings have a metal roof. No signal, no gps.

Greg

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:08:06 +0000 (UTC), gregz <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Metspitzer <[email protected]> wrote:
>> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...=Google+Reader
>>
>> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
>> directly in front of me and I can't find it. I need a smart phone
>> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>>
>> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
>> available on the Internet.
>>
>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>> order of the isle.
>
>I think most large buildings have a metal roof. No signal, no gps.
>
Get the map on the way to the store after you finish your make-up.

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:08:06 +0000 (UTC), gregz <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Metspitzer <[email protected]> wrote:
>> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/di...=Google+Reader
>>
>> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
>> directly in front of me and I can't find it. I need a smart phone
>> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>>
>> Instead of installing LEDs to guide you. Just make a floor map
>> available on the Internet.
>>
>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>> order of the isle.
>
>I think most large buildings have a metal roof. No signal, no gps.

My GPS works just fine and my automobile has a metal roof.

Metspitzer wrote:

> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
> order of the isle.

Thus screwing up the effort they put in making you walk around the entire
place in the hope that you'll buy more goods. I fear you'll have to wait a
lot

Dave Smith wrote:

> It's the engineer aspect of him. It is an anal existence that
> involves a compulsion to make lists. The first time he showed up
> here he had notes on distance between the locations where he had to
> turn. My wife went with him to a cousin's funeral in Indiana. When
> he was driving he had her writing down the mileage between all the
> highway intersections. Of course, on the way back the same way he
> had to double check them all.

LOL, Carlo Verdone's "Furio" was just like that, continuously planning and
checking and double checking travel distances and times, going to the point
of calling the ACI (Italian automobile club) to discuss his forecasts on
travel times.
He's in the movie "Bianco Rosso e Verdone"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2RjhGKlD-k

"Metspitzer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> I can be standing at the isle with the object I am looking for
> directly in front of me and I can't find it. I need a smart phone
> that tells what shelf and how far from the end.
>
(snippage)

How about you just ask an employee? Some of us would like to keep these
people employed. You don't need an app for this. If you shop often enough,
unless you're hopping from grocery store to grocery store, you should know
where things are. If they're re-arranging things just ask where they put
it. They'll tell you.

Sheesh, if you have to carry a cell phone around with GPS to figure out
where the food is maybe you should let mommy do the shopping.

Jill

On 2/15/2012 3:50 AM, ViLco wrote:
> Metspitzer wrote:
>
>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>> order of the isle.
>
> Thus screwing up the effort they put in making you walk around the entire
> place in the hope that you'll buy more goods. I fear you'll have to wait a
> lot

I worked with a woman who did just that on her work computer.
None of us had home computers back in the dinosaur days.
She had every item she purchased by aisle and listed the
price, too. She'd just check off what she needed and print
it out. Boy was she irritated when they changed things
around.

I've been to stores that handed out a basic store layout
by aisle. It didn't help if they decided to group things
in a weird way like my store, but you got the general idea.

nancy

"jmcquown" <[email protected]> wrote:

> How about you just ask an employee? Some of us would like to keep
> these people employed. You don't need an app for this. If you shop
> often enough, unless you're hopping from grocery store to grocery
> store, you should know where things are. If they're re-arranging
> things just ask where they put it. They'll tell you.


Jill,

I agree. I know where all the departments are and where my usual staples
are.

ACME supermarket uses hanging wooden signs as you head down the aisles
which I never really liked. My other supermarket has brightly lit LED
(?) HDTV screens between the aisles and the checkout lanes, and similarly
in the back between the aisles and meat lane so you can see the whole
store by "Product... Lane # format. They're placed about every five
aisles since they have 21 aisles. The ACME, I'd have to pause at each
aisle. Some aisles at the back were missing the signs as if they wanted
me to shop front to back.

The electric screens are very convenient for the market, able to relocate
products and placement with a few keystrokes.

One convenience service I found by accident was the deli section touch
screen order entry. I ordered a few things. I stood there while other
customers ordered and left. After about 15 minutes I interrupted a
customer to say I'd been there for 20 minutes. She pointed to a wooden
box of cubby holes, mentioning my order was in one, just match up the
ticket to the goods. She mentioned that system was for customers who
wanted to order and comeback after shopping. A good time savings! I
apologized, thanked her and walked off feeling quite the fool! LOL!

Best,

Andy

The damn store keeps changing that. And what about stuff you rarely use?

Jerry
--
"I view the progress of science as being the slow erosion of the
tendency to dichotomize." Barbara Smuts, U. Mich.

Nancy Young wrote:

>>> If you had a floor map, you could make a shopping list of items in
>>> order of the isle.

>> Thus screwing up the effort they put in making you walk around the
>> entire place in the hope that you'll buy more goods. I fear you'll
>> have to wait a lot

> I worked with a woman who did just that on her work computer.
> None of us had home computers back in the dinosaur days.
> She had every item she purchased by aisle and listed the
> price, too. She'd just check off what she needed and print
> it out. Boy was she irritated when they changed things
> around.

LOL

> I've been to stores that handed out a basic store layout
> by aisle. It didn't help if they decided to group things
> in a weird way like my store, but you got the general idea.

Loud and clear

Jerky Avins <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>The damn store keeps changing that.

You can always ask where they keep the tampons, Jerky.