The Celestron SkyScout is a very interesting gadget because its basic technology appears to be quite easily extensible to terrestrial uses.

If you think about what the SkyScout does, it needs GPS, a compass, an inclinometer(*) and a database. In effect, it lives at the center of a spherical coordinate system, the center of which is determined by the GPS, the two angular coordinates of a designated object being determined by the compass and inclinometer(*). For celestial objects, that's enough, because range doesn't matter, just declination and right ascension -- but add a rangefinder and you have a gadget that can determine all three dimensions of whatever you're looking at (within range-finder range, of course) and provide interesting information about it from a geographically referenced database. That information could be text, maps, overhead imagery, technical specs like the strength of bridges, etc.

Military, intelligence and emergency service applications come to mind.

(*) Apparently the inclinometer is some sort of MEMS device:

http://www.analog.com/en/content/0,2886,764%255F800%255F98966,00.html

Posted by: Allen Thomson at June 5, 2006 11:49 AM