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The time and the place Christmas may be almost a year away but how about this as a present for the= man or woman who has everything. The Casio Computer Company has unveiled a= prototype wristwatch with built-in global positioning system (GPS). The Japanese firm says the watch is the world's smallest GPS device. It= displays the user's latitude and longitude by degrees, minutes and seconds= - as well as all the usual clock function. The device should give a position anywhere on the planet down to an accuracy= of several tens of metres. This is the usual standard for GPS machines in= civilian use. Military receivers that use special encryption technology can= obtain far more accurate data. The heart of the GPS system is a network of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth= at a height of 11,000 miles. Each satellite carries an atomic clock that= enables distances to be calculated from the time signals take to travel= across the network. Casio, which displayed the prototype on Thursday at its headquarters in= Tokyo, said the watch could be released worldwide as early as June. It= would be targeted at those involved in outdoor sports. It is expected to= retail at a price between 50,000 yen and 70,000 yen (=A3270 and =A3378). It would be an addition to Casio's Protrek range of multiple feature= watches. A spokesman for Casio UK said the company would take time to evaluate= Japanese consumer reaction to the product before releasing the in Britain.= In 1997, Casio sold 1.3 million watches in the UK. BBC News Online: Sci/Tech=20 Thursday, January 7, 1999 Published at 17:07 GMT= <http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid_250000/250603.stm> janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada <http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm> [log in to unmask]