@daringfireball Etak Navigator makes an appearance a few times in the 1991 film "Nothing But Trouble"; I remember as a kid thinking it was so cool
Here's a couple (brief) scenes I found:
https://youtu.be/wj9u8kKKMFc?si=STc0sXTjIq-cky8g&t=429

https://youtu.be/wj9u8kKKMFc?si=c1g0hDm0V3PQ0Rst&t=600

https://youtu.be/wj9u8kKKMFc?si=NyuSMpNcI38cTwf5&t=1120

@daringfireball 1. It was not “supremely difficult and tedious to find locations” before digital maps. More difficult, yes.

2. Maybe it “looks like it came out of the imagination of scriptwriters for a James Bond movie” because a device like this was literally featured in Goldfinger.