Etak

Etak's initial start-up funding came from Nolan Bushnell, famous for starting Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater.

[Co-founder Stan Honey] was doing military-related research at SRI International in 1983 when he sailed with Pong inventor and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to victory in a Transpac race. Bushnell was impressed with Honey's navigational electronics and asked whether he had any other ideas. Honey suggested a car navigation system. Bushnell gave him $500,000 in seed money, and digital-mapping firm Etak (named after a Polynesian term for navigation) was born.

Etak's Navigator was the first commercially available automotive navigation system of any practical significance. Etak initially delivered the hardware system, the maps and dynamic content for its automotive navigation system.

Early Etak product literature claimed that "Etak" was an ancient Polynesian term that described navigating intuitively by the stars.

Etak went through a number of acquisitions.

Etak was acquired in 1989 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It was during this time that Fox Sports' FoxTrax hockey puck was introduced for use in NHL telecasts, using Etak GPS technology (there is a display in the Etak lobby).

News Corporation then sold Etak to Sony Corporation in May 1996.

In May 2000, Etak, Inc. was acquired from Sony Corporation by Tele Atlas and became Tele Atlas North America. Etak, Inc. ceased to exist as a separate company soon after.