Back when the Web was wilderness, it made sense that the main tool for pathfinding was a browser's "Back" button. Prudence dictated that you be able to retrace your steps, like Hansel and Gretel following a trail of bread crumbs. Now that the digital frontier resembles parkland more than wilderness, some Web wanderers are rethinking that navigational imperative.

Among them is entrepreneur Philip Copeland. While sailing off the coast of his native Australia, Copeland had an epiphany. He was using GPS technology to guide his way. And he recalls: "I wondered: Why can't the Web be this easy to navigate, with pointers leading you from one way-station to the next?" Copeland rounded up venture financing and started Spot On, in San Mateo, Calif. His mission: create a new way to move around the Net.