Today I use GPS navigation when I want to get somewhere and Google Earth to plan my garden, but neither positioning nor imaging were conceived as consumer-level products. When did it become conceivable that that might happen in the future and how was it envisioned?
Arthur C. Clarke is credited with popularizing the idea of orbital radio relays in 1945, although Potocnik published it earlier, and Oberth also described some aspects, in the 1920's as rocket travel began to be investigated. It was somewhat patchwork as they imagined space stations and various functions for them such as reconnaissance.
Source:
The Problem of Space Travel: The Rocket Motor By Hermann Noordung