Photo: Apple
No, Apple’s maps won’t surpass Google’s yet, but the new feature will provide a more accurate time of arrival at the destination and will also better calculate the route according to the traffic data.
Apple Inc. just filled a new patent published by The United States Patent and Trademark Office, showing how a smartphone will collect traffic data and send it to the company’s server for analysis.
The new feature will allow the Maps app to locate stop signs and stop lights by detecting the pattern of stationary cars. The iPhone counts how much the user’s car sits in one place and sends the data to Apple, which in return will create a more accurate map and make it available to all users.
Speed will also be recorded to analyze the traffic and detect traffic jams to warn users about them and detour the area. Another interesting feature of the app will be the possibility of entering the desired arrival time to a location with the app to notify you when it’s best to start driving there.
How can the system differentiate between a stop sign and a stop light? Well, using the iPhone’s GPS, clock and accelerometer, it will be able to count how much a car stops and goes forward for short distances near an intersection. Thus stop signs have a much quicker succession of stop-and-go sequences, while stop lights will keep cars still for longer period of times but all the cars in a row then will cross the intersection at once.
The new feature will allow the Maps app to locate stop signs and stop lights by detecting the pattern of stationary cars. The iPhone counts how much the user’s car sits in one place and sends the data to Apple, which in return will create a more accurate map and make it available to all users.
Speed will also be recorded to analyze the traffic and detect traffic jams to warn users about them and detour the area. Another interesting feature of the app will be the possibility of entering the desired arrival time to a location with the app to notify you when it’s best to start driving there.
How can the system differentiate between a stop sign and a stop light? Well, using the iPhone’s GPS, clock and accelerometer, it will be able to count how much a car stops and goes forward for short distances near an intersection. Thus stop signs have a much quicker succession of stop-and-go sequences, while stop lights will keep cars still for longer period of times but all the cars in a row then will cross the intersection at once.
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