Photo: USPTO
The main benefit of using applications like Google Maps is that it makes navigation more convenient, offering instructions on how to arrive at a user-defined address. The turn-by-turn guidance helps make every journey more straightforward and predictable, especially on unfamiliar routes.
Google believes there's still room for improvement in this direction, so the company has recently patented a way to "display personalized landmarks in a mapping application."
The technology proposes an easy way to monitor users' locations and try to create a list of places where they go regularly. These locations are considered personalized landmarks, and Google would highlight them on the map more clearly. Locations like home, the office, the coffee places, and the restaurants you typically go to will appear on the map.
Google already shows some of your favorite locations on the map, and users can also add their own and organize them in lists. Not long ago, Google added support for custom icons and emojis, so favorite locations and items included in lists are easier to spot on the map.
Now, Google seems ready to push this idea to a new level. The patent explains that once the personalized landmarks are determined, Google Maps can use them to make navigation more straightforward. The application can include these locations in the turn-by-turn guidance, so finding a specific place will be easier because Google Maps relies on the places you know to guide you to the destination.
For example, imagine you typically go to a restaurant called "Phil's House." Once Google Maps determines you go to this location regularly and flags it as a personalized landmark, it can include it in turn-by-turn guidance when your routes goes through its address. The custom voice commands could instruct you to "turn left after Phil's House" or to "continue straight, and you can see Phil's House on the right."
Google believes this approach can make navigation more intuitive, though the company seems to forget an essential bit. With this update, Google Maps could make every journey more familiar, but if you already go to the same place regularly, you're supposed to be familiar with the region anyway. As a result, the experience might not be upgraded as substantial as it looks, though it can help explore a region.
Google's idea is still in the patent stage, so it's too early to tell if the search giant plans to bring it to production devices. However, considering Google already has the data, as it knows where you go every time Google Maps is running on the device, it looks like a no-brainer to offer such functionality, eventually making guidance more user-friendly.
You can find the complete patent application in the box below if you want to read the technical details about how Google wants to make the magic happen.
The technology proposes an easy way to monitor users' locations and try to create a list of places where they go regularly. These locations are considered personalized landmarks, and Google would highlight them on the map more clearly. Locations like home, the office, the coffee places, and the restaurants you typically go to will appear on the map.
Google already shows some of your favorite locations on the map, and users can also add their own and organize them in lists. Not long ago, Google added support for custom icons and emojis, so favorite locations and items included in lists are easier to spot on the map.
Now, Google seems ready to push this idea to a new level. The patent explains that once the personalized landmarks are determined, Google Maps can use them to make navigation more straightforward. The application can include these locations in the turn-by-turn guidance, so finding a specific place will be easier because Google Maps relies on the places you know to guide you to the destination.
For example, imagine you typically go to a restaurant called "Phil's House." Once Google Maps determines you go to this location regularly and flags it as a personalized landmark, it can include it in turn-by-turn guidance when your routes goes through its address. The custom voice commands could instruct you to "turn left after Phil's House" or to "continue straight, and you can see Phil's House on the right."
Google believes this approach can make navigation more intuitive, though the company seems to forget an essential bit. With this update, Google Maps could make every journey more familiar, but if you already go to the same place regularly, you're supposed to be familiar with the region anyway. As a result, the experience might not be upgraded as substantial as it looks, though it can help explore a region.
Google's idea is still in the patent stage, so it's too early to tell if the search giant plans to bring it to production devices. However, considering Google already has the data, as it knows where you go every time Google Maps is running on the device, it looks like a no-brainer to offer such functionality, eventually making guidance more user-friendly.
You can find the complete patent application in the box below if you want to read the technical details about how Google wants to make the magic happen.
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