Apple's Maps app is still way behind Google Maps, so if it cannot win with the maps features themselves, Apple wants to get some new technology in the app. A new patent filing opens the way for smart navigation routing and crowd-sourced stop light pattern recognition.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has published a new patent filed by Apple on Tuesday, as noted by Appleinsider.
The new patent explains how a mobile device can transmit traffic information to a server for analysis. The traffic information can feature movement information, including detected stops and their duration. Apple wants to analyze that traffic info and detect traffic patterns that indicate locations of stop signs and/or stop lights.
To put it in layman's terms, imagine your iPhone will have the Maps app open and will detect how your car moves. Apple's servers will complete the map itself with data gathered from all the iPhones in the area and will notice for how long one car stays in one place to wait for a traffic light.
All that information is subsequently included back in the Maps app for all the drivers to use. So calculating the time to a destination will include traffic lights and that can change right away with road conditions or when the weather changes.
Based on all the data and the traffic conditions, the Maps app can guide the driver to take an alternative route in order to get to his destination faster.
Apple lists the advantages of such an invention: more accurate travel time estimates can be calculated when stop sign/stop light information is included in route determinations. Better or faster routes can be determined when stop sign/stop light information is included, and the app can also provide the best time to travel so that the user can avoid rush hour.
The new Apple patent can also detect problems with stop lights. For example, if the traffic light is broken and the waiting time is longer than usual, then the driver is getting that info so he can take an alternative route. Also, the Maps app could suggest a Departure Time so that the user can get to a certain place at a certain hour and minute.