Apple wants its Maps app to be efficient at problem reporting as evidenced by a newly filed patent (number 20210287435).
About the patent filing
In the patent filing, Apple notes that with proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones, users are enjoying numerous applications of numerous kinds that can be run on their devices. One popular type of such application is mapping and navigation applications that allow user to browse maps and get route directions. Despite their popularity, Apple says these such apps “have shortcomings with their user interfaces and features that cause inconvenience to the users.” The tech giant wants Apple Maps to sport “several useful modalities, including location browsing, map searching, route identifying and route navigating operations.” Among those modalities is the ability to alert users of potential issues such as traffic jams, wrecks, etc.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “For a mapping application, a method for reporting a problem related to a map displayed by the mapping application is described. The method identifies a mode in which the mapping application is operating. The method identifies a set of types of problems to report based on the identified mode. The method displays, in a display area of the mapping application, a graphical user interface (GUI) page that includes a set of selectable user interface (UI) items that represent the identified set of types of problems.”
The accompanying graphic illustrates an example of a device that executes an integrated mapping app.
