Apple wants its Maps app to do a better job of alerting users about traffic problems. The tech giant has filed for a patent (number 20210335128) for “traffic notification during navigation.”
About the patent filing
In the patent filing, Apple notes that, with the 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 mute directions.
However, Apple says that, despite their popularity, these mapping and navigation applications have shortcomings with their features that cause inconvenience to the users. One of those inconveniences is sometimes a lack of data on traffic problems. Apple wants to change this.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “Some embodiments of the invention provide a navigation application that uses a novel traffic notification scheme for providing traffic related notifications during a navigation presentation that is provided by a device. While providing a navigation presentation, the application iteratively monitors traffic conditions along the route.
“When traffic conditions meet a set of one or more threshold criteria, the application identifies a type of traffic notification that it should provide from several possible traffic notifications types. Next, without receiving any input from outside of the device, the application provides a traffic notification that is associated with the selected traffic notification type. In some embodiments, the traffic notification types include a notification (1) relating to traffic congestion along the current route, (2) relating to one or more faster routes that can replace the current route, and (3) regarding a road closure or extreme delay along the current route.”
