Apple wants to make it easier to get to your destination and park your car

Apple has been granted a patent (number US 11650068 B2) for “presenting suggested routes based on local route ranking” The goal is to use its Maps app to help you easily get to your destination — and find parking once there.

About the patent

The patent involving acquiring and displaying map and routing data on a device. In it, Apple notes that mobile devices, such as iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads and other computing devices, often include apps such as Maps that provide interfaces that allow users to utilize services from network service providers. 

While a user is using a map application on a mobile device, the map application can use a network connection (e.g., Internet connection) to obtain map data (e.g., map images, navigational data, estimated time of trip, ETA, traffic conditions, etc.) from a map service over the network connection. The map app can then provide various map related services to the user using the map data received from the map service. For example, the map application can inform a user when there is traffic or an accident on a route between the user’s location and a destination. However, Apple says that users who are familiar with a route may not always check the map application before leaving on a trip, and the app may not always route the user around traffic incidents in a way that fits the user’s specific needs.

Apple wants its iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad to be used to proactively determine a destination and request traffic information for routes from a starting location to the destination. In some implementations, the device can identify some routes between a starting location and a destination as non-recommended routes and recommend other routes. 

In other implementations, the device can rank routes between a starting location and a destination based on automatically-determined user interest. And in still other implementations, the device can determine a user is familiar with a route and adjust the information presented to the user about the route accordingly.

Summary of the patent

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “In some implementations, a computing device can proactively determine a destination and request traffic information for routes from a starting location to the destination. In some implementations, a computing device can identify some routes between a starting location and a destination as non-recommended routes and recommend other routes. In some implementations, a computing device can rank routes between a starting location and a destination based on automatically-determined user interest. In some implementations, a computing device can determine a user is familiar with a route and adjust the information presented to the user about the route accordingly.”