Apple has been granted a patent (number US 11635303 B2) for “Application And System Providing Indoor Searching Of A Venue.” The goal is to make it easier for an iPhone or Apple Watch to help you find your way around a mall, sports stadium, etc.
About the patent
Mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, smart watches, and other computing devices, often include applications that provide interfaces that allow users to utilize services from network service providers. These applications allow a user to view a map of an area in the proximity of the user. The map may identify venues such as stores, malls, office buildings and/or airports, to name a few.
The user may select a venue and retrieve driving directions thereto. Typical map applications also allow a user to search for a place or address and obtain driving directions to one or more search results. However, Apple says that, usually, these apps don’t provide an inside view of a venue or the type of and/or layout of points of interest within the venue.
An inside view of the venue could aid the user in determining if the venue is really where the user wants to go or if another venue is available to meet the user’s needs. Apple says there’s a need and desire for a map application that provides an inside view of a venue located and/or identified by the map application.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “In some implementations, a computing device can provide a map application providing a representation of a physical structure of venues (e.g., shopping centers, airports) identified by the application. The application can provide an inside view of the venue, which is accessible by other applications and programs on the user’s device. Thus, whether intended or not, search results that are identified by the map application as having an inside view of the venue are also presented on a graphical user interface along with typical search results from the other applications.”
