Some new features may be on the way for commuters. For those relying on public transportation such as bus and subways, a recent patent may reveal Apple’s upcoming plans for addition’s to Apple’s MAPS app.
A recently awarded Apple patent reveals information about possible company plans to integrate a public transportation services into the MAPS app. This feature the “User Interface Tools for Commute Assistance” as it is referred to in the patent, would allow users to get real time route information, as well as details for local as well as regional travel.
The Apple patent describes concepts for an assistant that would deal with mass transit routing, both with user-specific and non-user modifiable sections.
Users would have the ability to gather information regarding schedule stops as well as meta data from along a selected route. The patent describes the users ability to choose a desired destination as well as being presented a animate trip time. All information would be accessible via a touch-based swipe using a simple navigation interface.
The tools would give a user a travel assistant, a similar feature is already available to Google Maps users. Some of the possible additions to this feature could include Favorites what be a quick link to repeated routes, rider tips, wifi information and rider etiquette. These are shown in the illustrations of the patent.
Apples 2012 launch of Apple Maps was one step short of ABYSMAL and the first of several major issue’s under then NEW CEO Tim cook back in 2012. At that the APP received critical and poor reviews for faulty directions. A recent acquisition by Apple of third party software app Hopstop, appears to have added some positive movement for public transit users who want an up to date mapping experience from start to finish of the commute.
This would allow for more accurate departure and arrival times for passengers and real-time up to date information regarding their travel.