Apple Hints at Future Turn-by-Turn GPS Directions With Traffic for iPhone

Stella said:

Na, these two have and will survive without iPhone.

These already have traffic capability anyway ( via subscription ).

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The only reason I feel that way is the likes of Nokia with their already solid mapping available for Symbian and undoubtedly WP7 once it hits, Google Maps and the potential for an Apple designed mapping solution that would be available to literally millions of smartphone users. Not seen nothing from RIM or Palm yet tho.

With Smartphone ownership on the rise, from affordable symbian/android handsets to premium iOS/WP7 and Android handsets, there will be a lot of people out there with a gps solution in their pockets.

Perhaps im jumping the gun but i think it could really affect stand alone units.

I love Navigon. I just wish I could click on an address in Mail and have it open up navi automatically.

Yes I know, it will never happen.

I would love to see Apple take over the maps app though.

There already a FREE application with LIVE traffic crowd-sourced data, it is called WAZE and it is awesome, at least in Israel.

ChazUK said:

If Apple top Google Maps on Android as it is today then hats off to them as Google Maps is fantastic. Im really looking forward to seeing what Apple can do.

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Well, Google Maps app on android originated from the one on the iPhone so I think Apple has got full potential to do it.

The only thing they need is data and I am sure they can do a better job than google.

So its going to take how many years to bring this?

odedia said:

There already a FREE application with LIVE traffic crowd-sourced data, it is called WAZE and it is awesome, at least in Israel.

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I guess the question is are there enough iPhones out and about to provide good traffic data?

I mean will there be enough iPhone 3GS/4/(whaever the new version is called), will the traffic information be sent in the background even if I never use the built in Apple application?

stevenshizzle said:

I took this to mean traffic as in network traffic. iOS devices, and all new smartphones, utilize a lot of network traffic. It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking at more robust ways of utilizing traffic, compression, etc. I'm not sure how they would collect traffic data. I suppose if they see a cell signal sitting in the same place for 20 minutes, it would reflect a traffic jam. But then again, they could have parallel parked and went to go grab a Starbucks.

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+1. I don't think they meant vehicle traffic, they meant network traffic.

dethmaShine said:

Well, Google Maps app on android originated from the one on the iPhone so I think Apple has got full potential to do it.

The only thing they need is data and I am sure they can do a better job than google.

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Since Maps on Android moved away from tile based graphics to their newer vector based maps it's gotten far better. I'm not sire of Google let third parties use the vector maps now but they really have improved performance of the maps and even bought off line caching as they're less data intensive now which is nice.

One thing's for sure, Apple will provide a great, integrated solution, you can count on that.

Or

stevenshizzle said:

I took this to mean traffic as in network traffic. iOS devices, and all new smartphones, utilize a lot of network traffic. It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking at more robust ways of utilizing traffic, compression, etc. I'm not sure how they would collect traffic data. I suppose if they see a cell signal sitting in the same place for 20 minutes, it would reflect a traffic jam. But then again, they could have parallel parked and went to go grab a Starbucks.

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be in the ofice, working.

TurnerMan said:

Finally! I hate the current application on my iPhone - my Droid had Google maps and it was AWESOME.

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I admit that this part of the droid incredible that I demo'ed was sweet. Hopefully in 5 nav will get better...

Sounds good to me ... would be nice to get some real croud based traffic alerts based on realtime data. If I currently look in google maps at the traffic overlay and see all is 'green' and take that highway I often still get stuck in traffic because the data is outdated. When I am on the road shortly before rush hour starts this information is critical for me so that I can decide which way to take (can save me lots of time). Even the travel alerts on the radio are usually behind.

Will it be able to tell you (via voice) which side of the street your destination is on before actually reaching it, unlike Navigon?

to1986 said:

LOL...really macrumors?! Are you guys that poor at comprehension?!?! I think a 5 year old could tell you they mean network traffic!

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I'm not so sure.... I think it could easily be interpreting both ways. but that last part about providing a superior "traffic service" makes me think it means road traffic. What kind of "traffic service" would they provide for network traffic? It would read something along the lines of "to minimize [network] traffic" or "to provide superior reception". But to provide a traffice service implies road traffic.

So get off your high horse, even if it does mean network traffic (which I don't think because of what I said) there are easily ways to interpret for both

Oh, oh, how long before Amazon, Android and the rest bring out there own 'Traffic' branded apps... it is 'generic' after all.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

The MapQuest app is free and does voice turn by turn. I like it so far.

Yes, I agree, smartphones are going to replace dedicated GPS devices.

I use OVI Maps... which is rather good -
* download maps without touching a computer ( map updates are free.. unlike Garmin )
* maps are on the device - no constant internet connection. So Maps still work when no cell coverage.
* traffic warnings
* free turn by turn voice navigation
* city guides etc

On my Nokia phone over a GPS - because its more convienient.

However, Garmin et al will adapt to the competition and will survive. The market will be large enough for quite some time - not everyone will buy iPhone or Android phone.

I think smartphone are already impacting GPS sales. Such premium services that Garmin etc offer such as Traffic will become free for smartphones - these companies have to compete.

840quadra said:

I am in agreement with Chaz on this. With Android and iOS having so much built into their portable OS now, I kinda think the days of dedicated GPS devices are going to be limited.

It is sad, but I do see more and more iPhones, and Android devices attached to front windshields were a normal GPS usually goes.

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ChazUK said:

The only reason I feel that way is the likes of Nokia with their already solid mapping available for Symbian and undoubtedly WP7 once it hits, Google Maps and the potential for an Apple designed mapping solution that would be available to literally millions of smartphone users. Not seen nothing from RIM or Palm yet tho.

With Smartphone ownership on the rise, from affordable symbian/android handsets to premium iOS/WP7 and Android handsets, there will be a lot of people out there with a gps solution in their pockets.

Perhaps im jumping the gun but i think it could really affect stand alone units.

Click to expand...

stevenshizzle said:

I took this to mean traffic as in network traffic. iOS devices, and all new smartphones, utilize a lot of network traffic. It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking at more robust ways of utilizing traffic, compression, etc. I'm not sure how they would collect traffic data. I suppose if they see a cell signal sitting in the same place for 20 minutes, it would reflect a traffic jam. But then again, they could have parallel parked and went to go grab a Starbucks.

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I figured they were talking about network traffic as well. Where would they get the road traffic information from users? I'd like to see a quality turn-by-turn navigation feature become a standard offering and improved traffic info would be a nice plus.

fsck-y dingo said:

I figured they were talking about network traffic as well. Where would they get the road traffic information from users? I'd like to see a quality turn-by-turn navigation feature become a standard offering and improved traffic info would be a nice plus.

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I didn't interpret it as network traffic. What would be the purpose of "a crowd sourced traffic service"? If the goal is to provide "an improved traffic service", how does that relate to network traffic? Tell Apple which hotspots are overloaded? With what end goal?

On the other hand, I don't know how Apple could be accurately collecting vehicle traffic data without pinpointing the location of your iPhone (e.g. on a local highway) so I guess there's room for interpretation.

As for turn-by-turn GPS, I just bought Navigon and I'm quite pleased with it so far.

Yeah, that's all I need: Drunk going 85mph while looking at "turn by turn" directions on a 3 inch screen.

I can barely watch a podcast now while driving to work!

MacRumors said:

with the aim of providing an "improved traffic experience in the next couple of years".

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My license restrictions are up in 7 months. Wish me luck!

Actually, it will be better than Garmin.

What they do, is they hire local people to watch you via the position tracking. Then, they can give you directions based on your exact location.

Imagine, "Slow down for upcoming pot hole on left."

stevenshizzle said:

I took this to mean traffic as in network traffic. iOS devices, and all new smartphones, utilize a lot of network traffic. It wouldn't surprise me if they were looking at more robust ways of utilizing traffic, compression, etc. I'm not sure how they would collect traffic data. I suppose if they see a cell signal sitting in the same place for 20 minutes, it would reflect a traffic jam. But then again, they could have parallel parked and went to go grab a Starbucks.

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Yeah I'm with you (and the other's who've said similar) on this.
This has been misinterpreted. I'm sure they'll just mean network/data traffic. Things like response times, dropouts, average data transfers, etc, so maybe they'll build in some sort of compression for apps that are data intensive.

There's no way to distinguish between whether the user is a pedestrian or in a vehicle.
Could be a cyclist flying along roads, or a person jogging, at the same pace as a car stuck in traffic. Has the car stopped because of heavy traffic, or because they can't hold it in any longer!!

There's way to many variables to consider for this to be about them collecting road traffic information.

fsck-y dingo said:

I figured they were talking about network traffic as well. Where would they get the road traffic information from users? I'd like to see a quality turn-by-turn navigation feature become a standard offering and improved traffic info would be a nice plus.

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For example: After some opt-in, your phone records its GPS locations, finds out what looks like driving based on speed etc., sends the data to Apple, where they use it to find streets that are not in their mapping software, and the most useful thing would be average speed data depending on the time of day. If you are in a traffic jam and want to be helpful, you press a button to send the information right now, not when you are near to some WiFi. So people can be directed on the best routes based on actual average speeds, and they can be sent around traffic jams in real time.

r-m said:

There's no way to distinguish between whether the user is a pedestrian or in a vehicle.
Could be a cyclist flying along roads, or a person jogging, at the same pace as a car stuck in traffic. Has the car stopped because of heavy traffic, or because they can't hold it in any longer!!

There's way to many variables to consider for this to be about them collecting road traffic information.

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It's not a trivial problem, but not really _that_ difficult. If it ever goes over 30mph then it's a car, and if it doesn't stop at a stop sign then it's a bicycle Seriously, it's quite possible to sort this out. And there are many iPhones around, so if you have some iPhones at 30 mph and some at 4 mph on the same road, then you know who are drivers and who are pedestrians. If iPhones move at an average of 3 mph through your favourite park, then turn-by-turn software won't direct car traffic there, whether it is pedestrians or enormous traffic jam.

to1986 said:

LOL...really macrumors?! Are you guys that poor at comprehension?!?! I think a 5 year old could tell you they mean network traffic!

I sincerely hope this is just a ploy at generating news, otherwise someone seriously needs to return to primary school.

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Sometimes it's funny when people are doing things they accuse others of doing. Other times, it's sad. This is one of those times.