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Everyone who lives in an urban concrete jungle knows that there are some parts of town you simply avoid walking through at all costs. Whether said area is filled with homeless people, drug users, or is a hotbed for criminal activity, every city, regardless of how nice it is, has some issues. Microsoft’s just been issued a patent for navigating you around those troubled areas should you happen to be traveling by foot. According to GeekWire the patent also covers learning from the routes you typically take and can set a kind of “safety level” so that your smartphone can give you walking directions through alleys filled with cocaine dealers if you’re into that kind of thing. The technology behind the system is pretty cool since it uses your device’s internet connection to look up historical crime data, but we can’t help but think that some people just want the shortest route possible and are willing to take a risk if it means getting to their destination just a little bit faster.
Now this patent hasn’t yet been translated into a consumer facing service that we’re aware of, but think of what other potential uses this could have? If you’re moving to a new city, what blocks should you ignore when flat hunting? If you’re a thief, which streets should you stay away from since there are likely more police officers on patrol? If you’re a teenager, where are people who can score you some booze and possibly Ritalin for your big test coming up?
All kidding aside, what we want to see is more applications out there take advantage of data that has coordinates attached to it. And please, no more gimmicky augmented reality apps either, we’re talking real innovation like what Microsoft just patented or something we can’t even think of up today, but when we see it we’ll scream with joy.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
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http://www.everydaytrish.com/ Trish
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Jon Garrett
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http://www.everydaytrish.com/ Trish
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Jon Garrett
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Jon Garrett
