“An Apple patent application discovered on Thursday hints that the company is looking to deploy on mobile devices a virtual navigation system based on panoramic location data, much like the popular ‘Street View’ seen in Google Maps,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s ‘3D Position Tracking for Panoramic Imagery Navigation’ describes a graphical user interface that leverages an iPhone or iPad’s onboard sensors to navigate panoramic imagery,” Campbell reports. “According to the filing, Apple’s invention improves upon current technology, like Google’s Street View, which boxes users into a “bubble” that can only be navigated through an input device like a mouse or multitouch screen. For example, in a conventional GUI, the user must “jump” to a panoramic “bubble” at a given intersection and pan within said bubble to move in a desired direction; a tedious experience for mobile device users on the go.”
Campbell reports, “Instead of the traditional approach, Apple proposes tracking subsystems and onboard sensors deployed within a mobile device be used to translate a user’s physical motion into a panoramic navigation UI.”
Read much more, and see Apple patent application illustrations, in the full article here.