macnn
01/13/2009, 5:15pm, EST
Tuesday, January 13th
Apple looking to merge calendar, maps on iPhone?
Apple may be looking to merge the mapping and calendar functions of iPhones, a newly-published patent application suggests. At present, iPhone owners looking to find their way to an event marked in their calendar must memorize any addresses and look them up manually within Google Maps. Under the proposed scheme, any addresses associated within an event could be viewable from a quickly-referenced map.
The technology could also let users make associations in the reverse direction, by first locating a destination (such as a restaurant) and then presenting the option to connect the address to a calendar event. Other possibilities could include the ability to plot a route for several different events in the same day, with travel-time estimates dictated by expected traffic conditions.
Exploiting GPS capabilities, an iPhone might also be able to trigger alarms based on how long it will take to reach a particular destination. These alarms could be further engineered to send automatic messages, for instance confirming an appointment or notifying someone that the user will be late.
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About time!
Wow, that is about time.
Why is that 'location' field in the events so stupid?
How about...
linking an appointment to a name in the address book? As a Mac consultant, I would like to link these two together.
that's patentable?
Good that Apple is adding this. Stupid that it's considered a patent-worthy "invention."
Agreed
I would be much more interested in combining events and individuals in my address book.
sad state of affairs
I am sure this isn't patent worthy at all, however if apple does not patent this, and some patent troll notices it and files a patent... with how screwed up our courts are they may not even recognize Apple's prior art and Apple would end up paying some idiot $25 million.
Sad state of affairs indeed.
New Model
There should be a seemless flow between the Calendar, Maps, Contacts, ToDo lists, etc. Neither app is all that complex (though iCal seem to take forever to load). They should all be manifestations of the same database or transparent combination of multiple databases where the display simply "windows" whatever info you want.
How is this not standard by now?!