Apple Hints At Upcoming Turn-By-Turn Feature In Today's Press Release?
by Joe White
April 27, 2011
Apple may have hinted at an upcoming turn-by-turn and traffic feature - which is rumored to be built into a future version of the iOS - in a press release that hit the Web earlier today.
In the press release, Apple gave a generalized explanation of the "consolidated.db" file, which appeared to track iOS device owners' location, and has been present within the operating system since iOS 4. While the the file's behavior was partly described as having its roots in a "software bug" (which will be addressed in an upcoming software update), Apple did admit that the company is collecting "anonymous traffic data," too, which will be used "to build a crowd-sourced traffic database."
As noted in section eight of the press release:
8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data? Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.Back in 2009, an Apple job posting stated that Apple wanted to "take Maps to the next level." Following the publication of this press release, many websites have suggested that this section of the document refers to an upcoming, Apple developed turn-by-turn navigation service. Google provides a similar service on its Android smart phones - it wouldn't surprise me if Apple does the same soon. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. [via MacRumors]