[Mock Image, Not Real]
In an effort to make their GPS give the user more routing options, Microsoft has obtained a patent for their GPS system (available for all Windows phones soon) which is being called the “avoid ghetto” feature by news reports.
Created for mobile phones, the technology uses the latest crime statistics and weather data and includes them when calculating a route. The patent, written in a combination of tech-speak and legalese, was awarded to Microsoft earlier this week.
What is unclear, at least from my reading of the patent–which isn’t written by anything resembling a human hand or mind–is what kind of crime statistics the GPS might choose to use.
It’s one thing to avoid areas where there might have occurred physical assaults and gunfire. It’s another to avoid, say, places where burglaries are popular, as one suspects quite a few allegedly nice areas are subject to burglars’ desires.
With some areas, past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results. What if someone using a route from this system does get mugged, shot, assaulted, or robbed? Would they feel entitled to sue Microsoft because the route was supposed to be “ghetto-free”?
The patent talks about the quality of the information. But quality is a subjective notion, so one wonders just whose assessment of quality will be deemed significant.
Thoughts?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
so dumb
lol, in the pink they have ‘war zone’… f*ck it, let em publish whatever they want. I’m sure somewhere in there they’ll start linking race to those areas.
I agree
so…
Do folks really get lost and wind up in the ghetto?
Lmao at warzone.
Great! #$%##&# idea
Just a big company money dump to patent something unpatentable –>> a concept, in an attempt to try and force out smaller company innovation and grab some headlines – but then again typical Microsoft!
My company Street Smart USA has developed a much more complete and valuable data model which has been available for years on TomTom and Garmin GPS units as well as on Smartphones.
Targeting area such as ghettos offers little to no value to the traveler, nor do simple crime statistics. The use of crime statistics is very limiting as their reporting and availability it often outdated and absent, especially in smaller city or towns.
I call what Microsoft is offer the “spider-web perception”. The inaccurate assumption that criminals sit in their neighborhoods – their ‘webs’ if you will, waiting to prey on infrequent unsuspecting victims that may stumble into it. That’s simply not how it works. Criminals are opportunists and that doesn’t afford a lot of opportunity.
Violent crimes are not concentrated or limited within ghettos or low income areas. In fact, a large part of violent crimes occur in bordering neighborhoods, areas with high gain potential for criminals or areas where volumes of unsuspecting targets traffic.
High risk and unsafe area identification is far more complex then that. Our product identifies and alerts users of potentially unsafe areas which have been identified using a number of key data elements and proprietary algorithms that accurately mark areas as unsafe to personal or property safety.
If you want a product that is proven with years of development, analysis, expertise and a track record that reflects true personal safety – then please visit http://www.streetsmart-USA.com.
I don’t care what it’s called, dubbed, or nick named. I want it.
In L.A, it’s only a few miles from a posh neighborhood from a crime ridden neighborhood, so yes, it is easy to end up getting lost in a bad neighborhood.. All it takes is one wrong turn plus it’s hard to bust a u-turn on many of the streets here. I am sure MS will let us know what the exact criteria is that they use to determine a neighborhood’s safety.