Microsoft Awarded GPS Patent To Avoid ‘Unsafe’ Neighborhoods

By | Jan 12, 2012
Posted In Mobile Development, Working in Tech
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Microsoft has successfully applied for a patent that can keep you safe in an unfamiliar city when navigating from your smartphone.

Dubbed as the “avoid the ghetto” feature by CBS Seattle, the technology uses crime statistics and weather data to help pedestrians plot a course that ostensibly keeps them from getting mugged or exposed to harsh weather conditions.

Apparently though, Microsoft is not quite ready to start promoting this kinda cool, kinda touchy feature.  CBS Seattle could not get a quote out of them.

About Chad Broadus

Chad Broadus a is tech professional and writer living in the Pacific Northwest. Over the last decade he's knocked around high tech in many roles, wearing many hats: SysAdmin, IT Director, and Director of Products and Support, just to name a few. He's currently wearing the hat of a software product manager, and can be found doing insufferable things like giving impromptu pedantic lectures on the importance of typography and overall usability to besieged coworkers.

Comments

  1. BY james green says:
    | January 13, 2012

    I bet you all the neighborhoods they avoid are minority, sound racist to me.

    Reply

  2. Pingback: Microsoft GPS patent for avoiding high crime areas sparks controversy « GEODATA POLICY

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