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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMicrosoft Patents ‘Avoid Ghetto’ Feature For GPS Devices
Microsoft has been granted a patent for its avoid ghetto feature for GPS devices.
A GPS device is used to find shortcuts and avoid traffic, but Microsofts patent states that a route can be plotted for pedestrians to avoid an unsafe neighborhood or being in an open area that is subject to harsh temperatures.
Created for mobile phones, the technology uses the latest crime statistics and weather data and includes them when calculating a route.
http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/microsoft-patents-avoid-ghetto-feature-for-gps-devices/
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)Looks to be a popular app.
hunter
(38,240 posts)... so users can find drugs and prostitutes.
Right?
Gman
(24,780 posts)I've wandered into some areas that've made me nervous in cities including Memphis (after a Mike Tyson fight), LA, (not East) St. Louis, and Miami among others. I went bar hopping knowingly in East St. Louis once. That was certainly an experience.
Jazzgirl
(3,744 posts)I always avoided it like the plague and had family that lived there. I would never go visit. I did go to a couple of clubs a couple of times but always sat closed to the entrance.
Speck Tater
(10,618 posts)It was a very bad experience, especially when I discovered my spare was flat too.
Liberal dreams of lions lying down with lambs aside, in this world, as it really is, there are places you really don't want to go.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)Maybe somebody can patent a car with a facial profiling camera that will automatically lock its doors if it sees a black man?
:just kidding:
:just kidding:
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)The reality is that there ARE unsafe neighborhoods, and most people would like to be able to avoid them if possible. It's a smart use of technology.
ddeclue
(16,733 posts)crime is tremendously overhyped. This will stigmatize poor and non-white areas of cities without any real validity to it. It is Microsoft endorsed red-lining.