Future iPhone Calendar Events Will Tell You How Far You Are From Your Meeting

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Have you ever been invited to a meeting but you have no idea where it’s located or how long it will take you to get there? Well, in the future your iPhone may be able to tell you through dynamic calendar alerts.

A newly discovered Apple patent entitled “Dynamic Alerts for Calendar Events” describes dynamic calendar alerts that use GPS data to determine how far you are from your meeting and how long it will take you to get there. The system will then issue you with a corresponding alarm, providing you with plenty of travel time to meet your deadline.

The patent was recently made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and was first discovered by AppleInsider:

Using a GPS signal, the iPhone could even determine travel time based on external factors, such as current or historical traffic conditions. Apple’s system would provide users with the best route based on this data, and alert them accordingly.

Apple could even rely on crowd-sourced data to create such a system, offering up routes to users based on scheduled events such as concerts, sporting events, movies, public gatherings, and even retail store sale events.

The new system will use a variety of information to issue users with an alert based on real-time conditions, such as weather, traffic and public transport schedules. If it ever comes to fruition, it will no doubt use information from the crowd-sourced traffic database Apple has been building.

The patent acknowledges that while a user’s calendar entries on devices like the iPhone often include a pre-planned alarm that notifies them it’s time to set off for their appointment, this isn’t based on real-time information that could affect their travel time.

I’ve been late to plenty of appointments because I didn’t give myself enough travel time – and I don’t know about you, but this is a feature I would love to have on my iPhone.

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