Navigation app uses tips from locals
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The Mapkin navigation app lets locals record tips to give insightful turn-by-turn directions to users.
Navigation apps are becoming increasingly user-friendly, and we have seen one that uses conspicuous locations instead of conventional, robotic directions such as “head south for half a mile”. Now, Mapkin is enabling drivers to be guided around by an AI that talks like a local.
The app uses straightforward language to help users navigate, such as “turn left at the coffee shop”. It also crowdsources useful tips from locals, so it can warn users of frequent jay-walking zones or curving roads. Locals can record tips by having the app open as they drive, and Mapkin edits the data into easy-to-follow, turn-by-turn instructions for other users as they go down those same routes. Mapkin is available for free download from the App Store.
How else could navigation apps harness the power of local knowledge?