Apple Files Patent Application for Podmaps

Putting a new twist on the traditional podcast, Apple's Podmap concept would push spoken audio directions and corresponding maps to portable devices for navigation.

Having brought podcasting to the mainstream with its ubiquitous iPod, Apple has now set its new sights on a different form of portable “casting” which it has pioneered for itself. A U.S. patent application filed by Apple in January and published on Thursday describes a method for creating podmaps, pre-generated maps and corresponding multimedia content that could be pushed to portable devices together.

The concept would allow users to visit a Web site, enter a destination to get directions to, and have audio directions automatically generated by a text-to-speech engine. The resulting audio snippets would then be packaged with map data in the form of image files and moved to a portable device, such as the iPhone, allowing users to hear directions and see map images as they drive to a location, even without a live Internet connection.

The bulk of the patent application describes the technical innovations Apple designed to achieve this. Since traditional podcasts are one-way streets where users receive content from podcasters without any input, Apple’s patent covers the method for generating personalized podmaps based on user preference, but still distributed in much the same way traditional podcasts are, via Real Simple Syndication (RSS).

While Apple has not yet made any formal announcements pertaining to the technology, the patent filing could be a foreshadowing of future services to come from the company.