Apple patents map gestures that draw routes by hand
Apple has filed a patent for a way to plan trips on a map by drawing a line between two points with a finger. The system uses the start and end of your draw to pick waypoints, then calculates the actual driving or walking path using map data rather than just following your finger's exact path.
In the filing’s own words
In some embodiments, an electronic device receives a gesture starting from a first location of a map area to a second location of the map area and in response, the electronic device generates a route from a first respective location to a second respective location. In some embodiments, generating the route is based on one or more attributes of a movement portion of the gesture from the first location to the second location and map data.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at an electronic device in communication with one or more input devices and a display generation component: while displaying, via the display generation component, a map area, receiving via the one or more input devices, a gesture starting from a first location of the map area to a second location of the map area corresponding to a request to generate a route from a first respective location to a second respective location; and in response to receiving the gesture starting from the first location of the map area to the second location of the map area, initiating a process to generate the route from the first respective location to the second respective location, wherein generating the route includes: extracting a first waypoint for the route and a second waypoint for the route based on one or more attributes of a movement portion of the gesture from the first location to the second location; and selecting a segment of the route between the first waypoint and the second waypoint independent from the one or more attributes of the movement portion of the gesture corresponding to locations on the map area between the first waypoint and the second waypoint, wherein the selected segment satisfies one or more criteria, including a criterion that is satisfied when the segment corresponds to a path between the first waypoint and the second waypoint that is based on map data for the map area.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF GENERATING A ROUTE
- Publication number
- US20260276398A1
- Application number
- 19546145
- Filed
- Feb 20, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 26
Classified under
G01C 21/3614 Physics & computingG01C 21/3626 Physics & computingG06F 3/017 Physics & computingG06F 3/03545 Physics & computingG06F 3/0488 Physics & computingG06T 11/65 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Phones & computers
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.