I usually wait out the traffic in the evening and get home a bit later. Is there a way to set a reminder so that Maps checks the traffic to my home in the background and tells me when the estimated time gets below a set value by me?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
All Devices Can Maps send me a notification when the traffic to my home is low enough for me to leave?
- Thread starter iBug2
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This would be cool but so would it being accurate. I've had it state light already, but it definitely was NOT light.
They'd have to be able to predict. That would be cool, but is probably never going to happen. Meteorologists have been trying to do this with weather for many decades, and we all complain about how often they are wrong. This is harder.
Not really what you are asking but there’s an app called ETA where you can save locations in a list where it shows how long it takes to drive there. If you tap one of them it shows three different options and the current traffic conditions and how much it will delay you. You’ll have to open the app every time though to see. They do have an Apple Watch app with complications as well though
Why predict? There already is realtime traffic data available for maps. Instead of me checking traffic constantly, the app itself can do it on the background and simply notify me.
Because, you are assuming the traffic that is causing the delay will be the same by the time you get there. It HAS to predict.
If your commute is one hour because there is stop and go traffic 1/2 way into your commute. You will get notified to leave once that clears up. Let's say it drops by 20 minutes to 40 minutes...so you leave.
20 minutes later, just as you are arriving at the same spot, so is everyone else that waited and the commute is back up to an hour as you now sit in stop and go traffic that wasn't there even 5 minutes ago (15 minutes after you left). If this type of traffic is a normal occurrence, Google may have it "predicted" as part of their algorithm. But for me, if it is the same commute you always take and you already now when this happens simply byt trial and error, your guess at the best time to leave is no different than Google's or anyone else's.
Apple has indicated that it is moving to predictive traffic like Google has to augment it's real time data, but they have not said when it will be implemented. I would guess that it will happen soon in the USA as they move to 100% owned road data...but that's just a guess.
I see Mozman’s point, but traffic in most cities isn’t hard to predict with a high degree of accuracy.
If more people had the flexibility to wait, traffic wouldn’t be as bad as it is in places where it is bad. But if the problem Mozman mentions does show up in the real world, you could address it simply by tracking how many people are also waiting, I don’t even think you’d have to share data between apps. If you have a decent size user base, like Apple Maps does, you could just extrapolate from your own sample.
In Atlanta, traffic gets worse up til 6 PM and starts getting better after that. The same thing for 8:30 AM. So if traffic has gotten slow enough at 6:30 PM you can pretty much assume it’s gonna be slow enough the rest of the night.
There are random things like traffic algorithms though that will screw with predictions. Other things like professional sporting events that draw 80,000 people could as well. But you could write software that could chip away at stuff like that pretty decently by looking at the published schedules.
If more people had the flexibility to wait, traffic wouldn’t be as bad as it is in places where it is bad. But if the problem Mozman mentions does show up in the real world, you could address it simply by tracking how many people are also waiting, I don’t even think you’d have to share data between apps. If you have a decent size user base, like Apple Maps does, you could just extrapolate from your own sample.
In Atlanta, traffic gets worse up til 6 PM and starts getting better after that. The same thing for 8:30 AM. So if traffic has gotten slow enough at 6:30 PM you can pretty much assume it’s gonna be slow enough the rest of the night.
There are random things like traffic algorithms though that will screw with predictions. Other things like professional sporting events that draw 80,000 people could as well. But you could write software that could chip away at stuff like that pretty decently by looking at the published schedules.
Last edited:
That is beside the point and a discussion about how accurate traffic predictions can get. What we have now is real time traffic data and the apps do an estimation according to that, and most of the time they are ok. What I want is simply the app notifying me when the estimated time drops below a set value, which is the same thing as me checking the app every minute and leaving when I see that value.
What you are saying is the next level prediction mechanism which the maps apps do not have anyway, not yet. Most of the time the estimated value I see from google or apple are within minutes of each other. And I leave when it is low enough for me. There can be surprises on the way, but that’s something neither of them can predict at the moment. Not where I live at least.
Not sure where you live, but Google DOES exactly that....without the notification part as far as I know (on iOS at least).
Apple only gives real time data, no predictive data yet. The best you can do is set an appointment of when you WANT to be home and then Apple will give you a notification of when to leave to get there in time.
Like I said, if it is consistent traffic, your guess will be as good as theirs, so why get a notification? If stuff comes up like the example given by someone else (a local event, sports event, etc.), neither will predict worst traffic at this point, but THAT will be a nice add!
Google Maps already uses predictive algorithms. You can estimate commute time by time of day. Now reason such technology couldn’t combine with real time data. There would be a prediction error rate but it would be a big improvement over a wild guess.
But it is not consistent. The traffic usually starts to diminish after 19:30 slowly. But some days it is ok to leave at 20:00, other days 20:15. And I start checking at 19:30 minute by minute basically. App can do that much better than me save me some screen time. I don’t understand what is so difficult about this issue to solve.
So, listen to what you’re saying...you want Apple to know in advance that traffic is going to be better so it can tell you when to leave. But based on what parameters??
What if, for some reason like listed above (concert, accident, etc) the traffic didn’t get “better”...as in, good enough to be “quick enough” for you?
It would never tell you to leave.
I think what you want is a feature that lets you set a certain travel time so Apple can tell you when to leave so you will get there in that amount of time. And I actually think that’s a good idea. A commute feature where you set the travel time.
“Hey Siri, let me know when to leave for a 30 minute drive home.”
At the end of the day, you will still need to give Apple /Siri/your phone some parameters so it knows when to tell you to leave. I may think an hour commute time is good enough where you won’t leave until it is a 45 minute drive. It's pretty much another version of the "notify me when time to leave" feature in the Calendar app. Maps knows where your home is if you set it...it knows where you are (doesn't matter if it is work or any other location)...all it needs to know is how much time you think is proper to get to the destination. You could ask at any time and your phone will monitor the route so it can alert you when the route time reaches your specification.
The days of “you should leave now as traffic won’t die down significantly for another hour” are a little further out I think. That will require the AI to learn your daily commute and then alert you based on when you "like" to typically leave (travel time being one of those factors). I'm not saying that's a crazy thing to ask for, but probably not ready for prime time.
Last edited:
No, I do not need that. I need Maps to tell me WHAT IT SAYS ON THE SCREEN WHEN I OPEN THE APP without me opening the app every minute. That number I see is mostly correct. When Apple maps says the traffic to my home is 30 minutes currently, when I leave now, it takes me 30 minutes to get there, give or take a few minutes. I do not need a 100% accurate prediction. Realtime traffic is a good enough data for my commute. I just want the app to notify me when the number on the app is below a set value.
That’s exactly what I said...I think you need to re-read my post....and your own post as I just quoted above.
No, he's not asking for that.
Let's say you look at Maps at 6:45 PM, and the estimated travel time to your destination is 1 hour 2 minutes - based on the current traffic info, no future predictions. Maps is already able to do that.
You look again at 6:50 PM, and the estimated travel time is 1 hour 5 minutes.
You look again at 6:55 PM, and the estimated travel time is now 55 minutes.
You look again at 7:00 PM, and the estimated travel time is now 1 hour 15 minutes.
What he's asking for is this: you set a threshold of 1 hour. At 6:55 PM Maps will throw a notification saying 'The estimated time is now lower than 1 hour (i.e. 55 minutes)'. That's all.
If your condition is never fulfilled, no notification will ever be raised.
No real time prediction is necessary. Whether the real travel time is indeed going to be 55 minutes or not, whether it will increase due to unforeseen accidents, asteroids, Martian invasions, whatever, that's a completely different story - we're not discussing that.
Last edited:
My very first sentence..."But based on what parameters??"
And then I go on to explain how that could work, but up until I explained how it COULD be done in my post, I don't think he mentioned once that he would have to input an acceptable travel time (maybe he did..I haven't looked...even if he was implying that).
EDIT: He mentions in his first post about a set time...but my last post basically supports that whole idea.
My whole last post is basically explaining HOW he could get what he wants but that it doesn't exist...AND THAT I THINK IT'S A GREAT IDEA!!!
Does anyone read anymore?
Based on the exact parameters that it's already working with today. Both Google Maps and Apple Maps are currently able to give you an estimated travel time to your destination, if you were to leave now. That's something that already exists.
Why are you saying it doesn't exist? It does! Just open Apple Maps and set a destination, and it will give you an ETA. So simply raising a notification when that ETA is below a certain threshold doesn't look like AI to me; it's just a minor "if then else" statement.
Last edited:
He wants to pre-set the location though and be notified when he should leave based on the travel time acceptable to him....read my last post.
"Hey Siri, tell me when it will take me 30 minutes to drive home."
Alarm goes off some time later...."If you leave now, it will take you 30 minutes to drive home."
Something like that.
Indeed.
If I open Maps and set 'home' as my destination, it will say "it's going to take you 25 minutes to get there".
So why couldn't it do this check in the background, without me opening it, and throw a notification if the value is below 30, or shut up and check again in five minutes if it isn't?
It just has to automate things that I can already do manually. Whatever I'm doing manually every five minutes, Siri could do automatically. No AI involved.
If I open Maps and set 'home' as my destination, it will say "it's going to take you 25 minutes to get there".
So why couldn't it do this check in the background, without me opening it, and throw a notification if the value is below 30, or shut up and check again in five minutes if it isn't?
It just has to automate things that I can already do manually. Whatever I'm doing manually every five minutes, Siri could do automatically. No AI involved.
Maybe...I have never even experimented with shortcuts....lame...
But since it is SO similar to "notify me when to leave for an appointment," it seems like it wouldn't take much to just add a field in Maps settings for "Commute Time" or something like that with 15 minute intervals so you could set a reminder or ask Siri like in the examples I gave above. I mean, it's probably not something you would want on ALL the time, so making it Siri based or like the Bedtime function where it is set only on weekdays and only active after 5 p.m. for example.
If Apple ever fixes automations (and utilizes it’s potential fully) in shortcuts something like this could be possible. I setup an automation to wish me good morning, tell me the date, give me the current temperature and expected high including the chance of rain for the day at my location and it almost works perfectly except when it says the temperature it adds “to the power of” before it tells me the temp. It’s ridiculous and I’ve tried to figure out why it does it but, it’s apparently not fully working properly so I turned it off