Path Guide
Microsoft Corporation Maps & Navigation
Path Guide is an interesting app. It's a mapping that that tracks where you walk. The idea is to help you return to a place by mapping your steps in real time. Thus, you can get turn-by-turn instructions on how to return to the entrance of a large building or to where you parked your car. You can also share a path with friends so they can find you in a crowded environment. It doesn't feel quite ready for prime time yet. However, it does actually work most of the time. It's definitely an app to keep your eye on.
Path Guide is a completely map-free, infrastructure-free, plug-and-play indoor navigation service. It exploits the ubiquitous geomagnetism and natural walking patterns to guide users to destinations along a path collected by an earlier traveler. There are three simple steps to start using Path Guide.
• User records sensory data with his/her device during a given indoor walk. The location-specific geomagnetic features extracted from the sensory data are combined with the user’s walking patterns (e.g., steps, turns, going upstairs/downstairs) to build a reference trace.
• Reference trace is pushed to the cloud and can be searched by others for navigation.
• Once downloaded a reference trace, Path Guide compares and synchronizes current sensor readings with the reference trace, and guides the user, in real time, from the same starting location to the final destination.
Path Guide can be used in multiple scenarios. For example, one can record a path (say, from the building entrance to an office) and share it directly with an incoming visitor regardless of whether infrastructure and floor plans are available; Users such as shop owners can record paths on their own from several entrances of a shopping mall to their stores and share them with the public. These paths can be searched by any future customer. One can also record a trace and follow it backwards to its starting point. For instance, in a new garage, you can record a trace from your parking spot to the elevator, and later follow it in reverse to find your car.
REVIEWS
Dongyao Chen
This app is revolutionary. Tried it and LOVED it. This app records your path and can share this path to your friend and they won't get lost. I think this is the first app I've ever seen to address the indoor way-finding problem. Most of the negative reviews didn't get the idea correctly --- YOU NEED TO FIRST RECORD YOUR PATH to help your friends finding the path. This is very helpful for the scenario when a conference organizer told you to meet at room xxxx and you totally have no idea about how to get there. I can see great potential of this app. Great work Microsoft!
Ricky Raccoon
This led me straight to a house of ill repute. That's good. But I didn't have my wallet. That's bad. But a girl I knew worked there. That's good. But she was my ex-wife's best friend. That's bad. But she had always liked me. That's good. But she didn't have any condos. That's bad. She borrowed one from a co-worker. That's good. But it was way too small. That's bad. We had an oral conversation and compromised. That's good. 5 stars! Thanks, Microsoft!
Curtis Densmore
Cool idea, bad execution. Tedious and frustrating to use. Little things like requiring a name for a trace and requiring a region even though they asked for a location permission.
BarrySuzy Laughton
My understanding is that this app has a problem that it will not work in the background and therefore once opened you can not use your phone without cancelling the app. Also if you have a clearview cover once you close the cover, the app stops working. Uninstalled.
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