seattle.cbslocal.com/201…

Yay for xenophobia! Here's to less traffic congestion in my neighborhood!

Wow, just when you thought Microsoft couldn't sink any lower ...

pshhhhf now they introduce this after all of SF is already gentrified.

I'm waiting for the 2.0 Avoid Non-Whites Version

Is Microsoft also going to develop an "Avoid the Paranoid & Prejudiced?" I'm sure there's a more technical term for that, but me no know.

Did y'all even glance at the patent or just look at the article?  (the 'avoid ghetto' appelation is an invention of the article writer)

Quoting from the patent app:

"Various route production systems are available for a user traveling though utilization of a vehicle. However, a pedestrian ... can have specific characteristics that are different from what is considered in vehicle route planning. For example, when a user travels as a pedestrian, she is commonly more exposed environmental elements. If it is relatively cold outside, then a pedestrian is far more likely to feel an impact then if a vehicle equipped with a heating system protected her. Moreover, it can be more dangerous for a pedestrian to enter an unsafe neighborhood then a person in a vehicle since a pedestrian is more exposed and it is more difficult for her to leave an unsafe neighborhood quickly. However, there are advantages to being a pedestrian traveler; if a pedestrian takes an incorrect action (e.g., turns down a wrong street), then correction can be easier since there are commonly fewer one-way pedestrian streets...."

So, the word "unsafe" is mentioned with no racial or economic context (can also apply to construction areas, streets without sidewalks, etc etc) .  Those who assume that to mean "ghetto" reflect far more bias than the patent app does.

Of course not, Al. Duh.

Makes sense to me.

Yes Al the writer is well versed in the ways of Faux News.

If you are on a bicycle at night, there are areas to avoid in San Francisco.

those who get outraged over this should also realize that such factors are ALREADY incorporated in **driving directions in existing navigation services** -- where was the outrage over that??

It would also be nice to have an optional "avoid hills" route also.

My nephew programmed our GPS to moo everytime we get close to a gas station. Soon he can program it for gunshots everytime we get close to an unsafe neighborhood.

man, good thing Chevy Chase didnt have this feature in the movie "Vacation"- that was the funniest part!  Lol...Christopher Columbo

ebn h. says:
man, good thing Chevy Chase didnt have this feature in the movie "Vacation"- that was the funniest part!
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"Excuse me, could you please tell me how to get back on the express way?"

Tsada K. says:

Yay for xenophobia!
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How does that at all translate to xenophobia?  One already has a destination in mind, and this can look at crime stats to show routes to avoid while on the way to said destination.
I have no plan on using, but I don't see the issue.

This feature made me think of that movie 'Judgement Night' with Denis Leary, Jeremy Piven and Emiliooooooooooo!
Not a bad flick.

Ryan - I remember that movie, I didn't think it was too bad either.

ebn h. says:
man, good thing Chevy Chase didnt have this feature in the movie "Vacation"- that was the funniest part!

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or the frat boys in "Animal House" when they take the road trip to catch Otis Day and the Knights*

"Does you min' if we dance wif yo dates?"

* - ever notice who played lead guitar?

I personally find equating "dangerous" neighborhoods with mud-slide areas or construction zones in the same app to be a little questionable, but that's just me.  Are you guys really as afraid of driving through the TL as you are of driving Devil's Slide during rainy season?

I do agree that the writer's choice of "ghetto" in the article title is questionable as well, although I think it was being used in somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek manner--for the reason I mentioned above.

Tsada K. says:
I personally find equating "dangerous" neighborhoods with mud-slide areas or construction zones in the same app to be a little questionable, but that's just me.  Are you guys really as afraid of driving through the TL as you are of driving Devil's Slide during rainy season?

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again, this patent was about *walking*, not driving.  such "danger" considerations for driving are already considered Prior Art by the Patent office, impying that such technology is already in use by auto navigation software.  And wasn't Devil's Slide bypassed already?

sorry, meant to say *agree with Al* that the writer;s choice of "ghetto"...

I don't know if Devil's Slide was bypassed already.  I haven't driven it in about twenty years.  You get my basic point though, right?

H. Paul C. says:
this reads more like an "i don't make as much money as i want, so im going to cry racial injustice every time someone makes me aware of this fact" thread to me.

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Hmm...now who is making assumptions?

Sean "BETTER THAN EZRA" C. says:
The ghetto is where the great taco trucks are. Sure, you have to avoid the prostitutes, drug dealers, and drive by shootings,

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do you really want to go there right now, considering recent events?

Tsada K. says:
I don't know if Devil's Slide was bypassed already.  I haven't driven it in about twenty years.  You get my basic point though, right?

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yes.

the article writer is just assuming the worst (racism) in this patent app.  I think there's plenty of time to bash MS later if they do, in fact, automatically consider poor or heavily-nonwhite neighborhoods to be inherently "dangerous" without regard to other physical hazards.  (e.g. such an app would be right to mark Ogawa Park as an "avoid" for pedestrians during Occupy)

Also, to those who feel I misused the term "xenophobia"-- In my experience the reluctance of people to venture into my neighborhood or Oakland in general (often labeled as "high crime") has mostly to do with a fear of the foreign or unknown rather than any kind of legitimate risk or realistic danger to them.  And that to me is the definition of xenophobia. Just MHO though.  Flame on.

Al "Lead Singer, Driving the Winnebago" D. says:
Sean "BETTER THAN EZRA" C. says:
The ghetto is where the great taco trucks are. Sure, you have to avoid the prostitutes, drug dealers, and drive by shootings,

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do you really want to go there right now, considering recent events?

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Which recent events are you talking about?  Just curious.

Al "Lead Singer, Driving the Winnebago" D. says:
Tsada K. says:
I don't know if Devil's Slide was bypassed already.  I haven't driven it in about twenty years.  You get my basic point though, right?

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yes.

the article writer is just assuming the worst (racism) in this patent app.  I think there's plenty of time to bash MS later if they do, in fact, automatically consider poor or heavily-nonwhite neighborhoods to be inherently "dangerous" without regard to other physical hazards.
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I agree.  It would be interesting to see exactly how they define "dangerous" as it applies to this app.  All crime does not pose a risk to drivers/pedestrians.

I was in east oakland sunday after the raiders game. The town is straight up ghetto, yo!

Sean, those people stand more of a risk of being harmed or injured on the slopes at Heavenly than they do standing in line for a taco in Oakland. They're just rationalizing their xenophobia with what they see featured on the 10 o'clock news.

I believe the recent event being referred to is the 5-year old who got shot and killed by his dad's taco truck. The funeral was today.

RIP
sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic…

Anyway, sorry if I offended anyone with this post. Perhaps it's not xenophobia--perhaps it's gonna be a useful app.  What the fuck do I know?  I don't even have a GPS.  I still read maps.

It's an interesting discussion nonetheless.  Have a great weekend, folks!

I hadn't read about that, Clementine.  That's horrible.  There's been some bad stuff going on in that part of International the past few months.  So sad.

I could have used this feature when walking to a club in DC last year.

We walked past some seriously dark ghetto shit.

Ha ha, WTF? People watch too much evening news. They'll smoke cigarettes and eat fast food but they won't drive through the hood.

It's so, so sad. I don't know why I still watch the local news. I know it's pretty skewed, but I still watch a little and that's why I knew about this.

(btw, I meant to say that he was playing by his dad's taco truck....)

Tsada K. says:
Also, to those who feel I misused the term "xenophobia"-- In my experience the reluctance of people to venture into my neighborhood or Oakland in general (often labeled as "high crime")

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but is Tsada's neighborhood still "high crime" when Tsada isn't there?

*ducking*

.

but yes, the event I was referring to was the Oakland shooting death of the taco truck owner's kid

Depends on what I've had to eat that night, Al.  On brussels sprout night, my block is off-the-charts dangerous.  

See what I mean about danger being relative?

I usually don't care about my grammar mistakes, but I made it sound like the taco truck was doing the shooting and I couldn't let that one go. OK, I'll stop now.

armed gangs of taco trucks are becoming a big problem in the Central Valley

FYAG

So how does it determine the level of danger in a neighborhood? By using crime statistics ? Demographics? The absence of a Starbucks on every corner, and lack of a Whole Foods market?

Bump for Umesh

any neighborhood with an Umesh is unsafe

not just Vallejo

They have to include Avoid The Trailer-Park-Trash also

And in the event you get lost driving through South Dakota Avoid Cracka-Ville

This thread was pretty good, I read through it while eating ice cream.

April, are you thinking of Reginald Denny?