Recreational vehicle interactive telemetry, mapping, and trip planning system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016238407-A1
Application number	US-201615137171-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 25, 2016
Priority date	Feb 26, 2013
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An interactive system for use in connection with recreational vehicle usage includes a server system, including an off-road trail database containing trail data, trail condition information, and points-of-interest information, as well as a trip mapping system accessible by any of a plurality of riders, allowing a rider to create a route based on the data in the off-road trip database. The server system further includes a trail maintenance interface accessible by users affiliated with an authorized group to edit the trail data, trail condition information, and points-of-interest information associated with the authorized group. The server system includes a location data management system configured to receive location data, allowing a rider to publish location information to one or more other riders, and a user feedback interface configured to receive trip data from riders for publication, including information describing an actual route and user data associated with that route.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of facilitating usage of a recreational vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving, from users affiliated with a plurality of authorized groups, trail data, trail condition information, and points-of-interest information from areas affiliated with the authorized groups, respectively; receiving a request from a user device to define a planned off-road route in one or more of the areas; generating a map associated with the planned off-road route, the map including trail condition information and points-of-interest information received; receiving location information from a communications device at a location of a recreational vehicle operated by the user during travel along the planned off-road route; publishing the location information to one or more other users based on permissions set by the user; and receiving user feedback information associated with the planned off-road route from the user.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receipt of the trail data, trail condition information, and points-of-interest information in an area is limited to users affiliated with the authorized group associated with that area.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising integrating weather information from a weather data source with the trail condition information and points-of-interest information in the map generated for the user.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising aggregating a plurality of user perspective photographs along the planned off-road route, thereby allowing sequential playback of the user perspective photographs.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications device comprises a communications interface integrated into the recreational vehicle.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications device comprises a mobile telecommunications device.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the user device comprises the mobile telecommunications device.

8 . An application embodied on a computer-readable medium, the application executable on a computing device and including program instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the computing device to:
receive user input requesting an off-road route, the user input including one or more ride parameters; define an off-road route based at least in part on the one or more ride parameters and trail condition data received from one or more third-party sources; present the off-road route to the user via a map display, wherein presenting the off-road route to the user includes presenting a plurality of route variations to the user, the route variations including display of one or more ride parameters of the route variations compared to the off-road route; and receive user selection of a desired off-road route for traversal.

9 . The application of claim 8 , wherein the application comprises a mobile application executable on a mobile device.

10 . The application of claim 8 , wherein the application is executable within a web browser of a computing device.

11 . The application of claim 8 , wherein the one or more ride parameters are selected from a group of ride parameters comprising:
preferred route distance; route travel time; nearby points of interest; skill level of a rider; and type of off-road vehicle.

12 . The application of claim 8 , wherein the one or more third party sources include governmental organizations, rider clubs, weather data providers, and other users.

13 . The application of claim 8 , further comprising presenting a plurality of different, selectable off-road routes to the user on the map display.

14 . The application of claim 13 , further comprising presenting to the user an indication of routes traversed by one or more third-party riders.

15 . The application of claim 14 , wherein the indication includes a review of the routes by the one or more third party riders.

16 . The application of claim 8 , further comprising, upon receiving user selection of the desired off-road route, providing directions to the user to follow the desired off-road route.

17 . The application of claim 16 , further comprising presenting to the user on the map display one or more points of interest to the user.

18 . The application of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of route variations are displayed to the user prior to traversal of the desired off-road route by the user.

19 . The application of claim 16 , further comprising, during traversal of the desired off-road route, generating revised directions for the user upon determination that the user has departed from the desired off-road route.

20 . The application of claim 19 , wherein the revised directions account for trail conditions of trails followed using the revised directions.

21 . The application of claim 16 , further comprising presenting to the user a current location of one or more preselected riders located along the desired off-road route.

22 . The application of claim 8 , further comprising receiving feedback from the user regarding the desired off-road route.

Assignees

• Polaris Inc
• Polaris Inc

Inventors

• Koenig David J
• Tharaldson Joseph D
• Koosmann Adam C
• Wolf Christopher G
• Fisher William C
• Weckert Kim A
• Callahan John W
• Herman Daren W
• Frostad Todd L
• Gustafson Gary L

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G01C21/3691

  Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions (arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09) · CPC title

• G01C21/3682

  output of POI information on a road map (G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01C21/3676

  Overview of the route on the road map · CPC title

• G01C21/34

  Route searching; Route guidance · CPC title