Interactive map-based travel guide

• US 20060271277A1
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Jianing, Sadri, Pasha
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/202
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval

Abstract

A trip planner is provided for creating, modifying, categorizing, and sharing online trip plans. A trip plan includes a list of items such as hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions selected from a travel guide or provided by a user. An item can have a street address for positioning the item on a map, an image and description of the item, and other metadata assigned by the user, such as tags and notes. The trip planner can generate an itinerary listing the items, and a corresponding map showing the locations of the items. A trip plan can be shared with other users, who can locate the trip plan by searching for the tags or other metadata.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating an interactive trip plan viewable by a user, the apparatus comprising:

logic for providing a list of destinations to the user;

logic for adding to the trip plan at least one trip plan item, wherein the at least one trip plan item is based upon at least one destination selected by the user from the list; and

logic for receiving metadata from the user concerning the at least one trip plan item.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the list comprises a list of hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, or combinations thereof.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by a travel guide.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one destination parsed from selected text on a web page.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one tag.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one note.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one description.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one date.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one category.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

logic for generating a schedule view of the trip plan, wherein the schedule view comprises the at least one trip plan item.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the schedule view is sorted by the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

logic for refining the schedule view of the trip plan to generate a refined view, wherein the refined view includes the at least one trip plan item only if the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item has a user-specified value.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

sharing logic for providing the trip plan to a set of users, wherein the trip plan is associated with at least one tag, and the trip plan can be retrieved by searching for the at least one tag.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the set of users is a proper subset of all users of the apparatus.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

logic for causing the display of promotional items based upon the trip plan.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the promotional items comprise hotels within a defined distance of the at least one trip plan item, airline flights associated with the location of the at least one item, or combinations thereof.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

logic for generating a map view of the trip plan, wherein the map view includes a representation of the at least one trip plan item displayed on the map in a position based upon an address associated with the at least one trip plan item.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the representation is an icon.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein a single icon is displayed for at least two trip plan items if the at least two trip plan items are located in a region of less than a defined area.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

map detail logic for receiving selection by a user of at least one trip plan item displayed on the map, the map detail logic operable to add details concerning the at least one trip plan item to the map view.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

map item selection logic for receiving selection by a user of at least one travel guide item displayed on the map, the map item selection logic operable to add the at least one travel guide item to the trip plan.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

map saving logic for adding the map view to the trip plan.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

logic for generating a print view of the trip plan, wherein the print view includes at least one trip plan item, and the print view is in a format suitable for printing on paper.

25. A method of providing an interactive trip plan viewable by a user, comprising the steps of:

providing a list of destinations to the user;

adding to the trip plan at least one trip plan item, wherein the at least one trip plan item is based upon at least one destination selected by the user from the list; and

receiving metadata from the user concerning the at least one trip plan item.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the list comprises a list of hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, or combinations thereof.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by the user.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by a travel guide.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the list comprises at least one destination parsed from selected text on a web page.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the metadata comprises at least one tag.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the metadata comprises at least one note.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the metadata comprises at least one description.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the metadata comprises at least one date.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the metadata comprises at least one category.

35. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

generating a schedule view of the trip plan, wherein the schedule view comprises the at least one trip plan item.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the schedule view is sorted by the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

refining the schedule view of the trip plan to generate a refined view, wherein the refined view includes the at least one trip plan item only if the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item has a user-specified value.

38. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

providing the trip plan to a set of users, wherein the trip plan is associated with at least one tag, and the trip plan can be retrieved by searching for the at least one tag.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the set of users is a proper subset of all users of the apparatus.

40. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

causing the display of promotional items based upon the trip plan.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the promotional items comprise hotels within a defined distance of the at least one trip plan item, airline flights associated with the location of the at least one item, or combinations thereof.

42. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of:

generating a map view of the trip plan, wherein the map view includes a representation of the at least one trip plan item displayed on the map in a position based upon an address associated with the at least one trip plan item.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the representation is an icon.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein a single icon is displayed for at least two trip plan items if the at least two trip plan items are located in a region of less than a defined area.

45. The method of claim 42, further comprising the steps of:

receiving selection by a user of at least one trip plan item displayed on the map; and

adding details concerning the at least one trip plan item to the map view.

46. The method of claim 42, further comprising the steps of:

receiving selection by a user of at least one travel guide item displayed on the map; and

adding the at least one travel guide item to the trip plan.

47. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

adding the map view to the trip plan.

48. The method of claim 42, further comprising the step of:

generating a print view of the trip plan, wherein the print view includes at least one trip plan item, and the print view is in a format suitable for printing on paper.

49. A computer program product comprising program code for providing an interactive trip plan viewable by a user, the computer program product comprising:

program code for providing a list of destinations to the user;

program code for adding to the trip plan at least one trip plan item, wherein the at least one trip plan item is based upon at least one destination selected by the user from the list; and

program code for receiving metadata from the user concerning the at least one trip plan item.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the list comprises a list of hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, or combinations thereof.

51. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by the user.

52. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the list comprises at least one destination provided by a travel guide.

53. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the list comprises at least one destination parsed from selected text on a web page.

54. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the metadata comprises at least one tag.

55. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the metadata comprises at least one note.

56. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the metadata comprises at least one description.

57. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the metadata comprises at least one date.

58. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the metadata comprises at least one category.

59. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

program code for generating a schedule view of the trip plan, wherein the schedule view comprises the at least one trip plan item.

60. The computer program product of claim 59, wherein the schedule view is sorted by the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item.

61. The computer program product of claim 59, further comprising:

program code for refining the schedule view of the trip plan to generate a refined view, wherein the refined view includes the at least one trip plan item only if the metadata associated with the at least one trip plan item has a user-specified value.

62. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

program code for providing the trip plan to a set of users, wherein the trip plan is associated with at least one tag, and the trip plan can be retrieved by searching for the at least one tag.

63. The computer program product of claim 62, wherein the set of users is a proper subset of all users of the apparatus.

64. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

program code for causing the display of promotional items based upon the trip plan.

65. The computer program product of claim 64, wherein the promotional items comprise hotels within a defined distance of the at least one trip plan item, airline flights associated with the location of the at least one item, or combinations thereof.

66. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

program code for generating a map view of the trip plan, wherein the map view includes a representation of the at least one trip plan item displayed on the map in a position based upon an address associated with the at least one trip plan item.

67. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the representation is an icon.

68. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein a single icon is displayed for at least two trip plan items if the at least two trip plan items are located in a region of less than a defined area.

69. The computer program product of claim 66, further comprising:

program code for receiving selection by a user of at least one trip plan item displayed on the map; and

program code for adding details concerning the at least one trip plan item to the map view.

70. The computer program product of claim 66, further comprising:

program code for receiving selection by a user of at least one travel guide item displayed on the map; and

program code for adding the at least one travel guide item to the trip plan.

71. The computer program product of claim 66, further comprising:

program code for adding the map view to the trip plan.

72. The computer program product of claim 66, further comprising:

program code for generating a print view of the trip plan, wherein the print view includes at least one trip plan item, and the print view is in a format suitable for printing on paper.