Methods and computer program products for identifying prospective routes for physical activities

1. A method for a server computer system to identify a prospective route for an individual to traverse while conducting a physical activity, the method comprising:

the server computer system receiving data describing the physical activity from a remote computing device;

in response to receiving the descriptive data, the server computer system identifying the prospective route; and

in response to identifying the prospective route, the server computer system transmitting data describing a map of the prospective route to the remote computing device for display of the map at the remote computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired activity type.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the desired activity type comprises one of running, walking, bicycling, and swimming.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired geographic location of the physical activity.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the desired geographic location comprises a desired distance from the individual's present location.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired total time to complete the physical activity.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired total distance of the route.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired speed or pace to maintain during the physical activity.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired heart rate to maintain during the physical activity.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired elevation change for the route.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises desired road conditions for the route.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote computing device comprises a portable performance monitoring device that is capable of being carried by the individual during the physical activity.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the prospective route comprises:

identifying a route previously stored in a location accessible by the server computer system.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the previously stored route was previously traversed by the individual.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the prospective route comprises:

creating a new route to be stored in a location accessible by the server computer system.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the map of the prospective route comprises road data.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the map of the prospective route comprises landmark data.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data describing the map of the prospective route comprises elevation data.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to identifying the prospective route, the server computer system further transmitting prior performance data previously associated with the prospective route to the remote computing device for display at the remote computing device.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to identifying the prospective route, the server computer system further transmitting route guidance instruction data associated with the prospective route to the remote computing device for display at the remote computing device.

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

the server computer system further transmitting performance goal data associated with the physical activity to the remote computing device.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein transmitting the performance goal data occurs in response to identifying the prospective route.

23. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

the server computer system further transmitting scheduling data associated with the physical activity to the remote computing device.

24. A method for a computing device to identify a prospective route for an individual to traverse while conducting a physical activity, the method comprising:

the computing device sending data describing the physical activity to a remote server computer system;

in response to sending the descriptive data, the computing device receiving data describing a map of the prospective route from the server computer system; and

in response to receiving the map data, the computing device displaying a map described by the map data on a display screen of the computing device.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired activity type.

26. The method of claim 24 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired geographic location of the physical activity.

27. The method of claim 24 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired total time to complete the physical activity.

28. The method of claim 24 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired total distance of the route.

29. The method of claim 24 , wherein the data describing the physical activity comprises a desired elevation change for the route.

30. The method of claim 24 , wherein the prospective route was previously traversed by the individual.

31. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

in response to sending the descriptive data, the computing device further receiving prior performance data previously associated with the prospective route from the server computer system.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein displaying the map further comprises displaying the route with different characteristics corresponding to different performance data values that were previously associated with different portions of the route.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the characteristics comprise different line styles representing different portions of the route having different performance data values previously associated with them.

34. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

in response to sending the descriptive data, the computing device further receiving route guidance instruction data associated with the prospective route from the server computer system.

35. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

the computing device further receiving performance goal data associated with the physical activity from the server computer system.

36. The method of claim 24 , further comprising:

the computing device further receiving scheduling data associated with the physical activity from the server computer system.