Recreational vehicle interactive telemetry, mapping, and trip planning system
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.
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 non-transitory 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.