Unmanned aerial vehicle management system

1. A system for fulfilling a request from a user, comprising a computer server, the computer server configured to:

receive a service request from a remote client device operated by the user, the service request specifying a destination site;

select a distribution center based on the destination site; and

send at least a portion of the service request to the distribution center;

wherein, at least one of the computer server and the distribution center generate mission data that is communicated to an unmanned aerial vehicle; and

the mission data configures the unmanned aerial vehicle to navigate to the destination site.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the mission data communicated to the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a skymap, the skymap comprising information about one or more flight corridors; and

the unmanned aerial vehicle is further configured to navigate to the destination site using the one or more flight corridors.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is further configured to:

compute a traversal cost for each of a plurality of flight corridors; and

determine a lowest cost route to the destination site using the computed traversal cost for each of the plurality of flight corridors.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the computer server is further configured to select the distribution center based on a distance between the distribution center and the destination site.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein:

the service request further comprises information specifying a requested payload type;

the distribution center comprises an inventory indicating an availability of the requested payload type; and

the computer server is further configured to select the distribution center based on the availability of the requested payload type.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer server is further configured to:

cause a displayable representation of the geographic area to be displayed on the remote client device operated by the user; and

receive at least one route refinement selection from the remote client device operated by the user.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the unmanned aerial vehicle is further configured to:

receive route information based on the at least one route refinement selection; and

generate a route to the destination location based on the route information.

8. In a computer system, a method for fulfilling a request from a user, comprising:

receiving a service request from a remote client device operated by the user, the service request specifying a destination site;

selecting a distribution center based on the destination site;

sending at least a portion of the service request to the distribution center;

generating mission data that configures the unmanned aerial vehicle to navigate to the destination site; and

communicating the mission data to the unmanned aerial vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the mission data communicated to the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a skymap, the skymap comprising information about one or more flight corridors; and

the unmanned aerial vehicle is further configured to navigate to the destination site using the one or more flight corridors.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

computing a traversal cost for each of a plurality of flight corridors; and

determining a lowest cost route to the destination site using the computed traversal cost for each of the plurality of flight corridors.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

selecting the distribution center based on the distance of the distribution center from the destination site.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the service request further comprises information specifying a requested payload type;

the distribution center comprises an inventory indicating an availability of the requested payload type; and

the method further comprises selecting the distribution center based on the availability of the requested payload type.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

receiving terrain data for a geographic area;

generating a displayable representation of the geographic area;

sending the displayable representation of the geographic area to the remote client device operated by the user; and

receiving at least one route refinement selection from the remote client device operated by the user.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

generating a route to the destination location based on the at least one route refinement selection.

15. In a computer system, a method for determining a route for an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising:

receiving a service request from a user operating a remote client device, the service request specifying a destination site within a geographic area, the geographic area associated with stored terrain data in a terrain map database;

generating a displayable representation of the geographic area based on the stored terrain data;

sending the displayable representation of the geographic area to the remote client device;

receiving at least one route refinement selection from the remote client device; and

generating a route within the geographic area for the unmanned aerial vehicle using the at least one route refinement selection from the remote client device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the route refinement selection comprises a point, and generating a route within the geographic area comprises refining a location of the destination site.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the route refinement selection comprises a trajectory, and generating a route within the geographic area comprises incorporating the trajectory into a flight path.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

validating the route refinement selection to ensure that an error will not be introduced into the route.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein validating the route refinement selection further comprises:

checking the route refinement selection against the stored terrain data.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein checking the route refinement selection against the stored terrain data further comprises:

confirming that a geometry of the route refinement selection does not intersect geometries of objects or terrain in the terrain map database.