Generating user preference activity maps

#Typical mapping technology uses functional classification to classify a road into the class or group of roads to which the road belongs. Examples of such functional classes include arterial, collector, and local. However, by using such mapping technology, conventional routing technology for athletes such as cyclists and runners is not usually based on the actual behavior of athletes.

#The actual behavior of athletes is also difficult to track. To track the behavior of cyclists, for example, governmental transportation departments commonly place sensors on select roads and/or deploy people to different areas to manually count the number of passerby cyclists. However, these techniques may be inefficient, laborious, and/or may not provide a broad sampling of the actual behavior of athletes.

#Having accurate elevation profiles for a planned route can be essential for planning for an athletic activity. Sometimes a person may want a relatively flat route, and sometimes a person may want a hilly route. When planning for a hilly route, it is important to know the steepest grade that will be encountered. Examples of why knowing the steepest grade in a planned route is useful are that the knowledge enables cyclists to choose the proper bike gearing for the ride, and helps both runners and cyclists dose their efforts during the route. However, global elevation profiles on roads and trails with the necessary accuracy for cyclists and runners do not currently exist.

#Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

#FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system for generating a user preference map in accordance with some embodiments.

#FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a user preference map generation server in accordance with some embodiments.

#The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or a processor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task may be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’ refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores configured to process data, such as computer program instructions.

#A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

#Embodiments of generating a user preference map are described herein. User activities collected by geographical positioning satellite (GPS) recording devices are collected. For example, each user activity comprises a set of GPS data (e.g., a series of GPS coordinates) along which the activity occurred, a corresponding set of time information (e.g., a timestamp corresponding to each GPS coordinate), and, optionally, other data associated with the user activity. The collected user activities are analyzed and aggregated with respect to each of at least a subset of edges in an obtained base map to generate a user preference map. For example, the base map may comprise a set of geographic information system (GIS) data that can be obtained from a third party source. The base map includes a number of edges, each of which represents a path, road, or trail. In various embodiments, a user input first endpoint (e.g., a start point/location) and a user input second endpoint (e.g., an end point/location) are received and one or more suggested routes from the user input first endpoint to the user input second endpoint are determined using the user preference map. In some embodiments, in addition to a first endpoint and a second endpoint, one or more user input route preferences are also received. Examples of route preferences include a desired route length, a desired surface type, a desired elevation type, a desired popularity, a desired power usage, and/or whether the route should be scenic. In some embodiments, one or more suggested routes can then be determined based on the user input first endpoint, the user input second endpoint, and the user input one or more route preferences. In some embodiments, the suggested routes may be visually displayed on a map at a user interface.