Computer aided routing system

A computer aided routing system (CARS) comprising:

• a digital computer having a computer display;
• a map database providing a set of electronic maps for presentation on the computer display;
• said electronic maps depicting transportation routes having identified waypoints including route intersections at geographical locations along the transportation routes, said identified waypoints depicted on the electronic maps being identified in the computer by coordinate locations of a selected geographical coordinate system;
• a CARS database of geographically locatable points of interest (POIs) identified by coordinate locations in said geographical coordinate system, said POIs being organized into a plurality of types for user selection of POIs by type, said POI types comprising overlays of the CARS database for display over the electronic maps on the computer display;
• CARS software constructed for user travel planning using said electronic maps presented on the computer display, said CARS software permitting user selection of a travel origin, travel destination, and desired waypoints between the travel origin and travel destination, said CARS software calculating, delineating, and displaying a travel route between the travel origin and travel destination via the selected waypoints according to user choice of the shortest travel route, quickest travel route, or user selected preferred travel route;
• said CARS software permitting user selection of a region of interest along the user defined travel route, said region of interest having user specified dimensions and permitting user selection of specified POI types within said region and user selection of particular POIs from a selected type within the region of interest, said region of interest being identified in the computer by coordinate locations of said geographical coordinate system;
• said CARS database comprising travel information selected from the group consisting of graphics, photos, videos, animations, audio information, and text information about POIs of the CARS database and about waypoints of the electronic maps;
• said CARS software being constructed to present a user customized travelog for preview on the computer display of the user defined travel route including said travel information in the CARS database on the waypoints of the electronic maps and the selected POIs of the CARS database in the user defined region of interest along the travel route;
• said CARS software being constructed to display a user customized strip map of the user defined travel route along the center of the screen, user selected POIs in the user defined region of interest being listed along one side of the strip map with pointers to respective POI locations in a corridor of specified width along the travel route, and travel directions along the travel route being listed along the other side of the strip map with pointers to respective intersections corresponding to directions along the travel route;
• said user customized strip map being vertically oriented with the travel origin at the bottom of the strip map and travel destination toward the top of the strip map.

A computer aided routing method (CARM) using a digital computer with computer display, a map database providing electronic maps having transportation routes, route intersections and identified waypoints along the transportation routes for presentation on the computer display, and a computer aided routing system (CARS) software constructed for user travel planning, comprising:

• presenting the electronic maps on the computer display;
• selecting on the electronic maps a user travel origin, travel destination, and intermediate waypoints at geographical locations between the travel origin and travel destination;
• calculating, delineating, and displaying on the computer display a travel route between the user travel origin and travel destination via the user selected waypoints according to user choice of the shortest travel route, quickest travel route, or user selected preferred travel route;
• selecting a region of interest to the user along the user defined travel route, said region having user defined dimensions limiting excursions on either side of the user defined travel route;
• providing a CARS database of geographically locatable points of interest (POIs) in the geographical areas of the electronic maps, said POIs being organized into a plurality of type for user selection of POIs by type, said POI types comprising overlays of the CARS database for display over the electronic maps on the computer display, said CARS database also comprising travel information selected from the group consisting of graphics, photos, videos, animations, audio information and text information about transportation routes and waypoints of the electronic maps and POIs of the CARS database;
• identifying in the digital computer the transportation routes, route intersections, and waypoints of the electronic maps, region of interest selected by the user, and the selected POIs of the CARS database, by coordinate locations in a common geographical coordinate system;
• selecting specified POI types in the user defined region of interest along the user defined travel route and selecting particular POIs from the selected types in the region;
• assembling and displaying on the computer display a user customized travelog for preview of the user defined travel route, said travelog including travel information in the CARS database on the transportation routes and waypoints of the electronic maps and selected POIs in the user defined region of interest along the user defined travel route.

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instruction executable by the machine to perform method steps for computer aided routing comprising:

• presenting electronic maps on a computer display;
• selecting on the electronic maps a user travel origin, travel destination, and intermediate waypoints at geographical locations between the travel origin and travel destination;
• calculating, delineating, and displaying on the computer display a travel route between the user travel origin and travel destination via the user selected waypoints according to user choice of the shortest travel route, quickest travel route, or user selected preferred travel route;
• selecting a region of interest to the user along the user defined travel route, said region having user defined dimensions limiting excursions on either side of the user defined travel route;
• providing a computer aided routing system (CARS) database of geographically locatable points of interest (POIs) in the geographical areas of the electronic maps, said POIs being organized into a plurality of type for user selection of POIs by type, said POI types comprising overlays of the CARS database for display over the electronic maps on the computer display, said CARS database also comprising travel information selected from the group consisting of graphics, photos, videos, animations, audio information and text information about transportation routes and waypoints of the electronic maps and POIs of the CARS database;
• identifying in the digital computer the transportation routes, route intersections, and waypoints of the electronic maps, region of interest selected by the user, and the selected POIs of the CARS database, by coordinate locations in a common geographical coordinate system;
• selecting specified POI types in the user defined region of interest along the user defined travel route and selecting particular POIs from the selected types in the region;
• assembling and displaying on the computer display a user customized travelog for preview of the user defined travel route, said travelog including travel information in the CARS database on the transportation routes and waypoints of the electronic maps and selected POIs in the user defined region of interest along the user defined travel route.