Apparatus and methods for providing route-based advertising and vendor-reported business information over a network

A method of providing advertising to a user or community of users over a network, the method comprising:

• receiving from the user a query identifying a contemplated route;
• accessing a computer database of self-reported business information from vendors, each vendor having an identified geographic location, wherein the self-reported business information has been previously supplied by the vendors through an interface and stored in the database, wherein the interface is configured so that each vendor can also specify an advertising budget;
• providing to the user or community, over the network, information from the database concerning the business information of a set of vendors extracted from the database on the basis of geographic proximity to the route identified by the user;
• and
• providing to the user or community, over the network in response to the query, advertising from the set of vendors based, at least in part, on data retrieved from the database and on advertising budgets supplied by the set of vendors.