Method of providing urban hiking trails

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are described herein that are configured to enable a user the ability to create, log, experience and share experiences, sites, editorial commentary, photographs, and videos along either newly created or already defines tours, routes, or hikes, which may be called “urban hiking trails” (i.e. walking tours within cities). Users can choose among different hikes with established sites to see, stops to make, and merchants to visit, along with historical or editorial content to provide information to the user along the route. Merchant partners are given the ability to provide focused targeted advertising to the users that have begun or are about to physically experience such walking tours.

1 .- 36 . (canceled) 
     
     
         37 . A method comprising:
 receiving, via a touch screen of a first mobile device, at a first user interface of a mobile application, the mobile application running on the first mobile device, an indication to take a tour;   accessing, from a server, tour information associated with the tour, the tour information comprised of a set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates collected from a second mobile device in real-time as the second mobile device traversed a real-world environment; the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates comprising a first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates identified as route information indicating a route traversed by the second mobile device in the real world environment and configured to enable derivation of a distance of the tour, and a second subset of GPS coordinates identified as stop information, wherein the stop information is associated with stop content, and wherein the stop content is configured to enable derivation of searchable tags and searchable keywords;   providing, on a touch screen of a mobile device, at a user interface of a mobile application, tour information,   wherein the tour information is generated by:   receiving, at a touch screen of the second mobile device, at a second user interface of the mobile application, the mobile application running on the second mobile device, an indication to generate the tour, wherein the tour is associated with the tour information, which is comprised of the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates collected from the second mobile device in real-time as the second mobile device traverses the real-world environment; the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates comprising the first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates identified as the route information indicating the route traversed by the second mobile device in the real world environment and configured to enable derivation of the distance of the tour, and the second subset of GPS coordinates identified as the stop information, wherein the stop information is associated with the stop content, and wherein the stop content is configured to enable derivation of the searchable tags and the searchable keywords;   capturing, in real-time, location information of the second mobile device over a period of time as the second mobile device traverses the real-world environment;   associating the location information, as the location information is captured, in sequence, to the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates;   recording, to memory, the location information as the location information is captured, to the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates;   associating a plurality of location information to the second subset of GPS coordinates as candidate stop information upon a determination that the plurality of location information is co-located within a predefined distance for a duration of time exceeding a predefined threshold;   recording, to memory, the plurality of location information, as a candidate stop;   receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, that tour generation is over; and   uploading, to a server, the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates, including the first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates and the second subset of GPS coordinates identified as stop information.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the generation of the tour further comprises:
 providing, at the second user interface of the mobile application, the mobile application running on the second mobile device, an option to add the candidate stop as a stop;   receiving, at the second user interface of the mobile application, an indication to add the candidate stop as a first stop; and   recording, to memory, the location information associated with the candidate stop as the first stop.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the generation of the tour further comprises:
 receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, that the mobile device is at a second stop;   associating current location information to the second subset of GPS coordinates as stop information; and   recording, to memory, the current location information, as the second stop.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the generation of the tour further comprises:
 identifying a third-party merchant location as stop information;   accessing, via the server, pre-populated stop information associated with the third-party merchant location; and   recording, to memory, the third-party merchant location as a third stop and the pre-populated stop information as associated stop information.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the generation of the tour further comprises:
 presenting option to add a stop based on identifying a third-party merchant location.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, of a merchant offer, the merchant redeemable at a merchant location.   
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising:
 providing, by the mobile device, an indication of arriving at the merchant location upon determination, by the mobile device, via any of GPS authentication, bar code scanning, QR code scanning, manual logging by the merchant of the user, WiFi authentication, NFC authentication, or Bluetooth authentication.   
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising:
 providing, on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, a map to the merchant location upon receiving an acceptance of the merchant offer, at the touch screen of the mobile device.   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising:
 providing a notification to a merchant associated with the merchant offer and merchant location that the mobile device is moving to the merchant location.   
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising:
 prior to receiving the indication to take the tour, providing information indicative of a first set of available tours and a first functionality to the first mobile upon determination that the first mobile device is logged in; and   providing information indicative of a second set of available tours and a second functionality to the first mobile upon determination that the first mobile device is not logged in.   
     
     
         47 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:
 receiving, via a touch screen of a first mobile device, at a first user interface of a mobile application, the mobile application running on the first mobile device, an indication to take a tour;   accessing, from a server, tour information associated with the tour, the tour information comprised of a set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates collected from a second mobile device in real-time as the second mobile device traversed a real-world environment; the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates comprising a first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates identified as route information indicating a route traversed by the second mobile device in the real world environment and configured to enable derivation of a distance of the tour, and a second subset of GPS coordinates identified as stop information, wherein the stop information is associated with stop content, and wherein the stop content is configured to enable derivation of searchable tags and searchable keywords;   providing, on a touch screen of a mobile device, at a user interface of a mobile application, tour information,   wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:   receiving, at a touch screen of the second mobile device, at a second user interface of the mobile application, the mobile application running on the second mobile device, an indication to generate the tour, wherein the tour is associated with the tour information, which is comprised of the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates collected from the second mobile device in real-time as the second mobile device traverses the real-world environment; the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates comprising the first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates identified as the route information indicating the route traversed by the second mobile device in the real world environment and configured to enable derivation of the distance of the tour, and the second subset of GPS coordinates identified as the stop information, wherein the stop information is associated with the stop content, and wherein the stop content is configured to enable derivation of the searchable tags and the searchable keywords;   capturing, in real-time, location information of the second mobile device over a period of time as the second mobile device traverses the real-world environment;   associating the location information, as the location information is captured, in sequence, to the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates;   recording, to memory, the location information as the location information is captured, to the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates;   associating a plurality of location information to the second subset of GPS coordinates as stop information upon a determination that the plurality of location information is co-located within a predefined distance for a duration of time exceeding a predefined threshold;   recording, to memory, the plurality of location information, as a first stop;   receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, that tour generation is over; and   uploading, to a server, the set of temporally sequential GPS coordinates, including the first subset of temporally sequential GPS coordinates and the second subset of GPS coordinates identified as stop information.   
     
     
         48 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 providing, at the second user interface of the mobile application, the mobile application running on the second mobile device, an option to add the candidate stop as a stop;   receiving, at the second user interface of the mobile application, an indication to add the candidate stop as a first stop; and   recording, to memory, the location information associated with the candidate stop as the first stop.   
     
     
         49 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, that the mobile device is at a second stop;   associating current location information to the second subset of GPS coordinates as stop information; and   recording, to memory, the current location information, as the second stop.   
     
     
         50 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 identifying a third-party merchant location as stop information;   accessing, via the server, pre-populated stop information associated with the third-party merchant location; and   recording, to memory, the third-party merchant location as a third stop and the pre-populated stop information as associated stop information.   
     
     
         51 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 presenting option to add a stop based on identifying a third-party merchant location.   
     
     
         52 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 receiving an indication on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, of a merchant offer, the merchant redeemable at a merchant location.   
     
     
         53 . The computer program product according to  claim 51 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 providing, by the mobile device, an indication of arriving at the merchant location upon determination, by the mobile device, via any of GPS authentication, bar code scanning, QR code scanning, manual logging by the merchant of the user, WiFi authentication, NFC authentication, or Bluetooth authentication.   
     
     
         54 . The computer program product according to  claim 51 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 providing, on the touch screen of the mobile device, at the user interface of the mobile application, a map to the merchant location upon receiving an acceptance of the merchant offer, at the touch screen of the mobile device.   
     
     
         55 . The computer program product according to  claim 51 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 providing a notification to a merchant associated with the merchant offer and merchant location that the mobile device is moving to the merchant location.   
     
     
         56 . The computer program product according to  claim 47 , wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for:
 prior to receiving the indication to take the tour, providing information indicative of a first set of available tours and a first functionality to the first mobile upon determination that the first mobile device is logged in; and   providing information indicative of a second set of available tours and a second functionality to the first mobile upon determination that the first mobile device is not logged in.