US 6,456,938 · Granted 2002-09-24
The Palm Pilot Golf Course Mapper That Crowdsourced the Fairway
Imagine a handheld device that uses GPS to map out every golf course you play—capturing distances, hazards, and layout—then uploads it to a website so other golfers don't have to map the same course twice. It's like Wikipedia, but for golf courses, and it runs on a device you hold in your pocket.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The patent covers a handheld GPS-based system that lets individual golfers digitally map and store golf course layouts, including terrain features and distances. What's protected here is the combination of GPS technology, mapping software on a personal computer device, the ability to upload course maps to a shared internet database, and the ability to download pre-mapped courses for offline use. The claim also covers a fallback method where users manually estimate ball positions using visual reference points when GPS isn't available.
Why it matters
This patent arrived in 2002, when smartphones didn't exist and golf GPS was a niche product. By patenting the idea of crowdsourced, shared golf course maps accessible via the internet, it anticipated how golfers would eventually want instant access to course data. The design reduced redundant mapping work and made GPS golf tools useful even for users without their own GPS hardware—a prescient model that influenced how golf apps and course databases operate today.
Real-world use
When you use a modern golf GPS app like Golfshot or 18Birdies and see detailed yardages and course maps for thousands of courses worldwide, you're benefiting from the same crowdsourced-database concept this patent locked down.
Original USPTO abstract
A personal owned palm-held device consisting of software executed on a palm-held personal computer (PC) saddled into and connected directly to a dGPS receiver such that an individual golf player may map a golf course by traversing its attributes, displaying said map and collecting golf play data for any golf course. In addition, the ability to upload and download golf course maps to an Internet web site shall reduce the need for subsequent users to repeat the effort of mapping the same course more than once. Also, downloadable courses will facilitate the use of the palm-held PC by users that do not have a dGPS attachment. When used without a dGPS attachment, ball locations will be determined manually by estimating the ball location with reference to visual salient course attributes.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,456,938
- Filing date
- 2000-07-21
- Grant date
- 2002-09-24
- Assignee
- Kent Deon Barnard
- Inventor(s)
- BARNARD KENT DEON
- CPC class
- A63B57/00
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