Points-of-Interest

A point-of-interest (POI) is a place on the map that's geo-located at a specific latitude and longitude. Most POIs are also associated with particular addresses on a road. Either way, you can select POIs as routing destinations, or at least drive close enough to a POI to walk to it from a parking spot.

Forward and reverse geocoding of POIs

POIs must have a geo-location for map users to navigate to them.

The process of "forward geocoding" converts the common road addresses with designations in geographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude. "Reverse geocoding" converts geographic coordinates into common addresses. Places in the map without literal street addresses rely solely on geographic coordinates.

Categories of POIs

There are many categories of POIs, including but not limited to the following:

hotels, motels, bed and breakfast
campgrounds and RV parks
restaurants, fast food chains
pubs and nightclubs
bakeries
coffee shops
gas stations
EV charging stations
museums
parks
beaches
historical sites such as Stonehenge in England
landmarks such as the Eiffel tower in Paris and Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota
public parking lots
hospitals
ATMs
banks
car washes
childcare centers
auto rentals
laundry services
fitness centers, golf courses, tennis courts
religious centers
boating
currency exchange
hair and beauty
police stations

A broad category such as restaurants typically includes subcategories such as food chains, seafood, steak houses, vegan food, ethnic food of assorted types, neighborhoods, and much more.

For routing purposes, you can typically search for POIs by category, subcategory, name, street address, phone number, web site, and so forth. You can even search for POIs of a given type within a specific distance of your route -- such as restaurants within 5 km of a longer route.

Depending on the type of POI, you can provide additional details in the map. For example, a public parking lot in the map could include some or all of the following details in addition to its location:

Days and hours of operation
Price information and payment methods
Number of parking spaces
Maximum allowable height of vehicles
Security provisions
Handicap accessibility