Curious about POI's

[Southwest Ken]

Does anyone know where the point of interest information is generated from?

I ask because when you first look at it, it seems exhaustingly thorough, but as I dig down into my community and communities that I'm familiar with I find houses of worship and hotels that show up (with incorrect addresses) 1/2 a mile from where they really are and restaurants that have been around for years that don't show at all.

I almost didn't post this question for fear it would be taken as a complaint, which it's not (as my nieces used to say "I'm just sayin' "). I just wonder..... how on earth is such a huge amount of data managed?

Anybody have any insight?

Ken

[Sho-Bud]

It is all data which is collected by Navteq. If you want corrections to it or additional POI's, you can use their website. http://update.navteq.com

[Southwest Ken]

That is too cool....Thanks!

Ken

[Moose Man]

NavTeq supplies a lot of the information for the maps and datum that Garmin uses....you can report errors either directly to them or to Garmin.

NavTeq uses various sources: City planning maps, city maps, yellow pages Chamber of Commerce etc.

Garmin and Navteq both have disclaimers that their information is and should not be considered 100% accurate because of inaccuracies caused by these various sources.

Example: My actual Street Address is 18 years old and it was not in the City Select v5 until I updated at both sites and is now on v6.

Plus the data is often skewed for other reasons. Churches - usually list the mailing address and not necessarily the street address which in the case of my church is a full block off.

The bottom line - accuracy is a fleeting thing until it's confirmed by actually driving to the place and someone updating the information at those places named.

There is a link in the sticky thread to Garmin's correction site.

[apersson850]

There was an article about Navteq, and their business in Sweden in particular, in a Swedish magazine, Teknikens Värld, a few weeks ago.
According to the official from Navteq, who was quoted in the article, Navteq so far inserts all POIs reported to them, from the POI itself (or rather the owner). So that some businesses are on the map, and others, looking the same, aren't, is simply due to the owners desire to be on the digital maps or not. Or his knowledge about these maps.

Navteq were considering associating a fee with being in the database, or maybe a fee for additional information, but let the basic address still be without any cost for the POI owner.
They are of course balancing between the desire to have as complete data as possible, and making money.

As Jonas have pointed out before, they also clearly stated that they don't care a bit about mapping areas where they have no demand from their customers. If there's no money in it, they don't do anything.
They also revealed that various customers have very different demands on the map products. One (un-named) car manufacturer didn't want their customers to get their cars dirty, so they asked for map data where the smallest, unpaved roads were omitted. Thus they wouldn't be tempted to drive in the mud...

[Brian-in-NJ]

Originally posted by apersson850

They also revealed that various customers have very different demands on the map products. One (un-named) car manufacturer didn't want their customers to get their cars dirty, so they asked for map data where the smallest, unpaved roads were omitted. Thus they wouldn't be tempted to drive in the mud...

Seems true, I have a friend who lives 30 miles outside of Tallahassee Fl in a house nearly 100 years old. It's address is not in the map list (through 5.0, Version 6 should be here this week) and my friend says she lives in the sticks and it would appear that way to Navtec as well. I'm guessing it will not be in 6.0 as it isn't on Mapquest or Yahoo Maps either.

[Statsman]

I wonder if companies/businesses pay Navteq to be included in the database?:confused:

Maybe the POI's will appear in some sort of order, listed by advertising $'s spent by the POI, or something like that. I mean, wouldn't, say McDonald's, pay good money to have their POI symbol appear at lower resolutions (larger distances) on the maps?

Just a thought, from the Dark Side.

[Sho-Bud]

They don't pay to be listed.
I used the Navteq website to add 3 restaurants to their database (relatives of my wife) and they are added in their database now.