Point of Interest Data (POI data) | All You Need To Know
Optimize Your Point of Interrest (POI data) Quality: Insights and Considerations for Buying High-Quality POI data to Enhance Accuracy and Decision-Making
Points of Interest (POI) data is a collection of info about specific places like restaurants, parks, and shops. It's used in maps and apps to help you find and learn about different locations.
For example, when you're searching for a nearby coffee shop or checking out reviews for a new restaurant, POI data comes into play. However, collecting accurate and up-to-date POI data can be challenging because places change, new spots open up, and old ones close down. Ensuring the quality and reliability of this data is important to provide users with accurate information for their journeys and adventures
Points of interrest data (POI data) can be manually collected through surveying techniques, crowed sourced, or aggregated from multiple sources as below:
Organizations send teams to physically survey and collect information about various locations, noting details such as names, addresses, categories, and attributes. It's accurate but very time consuming and expensive to collect. This type of data collection is not suitable for frequently changing cities and business types like restaurants, cafe's etc.
Government agencies often maintain databases of important locations such as government buildings, parks, hospitals, and more, which can be used as a source of POI data. This type of data collection cover most government related facilities, but does not usually cover a lot in the private sector.
Companies specialize in collecting and curating POI data from various sources, including public records, web scraping, and partnerships with businesses. This is aggregated points of interrest data.
Aggregated Points of Interrest data (POI data) refers to a collection of information from various sources that have been brought together or combined into a single dataset. Instead of relying on just one source, aggregated POI data compiles details from multiple sources, such as maps, directories, user contributions, and more. This comprehensive dataset provides a broader and more diverse view of different places, making it useful for applications like mapping services, navigation apps, and location-based searches. Aggregated POI data can help users find a wider range of places and enhance the accuracy and coverage of location-based information.
This overview illuminates the Points of Interest (POI) data cleaning process. It involves tasks such as duplicate removal, outlier handling, categorization, standardization, validation, geocoding, user review integration, photo inclusion, and periodic updates for data accuracy.
Geocoding and Mapping:
Check if the essential information is present for each POI, such as name, address, category, and contact details. Incomplete data can lead to confusion for users.
Identify and remove duplicate POI entries to avoid redundancy and confusion.
Evaluate the coordinates of the POIs. Incorrect positioning can lead to inaccurate navigation instructions.
Verify whether the data is up to date. Businesses can change locations, close down, or move, which can make outdated POI data misleading.
Assess if the POIs are correctly categorized. A restaurant listed as a park can lead to inaccurate results. Check if the categories match the actual nature of the business or location.
Ensure that the data is in a consistent format and follows a standard structure. Inconsistencies in data formats can affect the usability of the data.
Check for data corruption or errors during data collection, storage, or transfer that could affect the accuracy of POI information.
Utilize automated validation tools to identify common data quality issues, such as missing fields, inconsistent formatting, or potential errors.
Perform statistical analysis on the data to identify patterns, outliers, and anomalies that might indicate data quality issues.
Maintain comprehensive documentation of your assessment methodology, findings, and actions taken to address data quality issues.
If your project requires 100% coverage of all Points of Interest in your local areas, especially in rural areas – surveying grade data can ensure comprehensive and accurate representation. Aggregated data can reach very high coverage up to 95% in most urban areas, but might lack in rural area that does not have enough information on the map.
For industries with unique or specialized requirements, aggregated data might lack the specificity and detail needed to cater to specific niches. For example, Knowing the types of product a grocery store sell or the speciality within each hospital.
If your project focuses on a small geographic area, surveying grade data can provide a highly detailed and precise dataset for that specific region.
If your project doesn't require frequent updates to the dataset and can operate effectively with static data, surveying grade data offers the benefit of accuracy without the constant data refresh.
If the majority of your points fall into a single category or have a similar style (e.g., retail stores), surveying grade data ensures consistency and precision within that category.
When you want to provide users with real-time updates and information, as aggregated data often includes user-contributed content that's constantly updated.
If you need to quickly launch an application or service and don't have the time for lengthy data collection and verification processes.
If you require a wide range of POIs from various categories and locations to offer a comprehensive service or application.
Aggregated data enables tracking changes and trends in different locations and industries over time, helping businesses monitor market shifts. Especially capturing new businesses and businesses that closed.
If you have budget constraints and need access to a large volume of data without the costs associated with extensive field surveys.
Surveying grade data can be 10x more expensive
If you want to leverage user-generated content, reviews, and ratings, foot traffic.
When your primary goal is to offer general mapping, navigation, and location-based services to users.
If you're conducting exploratory data analysis or research and need an initial overview of different locations and trends.
Aggregated data is well-suited for applications that help users find nearby restaurants, shops, attractions, and more.
When launching a startup or Minimum Viable Product (MVP), using aggregated data can accelerate your development process.
Aggregated data can help visualize trends, patterns, and popular locations across various categories.
For initial market research and feasibility studies, aggregated data can provide a starting point for understanding local businesses.
To get all the details about our Point of Interest (POI) data, visit our catalog page.
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"We focus on delivering quality data tailored to businesses needs in the middle east. Whether you are a restaurant, a hotel, or even a gym, you can empower your operations' decisions with geo-data.”
