All entries for Thursday 24 July 2008

Sat Nav Points of Interest (POI) as a Route to Market.

Writing about web page http://www.lpgmap.co.uk/download.php

I was introduced to satnav points of interest as a route to market by Julian Hewitt of Automotive Tanks who has TomTom LPG and Biofuels POI files to keep his Landy fuelled. He noted that his file did not include their other family business AT Gases close to junction 10 of the M6. This LPG Autogas business is kept busy by the local Wolverhampton Taxi fleets but many motorists are having to drive miles past AT Gases to fill up because the station is not on their satellite navigation maps.

The first thing I found is that there are several sources for this information but that these do not include TomTom etc. The LPG and Biofuels industry sites were one source and the alternative ‘free’ sites such as pocketgpsworld.com offering a wide range of downloads including free competitors’ to TomTom & Garmin’s paid for speed camera services etc. It was surprising that these SatNav home sites were not set up as one-stop-shops for all kinds of POI files; Psion and other PDA sites did this well. Instead they forced their users to visit the free model competitors.

So the problem of getting your information into these downloads has multiplied for the small independent retailer. They can get listed in the standard industry lists as these form the basis for many of these POI files. Luckily I discovered that www.lpgmap.co.uk had the most up to date and comprehensive POI files included Biofuels sites, available for 4 top satnav brands, TomTom, NavMan, Garmin & DestinAtor. These all had AT Gases included so the suggestion to the free sites becomes to update their POI files to this latest level.

I have recommended that they contact these sites with their precise latitude and longitude co-ordinates. Another problem thrown at them by the Post Office is that their post code for letters does not line up with the best Post Code for navigation. I have seen other websites that need to add ‘use this postcode for your satnat’.

POI files range from walks to Ham radio repeators, pub grub, car parks for the Royal Show at Stoneleigh and Doctor Who film locations. I would pay for one linked to Camra’s Good Beer Guide!

Robert McGonigle : 24 Jul 2008 12:31 |  Tags: Destinator Garmin Navman Poi Points Of Interest Sat Nav Satellite-Navigation Satnav Tomtom |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem