I’m sure there’s a POI topic somewhere, but there are so many topics that mention POI or “interest” that I can’t find it. And although this could also fit in the App’s feature request forum, the suggestions are more for editors. Feel free to move it if you think it’s better elsewhere.
Anyhow, we know that POI is coming. There may even be some specific details floating around among the Champs. But I wanted to offer some suggestions that I started thinking about based on a UR I came across. These may already be planned, but I’m posting them just in case they aren’t planned.
- The POI system should let an editor place a point along with a stop point. That will allow someone who searches for the POI to get to the right stopping point. It should be possible to place the stop point on any drivable segment. If and when non-drivable segments stop breaking the routing, then the stop point should be possible to place on no-drivable segments as well.
- Detail fields should be available, not not required. These include things like name, street address, description, and phone number. Optional additional fields include things like hours of operation or cost.
- POIs should be broken up into categories and each category should use a specific icon to represent it on the map. For example, the restaurant category can use a fork on the map. Categories should not just include building/business categories, but also natural feature categories. For example, named hills or mountains should have a category and should show with a triangle icon on the map. This was what got me thinking because the UR was to landmark a named hill, which we’re not doing with landmarks but would work with POIs. If natural features like hills or mountains are included, you could also have a field for height, though that could just be put in the description. But if it’s a separate field, Waze could display the height next to it on the map like you can see on some maps.
- When the map is zoomed in really far, you should see the name label placed above the icon. Afte you zoom out a bit, the name label should disappear while leaving the icon. And when you zoom out far enough, the icon should also disappear. This lets you see the locations even while zoomed out a bit without cluttering the map with a lot of labels.
- It should be possible to disable POIs in a granular way. Don’t just have the entire POI display be on or off, but also provide the option of enabling or disabling each individual category. If someone wants to see restaurants, but doesn’t want to see anything else, then give them that option.
- It would be really useful to allow someone to tap a POI icon in the client and have it bring up a popup with all of the details for the POI. For example, if I tapped a restaurant, I’d get the phone number and address and any other details like description and hours. The popup should provide enough room to read a long description and ability to scroll if the description is longer than would fit on the screen.
That is about all I can think of at the moment. Maybe it will be useful during development and testing.
