POI experience

[tracker]

We were out shopping the other day and I decided to use our TomTom XXL 540S to search for some restaurants under POI. It was the first time that I've used the POI to look up anything. I noticed that all the restaurants that I looked at included the phone number, street name, and closest cross street, but no street address which I thought was rather odd. So we picked a restaurant and had TomTom navigate us too it. When we were approaching our final destination I didn't have a clue as to what side of the street the restaurant was on. With no address and no arrow pointing to the left or right hand side of the street on the screen we were left guessing where the place was at. We kept looking on both sides of the street trying to spot the place. We ended up actually passing the restaurant and had to turn around because of traffic. Thank God it was during the day and not at night or else it would have been even worse.

I can't say that im too impressed with the POI feature. I am suprised that TomTom would exclude the street address info for POI. Without it you are left guessing where things are at unless you call the place ahead of time.

 

[dhn]

If you tap the icon, more information shows up...

 

[tracker]

If I tap on the little food icon all that I see it does is zoom in and out a little bit. Its not showing more information.

 

[dhn]

Try in Browse Map mode.

 

[tracker]

In Browse Map of Route, if I press the checkered flag it will show the name of the place but thats it.

 

[flyer1024]

as far as what side of the road a POI is located, there is an arrow indicating that in 3D view.

while the latest POI databases contain many many more POI's than they did just a few years ago, they are often still lacking in accuracy. Much better than they used to be though.

Generally when the unit says you've reached your destination, where you want to be is usually within sight. Just don't count on it being right next to the drivers door.

the odd time, the GPS is totally wrong. Could be that the business etc you want has moved or could be a database error.

frustrating sometimes, but my tomtom at the moment with the newer maps and poi databases is right on or close enough most of the time.

 

[tracker]

flyer1024,

On mine in 3D mode it isn't showing an arrow to indicate what side of the street a POI is on. It only shows a checkered flag in the middle of the street. What model TomTom do you have that is showing this? Does yours also show the street addresses for POI?

The only time I see a arrow indicating the side of the street a destination is on is when I create a route and put in the street address. I wonder since my gps doesn't seem to have any street addresses for the POI if that is the reason why there is no arrow indicating the side of the street the destination is on.

 

[dhn]

Tracker......I think the situation is this:

On the Go series of models, there are two relevant files: a poi.dat file AND a crpoi.dat file. The latter contains additional information relevant to the various pois in the poi.dat file.

But, with your model (and others) there is only a poi.dat file. So, indeed, there may not be additional data (like address) available unless that data was part of the poi.dat file itself.

 

[tracker]

dhn,

I checked and under the USA_Canada_and_Mexico_P file there are the two files that you mentioned. The poi.dat (292mb) and crpoi.dat (214mb).

Why the heck would TomTom decide to strip the street address info for POI from this model? I just don't get it. Maybe I need to call them. If this isn't going to be fixed then I'm going to be returning my gps. This is unacceptable.

 

[Arno]

I checked and under the USA_Canada_and_Mexico_P file there are the two files that you mentioned. The poi.dat (292mb) and crpoi.dat (214mb).

Why the heck would TomTom decide to strip the street address info for POI from this model?

They did not strip the address info, it is just not there
I set my 930 to display petrol stations. Tapping on them they only display their name and phone numbers.
Setting the map view to the largest resolution they will be shown in the middle of the road and the nearest street numbers, both even, as well as uneven are shown.
When Navigate to a station, again the Destination flag will be in the middle of the road.
Interestingly, tapping on a destination flag, they display the name only, not even the phone number.

 

[tracker]

Ok, Im a little confused. Are you saying on your Go 930 that it doesn't show any street addresses for any of the POIs such as Restaurants, Shopping, Gas, Hotels, ect? Or is it just certain POI such as Gas that its not showing the street address for.

When I select Navigate to and select a POI it takes me to a preview screen that shows a map with the POI icon on it. It shows the street and cross street, city and state, and also its phone number and distance. Now I have searched many different types of POI in many different cities including New York city and I still have not seen one POI where it gives its street address info.

 

[Arno]

Ok, Im a little confused. Are you saying on your Go 930 that it doesn't show any street addresses for any of the POIs such as Restaurants, Shopping, Gas, Hotels, ect?

Yup

When I select Navigate to and select a POI it takes me to a preview screen that shows a map with the POI icon on it. It shows the street and cross street, city and state, and also its phone number and distance.

I get nome of those,

Now I have searched many different types of POI in many different cities including New York city and I still have not seen one POI where it gives its street address info.

 

[tracker]

Arno,

You have this on yours too. I found a review of the Go 930 and it shows the POI Map Screen with the street, cross street, city, state, phone, and distance that I was talking about. On your model it also has a Details button which shows the street address and even the food cuisine type. On my model TomTom decided to removed this button.

Below are the reviews for the two models showing the POI Map Screens that Im talking about. The TomTom XL 340S is the same as the XXL 540S model that I have except it has a smaller screen.

TomTom Go 930 Review: TomTom GO 930 Review (GPSmagazine.com)

TomTom XL 340S Review: TomTom XL 340S Review (GPSmagazine.com)

 

[Arno]

You have this on yours too. I found a review of the Go 930 and it shows the POI Map Screen with the street, cross street, city, state, phone, and distance that I was talking about. On your model it also has a Details button which shows the street address and even the food cuisine type. On my model TomTom decided to removed this button.

You are right, it is there when drilling down. Not very intuitive.
Earlier I followed the suggestion to click on the POI in the Browse map view and that displays the name and phone number only.

Below are the reviews for the two models showing the POI Map Screens that Im talking about. The TomTom XL 340S is the same as the XXL 540S model that I have except it has a smaller screen.

TomTom Go 930 Review: TomTom GO 930 Review (GPSmagazine.com)

TomTom XL 340S Review: TomTom XL 340S Review (GPSmagazine.com)

tracker,

This has been something new for me as I usually do not look for restaurants.
I have looked for gas stations on the road but then tapped on the top one in the listing.

Thanks,
Arno

 

[tracker]

Arno,

Yeah, its not very intuitive at all. TomTom has made this way too obscure. Why they even put a "Details" button on your model I don't understand. Its just plain silly. They could have easily put the street address, zip code, and cuisine type on the main POI Map screen. There is more than enough room for it there. They should have also included the street address when you click on the POI in Browse Map.

I'm still shaking my head that TomTom excluded this info from this model. I don't know how they could be so stupid to think that this model shouldn't have POI street addresses. Every other gps out there shows street addresses for their POI.

I called and talked to a support person the other day who was also suprised that there was no POI street addresses. She appologized several times to me and said that she would pass it along to her manager. Maybe if enough people call or email and complain they will get smart and implement this like it should of been done in the first place.

 

[lec510]

Look at the problem this way, if you go back the history of TomTom.

They used not having lot of informations about POI (in POI.dat). People started complaining.
Instead of re-writing the whole shebang they patch the software with that Details (CRPOI.dat) that you complained about. It makes life easy for the programmer but upset some customers.