Geocoding of POI features
Geocoding is the process of converting addresses and other objects into geographic coordinates and vice versa. This article explores the significance of geocoding, with a focus on Points of Interest (POI) features - which are part of the MapTiler Geocoding service—and delves into both forward and reverse geocoding.
MapTiler Geocoding Service
The MapTiler Geocoding service is a robust solution that provides search results across a wide array of feature-type categories. These categories include:
- Address Points: Accurate geocoding for specific addresses.
- Postal Codes: Geocoding based on postal codes for broader regional data.
- Administrative Places: Including cities, towns, and other administrative regions.
- Street Network: Comprehensive data on streets for precise location mapping.
- Points of Interest (POIs): Essential locations like restaurants, parks, and landmarks.
And others, which are listed in the PlaceType input option (see API reference).
Notice of Current Service Limitations
While we strive to provide top-notch geocoding services, we want to be transparent about the current limitations of our system. At this time, POIs geocoding is not performing as expected. As a result, this feature is not available for public use until we have resolved the current issues.
Our team is actively working to fix these issues and ensure that all services meet standards of reliability and accuracy. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding and patience as we work towards a solution.
Meanwhile, POIs index can be switched on as Experimental index, by setting the PlaceType attribute explicitly the poi value (as described in the API reference docs).
POIs geocoding
We have indexed a log list of POI categories, including all kinds of restaurants, coffee places, fuel and charging stations, hospitals, workout courses, shopping malls, and many others. You should be able to find places based on their names.
For the reverse geocoding, the nearest feature is returned to the search results list.
POI Geocoding using MapTiler SDK
As stated, POI geocoding is still experimental, but it can also be used with the MapTiler SDK Geocoding module. Just remember to add the types configuration option in the Geocoding object initialization.
const gc = new GeocodingControl({
collapsed: true,
country: 'de',
limit: 10,
...
types: ["poi","address"]
});
POIs as a default part of search results?
The geocoding team is working towards including the POI search results between other data types. The work will speed up if you help us with testing and send us your feedback on the search results. Thank you for your patience and help with the development.