How good are the Points of Interest maps with GPS systems?

Question

Specifically, do these maps generally tend to have fairly extensive retail/restaurant/business listings? I have used the Hertz NeverLost system and was pretty pleased with it as it had a pretty large database of business listings and was pretty current. I want to know if the typical GPS manufacturers can compare with this in regards to their POI maps.

Answer 1

To put this into perspective; There are only two major mapping & data collectors in the world; NavTeq & TeleAtlas.

NavTeq's data is used as the base data, for applications such as Google and Yahoo Maps; Devices such Garmin, Magellan and GlobalSat; And Car producers such as BMW and Chrysler.

How current a devices data, is based on how recent the data was collected (ie Q42007) in the version of the device you are using, or when was the device's base/ POI data was last updated.

With that being said, the quality of the POI base data is graded by two measures; quantity of total POI's (ie: 6 or 9 million POI's) and catagories of POI's (Resturants, golf courses, businesses, airport etc).

So when seeking to buy a new "Navigational Device" (Dash mounted touch screen GPS unit), keep two questions in mind to the seller/ producer; How many POI's? And What version/ quarter is the base data from? - maybe a thrid, Who's base data is being used?

I help people (consumer & commericial) everyday understand and use GPS.

Answer 2

I am no expert.  I think the Poi's on the GPS units you can get in the stores are great.  I have used many of the Garmin units and find that the higher end units are a little more detailed in the "where am I" feature but over all the lower end unit such as the Nuvi 200 has pretty accurate info as well.  The even nicer point about having a portable GPS is that you can put it in pedestrian mode and use it in the city while you are walking as well... convenient and easy to use.

Answer 3

The NeverLost system is made by Magellan, so what it has will be on par with what is produced by Garmin and TomTom as well.  All of these GPS manufacturers get their data from the same two companies - TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ.  The Point of Interest data tends to be more out-of-date than the road data, so you have to take their currency and positional accuracy with a grain of salt.  About the GPS receiver itself, I recommend going with Garmin or TomTom, as Magellan has abysmal customer support that consists of off-shored script readers.

Answer 4

Hertz NeverLost is a partnership between Hertz / Thales aka NeverLost by Navigation Solutions.

To start with, the older Magellan 750Nav version 4.3.3.12 can have the full POI information up to 15 million, but there is tons that is not needed nor up to date.

Problem here is memory space, so a Magellan RoadMate 2000, 1200 or any of the lower end Magellan system may have only 1.2 million of POI's unlike the Hertz NeverLost system.

As far as Garmin goes, they normally have between 5-6M POI's provided by NavTeq.

TomTom uses Tele Atlas which they just acquired, and their POI number can be as high as 12 million but on the lower end TomTom ONE, there will only be about 1 million again due to memory size and price.

NavTeq and Tele Atlas both charge for POI information so it is not always to the manufacturers benefit to offer everything on their lower end product because they need to somehow differentiate the higher end product with more mapping coverage and higher number of POI information.

If you wish to have the BEST POI search, I would say try picking up a DASH GPS unit for only about $299 and there is a monthly subscription fee, this PND will allow you to go on the Internet and search Yahoo local search so it is almost an unlimited amount of POI and it is probably more up to date than what is supplied on the static POI content offered by Magellan, Garmin and TomTom.

Another GPS option could be the smart phones or Apple 3G iPhones, with GPS receiver, they have the ability to search the Internet in real time for POI contents and map the location and find the phone number, the only issue with the 3G iPhone is currently it does not offer turn by turn voice direction and it does not offer heading up icon. Display refresh rate is slow to refresh also when viewing in satellite mode.

You will see more of the Internet search features available soon from these GPS PND manufacturers.

If you wish to buy a Magellan system that have tons of POI, consider the Magellan Maestro 4250 or the Maestro 4050, both have tons of POI along with AAA content and ratings. Magellan is the only one that offers this AAA content information, TomTom and Garmin does not offer an additional content beside what is loaded in the unit already without paying additional fees.

You can find out more information about GPS systems at Auto Nav 2000 Plus, Inc. http://www.autonav2000.com/

Or if you wish to compare a few GPS systems, try looking up GPS4Rent at http://www.gps4rent.com/ and rent a few GPS units to compare with for yourself to see which system fit your needs best.

Good luck