Point-of-interest (POI) data underpins many of the technologies businesses use to innovate, grow and complete everyday operations. You’ll find it across industries, powering everything from consumer-facing tools to complex competitor research — but how exactly does it benefit organizations?

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of POI data, its challenges and what makes it such a valuable resource for most businesses.

What Is POI?

Point-of-interest data contains information on physical places and their value to the public. These places might be helpful, necessary or interesting, including locations like stores, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals and parks. POI data can also include context on the locations. For example, it might collect information on how long customers spend at a place or create a picture of competing locations.

Many businesses use POI information to create databases and maps that inform various processes for learning about the market, consumers and competitors. Some of these applications include:

• Selecting sites for expansion or investment.
• Monitoring consumer behaviors across locations.
• Performing competitor and market analyses.
• Calculating and evaluating transit and logistics routes.
• Informing strategic planning demands.
• Finding the most profitable operating hours.
• Building tools, like interactive maps and location-based advertising notifications.
• Predicting potential risks and planning accordingly.
• Advertising in the right ways to the right people.

POI can be extremely detailed, facilitating powerful insights and tools. It usually identifies various data points via the North American Industry Classification System.

Why Is POI Data Beneficial for Businesses?

POI data’s many capabilities make it a wide-reaching resource for businesses of all types. The pros of POI data range from growth opportunities to competitor insights. Here are a few POI data benefits for businesses:

1. Improved Decision-Making

POI data can provide real-time insights into various factors to support informed and effective decision-making. Your team can confidently make choices, like where to focus marketing or which route to use, based on accurate and up-to-date information.

2. Streamlined Business Processes

Collecting data individually is highly inefficient and would likely require a limited scope or extensive resources. POI data is ideal for assessing vast amounts of information quickly and feeding it into complex calculations.

POI data can also facilitate faster operations through tools like route planners and maps. Visualizing POI information and integrating it with your business processes can drastically improve your speed.

3. Optimized Resource Allocation

Most of your business decisions will require time and/or money, and one of the biggest pros of location intelligence is its ability to minimize those costs. You can better control expenses like inventory practices, project budgets and staffing requirements.

POI data also helps improve the profitability of your efforts, such as when choosing an effective location for an ad campaign. 

4. Better Audience Insights

Location intelligence offers a much deeper understanding of your customers, as you can explore overarching behaviors and preferences. POI data aggregates many types of information, allowing you to tailor your business decisions to consumer needs.

Say you want to open a new location for a restaurant. You could use POI data to see how many competitors exist in a given area and whether consumers like them. If customer satisfaction scores are low, perhaps you can fill a need in the area — or identify a problem with the location. Marketing campaigns are another great way to learn from POI data.

5. Competitive Advantages and Opportunities

When you can offer a better customer experience, like through more relevant services or tools, you can build loyalty and improve your market share. POI information gives you an edge over the competition while helping you stay agile in evolving market conditions. With a creative approach to using POI data, you can often find opportunities that other businesses are missing.

6. Effective Competitor Research

Similarly, POI is a great way to conduct competitor research. Just as you might research your own performance, you can use POI to assess your competition, scoping out opportunities and possible challenges. Explore their physical locations, where they’re branching out, who’s growing quickly and other aspects of their operation.

With a comprehensive approach, location data can help you differentiate your business.

7. Risk Prevention

Get ahead of threats with a better understanding of your environment. Whether making investments or operational decisions, location intelligence can help you spot trends or potential roadblocks. Avoid financial problems, reputational damage and other avoidable issues.

Top Challenges of POI Data

While the benefits of POI data are plentiful, it also comes with some challenges.

1. Quality

Low-quality data can affect the utility of your information. If it’s inaccurate or incomplete, you can’t make decisions with confidence. For instance, a data set with plenty of entries might not be as helpful as it seems if most of its attributes are blank. Bad POI information could put business-critical judgments at risk.

POI data should offer appropriate coverage in relevant areas and use intelligent validation measures to confirm the information. Local expertise through a human review process can add an extra layer of quality control.

2. Recency

Location intelligence must also be up-to-date. Many fast-changing factors can affect your analyses, such as seasonal trends and industry developments. Some POI data providers offer updates as infrequently as once a year. Real-time updates are much more reliable.

3. Standardization

Many location information systems do not use the same formats or models, and the data sets might not be compatible with each other. Additionally, some organizations have different ideas of which places or attributes are valuable. The information may not be helpful if your data provider doesn’t collect locations or details that are important to your needs.

4. Collection Methods

POI information can come from many places. With data privacy top of mind for today’s consumers and businesses, your intelligence must come from ethical and legal methods. With 72% of Americans supporting more regulation for data protection, a responsible approach is crucial for avoiding legal challenges in the future.

Finding a Location Intelligence Data Provider

If you want to maximize the benefits of POI data, you’ll need to choose a data provider to address any potential challenges. Some aspects to look for in a provider include:

• Robust quality control, including human oversight and multiple validation steps.
• Extensive brand data and global location coverage.
• Real-time updates for reliable, more accurate insights.
• Comprehensive and helpful metadata, like confidence scores and consumer preferences.

Maximize the Benefits of POI Data With dataplor

At dataplor, we bring comprehensive, quality location information to one place. Businesses across industries use our POI data for everything from predicting success to uncovering new opportunities. dataplor spans over 200 countries and territories and leverages powerful AI-driven resources to achieve unparalleled accuracy and insights.

Whether you want to expand into new areas, build an existing audience or achieve another goal we’ve mentioned, dataplor can help. Contact our team today to learn more about how we can make the benefits of POI data a reality for your organization.

Making real estate investment decisions involves gathering large amounts of property data, like:

• Location
• Size
• Amenities
• Prices and rates
• Potential risks
• Building and property conditions
• Local market trends

Real estate professionals must then analyze this data to uncover patterns and trends. Doing so helps them make more informed decisions regarding property appraisal, investment strategies, consumer behavior patterns and risk assessment.

By seeking ways to leverage point of interest (POI) data in real estate, you can make wiser investment decisions. Real estate companies can use POI data to select the best sites and plan projects based on market trends and potential.

What Is POI Data in Real Estate?

POI data describes information about a specific location of interest. It offers real-time insights into the business’s products, activities, services, average number of visitors, contact information and other key data points. POI data has applications across numerous industries, including real estate.

Real estate POI data helps you assess critical factors for property purchases and rentals. For instance, you might use POI data to research amenities near prospective properties, such as:

• Parks
• Schools
• Restaurants
• Health care facilities
• Shopping centers
• Public transportation

These features can make properties more appealing to homebuyers and renters. A property with higher value and desirability increases your return on investment (ROI). POI can determine the most profitable properties, allowing you to make the most informed investments. You can also make more accurate market predictions based on real estate prices and trends.

5 POI Data Use Cases in Real Estate

Essentially, POI data takes the guesswork out of decision-making for real estate professionals by providing data-driven insights. Below are the different ways you can use POI data to evaluate investment opportunities.

1. Investment Property Research

Every building, site and property has unique coordinates and surroundings. It’s essential to understand the “why” of a location in addition to the “where.”

POI data can help you predict profitability before investing in real estate. You can obtain technical records and information about building conditions. You can determine competing brands’ locations, helping you identify opportunities and risk areas.

You can better understand neighboring businesses and the types of consumers they attract. As such, POI can provide a competitive advantage when conducting investment research.

2. Site Selection

Various factors guide the real estate site selection process, such as competitors, cost-effectiveness and socioeconomic demographics.

When choosing a retail store site, for example, POI data can gauge the specific spots that will generate the highest revenue stream for businesses that lease these properties. When investing in office space, commercial real estate companies often home in on the property’s proximity to hotels, restaurants, stores, cafes and other necessities that office employees desire access to.

Whether building a school or opening a new store location, POI can enhance your knowledge of the property location to help you make smarter investment decisions. You can detect areas of interest, consumer behaviors, locality trends and other valuable insights using POI datasets.

You can gain a more holistic understanding of the property’s surrounding environment, from infrastructure to commercial activities and social amenities. In turn, you can determine if a property is right for your residential or commercial site. Additionally, real estate agents can provide prospective buyers with location options in different visual formats based on their needs and preferences.

3. Market and Competitor Analysis

In the real estate sector, understanding competitors, consumers and market demographics is critical for driving growth. POI can garner insights about supply and demand, location, sales prices, rental rates and ROI potential.

Every real estate professional should master and prioritize market research and analysis. They can assess whether a specific location will succeed and yield a high lease value.

4. Risk Mitigation

POI data can help you mitigate potential risks before investing a significant sum. Real estate professionals must evaluate various factors when assessing a property’s risks. Insurance companies should also have detailed information regarding homes’ and businesses’ risk factors.

POI data can help you research past events to forecast a property’s future risks. For instance, you can determine the crime rate near a property or its susceptibility to natural disasters, such as flooding, fires, hurricanes and earthquakes.

By understanding potential risks associated with the property in question, you can make safer decisions on where to invest your resources. You can also determine how to minimize these risks. For example, you might identify an area with a high flood risk and take steps to protect the property from water damage.

5. Marketing and Advertising Campaign Planning

POI data — such as location-based audiences and consumer behavior patterns — can help you create tailored marketing campaigns. For instance, you can use this data to identify areas with a demand for higher-end properties. You might then develop an advertising campaign to target a wealthier audience.

Alternatively, you might target an audience seeking more affordable housing options. POI and location-based data can help you adapt your marketing strategies to your target demographics’ needs.

How dataplor Can Streamline Your POI Data Collection Strategy

Real estate companies rely on insightful location intelligence and POI data to make smart investments and thrive in a competitive market. As a global POI data provider, dataplor is ready to help you make the most informed, data-driven decisions so you can invest with confidence. We support our proprietary POI and territory data with:

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Machine learning (ML)
• Large language models (LLMs)
• Advanced image recognition
• Global human validators

These elements cover various data points, including online feedback, consumer behaviors and geographically tagged information. Our advanced data location services can help you:

• Drive revenue. Our POI data can assess potential capital growth based on the prospective location’s surrounding competitors and areas of interest.
• Optimize site selection. Leveraging real-time location data can help you make more logical decisions about business openings and closures, maximizing the real estate site selection process.
• Gain a competitive edge. Stay ahead in a competitive market by discovering where your competitors globally sell their products or services in real-time.
• Reach your target audiences. Our location intelligence can help you create more tailored advertising campaigns, communicate with your intended audience and ultimately generate more revenue.
• Make more practical investment decisions. Our comprehensive location and brand data lets you access valuable insights into global competitor performance. That way, you can invest with the utmost peace of mind.

Set Your Real Estate Operations up for Success With dataplor

As a leader in global location intelligence, we can work with you to stockpile POI data that helps you make the most valuable investments and business decisions. Interested in amplifying your real estate workflow with dataplor? Learn more about our solutions by contacting us online or calling (424) 484-2591. We look forward to speaking with you!

Understanding common applications of point of interest (POI) data can help you discover its usefulness. From minimizing shipping time to expanding in the best locations, POI data helps you make the best decisions for your business. With POI data, you can make your company more efficient and your products or services accessible to a wider audience.

How Does Point of Interest Data Work?

POI data helps companies gather and analyze information about specific locations. This geospatial data reveals how people use certain locations, helping businesses optimize their services, marketing and branch sites. You can use POI data to analyze permanent locations such as national parks or temporary locations such as retail shops or public events.

What Makes Point of Interest Data So Useful?

POI data is incredibly useful because of the information it provides. You can gain the following insights from POI data:

• A location’s longitude and latitude
• Companys’ contact information and addresses
• A company’s primary business activity or industry category
• Location and surrounding area attributes such as infrastructure, nearby points of interest and average traffic patterns
• Typical number of visitors
• Types of visitors a location attracts
• How people use certain places
• How a location’s visitor profile shifts over time

Common POI Applications by Industry

The most common POI applications in business relate to business performance, strategy and efficiency. Various industries use POI data to analyze or predict their businesses’ performance in certain locations.

The data helps them analyze performance based on consumer behavior, delivery distances and proximity to competitors. With this information, they can then strategize plans and optimize locations for their benefit.

Retail

POI data allows retail companies to track brick-and-mortar store performance. It also provides insight into competitor store performance, helping businesses gauge where they perform well and how to improve. Your retail company can gain insight into the number of store visits, your store’s market share, competitor stores’ market shares and store efficiency and profit.

With POI data and its provided insights, you can do the following to improve your business:

• Choose the most successful store location
• Analyze market opportunities
• Understand sales dynamics in certain areas
• Perform competitive analysis
• Adjust your location strategy and manage store locations
• Increase employee engagement
• Optimize your distribution plans
• Implement regional advertisements
• Plan for successful expansion
• Attract new customers

When you know where your target audience lives and shops, you can place your retail stores where more people can visit or discover them easily. You can also implement the most effective marketing strategies by targeting your ads where your customer base is most likely to see them.

Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs)

Similar to retail stores, QSRs can use POI data to find the most profitable locations, understand customer behaviors and outperform the competition. POI data provides the necessary information for the following decisions:

• Determining a restaurant’s most profitable operating times
• Choosing the best expansion locations to add new restaurants
• Understanding how to attract more customers

Accurate POI data can reveal growing residential areas with the most opportunities for growth, and it can help you discover where your business will be most successful.

Mapping

Reliable navigation is essential for numerous businesses. For example, food-delivery and ride-share companies rely on POI to meet or exceed customer expectations. If you operate one of these services, precise travel estimates help your company’s employees provide on-time arrivals.

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs)

If your company sells consumer packaged goods, your top priority is determining where you can reach the most customers. POI data can help you accurately predict your addressable market within a particular area. It provides insight into factors such as:

• Consumer preferences and behavior
• Regional trends
• Competitor presence
• Market saturation
• Sales potential

CPG companies can use POI data to plan expansion efforts successfully. For example, if you want to advertise a new sports drink at a football stadium, you can use POI data to analyze the stadium’s visitation patterns and strategize the best times and methods to display your advertisements. POI data can also help you decide which product lines to sell and how much you should invest.

Third-Party Logistics

The e-commerce industry relies on third-party logistics and POI data to fulfill and deliver orders efficiently. With accurate POI data, your company can perform the following tasks:

• Track fleet movements
• Map residential areas and optimize fleet routes for efficient delivery
• Address blank sailings effectively
• Analyze coverage and choose appropriate pick-up and drop-off points

POI data makes it easy to minimize travel time and distances. It provides insights into warehouse, store and delivery locations so you can choose the best routes for customer satisfaction, fuel reduction and decreased travel costs.

Fintech

POI data is essential in the finance and insurance industries. Financial technology (fintech) consists of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data systems that help firms make strategic decisions. POI data enhances these systems with precise information and insights. If your business is in the financial industry, you can use POI data to:

• Determine the best locations to open bank branches
• Increase a region’s ATM coverage
• Target advertising to the right audience
• Complete competitive analysis
• Identify investment opportunities in specific regions
• Analyze market share dynamics

If you manage an insurance company, POI data can help you perform risk assessments for specific areas. With this data and the information it reveals, you can develop the most beneficial policies to safeguard individuals and help you minimize financial risks. Mapping structures in disaster-prone areas allows you to increase policy premiums where damage is likely. You can also use POI data to enhance verification processes for greater fraud detection.

Real Estate

POI data also significantly benefits real estate investing. You can analyze important factors with POI data before renting or buying property, assessing property valuation accurately. Renters and homebuyers typically prefer properties in close proximity to the following:

• Schools
• Parks
• Shopping facilities
• Amenities
• Local attractions
• Hospitals
• Local business opportunities

The more desirable your investment properties are, the higher your return on investment is. POI provides the data you need to choose the most profitable properties based on location factors, and it can help you predict real-time real estate trends and pricing.

Boost Your Company’s Success With POI Data From dataplor

Understanding the applications of POI data reveals how beneficial it is. Analyzing POI data can help you optimize location, attract more customers, boost efficiency, outperform your competition and increase profits. dataplor offers globally-scaled and human-reviewed POI data to help your company grow and expand successfully.

Our data is human-reviewed, so you receive the most comprehensive and accurate data possible. We also ensure data is certified for privacy, and we don’t collect personally identifiable information, foot traffic data or spending data.

Contact us to learn more about how our data services can enhance your business.

Point of interest (POI) data providers enhance business intelligence by collecting, analyzing and delivering high-quality consumer information. Companies rely on brand data to grow their market presence, identify investment opportunities and inform marketing strategies. 

Working with the best POI provider is critical to your decision-making process, offering insight into your competitors and market. With such importance and impact on your business, the quality of the provider you work with matters. Understanding how to choose a POI provider will set you and your company up for success. 

What to Look for in Your POI Provider 

Data drives business, and POI suppliers are key to propelling your organization forward. They gather and maintain countless amounts of geographic data you can use to reach new audiences and find new locations with untapped potential. The right provider will work to understand your needs, goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to deliver custom data sets that enrich your current operations. 

When choosing your POI provider, consider the following characteristics: 

• Accuracy: Obtaining accurate data and information from reliable first, second and third-party sources from a POI provider is paramount. A comprehensive provider should also periodically refresh their data to reflect real-world changes in the marketplace. 
• Collection methods: Every POI provider gets their information from somewhere. It’s wise to be aware of their collection strategies to ensure they are legal, align with privacy regulations and are cost-effective for your project needs. 
• Location: Verify your provider supplies meaningful information in the places you want to learn more about. Many specialize in certain areas, while others cover vast regions. 
• Completeness: Your team can leverage countless types of data points. Provider’s data sets should incorporate more than just phone numbers and business hours. 

Partner With dataplor to Satisfy All Your Data Needs 

Acquire precise global data from dataplor to support your strategic decision-making efforts. We are the leading provider of location intelligence data, empowering our clients to grow and expand their operations successfully. We leverage the latest technology, such as machine learning, image recognition and artificial intelligence, to collect and examine vast information to create highly accurate location-specific databases. 

Gain information to map out your competitive landscape and find meaningful market opportunities for your business with our comprehensive POI datasets. dataplor goes above and beyond the competition by providing a consistent real-time data supply to shed light on customer preferences and local trends. We cover over 250 million locations in more than 200 countries and territories, ensuring you have the information you require no matter where you build your brand. 

We routinely update and inspect data to provide clients with precise information they can trust. We depend on a cutting-edge team of international data analysts, scientists and human validators with native language proficiency and local expertise. They monitor data to catch duplicates, errors and inaccuracies to guarantee you have access to reliable metrics. 

Buy POI Data From dataplor

Generate a comprehensive understanding of a target area when you buy POI data from dataplor. Our dependable information seamlessly merges within existing point-of-interest database systems, including AWS, Snowflake and Databricks. Our expertise and resources will allow your team to gain valuable geographically based insights and drive your operations toward success. 

Don’t risk your business with inaccurate or outdated data— obtain your location intelligence from the world’s premier POI provider. Connect with dataplor’s experts to learn more about our service today.

Geospatial data is information regarding objects, events or other features characterized by its relation to the Earth’s surface. This data generally combines location-specific details, like coordinates, with additional information — like the location’s attributes and time — to provide more context for an area. 

dataplor is a leading global location intelligence supplier with the technology and resources to power your business’s most important decisions. 

What Is Geospatial Data? 

Geospatial data comes in one of two ways: as vector or raster data. Vector data uses points, lines and polygons to display geographic features like roads or rivers. Raster data consists of models using a grid of equally sized cells to represent information such as temperature and soil quality. 

Census documents, weather reports, satellite imaging and physical maps are typically used to collect these data points to create multilayered visualizations. These visuals paint a complete picture of how land is used and what the people living on it are like.

Common types of geospatial data include: 

• Point clouds
• Census data
• Social media statistics 
• Computer-aided design (CAD) images 
• Satellite imaging 

How Can Geospatial Mapping Technologies Benefit Your Business? 

Collecting geospatial data is a crucial activity that provides an in-depth look at specific locations. Using global positioning systems (GPS), drones and geospatial information systems (GIS), businesses can gather, store and convert vast datasets into usable formats, like 3D maps or graphics. 

Professionals leverage these geospatial mapping technologies to engage in detailed analyses of areas. This information enables the recognition of patterns and trends to fuel decision-making and predictions. For example, businesses can investigate characteristics like nearby attractions and time in business to aid in product distribution or location selection. 

Technology focused on collecting and manipulating geospatial data can help you better understand a location from all angles. Using this information provides assorted benefits, including:  

• Improving decision-making: Collecting location-specific information allows you to better understand a region and the people within it. This ability will ensure you implement strategies and identify risks to seamlessly fit within an environment and drive your business toward success. 
• Better understanding your customers: Every location is unique, as people have different habits and interests. Knowing more about the area’s business landscape  will provide vital information to identify beneficial investments and inform your marketing activities.
• Identifying your competition: Leverage geospatial data to remain current with what your competitors are up to. This information will help you fill the gaps and differentiate yourself to attract more customers. 

Count on dataplor for Detailed Geospatial Datasets

Maximize your decision-making procedures using dataplor, the premier geospatial data provider. We supply our clients with detailed location intelligence to fuel their daily operations. We utilize modern technology to collect, analyze and create vast geospatial graph databases to identify potential opportunities and better understand your customer segments. 

Our reach extends across more than 250 million locations in over 200 countries and territories, allowing us to strategically reach new audiences and enter new markets with the confidence you deserve. Our team of international data analysts, validators and scientists with local knowledge routinely inspect and verify our real-time data. They look for errors, duplicates or inaccuracies to maximize growth and success. 

Contact Our Team for More Information

Leverage experienced geospatial data services to gain valuable insight to drive your operations toward the future. Contact our experts online to learn more about our services today. 

A point of interest (POI) is any intriguing physical location your business identifies as a potential target. These locations can be stores, restaurants or parks you want to learn more about, or larger regions like neighborhoods or cities. When organized in databases, these inputs can be supported  by metadata  to increase their ease of use.

What Is Metadata? 

Metadata is a form of data that provides additional information and context to other data. It can be thought of as a summary or key performance indicator of the data, making it easier to understand and locate this information quickly.

POI data can also have metadata attached, allowing businesses to easily categorize vital information. Dealing with large amounts of POI information can often be overwhelming. Leveraging metadata can relieve this challenge by offering information such as name, address, coordinates and business or property type. POI metadata can even offer more specificity to include customer reviews, contact information and included features such as valet parking or swimming pools, in the case of a hotel. 

Uses of Point of Interest Metadata 

Streamline your end-to-end workflows with POI metadata. Metadata provides a snapshot of all your locations, allowing you to filter large amounts of data quickly and efficiently. You’ll have what you need to easily identify and retrieve locations fitting your criteria to optimize your decision-making without wasting too much time. POI metadata is used to identify valuable investment areas, select site locations and distribute targeted messaging to customers.  

Other uses of metadata include: 

• Identifying competitor features
• Enhancing customer experiences
• Optimizing operations management
• Locating potential partnerships

dataplor Is Your Go-To Point of Interest Data Provider

Take advantage of precise and detailed POI metadata collected and managed by the industry’s foremost provider. dataplor is a cutting-edge organization dedicated to providing businesses with reliable real-time data they can trust.

We’ve assembled an expansive collective of international analysts, scientists and human validators to oversee our global location intelligence. Each depends on their local expertise and language proficiency to conduct reviews, identify errors and eliminate duplications in our data, giving your team access to accurate information to fuel your decision-making procedures. 

dataplor collects information from over 200 countries and territories across the globe. We offer one of the only solutions that provides this scale of information, offering valuable insight to support your expansion no matter where you’re going. Our POI information is complete with detailed metadata tags to provide a user-friendly operation that allows your business to tackle objectives confidently. dataplor understands the importance of recent information and performs near-real-time updates for accurate data that can meaningfully impact your operations. 

Connect With Our Experts to Learn More

Partner with dataplor to access highly precise location-specific data to learn more about your customers and identify valuable business opportunities. Our datasets offer comprehensive insight into various markets and effortlessly integrate within numerous POI database systems like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Databricks. 

dataplor has the technology and resources to propel your business toward success. Contact our specialists online to learn more about our innovative solutions today.

Data makes the world go round. Sourcing consistent and precise streams of geographic information is crucial to enhancing your planning and decision-making procedures. On your own, this task can seem daunting and require significant investments of time, energy and resources. Instead, working with a trustworthy geographic data provider can streamline your operations and get you back to focusing on the areas of your business that need your attention.

dataplor is a world-leading data provider known for delivering premium global market insights to help businesses optimize their operations. Our meticulous attention to detail and commitment to verifying our data will place our services at the top of your list. We give you what you need to learn more about the world and make decisions that propel you toward success. 

All the Information You Need Is at Your Fingertips

Don’t risk your global efforts with outdated or incomplete data. dataplor seeks to give you an in-depth representation of the world around you using thorough collections of global market insights. We collect data from more than 250 million locations in 200 countries and territories, giving us one of the largest data coverages in the world. Our places datasets are constantly growing with point of interest (POI) information complete with detailed metadata, making it easy to find the data you’re looking for. 

Our experts leverage advanced technologies to support our work, including image recognition, artificial intelligence and language models. These tools help us collect a wide range of information regarding consumer behaviors, statistics and geographic information tied to locations and brands. Gain more information about your POIs without sacrificing your time, leaving all the heavy lifting to dataplor. 

Trust High-Quality Global Places Data 

Optimize your global market insight with information you can trust. At dataplor, we understand how vital your data quality is to your business and strive to provide a comprehensive solution. Our global places datasets are updated in as close to real-time as possible through our advanced machine-learning capabilities. This ability allows us to provide companies with an exhaustive supply of billions of detailed data points to fuel business strategies.

dataplor has built a state-of-the-art quality control system to foster the reliability you deserve. We constantly validate data to identify duplicates and resolve discrepancies through AI-driven automation and an in-house team of highly trained experts, scientists and analysts. Our professionals are positioned worldwide, leveraging their local expertise and language proficiency to review data and flag errors. Approach new investments and expansions confidently while knowing you’re tackling every decision with a stockpile of accurate data. 

Get Started With Our Service Today

Partner with a leading geographic data provider to maximize your business’s potential. At dataplor, we have years of experience working with companies of all shapes and sizes, providing unrivaled information to fuel successful decision-making and problem-solving activities. Our large global places datasets offer valuable metrics your business can use to satisfy customers, scale your operation, and take advantage of unique market opportunities. 

Contact dataplor online to find the answers to all your questions and discover how our service can assist your business.

When businesses need to make location-based decisions, they often turn to point-of-interest data. POI is the backbone of many modern tools and data sets, so high-quality data is crucial, but gathering this information can be challenging. Understanding how to collect and compile POI can help you make informed choices when obtaining and using the data for your organization.

What Is POI Data?

Points of interest are any attraction or service people may find exciting or valuable. Some points-of-interest examples include businesses, historical landmarks, parking lots, ATMs, and churches. You access POI data whenever you use a navigation app to get directions on your phone. It shows where these places are and can include metadata with more information, such as the type of business.

Point-of-interest data, meaning compiling this information into a large data set, informs many diverse business processes. Also called place data, POI data usually derives from geographical coordinates. The locations can be permanent, like landmarks and buildings, or temporary, such as a music festival or pop-up restaurant.

Most POI data uses the North American Industry Classification System to identify industry sectors. Business, research, and government applications use NAICS codes. These can tell you if a listing is for a gas station, a retail store, a theater, or something else. When you look at a place listing, this standardized code helps quickly identify its purpose.

How Is POI Data Used?

Businesses use POI in myriad ways, from creating routes to analyzing the competition. POI data can be crucial to location-oriented operational tasks, particularly when combined with GPS tools and geofencing capabilities. Here are a few common ways different industries leverage POI data.

• Telecommunications: The telecom industry heavily relies on POI data to offer insights into service coverage and performance. POI data can inform these maps and provide details for new project decisions, such as where to place cellular towers.
• Finance and insurance: These risk-averse businesses often use POI data to assess different locations. When insuring a new building, they might look into how close it is to a flood zone or an area with high crime rates before determining pricing.
• Real estate: Since real estate depends heavily on location, POI data often informs decisions like where to build new developments or which listings might meet someone’s needs. For instance, a list of nearby amenities comes from POI data.
• Consumer applications: POI data informs many consumer uses, like navigation apps or finding nearby businesses.
• Marketing: Advertisers can use POI data to target specific audiences within an area by leveraging POI data and geofencing.
• Logistics and transportation: Transportation industry businesses rely on POI data to inform navigation tasks, like planning and improving routes. Most organizations with fleets use POI data, such as logistics providers, waste management facilities, and the postal service.
• Retail: Retail stores can use POI data to assess new expansions in a specific area, which can help with performance evaluations and trade area analyses.
• Governments and public services: Governments can also use POI data when evaluating services within an area. They might look for gaps in service offerings or areas where public infrastructure could improve.

POI offers exceptional versatility, especially if incorporated into sophisticated tools designed for these applications.

Where Does POI Data Come From?

With so many business-critical applications, organizations must consider POI data’s source to ensure its quality. Data providers can use varying methods to collect and verify their information. Typical sources include websites, government databases, and human input. These are often prone to errors, such as inaccurate website listings and out-of-date information.

POI data also varies significantly due to a changing landscape. Businesses might close or open, and some owners forget to update their contact details. Buildings and roads are frequently under construction, and areas could get rezoned. Consistent updates and verifications are crucial to ensuring data accuracy.

Addressing these challenges is one of the reasons it’s so vital to find the correct POI data provider. A partner must take steps to verify the information’s accuracy and continuously update it if they find errors or inconsistencies.

Things to Consider When Acquiring POI Data

Getting quality POI means working with a dependable POI provider. If you’ll be working with POI in business, you must consider several aspects of the data and how a company manages it.

• Accuracy and update frequency: Ask your POI provider how they keep their listings correct and current. For example, at dataplor, we use a proprietary system to collect near-real-time updates. In contrast, some companies only update their systems quarterly or annually.
• Verification strategies: Similarly, consider how the company verifies its listings. Look for methods like human verification, error detection systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
• Global coverage: Depending on how you use POI data, you may need global information. Global place data can be particularly challenging to verify due to language differences and limited international resources for United States-based companies. Your POI provider should take special measures for collecting and verifying international data, like enlisting regional experts and using AI data collection. The provider can also simplify global data by using the same data schema for each country.
• Completeness: A data provider might support detailed attributes for each listing, but it doesn’t help you much if there are many blank spaces. Look for a provider with high fill rates to ensure thorough metadata and insights from each listing.
• Modern features: Technologies like AI and machine learning have transformed the world of data collection, and a POI provider should use them to help identify errors or collect information.

Dive Into POI Data With the Industry Leaders at dataplor

High-quality POI data is critical as the foundation of many tasks and business decisions. Some of the world’s largest companies use dataplor’s global, dynamically updated location data to make informed choices. We offer unmatched accuracy and coverage, backed by proprietary technologies and local human validation. Enjoy unique insights with qualitative metrics to learn more about consumer behaviors and brands worldwide.

Whether you need to outpace your competition, boost revenue, expand your services, or meet another goal, we can help. Reach out to a data expert today to learn more about dataplor!

Geographic information systems (GIS) have changed how companies from nearly every sector navigate the global market. These systems grant organizations increased competitive intelligence by enabling them to layer, map, manage, and analyze different types of data at the click of a button.

Among the greatest insights made possible by GIS platforms are those rooted in point of interest (POI) data. Having the right POI data is particularly important for two types of businesses: those that provide GIS navigation services (including Google Maps and Apple Maps) and those that leverage such services to make customers’ day-to-day lives easier (think Uber or DoorDash). But how?

In this article, we’ll answer this by first diving into how GIS mapping works. We’ll then discuss how accurate POI data helps companies increase customer satisfaction, avoid costly errors, and scale globally. Along the way, we’ll cover the true costs of bad GIS data and why dataplor is an industry-leading provider of location intelligence for GIS services of all kinds. 

What is GIS?

GIS visually layers one or more datasets so that users can analyze each in isolation or together. In other words, GIS platforms link these layers to a map by combining location data with various forms of descriptive data. 

These maps provide interactive business insights that raw data cannot generate on its own. GIS map layers allow organizations to see and toggle between different relationships, patterns, and geographic contexts found in their data. By analyzing GIS layers in this way, companies can unlock operational know-how and smarter decision making in real time. 

How does location intelligence support GIS platforms?

Though they enable users to visualize more than one type of data, geographic information systems run primarily on location intelligence. This data is the backbone of GIS mapping, since it allows these systems to feature layers focused on specific geographic contexts. 

For example, a GIS map could contain a polygon layer for France, an additional one for Paris, then yet another for popular tourist and shopping neighborhoods, such as the Champs Elysées or Marais. The same map might also contain additional layers that detail clusters for demographic skew for these sought-after destinations.     

From a business standpoint, this GIS data is crucial for capturing market share. Through it, users are afforded granular insights about points of interest, including their addresses, hours of operation, websites, and phone numbers. As a result, companies can use GIS platforms that contain POI layers to boost competitive advantage, operational savings, and customer satisfaction.   

To better understand this, let’s zoom out to consider what GIS providers themselves stand to gain with POI data. GIS mapping companies such as Apple Maps need up-to-date POI layers so that users can access and navigate their way to and from any point of interest, including restaurants, shops, parks, and other popular landmarks. 

Imagine, for example, that a tourist using Apple Maps wants to visit a new streetwear brand’s flagship store on the Champs Elysées after a morning of site seeing around the Arc de Triomphe. If the platform has an accurate POI layer, they’ll be able to find reliable transportation to the store and arrive at a time that they know it to be open. Each experience like this leads to repeat use and supports consumer confidence in the GIS provider.

Companies that rely on GIS mapping and navigation also benefit from POI integration—so much that they’ll pay premiums for access to platforms that run on the right geospatial data. Remember our tourist? Hungry after a day of sightseeing and shopping, they decide to order from the hippest restaurant in the Marais using UberEats. Whether the app is relying entirely on another GIS or has integrated additional POI datasets to optimize its algorithms, customer satisfaction hinges on data accuracy: the courier will need the correct addresses, hours of operation, and phone numbers to make sure that the meal delivery is executed seamlessly. 

What are the costs of bad GIS data?

Unfortunately, not all data is created equally. While free or out-of-the box data solutions might be less expensive, they’re often out-of-date and lead to unexpected spending down the line. POI datasets that are missing address details, contain inaccurate details about hours of operation, or suffer from duplicate records need to be enhanced if they’re to be reliably integrated into GIS platforms. And on top of all that,  much international POI data is simply inaccurate.

The results can be disastrous when GIS platforms integrate bad data. Imagine that Apple Maps has the wrong Parisian arrondissement listed for the streetwear brick-and-mortar on the Champs Elysées or incorrect hours of operation for the restaurant in the Marais. Errors like these cost time, money, and have the potential to do irreparable damage to brand image and consumer confidence. For GIS providers or the companies that rely on their services, these consequences might also stifle efforts to expand globally. 

Mapping international growth with dataplor

To avoid these costly errors, it’s important to only use POI data from vendors that 1) specialize in POI data, 2) streamline their places datasets using multiple sources, 3) provide metadata and other indicators for every record, and 4) know the value of local sources.

Thankfully, dataplor checks every one of these boxes. As an industry leader in location intelligence, we offer best-in-class POI data that GIS companies of all kinds can mobilize to gain truly global competitive intelligence. That’s because we use a winning combination of technology—including proprietary AI and machine learning—along with human verification to ensure that your mapping and navigation is always accurate.

Ready to take your GIS mapping to the next level with POI data? We’d love to hear from you!  

Many businesses use Google Places API to request location data and imagery about points of interest and other locations. The appeal is obvious; with products like Maps and Earth, Google has insight into location data around the globe. But for businesses hoping to use location data to expand, refine ad targeting, or conduct market research, Google Places API is not as cost-effective or accurate as it seems. 

Many users quickly discover that Google Places API is more costly and restrictive than they’d hoped. In fact, when you dive into the details of Google Places API pricing, it’s clear that this solution is in fact a barrier to developing location intelligence at scale.

 To help you make the best decision for your needs, this article will focus on the benefits of location intelligence, how Google Places API pricing works, and the true costs and restrictions of Google Places API. We’ll then dive into alternatives to the Places API.

The benefits of location intelligence

Companies can capitalize on geospatial insights regardless of their industries. From third-party logistics to quick-service restaurants and real estate, location data is fueling growth for businesses of all sizes and types. This data enables companies to conduct more comprehensive market research and optimize upstream supply chain opportunities and expansion plans. It also opens the floodgates for highly targeted and effective advertising.

When researching site selection, location intelligence reveals the physical footprint of competitors in any given market, as well as point of interest (POI) data that aids in the evaluation of complementary businesses or attractions that could generate customers. To increase the odds of acquiring these customers, companies can use location data to create geo-targeted mobile advertising campaigns and purchase out-of-home (OOH) ad space to deliver relevant impressions.

The hidden costs and restrictions of Google Places API 

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With so many tantalizing business use cases for location data, companies are eager to start collecting and acting on it. One popular platform is the Google Places API, which seems on the surface to be an easy, cost-effective way to unlock the benefits of geospatial insights. However, the Places API has significant weaknesses—and hidden costs.

Users of the Places API receive a $200 credit each month toward their requests. According to Google Places API pricing, that’s equivalent to 28,500 maploads per month. But not all queries are created equal, as the Places API uses a stock keeping unit (SKU) system to classify different services and their corresponding rates. As a result, companies can rack up bills that are much higher than the monthly credit, depending on which type of Google Places API data they’re accessing—maps, routes, or places.

Because market research often requires multiple calls to the API to collect the full scope of required information, companies in the midst of expansion are most at risk of overspending on the Places API. For example, Passenger Coffee, a regional brand in central Pennsylvania, could plan to expand with new distribution partners and a physical cafe in Philadelphia. Passenger’s team would likely be searching for information beyond basic place attributes, such as contact information or operating hours—all of which would require individual calls to the API. If they use the Places API to pull POI datasets for research on site selection, competitive presence, and potential distribution partners, they could quickly end up exceeding the $200 monthly credit. This could prove challenging for smaller brands, where every dollar counts.

Additionally, limitations of the Google Places API can make this research even more challenging. Storing data in any capacity for more than 30 days is a violation of Google’s terms of service (TOS). So, the monetary investment could be significant for a smaller CPG brand, yet the data they collect will vanish quickly in the shadow of the Google TOS. Similarly, tech giants like Google have the power to change their licensing at will. This leaves companies at the mercy of a large corporation, adding an unnecessary element of risk to any strategy driven by Google data.

On a more technical level, data from the Google Places API can’t be used to build iterative data products, and cannot be transferred for use in other company initiatives. The service doesn’t account for duplicate records nor does it provide tailored customer service for the Places API product. While this API is a step up from open source data that is often outdated and rife with errors, unpredictable charges and limitations to scalability makes the Google Places API a poor fit for many businesses. 

Trusting dataplor as a partner for truly global intelligence 

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The point of this article is not to rake Google Places API over the coals. Google is a trusted data source for millions of users around the world. But it’s simply not the best fit for companies that need high volumes of accurate, comprehensive location data, and a more tailored customer experience as they gather global intelligence. 

dataplor is in many ways the opposite of Google Places API. Our data is meticulously curated and vetted for accuracy by humans around the world. Global POI datasets updated in near real-time ensure that companies are getting their hands on the most up-to-date and enhanced insights as they pursue expansion plans. 

Companies may be able to extract raw location data from Google, but only dataplor can categorize U.S. and international locations by type, such as restaurants and hospitals. This includes 13,000 brands and chains identified by 35 unique attributes in 5,200 categories. dataplor POI datasets contain 200 million POIs in more than 200 countries and territories.

Our competitors have a narrow focus on the U.S. and Canada, but dataplor’s capabilities are global — that’s always been our identity. The extent of our solutions-focused services, our commitment to working with customers on their datasets, and the quality of our international data make dataplor the singular global partner for location intelligence.