Q: What is POI data?

Point-of-Interest (POI) data is digital information on places in the physical world. It consists of standard attributes such as coordinates (latitude/longitude), name, category, and address. For example, the Empire State Building (40.748817, -73.985428) at 20 W 34th St., New York, NY 10001, United States.  

Q: Why is POI data important? 

POI data is instrumental to operations for various businesses, such as rideshare, food delivery, and last-mile delivery companies. Businesses can also use such data for other purposes. For example, retail brands use POI data (alongside location data) to strategize expansion plans and gather competitive insights. The use cases for POI data are quite broad and impactful in nature.  

Q: What are standard attributes?

Besides a latitude/longitude pair, our standard POI attributes include name, category, address, phone number, website, and operating hours.

Q: What are custom attributes? 

Q: What are the sources of POI data? 

Before selecting a vendor, you need to make sure their data can satisfy your specific needs. Here are a few factors to consider when evaluating a vendor’s suitability:  

1) POI Completeness (in terms of attributes)
2) Accuracy  
3) Geographical coverage  
4) Collection method  
5) Availability of verification protocols 
6) Refresh frequency  
7) Delivery mechanism 
8) Data delivery formats  
9) Ability to collect custom attributes 

For more information, read our article.  

Q: What kind of POI collection tools does Quadrant use? 

Quadrant employs two POI collection tools. The first is Desk Work, and the second is a proprietary POI collection platform called ‘Geolancer’.

Q: What is Geolancer? 

Geolancer is Quadrant’s POI Data-as-a-Service platform. It exists as a mobile app that rewards users for collecting and verifying Points-of-Interest on the ground. These users – Geolancers – continuously collect data and can also be mobilized to work on custom projects for any client brief. With Geolancer, we can gather any type of contextual information about POIs like special coordinates, dietary restrictions in a restaurant, plug types on an electric vehicle charging station, street view photos of condominiums, and more.  

After a POI is mapped by a Geolancer, it is sent to our QA team for verification. If a discrepancy is found, said POI will be made available on the app again for validation by another Geolancer. 

Geolancer can be utilized for POI collection, verification, and enhancement projects.  
 
Through Geolancer, we launch periodic POI validation projects to make sure our database is up to date with changes taking place in the physical world.  

Q: How frequently is Quadrant's POI data refreshed?  

We recommend a verification frequency of 6 months to our clients, but the cadence can be shortened or extended as needed.  

Q: Can projects cater specifically to collection, verification, and enhancement of POIs? 

Q: In which format(s) can customers submit POIs to Quadrant for verification and enhancement? 

POIs can be submitted in the form of geo-coordinates (latitude, longitude), polygons, and physical addresses. 

Q: Which classification system does Quadrant use for POI data? 

We map our own categories to the classification system prevalent in the client’s geography (NAICS for North American customers) or tailor it to their specific requirements.  

Q: Does Quadrant provide guidance on how to utilize POI data in different analytical tools? 

Our knowledge base has detailed instructions on how to analyze POI data across the most relevant platforms, and our data science team can offer additional assistance on-demand.  

Q: Which industries use POI data? 

Various industries leverage POI data to generate geospatial insights that improve decision-making, optimize operations, and enhance products. Examples include retail, marketing, transport and logistics, financial services, real-estate, and government.  
 
To learn about these use cases in detail, download our eBook.  

Q: How do you manage Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in datasets?  

Most POI datasets do not contain PII. Quadrant executes a two-step process to remove PII from POI photos, which consists of an AI based blurring algorithm and manual cleansing to ensure our data is compliant with data-privacy frameworks.  

Q: How is POI data delivered? What is Quadrant's method of data delivery? 

POI data is transferred to businesses through API based or Bulk delivery methods. Quadrant delivers POI data in CSV format through the latter mechanism to companies that utilize leading cloud solutions such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Azure. This has several advantages such as giving our buyers full control of the data, facilitating large data transfers, and powering both automated and manual analyses.

Q: Can you name some of your noteworthy customers?  

Geolancer’s position as an industry leading POI solution is evident because of our customers, which include the likes of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Home Depot, and Bloomberg.  

Q: How much does Quadrant's POI data cost? 

Datasets with standard attributes from our off-the-shelf solution cost 10 cents per POI. If a client requires additional attribute(s), the price per POI will increase and will vary according to the attribute(s) requested.  
 
The cost (per POI) of Geolancer datasets varies case-by-case because there are several factors to consider, including: the requested custom attributes, the area/region where the project will take place, Geolancer’s presence in the area of interest, the frequency of POI verification, and other factors. After gathering this information from the prospective customer, we conduct an internal review before providing a quote.  

Q: Does Quadrant provide data for both short and long term projects? 

Customers can utilize either of our POI solutions for one-off-projects. Alternatively, we also offer long-term subscriptions across both our offerings. In the latter scenario, we work with clients to deliver a certain number of POIs (on a monthly or quarterly basis) until the desired count is reached. Many of our customers opt for 2-to-3-year contracts with yearly renewal options.

Q: Does Quadrant provide data for both short and long term projects? 

Our desktop solution currently covers the USA – for which we have over 1.38 million POIs across all states. We will expand our off-the-shelf POI data coverage to include other geographies soon.

Currently, we have collected over 500,000 POIs with Geolancer. We have also launched the app in Poland, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, UAE, Hungary, and Kazakhstan. Depending on customer demand, we can rapidly scale collection in these geographies through marketing campaigns (referral programs etc.) and boosted reward programs. Our custom POI data coverage is as follows. 

To learn more request a free consultation with a mapping and POI data expert today!