Searching for places of interest (POIs)

Table of contents

• Videotutorials
• Using the search module to find a place of interest
• The Filter pop-up
  • Active filters
  • The filter options
• The search results
  • The list
    • Sort results
    • Concise view
  • The map 
    • The search results on the map
    • Map features
• Quickly finding your own places of interest
  • Option 1: MyRouteYou
  • Option 2: search module filters
• Desktop versus smartphone

Videotutorials

• 📹 Searching for places of interest
• 📹 Finding points of interest in your neighbourhood using your phone

Using the search module to find a place of interest

Go to the places of interest search page via the main menu > find place of interest.

The Filter pop-up

If you go to the places of interest search page, a pop-up with all the filter options appears immediately.

Active filters

As soon as you activate a filter, the results in the background (list + map) are adjusted. You do not have to click on a 'confirm' button first. The active filters appear in a clear list at the top of the pop-up. You can also easily delete specific or all filters there.

If you have closed the pop-up by clicking next to it or clicking the 'Show places of interest' button, you can activate it again via the Filter button at the top. The red dot on top of the button indicates that filters are active. The number in the red dot indicates how many filters are active.

The filter options

By selecting the desired filters, the system will help you find the right route. 

• Select Place of interest type
  As a first option, you can select a specific place of interest (or POI) type. For more detailed information about the POI types, click here.
   

• Where: set the correct search area via the map
  The map also acts as a filter! This is very important to know. For example, if you search for a POI by name or by a search term, but the location of that POI is not within the map selection, than the POI you are searching for cannot appear as a search result. 
  
  In the section 'Where' you have several possibilities to visualize the correct search area on the map:
  • You can enter a location via the search bar. If you click on this field, you are presented with the option to search for POIs in your immediate vicinity via 'my position'. Or you can enter a search term and we will try to match it with the correct location through a list of suggestions. If you select a particular location, the map will zoom in on this location.
    
    >> Hint! That said, to zoom to your current position, you need to grant RouteYou access to your location data. If you use RouteYou via your smartphone, then retrieving your GPS location is sometimes blocked by your phone's settings. As a result, you’ll see the ‘An error has occurred while trying to detect your location’ error message. You will find some tips on how to fix this here.
     
  • Another option is to use the small map to determine the correct search area. The bright rectangle with green border represents the active search area. Using the buttons on the right, you can zoom in and out or use a selection frame to visualize the desired search area. You can also simply move the background map within the reduced map view so that another area lies within the active search area.
     

• Name of the POI
  Here you will find a search field in which you can type. You can enter one or more search terms. The system then searches the title and description of POIs for matches. 
   
• Author
  By default, 'everyone' which means 'all authors' are taken into account. You have the option here to filter for a specific author: yourself or someone else. Using the search field you can quickly go to 'my places of interest' or when you start typing the system will automatically generate a list that matches your search term.
   
• Score
  Here you can enter a minimum score. Note: A lower score does not necessarily mean that the POI is bad. Read more about the POI score and how it is determined.
   

• Characteristics and themes
  Characteristics allow you to customise and filter your POIs properties, e.g. wheelchair accessible, spectacular, child-friendly, and so on. With themes, you can select a POI that corresponds with a certain theme, e.g. nature, culture, beer, water, and so on. The top five popular items will display for both options; however, you can expand those lists with the ‘Show more’ button. The options are almost endless. Read more about characteristics and themes here.
  
  >> Tip! If you select multiple characteristics and themes, the system will apply a Boolean ‘or’ operator. That means the results will satisfy at least one of the conditions, but not necessarily both. 
   
• Group
  Groups are collections of routes, places of interest and/or users. Click here for more information about groups.
  As soon as you start typing in the related search field, the system automatically generates a list to match your search term. 
   
• Language
  This filter lets you display POIs available only in a specific language. 
   
• My favourites
  This filter is only available if you are logged in. That makes sense since you need an account to save your favourites. Read more about favourites and how to save them here.
   
• Visibility
  This filter is only available if you are logged in. Naturally, you only have access to private (invisible) POIs where you are the author. In plain terms, this filter allows you to limit your POI search to private or public only. 
   
• Clusters
  Activating clusters will cause a set of grey squares to appear on the map. A cluster is a visual expression of how POIs sharing certain search criteria are grouped. Only a cluster’s best POIs are displayed. Why? That preserves a clear overview and ensures that the map functions at its best. Clusters also always list how many POIs they contain. If you click a cluster and then zoom in, new clusters will appear. The more you zoom in, the more details you get. 
   

Once you have set all your filters, you can view the results using the "Show Places of interest" button at the bottom.

The search results

At the bottom of the Filter pop-up is a button showing how many POIs meet your filter conditions. You can visualize these by clicking on the button. Or if you click next to the pop-up, you can immediately view the results.

The list

On the left you get a list view of the search results. At the top it is always stated how many POIs have been found in the selected map area

Sort results

Here you have the option to sort the found routes according to different criteria:

• Relevance: this is a combination of settings such as recency, score, and views that we combine from RouteYou. 
• Name: POIs are sorted by name, alphabetically. 
• Most viewed total: POIs are sorted by the number of views since their creation. 
• Most viewed this month: POIs are sorted by the number of views in the past month. 
• Most recently created or modified: POIs are sorted based on their creation or modification date. 
• Score: POIs are sorted by score. 

Concise view

The list view provides a visual summary of each POI: type, title, image, author, score and the start of the description. You can access the full description by clicking the info icon   on the picture. 

The map 

The search results on the map

• A maximum of 20 POIs will display on the map simultaneously, even if more might be available. This is a performance-related issue. However, the list displays the full range of POIs. Scrolling down the list will cause additional places of interest to appear on the map. If you zoom in on a particular map area, then a different selection of POIs will appear in the list. 
   
• 'Search as I move the map'

  This option can be turned off or on at the top left corner of the map:

  • ON: Whenever you move the map, a new selection of POIs will appear based on the map view displayed. 
  • OFF: the selection of POIs displayed when you deactivate the option will remain intact, even if you move the area selection. You can always turn the ‘Search this area’ option back on. 
     
• The icons visually show which POI type it is, to which category it belongs and how important it is. Click here for the legend of the places of interest.
   
• You can click the POI icons on the map. You then get, as in the list, a visual summary of the POI: type, title, image, author, score and the start of the description. You can access the full description by clicking the info icon   on the picture.

Map features

For more information on the map icons and their functionality, click here.

Quickly finding your own places of interest

Discover how to quickly find your places of interest with the options below. Once you’ve made your selection, zoom to the preferred area. You can rely on the map to act as a filter. Click the place of interest in the list or on the map* to go to the location page. From there, you can add text or a picture or edit your text.

_{*If you use the map, just click the link in the description box that appears when you click a POI.}

Option 1: MyRouteYou

1. Log in
2. Use your personal menu   to go to the MyRouteYou page. A sub-tab Places of Interest is located under ‘My home’. Click to get an overview (list + map) of only your places of interest.

Option 2: search module filters

1. Log in
2.  Go to Search for a place of interest from the main menu.
3. Click the ‘Filters’ button and scroll to Author. Now you can filter by a particular author, e.g. you or someone else. As soon as you start typing in the search field, the system automatically generates a list that matches your search term. 

Desktop versus smartphone

The map and search module are side by side in desktop mode. Tablet and smartphone screens, which are smaller, don’t provide enough space for that. For that reason, small screens display a ‘Show map’ button  at the top of the search module and POI list below the search field and next to the filter button. Use it to activate the map. On the map, the ‘Show list’ button  is displayed on the top left. You can use this to return to the search module and POI list. The map also displays an additional icon  above the map feature icons; it can be used to turn on the filter module from the map without having to display the POI list. Aside from these differences, all other features are the same. 

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