Searching for places of interest (POIs)

Table of contents

• Videotutorials
• Using the search module to find a place of interest
  • Select type
  • Search by location, author, or search term
  • Filters
  • The list
  • The map
    • Search as I move the map
    • Map features
  • POI description
• Quickly finding your own places of interest
  • Option 1: MyRouteYou
  • Option 2: search module shortcut
  • Option 3: 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.

Select type

First and foremost, you can select the specific type of POI from the dropdown menu at the top of the column on the left. Click this menu for a search field and a selection of the most popular types. Clicking the ‘Show more’ button lets you view and scroll through the entire list. The complete list is in alphabetical order.

The search field is more efficient for users looking for a specific type. If you type ‘bicycle’, for example, the following options will appear: bicycle network, bicycle route, bicycle shelter, rent a bicycle, bicycle shop, electrical bike charger. Start typing, and the list automatically shrinks to the options that match your search term. 

Search by location, author, or search term

You can enter search termsin the search field below the dropdown with the POI types. A list of items will appear based on the keyword entered. The system automatically provides you with location and author options, but you can always use keywords for a generalised search. If you use the latter method, the engine will look for matches in POI names and descriptions. 

Even before you start typing, simply clicking the search field will generate a ‘My location’ and ‘My places of interest’ prompt. That way, you can either zoom in on your map location or immediately configure your search for only your places of interest. Those are just two handy shortcuts for speeding up and simplifying your searches. 

That said, to zoom to your current position, you do need to grant RouteYou access to your location data. For RouteYou smartphone users, there’s a chance that your phone’s settings will prevent you from retrieving your GPS location data. As a result, you’ll see the ‘An error has occurred while trying to detect your location’ error message. Discover a few tips for solving that issue here.

If you select a specific spot on the map, it will zoom in on that location. Then you can use the search field again to enter a particular author or search term. Basically, the approach is cumulative and ordered to reflect your thought process. Please note that if you’d like to enter a specific address, you’ll need to use the map’s search field (see below). 

TIP: An indication of how many places of interest have been found in the selected map area will always display below the search field.

Filters

The Filters button leads to even more options for customising your POI search. Click the button to open a new window on the left. An overview of active filters and the option to remove some or all filters remains displayed at the top. 

TIP: A red dot will appear next to the button and the active filters to signal any new filters activated. 

• Place of interest type
  You can also customise place of interest type in detail. Click here for more information.
• Score
  This is where to enter a minimum score. Watch out, though! Just because a POI gets a lower score doesn’t mean it’s a bad POI. Find out more about the POI score and how it’s calculated here.
• Location
  Locations can also be separately filtered to a specific location or your current one. See above. 
• Author
  Apart from the general search field, you can also filter by a specific author, whether that’s 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. 
• Search term
  This is a separate field where you can enter one or more specific search terms. Once entered, the system will search for matches in POI names and descriptions. 
• Characteristics and themes
  Characteristics allows you to customise and filter by specific properties, e.g. car-free, unpaved, child-friendly, and so on. With themes, you can select a place of interest that corresponds with a certain theme, e.g. architecture, heritage, beer, water, and so on. The top five popular places of interest 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, sights and attractions, 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 places of interest 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) places of interest where you are the author. Click here for more information. 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 places of interest 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. 

TIP: Once you’ve set all your filters, click the ‘View results’ button to see your recommended places of interest. 

The list

If the filter module is not active, an indication of how many places of interest were found in the selected map area will display under the search field at the top of the search module, followed by a list of places of interest. 

These places of interest can be sorted according to several 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. 

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. 

Map features

Read more about the map icons and their associated functionalities here.

POI description

You can get a brief POI description from the list by clicking the info button  on the picture. Alternatively, you could also click one of the map POI icons and then click the info button  on the picture. 

Clicking an icon in the list or on the map will always provide you with a good supply of practical information at a glance, such as:

• the POI name / title
• the author
• the POI score

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 shortcut

1. Log in
2. Go to Search for a place of interest from the main menu.
3. On the left, above the list, there is an active search field (Search by location, author, or name/description). Simply clicking the search field will generate a ‘My location’ and ‘My places of interest’ prompt. The latter option allows you to select your own places of interest (POIs) directly. 

Option 3: 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. 

Back to RouteYou