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Breweries & Bike Shops: Navigation -> Search -> POI Categories ->

Who/how does Garmin decide their POI menu structure? An OSM Feature Type of "Brewery", "Bar", or "Pub" is found under:

Entertainment -> Bar or Nightclub

It would make more sense to be under:

Food and Drink -> Bar (which does not exist at this time).

Similarly, an OSM Feature Type of Bicycle Shop is found under:

Shopping -> General Merchandise !?!?

  • Garmin isn't using the POIs from OSM. Though it requires cell network access, it seems like a smartphone is a better way to look for this information. 

  • The correlation is too high for me to believe Garmin is not getting POIs from OSM. What makes you think they're not? I do agree Google Maps on a mobile would generally produce better results. But as you said, it requires cell network access and (long story) is arguably a violation of a self-supported adventure.

  • The correlation should be high.

    The map data is in three separate files.

    1. The routeable information is in one file. This is OSM data.
    2. Elevation data (DEM). OSM doesn't have elevation data.
    3. The "geocode" info (this is addresses and, I'm pretty sure, POI info).

    One reason to have separate geocode data is because Garmin can get fees to highlight certain businesses.

  • and (long story) is arguably a violation of a self-supported adventure

    ???

    The data on the device is also coming from the internet. It's not really more "self supported".

    It also could be stale and out-of-date and incomplete. 

    If you really want to be "self supported" the way you appear to want, you should just live with the device as it is.

    =========================

    You can get apps for smartphones that let you download OSM maps ahead of time so that you don't need cellular access. They let you search for POIs.

    I use Guru Maps (which is expensive), which gives you a plus code that you can enter into my IQ app. There's maps.me too (which is free).

  • When I say "The correlation is too high" I mean it's identical including errors in every instance I inspect.

    When I say "(long story)" it means I didn't care to bore you with the subject. Since you've pressed, I can easily keep the Garmin charged with my dynamo. Not so much with the cell. (All this calls to mind that I don't need network connectivity for the mobile by merely downloading offline maps.)

  • When I say "The correlation is too high" I mean it's identical including errors in every instance I inspect.

    Interesting. Garmin could be adding their own POIs to the OSM data. I never expected the POIs on the device to be very complete.

    Not so much with the cell.

    The dynamo issue makes more sense.

    Most people are not looking for breweries that often that using a cell phone once in a while is a problem. You can also load your own locations ahead of time.

  • FYI, you're not helpful in the least.

  • Oh well! Your question was terrible:

    • It's very unlikely Garmin will change the organization.
    • The information being organized is very incomplete (so, who cares how it's organized?).

    ==================

    There are alternatives to getting the information rather than relying on the device.

    I can't help if they aren't acceptable to you. But that's your problem/choice.

  • The POI information in OSM is very incomplete. It doesn't make sense to rely on it. At least, in the US.

    The quality of OSM data (especially, the POI data) varies a lot depending on location. It seems to be better in the Netherlands and Germany.

    It does look like the Garmins do use the OSM POIs. They certainly have their own POIs that they use in their maps. So, it's odd they rely on the wildly-incomplete OSM data.

    ===============

    Looking at a place that has happens to have three breweries within a few miles of each other, OSM has one of them.

    The OSM POI data is terrible. How well it's organized seems irrelevant.

    (I'm a big OSM fan and a regular contributor.)

  • Indeed, I have had excellent results finding lodging and food throughout Europe with the OSM-based POIs. Not so much in the USA. Garmin relies on OSM because it's free. Expect Google to continue to increase revenue from their precious maps while expecting Local Guides to contribute for "points". Witness what they've done with routing. So it behooves (cheap) cyclists to make OSM better and I believe (hope?) we're in the infancy of this process. I asked my question because it's wholly within Garmin's control to fix and would be easy to do so.

    A couple of silly things I've noted: 1) Bicycle Shops are lumped in General Merchandise with Variety Stores, Bag/Luggage Stores, and Shoe Stores. Given this device is designed for bicycles, obviously the Bicycle Shop feature type should not be in such a miscellaneous POI subcategory. 2) For whatever reason, there are 2 Convenience POI subcategories in Shopping. One has Convenience Stores the other Newspaper/Magazine Shops. These and other idiosyncrasies that I'm sure exist could be fixed in short order if Garmin gave it a glance.

    Through various subscriptions, Google already extracts well over $100 a month from me directly. My preference is that my total, indirect and direct, outlay to Google be minimized.