Possibility of creating own POI data files from OSM database

Nicolai shared this idea 7 years ago
Gathering feedback

Good day,


is there any way, to create own POI data files from the OSM database? Because maps from Locus store (and thereby also the POI data files) are updated very rarely (maximum 3 times per year). So I want to create own POI files. Is there any possilbe way to do that?


Thanks in advance

Replies (8)

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Hi,

Locus POI DB is part of LoMaps. You can download the latest version (2016.04.01) that contains map, poi db and address db.

We use own utility for generation of POI DB and this utility was create earlier then Mapsforge solution. For this reason Locus does not recognize the DB created by Mapsforge generator.

Mentioned utility is not public and for this reason is not possible to create own POI DB. There was some discussion that we could publish it but there is no final decision.

Regards

Petr

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Thanks for the quick reply.

So I did download the LoMaps and both POI search and offline addresses work like a charme. Thanks for your greate work.

I would be even happier if you would publish that utility. Maybe 'as it is' without support etc. But it would save me some time developing my own POI search app, as I did for the offline address search already.

Thanks again. I am looking forward to seeing what great features are coming next ;-)

Cheers

Einix

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Hello Nicolai,


basically POI DB is open sqlite database so you can open, read it or write own data. However I suggest that you want to know if there is any SW or utility that can be used for generation of POI DB. Unfortunately the utility we use, is private at this moment. On the other hand we already discussed the possibility to offer it as public tool in Locus team but there is not final decision.

BTW: can I ask you what is the best update interval for you? Or better would you please describe how do you use offline POI DB and why is important for you to have more frequent updates?


Thank you and Happy New Year

Best regards

Petr

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Hello Petr,


thank you for your answer!

I would be very happy, if there would be an public tool, which allows you to create own POI DB. The reason, why I would like to have such an tool, or have more updates of the POI DB's:

Maybe you know, that I'm using maps from openandromaps. These maps are updated once per month. Sometimes I see POI's in the map, but the POI is not in the POI DB from Locus, because the POI DB is outdated. That can be very annoying.

The best update interval of the POI DB for me would be once per month.

I hope you can understand me.


Best regards

Nicolai

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Hello guys,

I think that there should be a possibility of making own POI database. It is very useful for OSM editors. If you do some change in the map you can immediately download POIs to Locus.


Next reason is that now you have to buy LoMaps but lots of users use their own OSM maps from other sources.

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@Jakub Konečný

I fully agree with you.

At the moment I only buy the LoMaps because of the POI files. Therefore an tool for POI creation would be wonderful!

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Mapsforge provides POI files http://download.mapsforge.org/pois/?C=M;O=D

But I cannot comment on its structure. And Cruiser can display them.

I hope that Locus will finally work jointly with the Mapsforge team on this subject. No use to have two competing approaches in the same eco system.

(The adress DB aspect is not covered by Mapsforge, though.)

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Hello, any news about generating a database of own POIs? Or to use the OAM POI database (OpenAndroMaps)?

If there are no news, can you convert any of these questions into an idea?

http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/possibility-of-creating-own-poi-data-files-from-osm-database

http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/oam-offline-poi-database

http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/how-to-create-an-own-poi-database

There are several users interested in being able to use an "external" POI database, as can be done with maps.

Greetings.

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Hi,

I can only say that we don't plan implementation OAM database and also there are no plan for separation POI DB from LoMaps package. We can only consider to publicly release our POI DB generation tool (in the case of large number of votes).

Thank you for understanding

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Hi Petr, in fact the title of this request is wrong; this is not about OAM, this is about the standard MapsForge POI DB feature that exists since 2016. While I am a fan and promoter of Locus since many years, I am not a fan of diverting and splitting an eco system more than it already is. But that is the strategic level, and we can leave that aside for a moment. And focus on the tactical and practical things at hand: Menion already indicated in another post some weeks ago that the POI DB creation tool could be shared (no warranty, etc., etc., understood). That would allow other people to help themselves. Either connect it to the Mapsforge writer tooling, or go the ETL (Export, Transform, Load) way. The L being your tool, and E&T is not too hard - I had a look into the Mapsforge DB structure when the earlier discussion happened.

Cheers

Michael

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Sorry, the TITLE of this post is correct, there was only mention of OAM by Tigus, which I picked up above.

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Hi Michael , I thought that OAM uses the standard MapsForge solution. But it doesn't matter. I only want to say that LoMaps map is and will be one package. Thank you for your post. I can understand you and this is the reason why we thought about public release of our generation tools.

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Yes, this is what I meant, too, OAM POI = Mapsforge POI.

Looking forward to your tool :-)

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Thanks Petr for responding and Michael for contributing to the idea.

I hope you can publish the tool to create the POI database so that Locus can read it.

Greetings.

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Hi there.

Locus still doesn't accept external POI files?


I think 16 votes are a good measure for the necessity of this feature.

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would be great to have this feature!

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Wann kommt dieses Tool?

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Wahrscheinlich nie!Schliesslich macht Locus gutes Geld mit dem Verkauf von LoMaps!

Alternative Produkte sind gratis mit gratis Maps, aber das Geschäftsmodell steht jeder Firma frei ...

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Von den paar Euros was die Software kostet kann keine Firma leben und vor allem kostenlos weiterentwickeln. Das muss man auch bedenken. Soweit ich aber dran bin, gibt es ja bald endlich ein Abo Modell von Locus und da sind meines Wissens auch die LoMaps inklusive.

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Das Tool dürfte auch extra kosten, Ergebnisse "not for public distribution".

LoMaps sind ja nett, aber Petr allein kann nicht mit OAM konkurrieren, z.B.

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In my opinion, using open source formats whenever possible and sharing the tools to create necessary custom formats helps everyone in the end. This will take some workload and pressure from the developers and they can and should use the official LoMaps as stable resources for Locus. I am pretty sure that many customers will prefer them (easy-to-use and easy-to-update).

Others will want to update certain maps more often, create a custom database for a short trips to another country/region to use without buying a new map, or set up their own toolchain to automatically download, build and combine all of the data they require. But these people will not be satisfied by the LoMap build-cycle anyway.

Usually, content provided by dedicated users is more rewarding in the end than having to provide all of the content yourself as a company. Thus, there is no reason to lock down the map/db format to compete with other applications. Locus has enough features to keep the customers anyway.

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Is it possible to do that with windows too? If yes is there an instruction on how to do that?

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I'm a noob in doing this. Can someone create a step by step guide if you have no experience with coding?

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