11. Finding A Restaurant

Figure 47: Main Menu - Page 1

In GPS speak, a "Point of Interest", or POI, is a business address saved on the GPS. You can think of the POI database as a yellow pages installed on the GPS. Most modern GPS devices come pre-loaded with a Points of Interest database, allowing you to find nearby businesses, such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and more.

The RoadMate 1430 ships with large POI database of 6 million entries. Magellan's Points of Interest content appears to be stronger than most. In a direct comparison of the RoadMate 1430 to Garmin's nuvi 660 (which also has 6 million POIs), I was frequently able to find nearby businesses in the RoadMate that weren't contained in nuvi (both units had current maps and firmware installed).

To begin searching for a "Point of Interest", tap on Points of Interest from the Main Menu, as shown above.

Searching the POI database is a simple affair, requiring a few screen taps to choose a category (i.e. Restaurant), sub-category if appropriate (i.e. Restaurant -> Chinese), and specifying the area you want to search.

Figure 48: Searching the POI Database

After tapping on Points of Interest from the Main Menu, the RoadMate displays the Search Points of Interest screen, shown above, and asks us how we want to search for POIs. Three options are available:

• Search By Name - If you know the name of the business you're looking up, tapping on Search By Name allows you to enter all or part of the name
• Search By Category - Allows you to specify a category (and sub-category when appropriate) to search. For example, Restaurant -> Italian Cuisine
• My POIs - Search for any additional, custom, POI databases that you might have installed on the GPS

In this example I'll be searching for a restaurant, so I'll tap on Search By Category to continue.

Figure 49: Select Category

After choosing Search By Category, the Select Category screen appears. Use the scroll bars to view the available categories, and tap on the category you want to search. In this example I'm looking for nearby restaurants, so I'll tap Restaurants to continue

Figure 50: Select Sub Subcategory

Some POI categories have sub-categories. For example, if you tap choose Restaurants as the main category, you can then choose a cuisine as a subcategory. Or you can search all restaurants by choosing ALL SUBCATEGORIES.

Figure 51: Telling RoadMate Where to Search

After choosing a category (and possibly a subcategory, if applicable), the RoadMate asks where it should search for POIs. Three search areas are available to choose:

• Near Current Position - Lists results in order of closeness to your current position
• Near Which City? - Allows you to specify a city within which to search
• Near Address - Searches for POIs near a specific street address

Conspicuously missing is an option to search near the destination address.

Also annoying is the inability to search for a POI while en route to a destination. The Exit POI feature allows you to view POIs at upcoming highway exits, but that only works on highways, and you can't specify a category or business name. For example, if you're driving along and want to find a nearby McDonalds, you have to cancel the current route and do a new POI search. That means there's also no easy way to ensure that the McDonalds you find isn't too far off the planned route.

Figure 52: Viewing the POI Search Results

After telling the RoadMate what type of POI to look for, and where to look, the GPS produces a list of results.

Tapping on the top portion of the display shows more detailed information about the highlighted POI in the list. The arrow indicates the direction and distance (in a straight line from your current position) to the POI. Note that this distance is "as the crow flies", and not the actual driving distance.

Figure 53: Choosing the Routing Method

Choose a routing method, and tap the red Go button to start navigating to the selected POI.

12. Using the Exit POI Feature

Figure 54: Main Menu - Page 2

The Exit POI function provides a way of accessing commonly used POIs that are near an exit you are approaching while traveling on a freeway. Exit POIs include restaurants, gas stations, auto repair, shops, and hotels. Note that Exit POIs can only be used while driving on a highway (either en route to a destination or just driving around).

To access the Exit POIs feature, tap Exit POIs from the Main Menu.

Figure 55: Using the Exit POI Feature

The Exit POI screen, shown above, displays a list of upcoming exits, divided into 4 categories: food, gas, auto repair, and lodging. To see the available POIs for a given category, tap the category icon.

For example, to see all restaurants at a particular exit, tap on the food icon for the exit you want to view, and the RoadMate lists all restaurants located at that exit (shown below).

Figure 56: Viewing POI Details via the Exit POI Menu

You can route to any POI found via the Exit POI feature by selecting the POI.