WEBSITE HAS POINTS-OF-INTEREST FOR GPS NAVIGATORS

I would be lost without the little GPS navigator in my car. Literally. I recently visited another state and bought a home there. The city is beautiful and I'm having fun discovering new places to see, new restaurants in which to dine and fun places to visit. And of course, there's the shopping. But it's not all fun and frolic.

Finding new food markets comparable to the ones I left behind isn't easy.
Then there's other business one needs to frequent in order to live from day to day. Finding new doctors, a dentist, insurance agents, drug stores, the list goes on and on. All I can say is thank goodness for my little GPS navigator every time it helps me find all of these things.

Calling for directions doesn't help either. Because when you are in a new location, you're clueless when the person on the phone says "Take I-240 to 19, then go South to Exit 23." Huh? And just try and find your way back home when you stray just a little too far. No, my best advice to anyone moving to a new state or even a new city is to make sure you take along a GPS navigator. You'll thank me for it someday.

That said, I'd also like to point out one of the coolest features you'll find on most of these devices. It's called Points-Of-Interest or POI.  These POIs typically are places that you will find to be of some value to you. The most basic POIs are usually restaurants, hotels, ATM locations, gas stations, airports, etc. But POIs taken to the next level can transcend the mundane and point you to some of the area's more exciting places to see.

Entry level GPS units either don't have a POI ability or their offerings are scant at best. But move into the medium price range of these devices and you'll find a more robust POI database waiting for you inside. More recently, some of these devices have taken it even a step further.

Realizing that POIs can be as diverse as the people looking for them, one company has given their GPS units the ability to accept information via a simple downloading mechanism. Garmin offers a free downloading utility that lets users upload POI files created by themselves and others directly into their navigators. This ability has spawned a whole community of navigators who enjoy the thrill of discovering something of interest and sharing their discoveries with anyone who wants to take a look.

POI Factory is a website that is helping to bring that community of GPS users together by offering a free web-based clearing house of POI files.  Anyone can go to the POI Factory website and peruse a growing number (currently there are well over a million of them) of POI files that have been categorized and alphabetized. You can download anyone's POI file and you can upload your POI files there as well. Plus POI Factory offers active forum topics where POI seekers can converge to share ideas and experiences.  Basically, everyone there has a lot of fun. And if you worry about the location of those intersections with red light enforcement cameras, POI Factory has a POI database for well over 2000 of those too.

In addition to all the POI files, there are some additional libraries that help you to further personalize your GPS unit, again depending on the make and model you own. These include alert sounds and POI icons to customize your device.

If you don't yet own a GPS navigator, you may want to visit POI Factory first as they have information about many of the makes and models out there.  They point out which do and do not have the POI downloading ability.

POI Factory is completely free. Just be sure your GPS unit has that POI downloading ability before you go there. Because if it doesn't, you may find yourself trading up for one that does.

www.poi-factory.com

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