How to Search for POIs

POI stands for Point of Interest. In GIS work, a POI is usually a place object with a name, location, and attributes, such as a school, hospital, park, station, shopping mall, scenic area, government office, or business park.

The POI Search feature in iXGIS is mainly used to retrieve these places within a specified spatial range and display the results directly on the map. The feature is implemented with reference to Tianditu's Place Name Search V2.0 service, so returned results usually include place name, address, longitude and latitude, phone number, and type. It is suitable for site selection research, facility surveys, thematic mapping, and basemap supplementation.

Compared with place search in ordinary web maps, POI Search in iXGIS focuses more on GIS workflows:

• You can limit the search range to the current view, an administrative region, or a project layer extent.
• You can place results directly on the map to inspect their spatial distribution.
• You can save selected results as point feature files in the project for further mapping and analysis.

1. What POI Search Can Do

POI Search is commonly used for four tasks:

1. Quickly find a type of facility in the current map window, such as hospitals, schools, or bus stops.
2. Systematically retrieve facility distribution within an administrative region, such as parks, community service stations, or parking lots in a district.
3. Supplement point-of-interest data within the coverage of existing project layers, such as collecting nearby facilities around a planning area, sample area, or survey area.
4. Save search results as point features for later buffer analysis, overlay analysis, layout mapping, or attribute cleanup.

If your goal is to find places and turn them into GIS data, this feature is a good fit. It can also be used directly if you only want to check a place temporarily.

2. Entry Point and Basic Interface

Click POI Search in the iXGIS toolbar. A POI Search panel opens on the right side.

The panel usually contains three parts:

• A keyword input area at the top
• A Search Options area in the middle
• A result list and save controls at the bottom

The top input box supports these operations:

• Press Enter after entering a keyword to search.
• Click the search button to search.
• Clear the keyword to clear both current results and POI points on the map.

This means POI Search uses an explicit input and explicit search workflow, rather than continuously suggesting results while you type.

3. What to Check Before Searching

Before using POI Search, confirm the following:

1. A Project Must Be Open

POI Search depends on the current project environment to manage map extent, result layers, and save paths. If no project is open, the system will not run the search.

2. A Keyword Is Required

POI Search is not a "browse all places" feature. It searches around a keyword. The keyword can be:

• A place name, such as "Beijing South Railway Station" or "Zhongshan Park"
• A place category, such as "hospital", "school", or "hotel"
• A business object, such as "charging station", "parking lot", or "gas station"

In general, the more specific the keyword, the more focused the results. The broader the keyword, the more results you may get, and pagination and filtering may take more effort.

3. Results Come from an Online Service

This feature refers to the Tianditu place-name search service, so result quality depends on the online service's data coverage, classification methods, and naming conventions. Keep these points in mind:

• Names may include abbreviations, aliases, or duplicate names.
• Fields such as phone number and address may be empty or incomplete.
• Some newly built places or small POIs may not be found immediately.

Therefore, POI Search is better used as a quick collection and supporting verification tool. For formal results that require strict review, manual verification is still recommended.

4. Choosing Among Three Search Ranges

iXGIS currently provides three search ranges:

• Current view
• Administrative region
• Layer extent

Although Tianditu place-name search also supports nearby search and category search, the iXGIS interface currently focuses on these three ranges because they better match practical GIS project workflows.

1. Current View

Current View is suitable for quickly searching places within the current map window.

The workflow is simple:

1. Zoom and pan the map to the target area.
2. Select Current View.
3. Enter a keyword and run the search.

This method has these characteristics:

• The search range directly follows the map area visible on the screen.
• The larger the map scale and the smaller the visible area, the more focused the results usually are.
• It is suitable for finding facilities around a local parcel, block, or station.

For example, after you have positioned the map to a district, entering "hospital" or "kindergarten" quickly shows the distribution of related facilities in the current visible area.

2. Administrative Region

Administrative Region is suitable for systematic searches by province, city, district, or county.

During operation, the system provides province, city, and district/county selections. It is usually best to select the most detailed available level so the search range is clearer and the results are easier to control.

This method is suitable for:

• Facility surveys such as schools, hospitals, and parks within a district
• Sorting the distribution of a service facility type across a city
• Preparing data before thematic statistics by administrative unit

In administrative-region search mode, the system returns POI results and displays the corresponding administrative boundary on the map. This helps you confirm whether the search boundary is correct. For users who work by administrative boundary, this is very practical.

3. Layer Extent

Layer Extent is suitable for searching POIs around existing data extents in a project.

Here, layer extent means that you already have a survey area, planning area, study area, or data coverage layer in the project, and you want to find POIs near or within that range.

Common uses include:

• Select a polygon layer as the search range.
• Select a raster layer as the search range.

If you select a polygon layer and enable Use Geometry Extent Only, the system tries to search by the geometry boundary. This is usually more precise than using only the layer's bounding rectangle.

There are two practical limits to note:

• When a layer contains multiple geometries, this mode is currently better suited to searching around one main geometry.
• When the geometry is very complex and has many vertices, the system may automatically switch to the layer's bounding extent to keep the search stable.

If you select a raster layer, or do not enable Use Geometry Extent Only, the system generally searches by the overall layer extent. This is more stable in performance, but the spatial constraint is wider.

5. What Information Appears in Search Results

POI search results usually include:

• Name
• Address
• Longitude and latitude
• Phone number
• Type

These fields are useful for quick interpretation in GIS scenarios.

For example:

• Name helps you judge whether the result is the target object.
• Address helps identify places with the same name.
• Longitude and latitude help confirm whether the location is reasonable.
• Type helps distinguish facility categories.
• Phone number can be used as reference information for later investigation or verification.

If some POIs do not have phone numbers, the system may show the field as empty or "None". This is normal and does not mean the search failed.

6. How Results Are Displayed on the Map

After the search is complete, results appear in the list and are loaded onto the map at the same time. Each result is displayed as a point, so users can judge its distribution spatially.

This display method has several direct benefits:

• You can quickly judge whether points fall inside the target area.
• You can identify obvious offsets or same-name places in different locations.
• You can combine basemaps, administrative boundaries, and business layers for integrated interpretation.

When you click a record in the result list, the corresponding point is highlighted. This lets you switch quickly between reading the list and locating on the map, which is especially useful when there are many results.

7. Pagination Rules and Result Limits

To keep the interface responsive, POI Search currently uses paginated display.

• Each page shows 10 results.
• When you switch pages, the system fetches the results for that page again.
• The current interface displays up to the first 200 results.

Therefore, if you search for common keywords such as "hospital", "school", or "residential community" in a large range, results may quickly hit the limit. In that case, optimize the search by:

• Narrowing the search range
• Selecting a more detailed administrative region
• Using a more specific keyword
• Limiting the spatial range with a thematic layer before searching

8. Saving Search Results as Project Data

An important advantage of POI Search is that results can be saved, not just viewed.

In the result list, select one or more places, then click Add to File to save them as point feature data in the project.

1. Add to an Existing File

If the project already contains a usable point layer, you can write selected results directly into that layer. This is suitable when:

• You have already created a collection layer for a facility type.
• You want to merge POI results from multiple batches into the same file.
• You need to edit symbols, fields, and attributes consistently later.

After saving, POI information such as name, address, phone number, and type is written into the feature attributes for later cleanup.

2. Add to a New File

If the current project does not have a suitable target layer, you can create a new point file directly to save the results.

Currently supported save formats include:

• PostGIS vector
• GeoPackage vector
• ESRI Shapefile

This method is better for thematic data collection, staged deliverable cleanup, or temporary working layer creation.

3. What You Can Do After Saving

Once saved as a project layer, these POIs are no longer temporary search results; they become formal GIS data. You can continue with:

• Attribute checking and supplementation
• Category-based symbolization
• Buffer analysis
• Overlay analysis with administrative regions, roads, land use, and other data
• Layout mapping and output

9. Why Administrative Boundaries Are Displayed

In Administrative Region search mode, the system displays the selected administrative region boundary at the same time. This is not just visual decoration; it is a practical aid for judgment.

Its main purpose is to:

• Make the current search boundary clear.
• Help compare whether result points are inside the target administrative region.
• Support later screenshots, checks, and thematic interpretation.

For users who often make district-level or city-level thematic maps, this boundary hint can greatly reduce misjudgment.

10. Recommended Usage Patterns

For practical GIS work, use POI Search in these ways.

Scenario 1: Quick Local Facility Survey

• Position the map to the target area.
• Select Current View.
• Enter keywords such as "hospital", "parking lot", or "bus stop".
• Review the result distribution and select the points you need.
• Save them as a project point layer.

Suitable for existing-condition surveys, site selection review, and local infrastructure surveys.

Scenario 2: Collect Thematic Points by Administrative Region

• Select Administrative Region.
• Choose the target district or county level by level.
• Enter the target keyword.
• Check the results against the administrative boundary.
• Save the results as a thematic layer.

Suitable for public service facility organization, district/county thematic mapping, and industry distribution surveys.

Scenario 3: Supplement External POIs Around a Project Area

• Prepare a study area, planning area, or sample area layer first.
• Select Layer Extent.
• If it is a polygon layer, preferably enable Use Geometry Extent Only.
• Enter a keyword and run the search.
• Save the results and analyze them together with project data.

Suitable for planning research, environmental surveys, regional evaluation, and thematic sample-area analysis.

11. Common Misunderstandings

1. No Results Does Not Necessarily Mean the Feature Failed

Possible reasons include:

• The keyword is too uncommon or uses a different naming convention.
• The search range is too small.
• The online service currently has no corresponding POI data.

Try expanding the range or using a more common name or category keyword.

2. Layer Extent Search May Not Always Follow Polygon Boundaries Exactly

If the geometry is complex, or the selected layer is not a polygon layer, the system may search by the overall extent. For scenarios that require very precise spatial constraints, review and filter the mapped results manually.

3. Many Results Does Not Mean All Results Are Usable

POI Search is suitable for quick collection, but it cannot replace formal verification. For deliverables that need database entry, mapping, or statistics, check at least the following:

• Whether the name is accurate
• Whether the location is offset
• Whether the category matches the thematic requirement
• Whether same-name points are duplicated

12. Summary

POI Search in iXGIS is essentially an online place collection feature for GIS workflows. Based on the Tianditu place-name search service, it combines finding places, placing them on the map, and saving them as features into a relatively complete workflow.

In short, the workflow has three steps:

1. Choose a range.
2. Enter a keyword.
3. Review and save results.

If you only want to locate places quickly, it can do that directly. If you want to turn external place information into GIS point data in your project, it can also meet that need. This is where POI Search is most valuable in GIS software.