Determine whether the entity is really a POI.
The following entity types are not considered to be POI and should be rated as indicated below:
For POIs with an official website/social media site rate the POI as Yes – Valid if the official site/social media site has a
matching name address for the POI and is not “stale” (see note below).
For POIs with an official0website/social media site rate No – Closed if:
there is a direct statement of POI closure
the POI has moved or has changed their name
the POI is part of a chain, but the location is not listed ,
For POI’s that have “stale” official sites/social media sites:
For official sites, “staleness” is discretionary based on appearance, updated info etc.
For official social media sites, staleness may be determined based on activity such as user reviews that abruptly stop.
POI Validity: No – closed 
Name: Fressnapf
Address: Mühlenstraße 72, 25421 Pinneberg, Deutschland
URL: https://www.fressnapf.de/
Pin: 53.657887, 9.779156
Bönningstedt
This POI is for a branch of a large chain business. For the verification we start the search at the official branch page. After entering the address, we can see that there is no branch at this location. Therefore this POI does no exist and is not valid and rated No-closed.
Name: Polizeiinspektion Trier
Address: Südallee 3, 54290 Trier
URL: https://www.polizei.rlp.de/die- polizei/dienststellen/polizeipraesidium-trier/unsere– dienststellen/polizeidirektion-trier/polizeiinspektion-trier Pin: 49.748454, 6.640847
This POI is a police station. The listed address is not confirmed by the official website. Researching further, we find evidence that the POI has relocated from its former location to the address listed on the official website, https://tinyurl.com/nhrm6weh. Thus, we conclude that the POI has not been misplaced, but does no longer exist at the listed address.
POI Validity: No- no physical location
Name: zooplus
Address: Sonnenstraße 15 80331 München
Pin: 48.137081, 11.565498
This POI is a shop for pet supplies. After checking the Url, we can see that this POI operates a large online shop. Since there are no opening hours listed (there are phone hours listed which should not be mistaken as opening hours), or any branch page avaliable, we can assume that this is an online shop only and should be rated as No- no physical location.
Category Accuracy
It is important that the category is accurate and the best fit category available to represent the primary identity of the POI.
Research Expectation: Always perform online research to determine the POI category’s dominant identity prior to rating its
accuracy and fit. Research should be based on these approved sources:
The following are sections of an official website that may help in your research:
• Reliable Sources: User reviews on official sources or crowdsource user review sites.
• The Category Reference List
• Local Knowledge
Category Accuracy
The following rules will help you determine the best fit category:
Do Not Rely on Categories Assigned by Other Sources: SERPs, map services, and crowdsource review sites may assign categories to POIs, but these are not necessarily accurate. These may be assigned following different rules than we are to follow based on our available categories for this evaluation.
Category Accuracy
Category Accuracy and Fit: Make sure you find the most specific category possible for the POI, without being too specific.
Searching the Category Reference List:
Rating Examples
Approximate – Category is too general
Name: Golf House Hannover
Address: Elfriede-Paul-Allee 8 30449 Hannover
URL: https://www.golfhouse.de/location/hannover
Category: shopping —► store —► sporting goods store
The store sells all kind of golf sport related gear. The category is described as “sporting goods store” which is correct. After checking the category reference list, we can see that there is a better fit shopping -► store —► sporting goods store -► golf store. Therefore the correct rating is Category – too general.
Approximate – Category is too specific
Name: OBI Markt Löbau
Address: Weststr. 1 02708 Löbau, Sachsen, Deutschland
URL: https://www.obi.de/
Category: shopping —► store —► home improvement store —► building supply store -► tile supplier
This POI is a home improvement store. As we can see the category is “tile supplier”. The store has tiles in its product range but is not specialized on selling tiles exclusively. Since this store offer a large variety of home improvement articles, this category is too specific. The correct category would be shopping -► store -► home improvement store
Hours Accuracy
When rating POI hours, it is important to verify the returned hours using official resources only.
DO NOT verify a POI’s hours from unofficial social media pages, claimed or unclaimed crowdsourced user review sites, online street imagery or SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). These are NOT considered reliable resources for verifying POI hours.
Hours Accuracy
Name: Fitness First
Address: Kaufingerstraße 17, 80331 München
URL: https://www.fitnessfirst.de
Hours:
This fitness studio has a branch page with official opening hours listed (screenshot). Compared to the POI results opening hours we can see that these hours do not match and are considered Incorrect.
Hours Accuracy
In some cases, hours can be a bit tricky. In particular, this applies to administrative office hours, educational and event calendars posted on official websites of schools, universities, or training schedules of sports clubs, etc. If such hours are publicly available on official sources, please rate according to the general rating guidance.
GL 10.6.6.2. Schools and Universities contains some examples for these scenarios.
Also, please be sure to double-check the hours for every single day; it’s easy to overlook details in numbers. Example:
Thursday shows a different closing time than all of the other days of the week. Such little details might be easy to miss, so please stay focused and take regular breaks when rating.
Phone Accuracy
The phone number should be verified using official resources. These ma include the business‘s official website, official social media pages, and/or other official resources.
As already mentioned above, it can be easy to miss individual wrong digits in numbers, especially in phone numbers which tend to be quite long.
Example:
Listed phone number: +494161598519110
Correct phone number: +49416159819110
The listed phone number shows one digit that is not part of the correct phone number. Again, little details like this might be easy to miss, so please stay focused and take regular breaks when rating.
URL Accuracy
When rating the URL, it is important that the most specific and accurate URL is returned:
-If the POI does not have an official website, then official social media pages that have been updated within the past 6 months may be rated Correct.
-If a returned URL is the POI’s correct social media page, but an official website exists, then the social media page is Incorrect.
–If a business has multiple locations and a location’s specific page exists on the official website, then the location- specific page is Correct and the home page of the official website is Partially Correct.
–If a business has multiple locations and a location specific page is not available, the business’s main page or the page that contains the address is Correct.
URL Accuracy
Name: ROSSMANN Drogerie-Markt
Address: Willy-Brandt-Platz 16 45127 Essen
The POI result is a branch of a large drug store chain. The given URL is the main page of the official website (therefore not Incorrect) After doing some research we can find a store finder page which gives us a valid branch page and URL for this specific POI with all the relevant branch information (https://tinyurl.com/4vwsmyjy). Therefore the correct rating for the URL section is “Partially correct”
Address Accuracy
When rating for Address Accuracy, it is important to remember that some types of POIs that may not have an official address. These may be located in non-conventional areas, such as underground or on the side of the road, or are large or notable enough that an official address is not necessary.
–Transit POIs (bus stops, light rail stops, subway stations etc.)
–EV Chargers
–Bike share racks
–Bridges
–Squares
–Monuments
–Natural features
–Airports
If POIs is without an official address and the contains less specific information than usual (e.g. only locality, admin area, postal code) the correct rating is Ok Without.
Address Accuracy
Here are some rules to follow when providing the official POI Address:
For example:
Address Accuracy
Name: Der Ludwig
Address: Fuldaer Straße 2 DE 396381
Schlüchtern
URL: https://www.der-ludwig.de/
The POI is a butcher shop. By checking the address section at the official page we can see that the postal code is different than the task code. The correct postal code is listed at the page as 36381. Therefore, the address rating is Incorrect – Postal code. The correct address should be copy pasted from the official source as it is.
Here as well, please be sure to double-check since it‘s easy to miss differences in numbers.
When rating for Name Accuracy, it is important to pay close attention to differences between the returned name and the POI’s official website or other official resources.
Every name that a specific business location uses to refer to itself is considered Correct. These names can be listed in a variety of ways in different sections of the entity’s official website or official social media website(s):
Other reliable sources that can be used to research a POI’s name include:
Name: Bräustuben Augustiner
Adress: Landsberger Straße 19 80339 München URL: https://www.braeustuben.de/
The POI is a Brauhaus and after checking the name at the official page, we can see that the name differs from the address section. The words are swapped. Since the main character of the POI name is still intact the correct rating is Partially Correct.
Pin Accuracy
The location of the pin should reflect the most accurate location of the POI based on the available information. Perform research using official resources and street imagery to determine the best-known pin location.
In dense areas it may be difficult to find boundaries between parcels. In these case, divide the space between the street or the next building in half to create a boundary. Remember, that everything outside the Perfect, Approximate and Next Door area of the “Half ‘n Half” is considered Wrong. This includes pin that falls on the opposite side of the road, outside the “Half ‘n Half” portion of the road.
When there is a difference between where the pin drops in satellite imagery and the standard map, always use the map layer in the Rating Tool that is more generous towards the pin (9.2.2.).
Pin Accuracy
Name: ALDI Nord
Adress: Hamfhofsweg 59, 28357 Bremen
URL: https://www.aldi-nord.de/
The POI is a chain business with a parking lot. The returned pin lands on the parking lot. Since the pin should land on the rooftop of the grocery store, the correct rating pin rating is Approximate GL(9.1)
User only the map layers in Tryrating to identify whether the Pin is falling on the rooftop, or if it is slightly off.
Pin Accuracy
According to GL 9.2., a pin should be considered Next Door if it drops on the property immediately next to the intended property. To be considered Next Door, a Pin must be:
Returned Pin:
Name: AXA Regionalvertretung Plättner Adress: Olbrichtstraße 8, 04157 Leipzig URL: https://www.axa-
betreuer.de/agentur_plaettner/ueber-uns/filialen– und-team#filiale2
The POI is an insurance representative. The returned pin lands on a property on the same street, namely Olbrichtstraße 6b. While this street number is immediately next to Olbrichtstraße 8, the property is not on the same block as the intended one. Thus, we do not rate Next Door. The pin is Wrong, GL 9.2.5.