Using Points of Interest

Requirements

Points of Interest is a data product and does not include software for analysis, but it can be used with a variety of programs and applications. Points of Interest can be loaded onto any desktop or laptop PC that has a program capable of importing a delimited text file. If using a geographical information system (GIS), customers are encouraged to contact the system vendor to establish actual system requirements.

Supply definition

Points of Interest is only available for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and is supplied via secure URL.

Points of Interest is only available in pipe delimited text file format.

File sizes

A national (Great Britain) set of Points of Interest is currently approximately 1 Gb but the size can change for each release.

Points of Interest directory structure

The directory structure of secure URL is shown below:

An image of the directory structure showing the Root at the top level with Data, Doc, Lookups and POI_Readme as the next level.

ROOT directory

The ROOT directory will contain the following ASCII text file:

• POI_README.txt

The ROOT directory will contain the following directories:

• DATA

• DOC

• LOOKUPS

DATA directory

The DATA directory will contain the data file for your order:

• pointx_v2_CustomerAccountNumber_CustomerAccountName_Mmmyy or pointx_v2_National Coverage_Mmmyy with exclusions where relevant.

DOC directory

• CLASSIFICATION_SCHEME_V_X_X.pdf – POI classification.

• DATA_SUPPLIES_MMMYY.pdf – background notes on the data suppliers.

• DESC_CLASS_REPORT_MMMYY.pdf – descriptive class reporting documentation.

• DISCCARE.txt – information on the care of DVDs.

• KEYWORDS_DOCUMENTATION.pdf – using the keywords information.

• POI_USERGUIDE_V_X_X_MMMYY.pdf – the POI User Guide.

• PRODUCT_AMENDMENTS_MMMYY.txt – product amendment information.

• RELEASE_REPORT_MMMYY – counts for the number of points per classification level.

• SIC_DOCUMENTATION_V_X_X_MMMYY – using the POI class to SIC lookup.

The DOC directory may also contain documentation relating to the specification of the requested data format or additional documentation specific to that supply.

LOOKUPS directory

The LOOKUPS directory will contain the following ASCII text files:

• ADMINISTRATIVE_BOUNDARY_LOOKUP.txt – the administrative boundary lookup.

• KEYWORDS.txt – keywords information.

• POI_CATEGORIES.txt – the categories lookup within the classification.

• POI_CLASSIFICATIONS.txt – the classifications lookup.

• POI_CLASSIFICATION_V_X_X.mdb – the relationship between group, category and classification.

• POI_GROUPS.txt – the groups lookup within the classification.

• POI_CLASS_TO_SIC_LOOKUP.txt – the POI classes linked to the SIC.

• POSITIONAL_ACCURACY_LOOKUP.txt – the positional accuracy lookups.

The LOOKUPS directory may also include updates to the lookups for a specific release.