FAQ

Is it ok to cache on our side certain often used data?
We allow caching the data in clients, not on server. You can read the details about our caching policy in our Terms of Use.

I only need POIs on a certain street. This is because my end-users are going to be people riding on a fixed-line bus. Does your API allow such a use case?
We would suggest the following: First prefetch places for a wider area around the target location (for example a 1 km x 1 km square). This can be done by using the bounds parameter.
Example call: https://api.sygictraveldata.com/1.0/en/places/list?bounds=51.50674581976235,-0.1306557655334473,51.5087791854578,-0.12452423572540285&level=poi&limit=512
Then filter the data in the app based on the user’s current location and some distance (for example 100m) and show the user the nearest places. Once the user leaves the area or gets near its edge, you can fetch a new set of places around their new location. We created a gist with code for computing bounds of a certain size around a location (https://gist.github.com/costasovo/0bcb8302f4ac7604b24e7d79e8dc4e97). This might help in case your geo library does not provide such function.

Is there a way to check the number or request left for this month?
At the moment we do provide an administration tool where you will be able to check your request count. We will add it soon. Until it is finished, you can get a report with the number of requests in a specified period of time upon request.

I'm assuming that it is against your T&Cs to just run the API Calls and store all of your data in a local database, is it correct?
It is against our Terms of Use to store the data on a server, but it is okay to cache it on a client. In case you need to store the data on a server, you can use a data export of Sygic Travel Places database that we provide. Get in touch with us to learn more about this option.

What is the difference between categories and tags?
In short, tags are as concrete as possible while categories are general. A category groups places by specific use cases and types of activities. For example the Family category contains places such as zoos, playgrounds or theme parks. The number of categories is limited to 10. A POI can, however, be listed in multiple categories.

Tags, on the other hand, are as specific as possible in describing a place and are unlimited in numbers. A zoo might get tags such as Wheelchair Accessible or Aquarium to provide additional information about the zoo itself. Tags may be mapped to categories. We only map tags that are not ambiguous. If a tag does not match any category perfectly, it remains unmapped.