Arcade finder POI for GPS units.

[SRGilbert]

Ok, this may be over my head, but I think it's a great idea. I recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS unit for my car and am loving it.

 

One of the really cool things you can do with GPS is create and use something called a "point of interest" files or POIs that can be anything you can think of. Some are lists of historical markers in an area, while another could be a listing of antique stores in an area. A lot of these are user created.

 

What I propose is creating a listing of classic type arcades!

 

This could easily be done with Google maps using the My Maps function. I'm not quite sure how it would work, but it looks like you can start a map that others can edit.

 

This is what I started, let me know if you can add something! I started with Pinball Pete's in East Lansing.

 

Arcade map

 

The long term goal is to create a map, and then a file from that map that can be downloaded into your GPS unit. That way, you can see what arcades there might be in an area you are visiting.

 

One question is what to include. What would constitute an arcade vs just a hang out that has a few games. For example, I've seen a number of laundrymats that have 4 or five games and even pinball machines. I'm open to ideas!

 

I've found a couple of sources of info that could get us started, but it's hard to say if they are up to date.

 

http://www.pinballpost.com/finder.aspx

http://arcadelocations.classicgaming.gamespy.com/