In this week's blog post, we have introduced Points of Interest:
- Spots to visit in or near a WHS, based on insider tips aimed at the WH Traveller.
- Only shown on the site map of the individual WHS page.

Think of the following categories:
Entrance or access points that aren't obvious, even going so far as the address of the "Lady with a key" to get access to that remote church.
A particularly useful visitor center.
A museum that is unmissable to understand the WHS.
A scenic viewpoint or panorama.
A key monument, or a quirky one that has been described in one of the connections.
Transportation tips – that one bus stop, the right place to hitch a ride, or free parking.
Food and accommodation tips: where to taste that local specialty, or the historic building where you can stay the night in the core zone.

Suggestions for places to add can be left in this Forum topic. Also, when you are up to covering a full WHS, please announce it here.

On demand, herewith the categories of POIs we already have.
The icons should speak for themselves; they are all dark grey and a bit smaller than the main WHS location icons.

# Points of Interest
10 Point of Interest (Core Zone) (icon: a camera)
11 Point of Interest (Not in Core Zone)
12 Point of Interest (Plaque) (icon: a banner)
13 Point of Interest (Museum or Visitor Center) (icon: a classical building)
14 Point of Interest (Hidden Gem)
17 Scenic Viewpoint or Panorama (icon: a painting)
18 Natural Feature (e.g. rock, tree, waterfall)

# Practical visitor information
20 Transportation
21 Entrance or Access Point (icon: a doormat? LOL)
22 Bus
23 Boat or Ferry
24 Train station
25 Airport
27 Cable Car
28 Parking
29 Tour Departure (icon: a pointed flag)
30 Where to Stay (icon: you sleeping in a bed)
31 Restaurant Tips
40 Hiking
41 Diving
50 Beach
51 Water
52 Mountain
53 Forest
54 Animals

And some hints for people sending in GeoJSONs:
- You send 1 geojson file per WHS.
- The geometry type of a core zone should be "Polygon", because the core zones are enclosed areas. When you have created one using LineString, you need to convert it to Polygon (ChatGPT can do that for you) and then check it in a viewer like geojson.io to ensure it still looks correct.
- You cannot use multiple polygons in one file: use MultiPolygon instead to keep together the components that should be together, for example an offshore rock that is separate but still part of the core zone
- To map the POIs with icons, you can use "type":"<POI id>" per location. The POI ids are the numbers given above in front of the various categories.

Thanks, Els! I've got some errands to take care of this afternoon, but I'll start looking into some of these POIs later on today.

another icon suggestion, a pair of binoculars

What are your thoughts on including trailheads as a POI (perhaps with a hiker symbol)? There are some reviews I've read that address hikes I'd like to take when I'm in the area (reviews from Andorra's Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley and Switzerland's Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona come to mind), and it would be helpful to know where trailheads for recommended trails are.

If that would be a good POI, I have a couple of trailhead locations that might be useful as a start:

Tongariro National Park
Tongariro Alpine Crossing (19.4 km, moderate-difficult):
Trailhead (-39.144450, 175.581000)
Trailhead (-39.073850, 175.663650)

Gorham's Cave Complex
Mediterranean Steps (1.8 km, moderate):
Trailhead (36.120900, -5.345800)
Trailhead (36.124500, -5.343375)

It might be useful to include trail length and levels of difficulty (easy, moderate, hard), though I realize that individual visitors may have different interpretations on levels of difficulty.

Yes, for sure!

New icons:
* Trails and Hiking -> Aye. For Tongariro you would also need the transport options (parking, shuttles) to make sense of it.
* Binoculars -> Only make sense for long distance panoramas. Chilehouse doesnt require them. That's why I am not sold on the icon. We would have to add a new PoI type to match that.

@Jay: You work in GIS I understood? Just get yourself GEO_EDITOR permissions and edit directly.

Is there a difference between the 2 trailheads? Why would you use one above the other?

Added them, now as access points but will be replaced by hiker icon when present:
https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/tongariro-national-park/

and
https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/gorhams-cave-complex/
(I am adding a few more to Gorham that were described in the reviews)

You hike across the mountain. The parking is on one side. And then you need a shuttle to get to the starting point.
I will update the map. Jay could do this himself as geoeditor :D

Fixed some spots for Tongariro. But PoIs are lacking and needed.

I am working for over 15 years for the platform outdooractive.com, which displays hikes and points of interest, among others. I think it is a very good idea to add the trailhead of the hike as a POI, but I would not recommend adding a lot of additional information (level of difficulty, length, altitude metres, altitude profile - the wish list would get longer and longer...). I recommend linking a tour that has already been created on a corresponding platform at the starting point (this platform may or may not be Outdooractive).
Example for the Lavaux vineyard terraces: Set the trailhead-icon at the railway station in Cully, with a link to https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-trail/lake-geneva-region/world-heritage-hike-through-the-lavaux-vineyards/7404733/
If the tour has not yet been created, it can easily be done on such platforms.

I would concur: Hikers should use hiking apps/maps.. For me, it's more about where things are and to get an overview.

Using Tongariro as example:
* The current map gives a weird centre right now. I would argue adding PoIs (Natural Feature, Panorama) for the natural feature would help a lot. As would adding the core zone.
* The transalpine hike comes with several logistics challenges. You need to know this is not a circular hike but has a start and an end, you need a shuttle and it's best to start on one side due to elevation. I do think adding a comment that this is not a trivial walk in the park is fine It's not.
* It would be good to show options for those without the ability to hike the transalpine crossing. In my review I pointed out a Southern area that can be done by care.
* Seeing NZ is sparsely populated, indicating where to stay and where to catch a shuttle woudl be good too. As would be any food options.

We should probably add those URls as links, though.

Kudos go out to Digits for sending in the first geojson including core zone + POIs!

He mapped New Lanark, where the official map, according to reviewers, was "an incomprehensibly pixelated mess".
See the full map at: https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/new-lanark/

Minoan Palatial Centres:

Point of Interest (Museum or Visitor Center): Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Notable artifacts (Phaistos Disc, Malia Pendant, Snake Goddess) and frescos in link with Minoan Palatial Centres.

35.339167, 25.1375

The WHS of the "Not open to tourists" connection can be supplemented by the following points of interest:

Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc: Caverne du Pont-d'Arc
44.406944, 4.428056

Genbaku Dome: Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
34.391667, 132.451944

Thracian tomb of Kazanlak: Replica

Vézère Valley: Lascaux IV
https://www.viamichelin.fr/cartes-plans/sites-touristiques/poi/montignac-24290-2d1af20d3055