The disclosure relates to a method for identifying points of interest, or POIs, in a vicinity of a predetermined location on the basis of digital cartographic data and a predetermined search time and a predetermined number of POI hits. The method comprises the steps of identifying, on the basis of cartographic data, an initial search field that includes the predetermined location, searching for a POI in the search field, and iteratively enlarging the search field and searching for the POI in the enlarged search field until the predetermined search time has elapsed or the predetermined number of POI hits has been attained.