POI's would be the essence of most any sort of map, not sure what you mean by "fancy as a 3d map".[/QUOTE]
I mean that it may not necessarily be a 3D display, like a holographic map or a separate screen, but could be simply a list of coordinates accessible through the universal tool. I would like there to be a 3D map, but could easily see this being something you have to build or access through a terminal on a station or large ship, not something you just have on you all the time. Whereas the list of coordinates and POIs on your universal tool would always be accessible.
You could then also have antennae and such built onto ships and stations to improve the range of POI detection, so a large ship or station could detect other ships and such at much greater distances than a player on their own could. This would mean that listening posts, stations dedicated to tracking and mapping the movement of ships via their transponders, would be a viable tactic. One faction could build small listening posts in or on the edge of a rivals territory, and track the number of ships coming in and out of a territory. Couple this with spy missions to identify the class of ship each transponder belongs to, you could effectively spy on a faction to learn their military strength, useful information prior to an attack.
It would add several elements of gameplay to map making, exploration and espionage, more so than a Fog'o'war mechanic where once you've been somewhere it is automatically mapped.
It could just as easily be a dedicated map display, showing POIs that are within detection range as blips on the map, but I'd like map displays to be a little more special than just 'everyone automatically has one.'
To be completely clear, I am referring to a 3D map as navigational display, not the playable area.