using custom POIs instead of some of our waypoints ???

[kathy]

Has anyone ever done this?  I had a tech person at Garmin suggest that a way to get around the 1000 wypt limit might be to put the motel and restaurants wypts in a custom POI file that would be loaded to the sd card and would then be available on the screen of my map76csx.

The idea seemed to be to use a .csv file (what ever that is) or excel (which would be harder).

If my POI query got the custom file first and only then the usual stuff from City Navigator that might be useful.

Any thoughts???

[FredHiltz]

It sounds plausible, Kathy. I never tried it because my receiver does not support a custom POI file.

CSV stands for comma-separated-values, a simple text format that names the values in the first line, then any number of lines containing values follow. For example,

    latitude,longitude,name,type
    43.63598,-113.29934,D K Motel,lodging
    41.82311,-110.74734,Fossil Butte,attraction
    etc., etc.

Excel can read and write this format, as can most GPS data programs. Check their Help files.

If you try this out, please let us know how it goes. Can the receiver GOTO a custom point, navigating by road, or does it just show on the map? And can one be included in a route?

Fred

[kathy]

Fred, Thanks for the info.  The Garmin person knew what my device was and still suggested this but claimed primarily Mapsource expertise.    How can I know whether my device really supports custom POIs??? 

 I guess there is probably nothing to do but put in the time and try it.

I only seem to address this stuff when I'm about to leave  on a ride and can't stuff everything I need in my GPS.  So there is never enough time to enjoy digging deeper.
I'll try to try it.  kathy

[va_bentrider]

See http://www.gpsinformation.org/penrod/poiloader/poiloader.html

[kathy]

Hey thanks for the link.  It will be helpful.  But I followed the link it gave which it said would list devices that were compatable  and got no such list.

It did say generically most recreational units after 2005.  That sounds hopeful!
Mine is GPSmap76CSx which I got 2006 or 2007.  I think of it as recreational.

here's hoping!

thanks again

kathy

[kathy]

I just realized, I forgot to say:   my gps is GPSmap76CSx.
 Maybe some one knows whether it is compatible with custom POI.

Garmin might reply to me  next year -  or not.
And their reply will probably be some stock answer to some question I did NOT ask.
grrrr.

The user comunity is our best hope, isn't it.
kathy

[FredHiltz]

Why not check your owner's manual? I happen to have the manual for the 60CSx, which I believe runs the same firmware. On page 25 it says you can use the Garmin POI Loader and refers to http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/ for directions on how to do it.

Fred

[kathy]

Fred,

  You are on the money with that.  It is in my owners manual on page 25.

I'm pretty embarassed not to have found it myself.  But now I am for sure going to give it a try.

thanks
kathy

[kathy]

Well thanks to your help here and the Garmin people,  I've got it:

I run the adv cyc file through Mapsource to seperate what I want as poi and what I want as waypts.

Then I open the poi items with excel and I move the comments into the first name column and save as .csv.

Next I  open that .csv file in GPSVisualizer and convert it to .gpx.

I open that in MapSource - just to admire it!

Repeat for every file on my route

I run the POI Loader pointing to the directory where I stored those little .gpx beauties.

Now I have a custom POI file of the Campgrounds etc.   AND I have many fewer waypoints to load so my 1000 limit is less of a problem.

I am very happy.
Thanks again
kathy

[JimF]

MapSource will save as *.gpx. It should be possible to copy the WPs to a new run of MapSource, save it as a gpx file to its own folder, then run POI Loader. Right?

[FredHiltz]

That should work. Kathy, it would save you a step. I often open two instances of MapSource so I can copy and paste between them when doing this sort of processing.

Fred

[JHamelman]

This is a great solution to the too many waypoints dilemma! Thanks for working it out.

.Jenn.

[kathy]

Yes,  you can load the POIs without excel and GPSvisualizer.  But they will have our F0xxxx style of name and not be so easy to understand.  I thought that Garmin would have a way to tell it to load the comment field in there instead but the Garmin people said no!

The person at garmin is the one who tried for a half hour different things and came up with this.

I tryed to shortcut what he did by using the .csv file (created by excel) direct into the POIloader because it claims to be able to use .csv.
But it didn't like it.

So I went with the whole process as described.  It doesn't take long.

What does take long is separating out the route waypts from the POIs.  If AdvCyc was more strict with the use of symbols, that would help.  I can , of course, sort by symbol but the square symbol has a lot of wypts and motels etc all mixed in together.  Perhaps there is a reason for that that I don't know.

Let me know  If you suceed in short cuting some of this process.
kathy

[FredHiltz]

Yes,  you can load the POIs without excel and GPSvisualizer.  But they will have our F0xxxx style of name and not be so easy to understand... So I went with the whole process as described.  It doesn't take long.

What does take long is separating out the route waypts from the POIs.  If AdvCyc was more strict with the use of symbols, that would help.  I can , of course, sort by symbol but the square symbol has a lot of wypts and motels etc all mixed in together.  Perhaps there is a reason for that that I don't know.

About those F0xxxx waypoint names, the GPS Data User Guide discusses why they are that way and suggests renaming them to be more meaningful to your riding. That takes time, of course, but it's not too bad in MapSource.

Help is on the way for separated route and POI waypoints in the next release of the database. I don't know when that will be, but it's in preparation.

Fred