Speed alert with shorter proximity?

I believe (but have not tested) that as long as you have the alerts turned on in your GPS, the _30 will remain as a speed alert whether you check it in manual or not. Therefore, if you check proximity and select the distance in manual that you want, you will have both.

Edit your csv file, and after the name of each POI, add the speed with '@30' without the single quotes, and replace 30 with whatever speed you want. Then, when using the POI loader in manual mode, set it to create the proximity alert to 500 feet. From reading the POI Loader help file, I think that should alert you within 500 feet of the POI and, if you are within that 500 feet, alert when going over 30mph (assuming your unit is set to feet & mph and not metric measures). Speed information in the name field of the POI is given priority over speeds specified in file name or POI Loader manual settings. Unless specified manually via the POI loader, the proximity alert is computed based on speed, and it will compute a distance of speed*36 seconds.

Results for the suggestion from mkahn: The distance alert was set at 500, but the "30" in the file name was ignored due to the manual mode, so no speed alerts were set.

Results for the suggestion from kch50428: The POIs in the .csv file that did NOT have "@30" added to them ended up with the correct 500 ft distance alert but NO speed alert. The POIs in the .csv file that DID have "@30" added to them have the correct speed alert (30 mpg), but the distance alert was still calculated as 1585 ft.

Arrgghh.

Can anyone else think of a possible way to set a speed alert with a user-configured distance alert (instead of the distance that's automatically calculated by POI Loader whenever you specify a particular speed)?

Have you tried experimenting with the file name at all?

Since using "speed" will automatically calculate the distance using the selected speed, therefore;

You may want to use one of the other key words in the file name:
"GATSO," "mobile," "SPECS," "safety," "camera"

then set the speed in manual mode.

Anyway, just a thought - when you get it to work be sure to let us know what the trick was.

OK, here's a way to set a speed alert that doesn't automatically calculate the distance (i.e. proximity) for you. It suits my purpose, but it only works with .gpx files, not .csv files.

1. Open MapSource and create waypoints that will become the individual POIs in your .gpx file. (If you have something like a StreetPilot c340 that didn't come with the MapSource disk in the box, you can probably get it from Garmin for free. Search for related forum topics on this site; there are several discussion threads related to MapSource.)

2. When you edit each waypoint's properties (either during initial creation or by right-clicking), uncheck the "Unknown" checkbox next to the "Proximity" field, then enter your desired proximity setting (in miles). I wanted approximately 500 feet, so I entered 0.1 miles (which is 528 feet).

3. From the "File" menu, choose "Save As..." In the "Save as type" dropdown box, choose "GPS eXchange Format (*.gpx)."

4. Create a filename that includes the word "speed" along with your desired speed alert setting (e.g. "SpeedAlert_30") and save it (as a .gpx file).

5. Use POI Loader to load the .gpx file you just created. ("Express" mode will work just fine for this.)

Just wanted to let you know.....

A Radar Unit can acquire a speed lock over a mile
away depending on what kind of vehicle. In reality,
an officer will need to make visual contact as well
to determine which vehicle he has locked so we are
talking 1200 feet at best. So at 1200 feet you can
be issued a ticket.

It's would be best to set your GPS at a good
distance away that way you can be prepared for the
" Instant On " blast when you approach.

If you have a detector it will not go off until he
pulls the trigger, then your toast.

Thank you, Orbital, but having grown a bit older, I find I don't really speed that much anymore. The few notorious speed traps I'm concerned with will only drop my speed from 40 mpg to 30 mph, which I can safely do in less than 5 seconds. I want to be reminded that I need to slow down, but I don't want the c340 to start complaining about my speed 3/10 of a mile (or 27 seconds, based on 40 mph) before I actually need to slow down. 1/10 of a mile (or 9 seconds) is more than sufficient for me.

Are there any other keywords that sets an alert for distance other than redlight?

See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6764

But, in a nutshell,

Gatso, Mobile, specs, safety, speed & Camera

all set Proximity alerts.

The problem I am having is I would like to set a proximity alert for about 26540' or 5 miles so that if I was within 5 miles of a covered bridge I would get an alert. I thought there would be an easier way than to run the manual mode everytime I added a new poi.

Aside from manual mode, you could use the "Tour Guide" trick. TourGuides are true circular alerts, and are not speed-based. However, if you put numbers in the filename, POI Loader adjusts the Proximity Distance to give 36 seconds warning (as if they were speed-based ... and then disregards the speed portion. Since the maximum speed allowed is 124mph, the maximum distance using this method is about 1.25 miles.

See: part way down this thread:-
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/7043

Other than that, .gpx format gives you complete control, on a per POI basis.

This software: http://cbrom.myby.co.uk/3.html?submenu=2 can automatically convert .csv to .gpx and assign proximity settings, based on keywords in the filename/POI name.