MAPSOURCE

There is a free program called gps utility that will do it, but unless you register it I think it will only convert the first 100 points. www.gpsu.co.uk

i found it and tried it for some reason it doesnt like windows vista!

thanks for the help though

Not sure why you would want to convert MapSource to a CSV output so you could make it into a POI file. If you save MapSource "SAVE AS" .GPX format that makes it a POI file already!!!!

H Hannah
Nuvi750 and IQUE3600

H,

Are you recommending that a gpx file created in Mapsource and transferred as a gpx file to the GPSr can be viewed as a series of waypoints within Favorites instead of under Custom-POI's?

If you save the Mapsource built waypoints as .GDB files they you can then load them using Mapsource. to your GPS. And the will be in FAVORITES.

If you save them as .GPX files you can load them into your GPS using PoiLoader as POI files and the will show up in CUSTOM POI's

H Hannah
Nuni750 and IQUE3600

PS

Just to clarify whether to use the waypoints as POI's or just Favorites. POIs are normally use when you want to be alerted for a particular instance. Such as speed, school zone, TourGuide Location or any other place you want to be alerted when you are in the vacinity.

WayPoints are item you may want to use to route too or use as points used in forceing routes to go as you want.

H Hannah
Nuvi750 and IQUE3600

I admit to an ulterior motive in my question. I was trying to understand a response given by MM where she said: "If you put GPX files on the card, they will be read as Favorites." That doesn't seem to be the case for me. Guess I should be asking her; perhaps she meant if it were renamed "Current.gpx".

Just to nit pick a little on this. POIs are just that, Points Of Interest which you *might* want to be alerted about when in the vicinity, or you might not. Only some of my POI files are put on my Garmin with alerts while most are put on without alerts. POIs, I would argue, are not just places you want to be alerted about but also to allow adding more than the (on my Garmin at least) 500 limit to the favorites list and also to allow your favorites list not to be cluttered up.

In addition, POIs work just like Favorites in that you can pick them as waypoints to route towards if you so choose.

Clearly some types of POIs are kind of meant to be used for alerting and no one would normally pick one of those points to route towards, such as Red Light Cameras and school zones. But many other POIs are meant to be used for waypoints and routing and are kind of pointless to be alerted about if you are going to pass by one (e.g. I would want to be routed to a local AHL hockey arena if I am going to a game. I rarely would have any need to know that I am passing one when not going to a game especially since it will likely be obvious being a giant arena and all.).

PT

Not sure of the thread or original question MM responded to but;

If you Drag/Drop a gpx file directly into your "Garmin" or the SD card, it will show up in favorites.

That is why Poi Loader is needed. Poi loader will convert the gpx (or csv) file to a poi.gpi file, that will show up in the "custom poi"

I'm sure MM was correct in her answer.

Seems a bit confusing; did you leave a word out? You say a gpx dropped directly onto the card will show up in favorites, and then you seem to say that it won't (you need to load with POI Loader).

MM's quote came from http://www.poi-factory.com/node/11983:
"Yeah, you don't put the CSV or GPX files on the SD card, you simply select the SD card as the destination when you run POI Loader.

If you put GPX files on the card, they will be read as Favorites.

If you put CSV files on the card, they won't be read by the GPS unit at all."

THIS is what i have been able to gleen from the talk here,

I find my waypoints, save as gpx. file then convert them over to a csv. is that right?!

thanks

what i am trying to do is get all of the campground for each state by using mapsource and google earth!

What Phil is saying and what I was saying is that you NEED to use POI Loader in order for the Custom POIs to end up as Custom POIs and NOT as Favorites.

If you copy a GPX to your unit or your card, it gets read into the current.gpx and the locations become Favorites which isn't what most people are looking for.

You don't HAVE to convert them to CSV files unless you want to. POI Loader will read and load GPX files just fine.

right i got that part loud and clear!

if there is a faster way of getting all of the campgrounds would be thankful for the advise!

i would like to compile a state by state of all the campgrounds.

I'm at a disadvantage here; Is "Phil" the Ismonop above? If so, I don't think he is saying what you are saying; that is why he questioned the context in which your advice was delivered. I think I quoted and understood you correctly, but that doesn't happen on my unit. Just copying a gpx file to the card does not cause it to be read into my current.gpx and then into my favorites. It is the same as copying a csv file to the card -- the unit does nothing with it. I understand that renaming it "current.gpx" evidently does that, but that's not what you are saying.

Whoops, I didn't mean Phil. I mistyped. Yes, I'm sorry, I meant lsmonop. Sorry for that confusion.

Well, hmmmm, the vast majority of people have indicated that exactly that happens which is one reason why we recommend that users not put them directly on the card.

Is it possible that the unit asked you if you wanted to import the data and you responded, "No"?

In any case, if they aren't being imported into your Favorites and you don't want them to, then no further action required.

If you WANT them to be part of your Favorites, try putting the files in the GPX folder and see what happens.

System never asked about transfer (as with a gpi file. Putting it in GPX folder makes no difference. I tried lots of places before inquiring.

Is everyone else able to transfer gpx to favorites this way?

Maybe it's unit-specific (shock-horror )

The StreetPilot C510 reacts instantly to the insertion of an SD card containing a .gpx file. The Nüvi 310 studiously ignores it...

The self-same file copied to the Nüvi 310 itself, works...which is all that Mapsource does, when it copies Favourites to these units.

I use MapSource to create route or trip waypoint files that I save as .gpx files. I then load them with all my other POI files, giving it a name like "Idaho Trip". Within it I have the waypoints named so they come up in the order I want to navigate them, i.e. "Way 1 - Hwy 287", "Way 2 - I-80", etc. By doing this I am able to drive a planned route even with my Nuvi 260 which will only manage one destination and one via point at a time.

I put them in the Custom POI folder because it's easier to manage than it is having a huge number of favorites, which then have to be deleted one at a time when I don't want them anymore. When I finish a trip, I just move that trip waypoint file out of the POI folder on my PC, then I reload the POI's and that deletes all of those waypoints from my GPSr. And I still have the file on the PC if I ever need it again, or I can open it again in MapSource and easily modify it.

Rick,

What does your 260 do if you copy a gpx file onto your card (use a file with a single POI)? Does it automatically get loaded into Favorites? What happens if you put that same file in the gpx folder on the GPS?

Nobody is debating the wisdom of using custom POI's instead of Favorites, we just want to know which models do what with gpx files sitting on either the card or the GPS. So far we know that a Zumo, a 310, and a 660 all behave differently.

If anybody with a 7xx wants to report, it would be nice to know.

I could never get it

On the 200, yes, it is automatic. I just spent a lot of time removing 46kb of Revolutionary War sites out of Favorites one by one

I've never used a card, so I really don't know. I've still got 170 mb of memory available internally, so I've never needed a to put anything on a card.

The comment above by Dminz is why I use the POI instead of putting the waypoints in favorites. I never have to delete, just reload my POI's without the unwanted files and they are gone.

Thanks. So the 260 could be like Phil reports on the 310 and does the automatic addition only when loaded to the unit itself -- we need a card-holding 260 user to advise.

One possible use for a card would be that you could carry both POI Loader and your POI files with you on the card for changing at any computer instead of having to wait until you were back home; if you carry your computer as well, that would not be an advantage for you. Also, if the 260 behaves like Phil's C-510 and automatically adds gpx files to Favorites from the card also, then you'd have to watch that.

Wonder why Garmin's programmers are so sadistic as to mess with us by putting in all these inconsistencies -- sure glad I don't work in Tech Suppt for Garmin. You'd have to be a MM to keep everything straight. A typical tech rep might say: "Oh, yes, I told you that yesterday but that was only for that model -- it's just the opposite on your other unit . . . Uhh, I don't know -- it just is . . . "

My theory, is that Garmin don't have a permanent programming team - I reckon they just hire in people as and when they need 'em.

Is this program PC only, or will it work on Apple computers too? Thanks.

PC only right now.

Check out this site for all things Garmin/Mac

http://www8.garmin.com/macosx/

As far as automatic is concerned, I have only had the problem when I left the card with a back-up gpx file in the nuvi. I think it happens when you boot-up the nuvi with a card in it. There is no warning screen when the card doesn't include gpi files.

When I first got the unit and had no clue what I was doing, I put a low clearance gpx file in the Garmin folder on the nuvi itself and had 311 low clearances in favorites. But that wasn't automatic, just sheer stupidity. I didn't figure out the relationship between gpx extensions and favorites until MM's post enlightened me.

Which Program are you asking about? Mapsource for the Mac is available at: http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavnt.jsp

Not clear how Bobcat compares to Mapsource.

I had this problem with the "Montreal Metro" POI file on this site. It would load everyone into my favorite folder and I had to delete them one by one. I thought I was doing something wrong when using the POI loader but no matter what I tried they still ended up in the favorite folder. In the end I had to delete the POI file. This was the only file to do this, all others behaved correctly.

There is another current thread wherein it is explained that gpx files when placed directly onto the 260 drive (and others), the POI's go directly into Favorites. Placement of a gpx on some models' card will do the same thing -- it wasn't clear, last I checked, whether the 260 is in the list whose cards transfer them automatically like it does from the internal drive.

Could you have been placing a gpx file on the drive or card before trying to load it via POI Loader?

..MM and I are saying the same thing.

One can create and save a gpx file to your computer using your preferred method.

The confusing part for most people seems to be "what to do with that gpx file, and how to get it to the preferred location on the gps unit".

If you want the gpx file to show up as "custom poi"
Then use POI Loader just as you would a csv file.

Currently, there is no short-cut method to bypass using POI Loader.

By not using POI Loader and just dropping the gpx file into the garmin unit, you won't get the expected results. As demonstrated by a post above "deleting entries from the "Favorites" one by one".

Just don't drag/drop, copy/paste your poi files, use poi loader.
One cannot just drop a csv file into the unit and expect it to work either.

Hope I didn't cause any further confusion.