Making CSV Files into TourGuides – And Their Many Different Uses

This is an excellent tutorial. Thank you.

I have not had any luck in loading .csv files to Mapsource. I've had to change them to .gpx to have Mapsource load them.

I guess my question is, do you change them back to .csv files after saving? If so, what is the advantage rather than leaving as a .gpx or .gpi?
Thanks

I will give this a try. Do you have any sample tour guides to work with.

Absolutely not. POI Loader is more than capable of reading .gpx files.

The advantage of .gpx over .csv input, is that it allows access to another 13 or 14 fields within the .gpi file, thus making your POIs a whole lot more interesting...

Try copying this sample file to the \Garmin\POI directory on your Nüvi 750, to see what I mean.
http://geepeeex.googlepages.com/StonePages.gpi

My above post does not even mention changing the CSV file to GPX.

Just make the TourGuide POI out of the CSV file by changing the file name to include the CASE SENSITIVE word "TourGuide" then attach a MP3 file with the exact same name.

Remember to use PoiLoader in the manual mode to set the appropriate proximity distance.

Walla you have it!!!!

You can also use digits in the file name to alter the distance in Automatic mode..

See the 6th post in this thread:-
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/7043

Lots of information to digest. Going to give a try will probably have questions later, But thanks. Looking forward to building a POI file.

Myk

Yes try this one of the Gold Depository at Fort Knox.

There is a zip file containing a folder with 4 files in it. Just unzip the folder into your POI folder. Use PoiLoader in the manual mode to load the folder "TourGuide Fort Knox" into your Nuvi. Use 50 Ft as the Proximity. You will be asked twice for this file. Put 50 ft in both times. This will be for 2 separate CSV files, one for northbound and one for southbound.

This is a Directional TourGuide when you drive north the recording says ON YOUR RIGHT............. When you drive south the recording says ON YOUR LEFT........

http://home.comcast.net/~hannah.burns/ScreenShots/FortKnoxTo...

Thanks Hannah for the this guide.

By the way, does any one know how to make a photo aided tour guide .gpx file? I appreciate it if you can point me towards that.
[Edit]
I'm aware of GPicSync software, but wondering if there is something else can accomplish the task.

http://geepeeex.googlepages.com/

Check out this site:
http://www.geovative.com/

You can make your TourGuides there for free. You have to register first but then that is free.

Hornbyp,

Not familiar with your statement about adding numbers to set the proximity. Could you explain please.

H Hannah

It's another of POILoader's daft little tricks

Normally, when you put digits in the filename, it uses them to set speed alerts. At the same time, it computes the distance at which they should be considered active. As you know, TourGuides aren't speed-related, but it still goes through the motions of computing and setting the Proximity distance.

It uses its formula of 36 seconds warning or 402m(1319'), whichever is the greater. Using this method, the minimum 'speed' that will have an effect is 26 - and the maximum value is 124. This equates to a range of 1372' to 6547' or thereabouts.

(I discovered this with POILoader 2.4.2 - I've not re-checked POILoader 2.5.2, to see if it behaves the same. I just considered it an interesting curiousity, that someone might have a use for).

Hornbyp,

Thanks for the info.

It just would not work with TourGuides.

I just thought you meant that being it was a TourGuide the numbers maybe treated differently. Such as 50 meant 50 ft.

If you use express mode with the CSV TourGuide and no numbers in the file name, it defaults to 1/4 mile proximity. Normally 1/4 mile would be the very max distance for the alert. Most of the time it would be only a couple hundred or less.

I use very small proximity distances so you only trigger the alert when you are very close by. Also the ones I use as directional POIs need to be very limited so they only trigger in one direction.

Mapsource:
In Mapsource when you make a waypoint, there is a field in the waypoint properties screen for links to attach files or url. Click browse and locate the picture on your computer you want to put in the POI.
You can also set the proximity in the same screen. Just make sure you have all the pictures and .gpx in the same folder when you use POI loader.

Geovative:
Geovative is a little easier to see all the pictures and sound files, prox alerts and text organised. It also allows for simple transfer where you can download the POI's already as a .gpi file with everything embedded so you just do a drag and drop and you do not need POI loader. You only need the POI loader if you want to add your own custom map icons (then you have to download from geovative as .gpx) The below link is one of the tourguide files I made on geovative.

http://www.geovative.com/GeoTours/tourView.asp?6174Vq=GHJJ

? Did you mean to use those words, in that order?

That depends, very much, on the application. I have a commercially produced TourGuide loaded at the moment, that uses a 5 mile radius, to great effect.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/11456

For the benefit of other readers, bear in mind that these units support true Directional POIs, but currently, Garmin provide no means of accessing the functionality. These will presumably work at the architectural limit of 41 miles...(if you so desired).

I was talking about using numbers in the TourGuide Name. They wouldn't work for me. It seems they can't get closer than 1/4 mile. And I use less distance.

I still say that that is not normal for TourGuides. If you noticed I used the word NORMALLY.

If Garmin provides no means to use this function, you might as well say that there is no function.

I also don't think that they will give use the use of this function with upgrades. They might introduce it in a new upgraded NUVI at some future date.

Well people are obviously free to make use of the features, in any way they see fit. Personally, I would have thought that Alerts making use of very small distances (of the same order of magnitude as the GPSr accuracy), would be in danger of being missed. Of course, if you are travelling along a road, then the "Snap-to-road" function effectively increases the GPSr accuracy in this respect. But a POI on a beach, in a field or in the middle of a Theme Park wouldn't benefit from that.

By which, what I meant was: Support for Directional POIs is present in units from the StreetPilot C5xx onwards. Garmin make use of it in their own Safety Camera databases. They just don't provide any means for end users to define their own Directional POIs.

Whether or not they include it in a future release of POILoader or GPI_Creator, is anyone's guess. Who knows, maybe they have already introduced it and didn't document it, along with the other undocumented functionality improvements in POILoader 2.5.2)

Thanks for the link to this wonderful site. Now when I take the kids to NY city in summer the tour guide will be invaluable.

Hanah's instructions as described in her initial post (BTW, Thank you) work well for the 7xx series nuvi, as this unit is able to use multiple files which give one the advantage of setting different alert settings for each; ex rest areas 2500ft vs Starbucks 500ft.

For the 350: All of the files must be placed in a single directory and uploaded using the poiloader utility. I found that the 350 will only display your TourGuide poi's if they are contained in the poi.gpi file. The unit is able to differentiate between them and they display as individual poi listings under Where to? => My Locations => Custom POIs. The limitation is that all the POIs in the upload directory will share the same proximity alert settings.

Example:

350 Upload\

TourGuide US Rest Areas.csv
TourGuide US Rest Areas.mp3
TourGuide US Rest Areas.bmp
TourGuide Starbucks.csv
TourGuide Starbucks.mp3
TourGuide Starbucks.bmp

Upon Success - All are combined and saved in the poi.gpi file (same location as in initial post)

Displays on unit as:

All Categories
TourGuide US Rest Areas
TourGuide Starbucks

Hope this help anyone loading using the CSV method with a 350.

Hanah's instructions as described in "HIS" initial post

Sorry Man! My bad!

I am experimenting with Tourguides.

On my Nuvi 760, the TourGuide announces correctly and places a TourGuide icon on the map screen as well as a banner where alert POI's usually show.

The TourGuide icon takes the place of the speaker icon when I would also be using the MP3 player. While the TourGuide icon is on the screen, the only way to get to the MP3 player is to go to the main menu, tools, media player. I suppose there is no way to change this behavior.

A dissapointment is that if I touch the TourGuide icon, it calls up the Info and Go screen for the TourGuide but does not give the distance or direction. If I click Map, it shows the map centered around the TourGuide location but does not show MY location so I could judge distance or direction from that.

Since TourGuides trigger on a radius, how would I know if a Rest Area was on the right or left or located a significant distance from the road without some form of direction/distance indication?

When you bring up the "INFO and GO" screen there will not be any info there if you did not place any info in the WAYPOINT PROPERTIES box's COMMENT field.
In there you can put whether the rest area is North, South East or WestBound. and the facilities that are available.

If you make the Rest Area alert directional then you can make your MP3 voice alert to say it is on your RIGH!

To make the POI directional just place the WAYPOINT on the interstate lane 1 mile ahead of the exit ramp and put a .0075 proximity (40 ft). This will insure you only hear the alerts for the rest areas you have access to.

So make you MP3 Voice Prompt to say: "you are approaching a rest area approximately one mile ahead on your right."

Once you hear the alert TAP the TourGuide icon and it will take you to the Info and GO screen. There if you tap map It will show your location on the map!!
Depending on how far away you made the alert you mat have to zoom out to see both your location and the Rest Area. But at the same time the INFO will be there describing the rest area, providing you placed it in the WAYPOINT PROPERTIES box when building the POI.

This was done on a Nuvi750, and it works just as I have laid it out. So it should work on your Nuvi760

This is good info for a newbie like me
thanks
Phil

Thanks H.
For my experiment, I set the radius to 4 miles. The default zoom level was not low enough for me to see the POI and my current location when I hit Map. It was further confusing because I use 3D map mode and the show map option was north up. So without seeing your vehicle pointer, it's even harder to tell left/right.

The next difficulty was the 760 bug that causes a lockup if you power on within the range of an alert or TourGuide. Yup - it was within 4 miles of my house, too.

I'm not sure if TourGuides will do what I was thinking of for my use. I think I will just stay with a standard POI alert. At least until Garmin fixes the TourGuide bug.

I am intrested in this Tourguide stuff.

Would this work with some of my poi's that I made.. ( offbeat tourest guide, Lancaster pa places to see, and maybe my Best auto repair shops..

Just trying to think how this woulds work.. BTW , I do have photos of some of the places () mostly the Lancaster trip)

Any ideas or help would be great.. this is new to me

I would be interested in your Lancaster and local tourist stuff.

Its all here - just look in the poi files and you should find them!

I apologize if this has been mentioned in another thread, but I found a page on the Garmin website with clear, easy instructions for creating POI and TourGuide files. It can be found here http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/creating_custom_po...

I've been trying and trying with my Nuvi 265wt.
I'm getting rid of the mp3 file because my unit does't support them and a beep is good enough.

Will I have a problem if my home is within range of a location in the list?

Can you think of any reason that when I installed files called "TourGuide" user Poi Loader manual mode at 16000 feet the folder at tools/settings called proximity points disappeared?

When I went to Where To/extras/custom pois all that was there was the list of locations - no icon to set anything else.

Do I have to rename poi.gpi in my nuvi265wt if the one and only poi I load or ever intend to load is my "TourGuide".csv and "TourGuide".bmp?

near your home inhibits your gps while giving directions.

Icons will show on map not list, zoom in on map will allow them to display.

Having 16,000 ft will drive you and your gps nuts. I use manual mode at 10,000 ft, at times a few POIs alert within this proximity setting. The TourGuides I've set up have pictures and a synopsis of the poi. I only use TourGuide for day trip tours or city walking tours.

I used to rename my poi.gpi file but found it easier to update all my csv files and reload all of them at one time. I feel it requires less time effort this way.

Is there a way to take a csv intended to be a POI and input it into favorites? That way icons show up in the proper location relative to the car and show up from a greater distance. There are 7000 locations on the list so adding them one at a time is not an option.

I know there is a way to do it, but what are the limitations of waypoints on your gps? My Nuvi 760 will only accept 500 I believe. But with POIs, who knows how many you can have. I know I have over 40,000 now and it still works.

This is a most informative thread and I am definitely going to try it out. I wonder how many other jewels like this are hiding further back in the thread list?

Unfortunately many of us have Garmin Nuvi units that are not capable of using "TourGuide". My Nuvi 255 is not compatible. And I suspect the other Nuvi 200 series units aren't either.

Well, well! I finally got my Nuvi 255 to use "TourGuide". It works like a charm!!! Gary Hayman was a big help.

The problem (apparently) was that I was using version 14.1.0 sox.exe, not version 14.0.1 I specifically downloaded what was in an image (version 14.1.0) on Gary's website. The instructions on the web page are somewhat confusing because of the image showing version 14.1.0 with the red arrow pointing to it - even though the written instructions say not to use version 14.1.0, but instead version 14.0.1. I would have thought having the wrong version of sox.exe would have only prevented the .wav file from working, but not prevent the "TourGuide" from working. Anyway, as soon as I removed the 14.1.0 sox.exe and replaced it with 14.0.1 and re-loaded - it worked.

This really needs to be hammered home for people... I'm not sure why the image with the red arrow pointing to the wrong sox.exe file is even on Gary's website... (Ooops! I just looked at the website to offer a link or image and the images have been removed...probably because I replied to Gary explaining what my problem was. I suspect Gary is removing the image of the wrong file.)

I'm thrilled I can now use "TourGuide".

Thanks to all, and especially Gary Hayman!

I created a TourGuide using a CVS, WAV, and BMP file. When I created the GPI file using the manual mode I entered 1,000 feet as my alert distance. I had POILoader create the GPI file on my PC. I then renamed the poi.gpi file to "TourGuide KS Legions" and copy this file into the Garmin 255W folder Garmin/POI.
The file show up when I go to "Where to?/Extras/ on my device. Here is my question. When I get within 1,000 feet of a defined location the alert voice message keeps repeating itself over and over and over and over, until you get outside the range of 1,000 feet. Is this normal? I thought I would get one alert message!

From the main menu select Tools, Settings, Proximity Points, Change, Audio, then select Single Tone and OK.

Deleted jjen beat me to it.

It was set at "Single tone". Maybe this option does not apply to "TourGuide" file names, since this a reserved file name...

Do you have the latest updates from webupdater?The 265 works with the single tone and would think the 255 would also since not that much difference.Other users have reported the same problem when selecting single and still get the continuous alert then again others work OK selecting single tone.Not sure why it works on some and not others.

Yep!! I have the latest and greatest from Garmin. Who knows why this happens? I will keep checking and changing things to see what happens.

I have my My Nuvi 255 Proximity Points Audio set for Single Alert using "TourGuide"...and it gives me only one alert. I would think the 255 works like the 255W.