Loading POI's to a nuvi 350

The best directions available are found by going to Phil Hornby's great tutorial at
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6764

Other useful info can be found at
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/85

Thanks, I did all, but how do I load sounds and symbols? Thanks.

Here's the FAQ you can read:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6656

# How Do I Load BMP Icons into my Garmin GPSr?
# How do I load custom alert sounds for POIs on my Garmin GPSr?

Hi dumlaofrank,

Welcome to our family, at poi-factory.com...

An "outstanding" site, for Nüvi owners, is poi-factory's member Gary Hayman's website "Garmin Nüvi GPS Tricks, Tips, Work Arounds, Hints, Secrets and Ideas for the Garmin nüvi GPS (and others).

Here's the link:
http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/index.html

Check it out and save it as a Bookmark/Favorite...its a goldmine!!!

HTH (hope that helps)

Regards,

Tailspin

Nüvi 670
Mac User

Hello friends,
I'm new here, I have a 350 and I can easily make custom symbols in MapSource. However I cannot U/L those to my 350. I read all the links you recommended and here where I am still dense:
1. I cannot locate the so called excel POI file. I have built 50 POIs in MaspSource and they show nicely on my PC. But all 50 POIs are in the same only one saved file.
2. So, I should rename that xls file (which I still has to find it) as a bmp? Doesnot make sense or let's say I am dumb.
Can someone take me out of this confusion please?
pinoglo

This is the method I use.Hope it helps.

How to make subfolders, download files and develop categories.

1.Go to my documents on your computer and make a folder and name it My poi’s.
2.Click on My poi’s folder. Now right click and make subfolders naming them based on type of files you plan to download. Example: Food, Alerts, Parks, Attractions and etc.
3.Go to POI Factory main page and click on poi files. Scroll down until you see View all poi files ( listed alphabetically) .Click on first file you want to download and save it in one of the subfolder you created. Repeat process until you have downloaded and placed all the csv or gpx files into the correct subfolder.
4.Now if you want to add bmp (icons) or mp3(sounds) files select icons or sounds from the POI Factory main page. The process is the same for both to download. Click on the title and when you see attachment just right click on it and pick save target as. Save it in the correct subfolder you want the mp3 or icon for. Make sure gps has the capability for mp3 before downloading
5.Now go to each subfolder and name the csv , bmp and mp3 file the same name except for the extensions. Most cases all you need to do is type the name and the extensions will take care of themselves. Double check to make sure they are all named exactly the same. This is how it should look.

>My pois=main folder

>>Department stores=subfolder
>>>Pennys.csv
>>>Pennys.bmp
>>>Pennys.mp3
>>>Sears.csv
>>>Sears.bmp
>>>Sears.mp3

>>Restaurants=subfolder
>>>Cracker Barrel.csv
>>>Cracker Barrel.bmp
>>>Cracker Barrel.mp3
>>>>Sonny's.csv
>>>>Sonny's.bmp
>>>>Sonny's.mp3

>>Alerts=subfolder
>>>Redlight cameras.csv
>>>Redlight cameras.bmp
>>>Redlight cameras.mp3
>>>Speed cameras.csv
>>>Speed cameras.bmp
>>>Speed cameras.mp3

6.Connect your GPS to your computer using the usb cable.
7.Now run poi loader http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/ .
8.When you see screen find device make sure you select the proper one. If using sd card use the pull down window .The arrow located across from device and selects the sd card.
9.Click next and put mark in Install new custom Poi’s onto your device.
10.Click next. Using Browse make sure to select the folder location for my poi’s not the subfolders. Looking below on same screen you will see selection for either express or manual mode. If you plan to set alerts for your custom poi’s select the manual mode . This will allow you to set alert by speed or distance. Click next.
11.Now you should get message so many points of interest has been installed to your device.
12.Based on model. Touch where to, my locations, extras and touch custom pois last and you will see the ones you downloaded.
13.Each time you run poiloader it will over write the existing files.

While in Mapsource save the POI file to desktop (keeping it simple for now) as Yourname.csv file. Save custom symbol file to desktop (again simple for now) as Yourname.bmp. The bmp file name must match poi file name exactly except to file extension. If you have an mp3 for alert its file name should be Yourname.mp3 saved on the desktop.

Load Yourname.csv using poiloader, locate the newly imported poi file on 350 drive or sd drive (depending on where you saved it) in directory garmin\poi, newly inported poi file will over write older poi.gpi file on your 350, so rename this poi.gpi file to Yourname.gpi. You are done.

Unlink the 350 from pc, start 350, check custom POIs for Yourname group.

Hi,

All your POI added in the mapsource are stored as GPX file. I assume you know what you name your POI and where you saved it. If you look at the filename it will have an extension .gpx.

Answer to #1.
a) You can upload this file using your mapsource . I think there is a transfer button. By doing this it will be stored under FAVORITES.
b) Moved your gpx file into a folder as describe by the previous post. Using your garmin POI loader you can upload all your POI folder and it will go under CUSTOM POI.
NOTE: POI can be a csv file or a gpx file.

Answer to # 2
a) BMP is just an icon. This is how it will be diplayed in your nuvi.
b) mp3 is just a sound that alert you if you are near a poi. but you have to setup your POI to have a proximity.

Whoa!
This is the most elegant forum I ever visited. Thank you very much for your incredible quick and friendly replies.
I will try this in the weekend and I'll let you know of any success.

Thank you again and best regards to everyone here
sorin

There is something important here that seems to be left out: There is a limit to the number of POI files that can be placed in a subfolder!!! I just hit this on my nuvi 250, did a long tedious manual download of lots of POI files, POI-loader let me go through everything, then aborted at the end saying there was a limit of 32 POI files in a subfolder. I had 34 in my Restaurants folder.

Hmmm...

Sounds as if you need to break it up into "White table cloth", "Casual", "Fast Food", and "Desserts". Either that or Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

You will need to split the folder.See this post on limits http://www.poi-factory.com/node/15907

I was looking for this step by step instructions Thank you