How to best use custom pois

Then click on "go to" and it will guide you to that point of interest. i.e. Old faithful etc....

Edit: The nearest will be at the top of the list...

It depends how you use your GPSr.

If you are zoomed in really close on the map while driving, the custom POI icons will appear.

As far as searching, the built in POIs and custom POIs are two separate databases. So they cannot be searched together. You need to actually go to the custom POIs and then you can run a spell search.

Once you install custom POIs using POILoader onto your Garmin GPS unit (or onto an SD card that you insert into your GPS unit), you click Where to?-->Extras-->Custom POIs--> and from there you can Spell them out or scroll through them and select them manually.

You can also see them on the map if you navigate to the Yellowstone area, and then click on them with the cursor and select Go! as with any other POI already installed in your Garmin unit.

I have a Nuvi 350 and there is no "extras" under the Where To menu. Is there any other way to access them? Thanks

Sorry, I should have asked your nuvi model first.

For your Nuvi 350, go :

Where to?-->My Locations-->Custom POIs

and then you can Search or click on them manually to Go To them.

I got it, thank you so much. This is great!

Could you put a proximity alert on the POIs within the file? Then as you approach each feature, the alarm or a voice alert (if you added that), would tell you something is coming up, the screen might show the name of the feature, and the system would act a little like a travel guide. Is that feasible?

Census1940

When you load the POIs with the POI loader, select manual setup (instead of express). There is an option to add an alert.

I have a 350 and set custom POI proximity alerts at 2 miles. This distance works great except when multiple POIs are within the two mile arc. It doesn't happen much, usually in large cities. In these cases don't touch the screen until through the area. The known area I have causes this alert problem even using POIloader in express mode.

I've set custom POI alerts at 50 feet for downtown attractions used while walking about. This proximity seems to work very well.

How do you change the alert distance on a custom poi. Exactly, how on the spreadsheet do you do this? Can you give me an example? Thanks

Using the poi loader in manual mode.... Only use ignore this file if you don't want to load that file, when you see the file you want to set an alert for choose either distance or speed and set it accordingly.....

See Phil Hornby's great writeup @
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6764

I think I finally beat MM to it !

this sucks! my computer crashed and now even though I always had Norton the Geek Squad says it was a virus, and now even though Geek Squad backed up my data, I have lost all my POIs. So I am starting over, and have to get active status again!

Thanks for your answer.

I loaded the custom poi for rest areas combined that I found on Poifactory. However, when I select custom pois and find a rest area then view the map it appears I have i icon on top of another. Did my Navteq map that came with my Garmin already have the rest areas loaded? If so, should I delete my custom poi but keep the voice notification? What is going on? If this is the case, then why would there be a custom poi for pois that already come with the maps? Thanks

If your Garmin already has rest stops noted with their own separate icons, that's great!

But installing custom POIs lets you easily add proximity alerts and custom icons. That's the advantage - you have more control.

I doubt that there is any problem with having redundant icons or locations. There probably is a way to somehow extract/copy the existing Navteq rest stop POIs, customize them to have proximity alerts, custom icons, and sounds, but I don't know how to do that.

Perhaps something in this article will help you

THE 'PROXEMICS' OF THE TourGuide -
.....Hakuna Matata! The Circle Of ... Alert

It is on POI Page 4 of the
GARMIN NUVI TRICKS, TIPS, WORK AROUNDS, HINTS, SECRETS & IDEAS Web site at:

http://snipurl.com/garmin_gps_tricks

Gary Hayman
Greenbelt Maryland