Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?

Since I took over these files, life has thrown me a few curves and I find I have little time to maintain them.

If anyone is interested in taking over the GPX & CSV versions of this file, please let me know.

I've noticed that the show's web site isn't being kept up to date, based on comments here.

I've also noted that there is a request for details on the style of food served at each of the restaurants (IMO a good thing, since often one has no idea what they're in for based solely on the name).

Lastly, it would be nice if the POI names could somehow identify the source as being from DDD.

I started trying to create a list myself before discovering how much work it entailed and then found this site.

What I did for the ones I got through was to prefix the POI name with 'DDD - ' ahead of the restaurant name (making them searchable) and to include the food style in the comments along with the address and phone number. Too bad they couldn't be characterised as restaurants of a type for inclusion in regular POI 'food-specific' searches.

Having said all that, has anyone considered contacting the producers of the show and suggesting that THEY prepare and maintain a suitably encoded file for distribution?

I've stopped at a couple DDD POIs, my feeling POIs need to have featured meals in CSV column four. What's the point of stopping for really good food if you don't know what the locals buy.

Thanks for putting this POI together. I really like being able to see where to stop to get some good food.

Hi all,
Thought I would take my wife someplace new for lunch. We decided on DDD BBQ Shack in Paola, KS, about a 30 min drive from our place. To our surprise, the place is closed and up for sale. Could you remove it from the DDD Poi.

-94.876 38.57903 BBQ Shack 705 N Pearl St. Paola, Ks. 66071

I'll mark it as closed for the next update. Traditionally, closed places have been left in the file as it is more a record of where the show has visited.

Expect an updated file in the next couple of days.

Looks like I was wrong about BBQ Shack in Paola, Ks being closed, they just moved. I contacted them and they are open and ready for business.

New address:
1613 E Peoria St
Paola KS. 66071
(913) 294-5908
Next to the Best Western.
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 9pm, Sunday 10:30am – 3pm

We will try to get out there again.

I've updated the file but it hasn't been posted as of yet. Look for it in a day or two.

Just a note: the filename has been changed to
Diners Drive-ins&Dives.gpx (note the extra hyphen).
When you install the new file, make sure you change the filename on the icon file to Diners Drive-ins&Dives.BMP file the same time.

I'll have to pay more attention to the file name next time. I don't load an icon for use with the file, so it doesn't matter on my unit. Thanks for the heads(insert hyphen here)up on it.

Both the GPX and CSV files have been updated. 3 new locations were added and other minor corrections made. The CSV file again contains zip codes and phone numbers while the GPX version contains episode information and web sites.

Just a note: the filename has been changed again, this time to
DinersDrive-ins&Dives.gpx (note the disappeared space).
When you install the new file, make sure you change the filename on the icon file to DinersDrive-ins&Dives.BMP file at the same time.

a_user, thank you for your work and keeping us on our tippy-toes

Hello, I am new to the site so I am unsure how to best share a problem a noticed with the csv. The coordinates for Jefferson Diner in NJ are incorrect.

Currently they are listed in the csv as:
-106.112319, 37.752875

I believe they should be listed as:
-74.597492, 40.962208

I'll check the file and repost if needed.

Once again, the filename has been changed, this time to DinersDrive-insDives.gpx (note the disappeared &).

When you install the new file, make sure you change the icon filename to DinersDrive-insDives.BMP at the same time.

a_user, thank you for your work, but you are doing that name changing for some purpose, don't you?

I was looking at the Chicago area entries and noticed that Glenn's Diner is in the file twice. Both entries have the same address and very similar coordinates.

Edit: I was looking at the CSV file when I posted this note. I just checked the GPX file and it looks like the same restaurant was featured on two different episodes. I'm guessing that explains the duplicate entries.

The file is by episode, so if a place was featured in more than one episode it would be in the file twice. If I listed the place only once and put in the remarks it was in two episodes somebody would complain that the restaurant was not in the listing for the second episode.

5 new locations were added to both the CSV and GPX versions of the file.

The GPX version contains dialable phone numbers and episode information.

This is a great effort...Thanks!

The last entry in the GPX file (Tre Kronor in Chicago) contains an error that prevents it from loading into Garmin's RoadTrip (Mac version). There is a space between the last digit of the phone number and the < of the close tag that prevents the file from parsing.

I removed the space and it loads as intended.

The very same situation here with Windows XP and a 770. POI loader rejects the last entry unless that character is removed.

Fixed

Love this POI file, thanks for creating it....

These are great POIs! Thanks everyone for all your hard work!!!!

Have you checked out Flavortownusa.com for a complete listing of the places that were visited by DDD? This site seems to better organized than what is on the Foodnetwork site.

To maintain the integrity of the listing, only the Food Network data is used for both the CSV and GPX versions of the file. I have looked at Flavortown and the listings are different.

Should I add line breaks (CTRL+ENTER, Hex'10') and/or Episode names to the CSV version?

Dude...this is so AWESOME!! Thanks so much for setting this up. I can't wait for my next road trip.

Thank you so much for this POI. I use it all the time. These food show locations are great because they take out the guess work on finding a decent place to eat. I did find another show. Would anyone reading this thread be interested in doing a "Travel Channels 101 Tastiest Places to Chowdown" POI?

As my first POI, I created 101 Tastiest Places to Chowdown. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/26942

I love that show and to think I can eat at one if I am driving near buy, is just too good !
But I did pick up a few things using this gpx file, I don’t see the icon, I DL here on my garmin,
or in Mapsource also I did find that icon here and it was more than 16 color, Paint show me it was more when I did a “save as” so I just change it to 16 color, but it still doesn’t show up in my maps, I have it in the same file where the gpx file is and it’s named the same name, so when I have MS do it’s thing to the gpx turning it into a gpi, any hints ?
Thanks,
Speedlimit

Did you mean when you had POI Loader turn the gpx into POI.gpi file?
Make sure you have

Offbeat Tourist Attractions.gpx
Offbeat Tourist Attractions.bmp

in the same folder.

I'm new to POI files, so how do I use this?
I have a Garmin 760, do I need the CSV or GPX file? Do I need any additional files other than the CSV and/or GPX file? I'm guessing I use the Garmin POI loader?

Once installed, do they just show on the screen when we drive by, or is there an easy way to search the DDD POI database, say for a place in Las Vegas?

Here are some instructions you can use to help load either GPX or CSV files. Essentially GPX files provide much more information than CSV files. If your unit supports bluetooth, a GPX file is required to be able to create a dialable phone number entry.

POI Loading Procedure Using WINDOWS

Following these instructions will allow you to load custom POI into your Garmin unit. These are BASIC but VERY detailed instructions intended as a process on how to load POI to the memory in your unit.

1. Download and install the latest version of POI Loader from http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/.

2. Create a Folder to hold all your Custom POI. NOTE: I put my folder on my Desktop.

3. Download the desired POI files from POI Factory and put them into the folder created in Step 2. POI files may be either CSV or GPX format. GPX format files are written using the XML programming language and normally contain more information about a particular point of interest so the downloaded file size is much larger than a CSV format file.

4. Visit the Icon library and download the desired icons for your POI files and put them into the folder created in Step 2.

5. Visit the Sounds Library and download the desired sound files for your POI. Nüvi 2XX and Nüvi 1XXX units require WAV sound files. WAV files require you to install a sound conversion program called SOX. SOX.EXE can be downloaded from http://rapidshare.com:80/files/139638423/sox.zip. Unzip the folder containing the program SOX.EXE. Select the SOX.EXE file, right click and select COPY.

6. Using Windows Explorer, go to C:\Garmin. This must be the same folder that has the program POI Loader.exe. Right click on any BLANK space in this folder. Select PASTE. SOX.EXE should now be copied to the folder. Check and be certain the folder contains BOTH POI Loader.EXE and SOX.EXE. If SOX.EXE is not copied to this folder, WAV sounds will not play.

7. Using Windows Explorer or another program, open the folder containing the files to be loaded into your Nüvi. POI Loader will only load about 32 POI files along with their icon and alert sounds from a single folder.

8. Match the file name to the ICON file. Rename the ICON file so it has the same name as the POI file. POI files can be either CSV or GPX – it doesn’t matter. These file names must match exactly with the exception of the file extension. NOTE: there can only be one period in a file name. A period in a file name marks the beginning of the file extension. Icon file names can only end in BMP.

9. Match the file name to the SOUND file. Rename the SOUND file so it has the same name as the POI file. POI files can be either CSV or GPX – it doesn’t matter. These file names must match exactly with the exception of the file extension. NOTE: there can only be one period in a file name. A period in a file name marks the beginning of the file extension. Sound file names can only end in MP3 or WAV. Using WAV files requires another program not found on POI-Factory.

10. Connect your Nüvi to your computer using the USB cable. Wait for the Nüvi to show it is connected and ready to receive files (Black screen with an ICON at the bottom showing it is connected to the computer.)

11. Run POI Loader.

12. Select Garmin Device as Where to save your Points of Interest.

13. Press Next and wait for the program to find your Nüvi. The Nüvi will be shown in the box labeled Device:.

14. Press Next. The program will ask the location of the files to be loaded. Use the BROWSE button and select the FOLDER containing the POI, ICON, and SOUND (Alert) files.

15. Select the measurement units used for your Nüvi. Feet and Miles per hour or Meters and Kilometers.

16. The Nüvi POI Loader suggests running the program in Automatic. For BASIC file loading, this is sufficient. NOTE: The only two alert sounds that will play automatically are for Red light and Speed cameras. For other alert sounds to play, you must select MANUAL and set either a distance or speed alert trigger. The default alert sound is a bong or ding. NOTE: If a file name contains ANY numbers, POI Loader will assume it is a speed alert and play the sound file for that POI automatically. If you have set a speed alert and are travelling faster than the alert speed, the alert will continue to sound until you are at or below the alert speed. Press Next.

17. POI Loader will read and convert the POI files, ICONs and ALERT sounds and load them to your Nüvi. If POI Loader encounters an error with a source file, it will tell you the name of the file POI file containing an error. When finished, POI Loader will tell you the number of POI successfully loaded to your Nüvi.

NOTE: Every time you run POI Loader, it will overwrite the previous output file and you will loose any POI not contained in your source folder so all files have to be present in the folder every time you run POI Loader.

18. Disconnect your Nüvi using the Stop or Eject USB device.

19. Power up the Nüvi and select WHERE TO -> EXTRAS and see if CUSTOM POI is displayed. Press CUSTOM POI and you should see a list of all the POI loaded.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

20. If you do not see a custom icon or hear the custom alert sound for a Custom POI that successfully loaded, it is most likely because you have a double file extension (two periods in one or more of the file names.)

21. Open Windows Explorer. Select TOOLS. Select Folder Options. Select VIEW. Under FILES AND FOLDERS uncheck the box that states: Hide extensions for known file types.

22. Using Windows Explorer, open the FOLDER containing the custom POI files, icons, and alert files. Verify each file name has only ONE period just before the 3 character file extension. Rename any files containing more than one period so the file contains only ONE period.

23. Restart this procedure at Step 8.

Repeat as necessary.

ADVANCED OPTIONS

POI files can be grouped and categorized. The most common method is by using sub folders. Sub folders are created under your main folder holding your POI files. You can only have one level of sub folders.

An example is:

My POI top level
>Food sub folder
>>Applebees.csv POI file
>>Applebees.bmp icon file
>>Applebees.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file
>>Cracker Barrel.gpx POI file
>>Cracker Barrel.bmp icon file
>>Cracker Barrel.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file

>Stores sub folder
>>Best Buy.csv POI file
>>Best Buy.bmp icon file
>>Best Buy.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file
>>Wal Mart (Combined).csv POI file
>> Wal Mart (Combined).bmp icon file
>> Wal Mart (Combined).mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file

>Fuel Locations sub folder
>>Loves.GPX POI file
>>Loves.bmp icon file
>>Loves.wav custom alert sound file
>>Pilot Locations.GPX POI file
>>Pilot Locations.bmp icon file
>>Pilot Locations.wav custom alert sound file

Selecting Where To --> Extras --> Custom POI will show three entries, Food, Stores, and Fuel Locations. Pressing one of these names will show the POI files contained in that folder. NOTE: You must have more than one category in order for the category method to work. Having only a single subfolder will display all the file names rather than the desired group name.

There is no change to how POI Loader is run. POI Loader is told to load the contents of the top level folder, My POI. The sub folder names become category names. Using the subfolder method you can have 32 sub folders each with 32 POI files along with custom icons and alerts.

You will need poiloader to install the files.You can use either gpx or csv files.Gpx files in some cases may contain more information depending on what the author included.Gpx will show more data on the screen without using the more tab.The icons for the locations will not show unless you zoom in real close.For important files you can set up alert to let you know when you are close to one.One draw back is that if coordinates are more then 50 ft off the road of travel you will not get the alert.Some users set up files with TourGuide in the file name See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/13958 .This allows for a radius alert and using Poiloader in manual mode you can increase the radius as desired.You can use the near tab to search another city for pois.Where to and look for near on bottom of screen and pick different city. See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 for custom pois.

I'm a first time user and was drawn to DDD POI's. The file that downloads is the correct size, but ".ychat" is added to the name after "gpx" and the Garmin POI Loader will not recognize the file as a useable GPS file. HELP! Changing the name by dropping the ",ychat" does not help.

The file name on your computer after the download should be DinersDrive-insDives.gpx

If it's not, you may want to post your question in the Mac Topic forum and see how other Mac users get their POI files from the computer to their GPS. I've never heard of a .ychat extension but then, I'm a Windows user. If Mac users have the ability to use different browsers, you may want to mention what you're using in case an added .ychat extension is a known problem with some browsers.

Does this occur just with this one file or does it occur with all .csv and .gpx files you download?

From a quick Google search, ychat may have something to do with Java-based chat clients. A search of the entire POI Factory shows no mention of .ychat or ychat other than your post.

Used DDD on my Garmin while on vacation in Las Vegas - found the 4 Kegs Bar perfectly and we loved the strombolies! I noticed we got the alert as we approached the location, but I never set any alert for this file in manual mode upon poi transfer. I noticed the same thing for the starbucks poi file - we get the alerts but there is nothing in the file name to suggest an alert and I did not set any manual alerts. I was under the impression that alerts were based on the file name using a number to indicate a speed alert or a specific title to indicate other alerts or an alert has to be set manually??? are there default alerts or alerts in the file structure?

Any custom POIs loaded into the GPS create an alert even though you intend them to be used the same as Favorites. If you don't want DDD to give alerts, use POI Loader in manual and enter a very short alert distance - so short it might be impossible to get that close to the POI. Personally I use 1320 feet, a quarter mile for DDD just to tell me I am getting close. See my FAQ on running POI Loader in manual -

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30728

Thanks to DRMCMTR, rocknicehunter, and all those contributing to this great POI file.

dobs108

Load them into your navigator as favorites instead.

Best; Create a DDD Category and put them into that if your unit supports the feature. Simple to do.

However it would have probably been more useful to have the food style of the places coded into the comments rather than, or in addition to the episode number; not that I'm complaining, mind you.

What kind of alert?

If using POI Loader, either a proximity alert or speed alert, and there is no point in making DDD a speed alert.

dobs108

that the alerts will always sound.

Did you mean to say that?

I have loaded DDD .gpx several times using different POI Loader settings and here are the results -

In my opinion, custom POIs loaded with POI Loader as proximity alerts will always sound an alert when you approach within the alert distance that was entered. If zero alert distance is entered in manual mode, then my opinion is that you get an alert if you are at the POI; not that there is no alert. I think pctom should use this method.

I believe that the unwanted alerts that pctom experienced were due to choosing "alert when you get close to a point" which you must do, otherwise it is "ignore the file." After this choice the "speed alert" box is checked by default with zero mph in the speed field. When POI Loader runs with the default zero it will enter a 1320 (or 1319) foot proximity alert. This was discovered by JD4x4. When I ran POI Loader this way it provided a 1319 foot proximity alert for DDD .gpx. A speed alert is actually a proximity alert.

The conclusion is that POI Loader can override a .gpx file that has no proximity alert info.

If no sound files or icons have been associated with the POI file, then you get a chime (bong-bong) and an on-screen alert using the text string in the POI location.

dobs108

Not sure I am following you on your reply to pctom
about alerts.If user has selected go with no attached wav or mp3 for alert or a built in alert using gpx.You will not be alerted but you will get the arrival message.

This is independent of the Go To and arrival. It has to do with proximity alerts that pctom mentioned, which is before arrival. If an .mp3 or .wav file is not included, then a chime will sound at the proximity alert distance. Not sure if this happens with all units but it does with the nuvi 760.

The point is that POI Loader, depending on its settings, will put a proximity alert on a .gpx file that has no proximity info.

dobs108

Ok got it.My 265wt does that without the wav also.I would think all Garmin models does that.

I received "More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” book as a Christmas present and decided to update the file in my PC with the food featured at each location, as I read the book I'll update the file by adding an extra line with the food.

Also as I watch new shows will do the same, that way I will know if the place I'm driving near by is restaurant with food I may want to sample.

That would be great! I love stopping into all the diners that Guy has been to, but never really know what the specialty was that he had before I step in and ask. This would be very helpful!