Easiest method for batch addresses

http://www.batchgeocode.com/

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert?form=address

Thanks, these are both great suggestions. I will definitely be able to use them in the future. A problem I am having now is that when I cut/paste the data from know-where I am getting output like this

Hooters of Alcoa
865-983-1366 1099 Hunter Crossing Drive
Alcoa, TN 37701

So the 3 lines are not being processed correctly, any ideas?

I may resort to writing some VBScripts, one to take the data and put it into a meaningful format for the batch conversion, the other to re-arrange the output for a POI.

I generally do this within Excel. A VBscript would be great for parsing out the data for input, I usually struggle with the text functions to pull out the data. However, if it is your file, I would always keep a copy in excel with the data parsed in different fields i.e. address, city, state, zip and description. I keep these in a separate work worksheet with the appropriate headers. I then copy and paste into batchgeocode. (There is a limit to 100 at a time, but even a large database can be broken into units of 100.
The output from batchgeocode is then copied into another worksheet. I then create another spreadsheet to finalize the data for output: =field longitude, =field latitude, =concatenate (all of the address fields and possibly a description field).

I also used Excel to reformat my first 2 POI files. It took a couple of hours to get the formulas just right, but it was a lot more fun than cutting and pasting everything.

I used only formulas, but you can also write some VB macros if you're ambitious.

If the data is always formatted the same (as you showed it: 3 lines with a 12-character phone number followed by the address in line 2), it should be relatively easy to reformat using just cell references and text functions. If the data varies, you'll have to build in some intelligence with the if function.

I created Name, Address, Zip, and Description columns. (Hint: concatenate char(10) to insert line breaks in the description; you won't see them in Excel, but they'll show up on the GPS). The Address and Zip were just for GPS visualizer, the Description was just for the POI file, and the Name was for both.

I used an if function in the name column to set extraneous rows to blank (in your case, probably anything that doesn't start with "Hoot"), and then AutoFilter to make only rows with non-blank names visible. With the filter on, I copied the Name, Address, and Zip columns to a separate sheet, which I saved as .csv for input to GPSvisualizer.

Then I loaded the GPSvisualizer .csv output into another Excel sheet, rearranged the coordinates and name columns into the proper order (why does Garmin insist on having longitude and latitude reversed from everyone else in the world?), deleted all the other columns, and copied in the formatted description column from the original sheet, and I was good to go!

Whew! That does sound like a lot of work, but I enjoyed the challenge!