GPS Visualizer to POI Verififer

There are several things I don't understand in your post.
1. When using http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/geocoder/, and copy-and-paste the input data, to batch geocode, the output is:
Latitude,Longitude,Name,Desc
There was no "W" displayed. I simply used POI Verifier II to swap the longitude and latitude, then reran POI Verifier II a second time on the *_sll.csv file with no problems.
2. You mentioned POI Verifier "requires quotes". Quotes are not required unless they are needed to enclose commas, etc, as required per Garmin's format requirements.

RT

1. From memory, my sample input file had tabular data (c1=address, c2=city, c3=state, and c4=zipcode) so I used www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input. That is, the first line is a header line and literally had the words "address", "city", "state", and "zipcode" (each in a separate column and without the commas and quotes). (On the other hand, I may have had a comma to separate the columns. I'll have to check out home later tonight.) The GPS Visualizer output began with a "W".

By the way, I'm working with an organization which, hopefully, will provide a file with the 1600 addresses which can be input into GPS Visualizer. So, I'm trying to do some tests to determine what is the best file format to request from the organization.

2. Regarding quotes, I thought Garmin requires quotes such as:

longitude, latitude, "name", "street address,
city, state zipcode
phone number"

If I recall from memory correctly, the GPS Visualizer output was:

W 123 My Street Anytown PA 19555

The "W 123 My Street" was in column one and the each of the rest was in a separate column.

If you're trying to get coords for addresses, you're using the wrong GPSVisualizer tool. Try http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/geocoder instead.

Theory: Since the 'convert_input' tool is designed to read tracklog or waypoint files, it may be adding the 'W' if it reads the data as a waypoint.

Okay, the "w" is gone and a single set of quotes were added to the GPS Visualizer output. However, I think the 3rd group (labeled POI Verifier Input) with two quotes is required for Garmin. If double quotes are needed, is there any way to add them via Excel or something? Thank-you all for your help so far.

Input:
Theophilus OPC-Anaheim 2660 W. Woodland Dr. Anaheim, CA 92801 714-761-9500
Covenant OPC-Berkeley 1623 University Ave. Berkeley, CA 94703 510-845-7315

Output:
33.847923,-117.977882,"Theophilus OPC-Anaheim 2660 W. Woodland Dr. Anaheim, CA 92801 714-761-9500",-,
37.871052,-122.278458,"Covenant OPC-Berkeley 1623 University Ave. Berkeley, CA 94703 510-845-7315",-,

POI Verifier Input:
33.847923,-117.977882,"Theophilus OPC-Anaheim", "2660 W. Woodland Dr.
Anaheim, CA 92801 714-761-9500"
37.871052,-122.278458,"Covenant OPC-Berkeley","1623 University Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94703 510-845-7315"

You may want to check out GeePeeEx Editor.
http://geepeeex.googlepages.com/

Don't forget to do a 'Swap Longitude and Latitude' via POI Verifier or POI Verifier II. Longitude has to be before latitude per Garmin POI format requirements.

RT

Yes, I know about the swap. Thank-you.

Are quotes required for POI column 3 (POI name)? I've used quotes there and they worked but maybe they weren't really needed. I do know that quotes are required for column 4 where the address is located.

Maybe the general rule is that if there is a comma then quotes are needed?

Gave Gee Pee editor a quick try but it didn't like my input. I'll have to investigate.

Csv POIs: Quotes are not needed in fields (columns) 3 or 4 unless these fields contain commas, quotes, linebreaks, or other items required to be enclosed for Garmin POI format. Always putting quotes in these fields hurt nothing. I have POI Verifier/II insert quotes as it makes it much easier to read the file, especially in Notepad. Also, doing this eliminates the possibility of accidently leaving out quotes when they are needed.

RT

If you're trying to do most of your work in Excel (which I do also), just do a Save As and choose CSV as the file type format. It will add the quotes appropriately.

Once I figured out how to input tabular data, it seemed to batch geocode the data. Need to run POI Verifier on the output and load it into the C580. So far, I'm impressed with Gee Pee Editor. Can a single 1600 line file be input into Gee Pee?

Tim

The primary output from GeePeeEx Editor, is a .gpx file - which can be input directly into POILoader. You wouldn't run that file through POIVerifier.

If you are using existing (Garmin format) csv files as input, it would be useful to run those through POIVerifier, since GeePeeEx Editor does not have facilities for correcting input that is not to Garmin's specification. Alternatively, if it is just field-ordering that is the problem, you can use column headers to workaround the issue.

(The csv output file that GeePeeEx Editor can produce, is only intended for further data manipulations in programs such as Excel, and is not suitable for input to POILoader.)

Such a file will not cause GeePeeEx Editor any problems.

Phil,

Thank-you for all the info here. I was planning to use CSV output as input to POI Verifier. It looks easy to delete a few columns in Excel and create a CSV input file. On the other hand, maybe I'll just create a gpx POI file as the final output instead of a CSV POI file.

For All,
By the way, I've gotten a lot of good Excel tips by reading posts at www.excelforum.com. I've been able to paste web data into an Excel spreadsheet, extract the address information, and format it for input to Gee Pee Editor. The "front end" of the spreadsheet is a little specific to a particular web page but the "back end" is general purpose. Drop me a PM if interested.

You may also want to look into the ASAP Utilities plug-in for excel. http://www.asap-utilities.com/

But the columns you'd be deleting, are the ones containing the detailed address information!! This would be a pity

That sounds like a much better idea!

Not sure what you mean by deleting detailed address information. The columns that need to be deleted are blank. Columns Longitude, Latitude, Name, StreetAddress1, City, State, PostCode, and Phone all contain valid information and are retained.