POI information already included -tutorial

 

In the past I have added several custom POI's that are useful to me, however, I was amazed to learn there are over 6 million POI's already on my Garmin Nuvi. For example most hotels/motels are there including their addresses and phone numbers. The same goes for hospitals, auto service centers, etc.

In fact, I added the rest area custom POI and later found out they are already in my Garmin. I think most new users of GPS devices don't really know what is available to them already prepackaged on their device.

For example I had a friend call me while he was driving on a trip and ask me for the phone number of a hospital. I looked it up and called him, however, the phone number was available on his Garmin but he didn't know it until I later told him. He primarily thinks the GPS is for telling him directions from point A to point B. He is a new user not unlike many new users that haven't really learned to maximize the use of their GPS. I also know that people come here for information.

I was just thinking it might be nice to create a summary or list describing the information already available so users can get the most out of their GPS. Having that knowledge they will be more likely to know what else they need in the form of a custom POI. Just a thought.

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I tripped going up the escalator and I fell for an hour and a half!

The main difference

The main difference between the Custom POI's and the built-in POIs is that the Custom POIs are usually more recent and accurate as to their coordinates. Most of the built-in POI info does not include any POIs newer than 2-3 years old.
Also, as far as the Rest Area POIs - IF you are using the Rest Areas Combined file from POI Factory - the coordinates of the rest areas have been modified so that they now reflect the entrance of the rest area. This was done so that Proximity Alerts would activate. The original coordinates were set for the actual buildings of the rest area and were not close enough to the roadway to activate the proximity alertts.

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MrKenFL- "Money can't buy you happiness .. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery." NUVI 260, Nuvi 1490LMT & Nuvi 2595LMT all with 2014.4 maps !

POI already installed

BPA, I've been looking for that information myself. As a new user to a GPS I would hate to start downloading POI's only to discover they are already there. Would not need to be a complete listing but a summary of categories would be nice. I know that State and National parks are already there but what about Army Corp of Engineer's parks and National Forest Service campgrounds? What problems will it cause if I duplicate POI's?

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mmike42

POIs

I don't know of any way to get a "list" of the factory built-in POIs. There is no problem with duplicate POIs since the built-in ones and any custom loaded POIs are kept in seperate files.

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Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold