Speed Camera loading for Dummies

Ok here is what is in my files

For example:
column A: Longitude
column B: Latitude
column C: Speed Camera @ 75 MPH .02724
column D: Buckeye 2-15-09 I-10 EB Watson Rd

Column B shows when the alert goes off in the grey drop down at the top of your gps and will turn red if you are going over the speed you have set it for.
Keep in mind that I have my speed limits set 10mph over.

Column D is an info column, the city, the date I modified it,and the location,, and you can find it when you go to extras > custom poi and select the camera that you want to see or is close to your location. It will not show up anywhere else.

I hope this helps

From Phil Hornby's Guide to Setting Alerts:

Priority Order for Speed & Proximity Information

1.) Information from the POI itself (i.e. speed and distance for .gpx files - speed only for .csv files).
2.) Information entered in “Manual Mode”.
3.) Information derived from keywords in the File Name.

Thanks. I think I could have stated it a bit clearer, but by "link jumping" from the guide & faqs to Garmin's site I think I have the answer.

The format used (U.S./Metric) is determined solely by the units type selected when running POI Loader, and anything other than a number (except the prefix "@" in a POI name, or the prefix "Speed_" in a file name) is ignored.

Does that sound correct?

(post-edit: I also get the other keyword stuff, I'm just not totally sure about the speed-distance format).

I have not tried this and I'm not sure I understand your question - see if this helps.

Individual POI with speed info (@ 50) overrides POI Loader and speed in file name.

POI Loader using Manual Mode overrides speed in file name.

What about deleting the original speed Cameras on the 101 that are no longer there or the traffic cameras at Sossaman and Main that alert as speed cameras?
I am not sure which ones to delete from my list???
David

Thanks bentbiker & jthawkin .. I finally got it. The main point of my question was more about the speed format in the name column & the resulting alert. In retrospect I could have been a lot clearer but my head was full of Excel formulae when I first asked!

The answer was a somewhat subtle but important point that was most obvious to me from the Garmin site's info about POI Loader. POI Loader only looks at the number when reading the data in the file and uses the speed format (US/Metric) you select when you run it. For some reason I thought that it could tell the difference by "mph" or "kph" in the data and do a conversion, but I now know that's not the case.

Probably a fact well-known by the close to the boarder (or UK) members but I wasn't aware of it.

So it means that if you have a file with a mix of mph & kph speeds and want to set the auto-alert by using the @ symbol, you need to convert the speeds into the US/Metric value for the format you will be using with POI Loader before you generate the file. Otherwise if you compile using US and you have a @60 kph entry, it will alert you at 60 mph.

PS- apologies to the Brit members.. when I say "US" I mean "English" and/or "mph"

Thanks

I went in to my files and looked up every location and then where it say poi factory I delete all of that and put in that cameras address, so now when I need to change or adjust it is easier to find. I wish poi factory would but in croos streets or mile post instead of poi factory and the date updated . if miss poi wants these I'll send them over for all to have for AZ (speed and redlight are now done).

I love to see knowledge displays such as this one. I work with Excel formulas all the time. I want to add that caution must be exercised when working with formulas in Excel in that the cell that contains the formula will display the results in the cell and display the formula in the edit line. Deletion of the original cells will negate the results. For piece of mind, I recommend that anyone using Excel download and learn to use Excel add-in utilities. The one I use is

http://www.asap-utilities.com/

although there are others. One of the add-in's will change all highlighted formulas to the contents and remove the formula. In this situation, you would just delete the original column or cell and cut and paste the new column or cell. I haven't worked with this particular file although I have it.

Curt

When I download the new updates and am ready to upload them to my GPSr's, do I need to delete the old ones that were previously loaded?

Thx in advance.

When you run POI Loader, it will overwrite any (and all) POIs you have loaded on your unit.

Thanks!

I purchased my Garmin 650 about a year and half ago, was starting to learn all I could about POI's, and eventually started installing some. Then I got busy with other things and haven't used my GPS for much more than quick out of town trips. Then a few weeks ago, a friend reignted my interest when he started talking about this site. Needless to say, I came back and am getting back into it again.

I guess this was a long way of saying "Thanks" for this guide. I will be downloading the Speed Camera POI file soon and will give this a try. Hard to drive around Phoenix now without some kind of camera alert.

Thanks again!

phxflyboy

OK, I finally got the files downloaded and am now tweaking them. For example, for the Phoenix 101 Fwy drivers, the GPS coordinates on several were off by a bit so I fixed those. Anyway, I have a couple of questions:

1. By changing the proximity alert when installing manually with the POI Loader, does that also effect the Red Light Camera files?

2. Does there have to be a space AFTER the @ or just after the speed?

Thanks in advance?

phxflyboy

The red-light cameras will only reflect the change on the GPS itself. That is, whatever you manually set the proximity alert to will be what it is on your GPS unit. The original .csv file will not change.

No, there isn't a space after the "@" sign.

This is a very helpful link: http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/creating_custom_po...

Thanks for the link, I'll be reading that later. But just to clarify, when during the manual POI Loader screen I set the distance from the default of 1320 to 0, is that just for the Speed Cameras or will it effect the Red Light Cameras also.

Thanks for the quick reply.

phxflyboy

You will be prompted to set a distance/speed alert for each file you load.

Thanks for the good info-

thanks for the good info too. I'll try it on my gps soon.

Thanks again, I get it now. I was resetting that distance to "0" as per the original poster. I tried it on my way to work tonight and sure enough, I got no advance warning for the one red light camera I pass and only one warning for the radar cameras, and that was way in advance, like half a mile or so. I'll give it a go tomorrow and leave the proximity distance at the default.

phxflyboy

Just wanted to touch bases ,By setting the longitude and lattitude closer to the sides of the road and by entering in the D column or the fourth row you put in the direction south bound=SB or north bound= NB extra, you will only get alerted when you travel in that direction, I have been triing this now for 3 mnth and have seen on all of my speed cameras that they will only show when I go in that specific direction.

example :
Column A -112.xxxxx
Column B 33.xxxx
Column C Speed Camera @ 75 MPH .0272g
Column D Glendale 2-15-09 101 NB Glendale Ave

For you sceptics if this isn't right then explain to me why it works. It does works.

I am going to try this. Thanks for the info.

Still new to this. I am trying to experiment making up my own Redlight/ speed Cameras POI for Calgary.
Posts like these help explain the workings of the Files. Keep on posting!!

I am sure that the Poi-Factory on each line is a security nag, the average person won't be bothered trying to remove them. As far as a camera address is concerned, why do you really need a camera address? don't you change the file weekly?

I use 'POI Verifier II' to Create Speed Alerts (@mph). each week I just run the new copy through it and bada bing done!

If what you are doing is workin for you great,
The reason for specific location is as I have been triing to modify this file so that I have it to work the way I want this file to work. It is easier to make adjustment when I know where the camera is located. And come to find out the fourth column does work the way I have it.. I have tried both with no direction and with directions and with the direction set it seem to work on my NUVI 760 just fine.
As far as security nag!(not sure what you mean) the poi factory has so many file they can't put in all the addresses and the exact long and latt are not spot on, in my fill I have the exact long and latt down to with in an inch so to speak.

Good instructions...thanks again.

Only the files we are taliking about are POI-Fatory branded, I would imagine it's the security Nag for the Two member only files. plus I would also imagine they also contain a few ringer locations as well for plagiarism. Of course like I said I can only imagine, But thats what I would do to protect my work.

What are you talking about !!!!!If the poi factory didn't want any changes to these files all they have to is lock the excell sheet,,you do know how to make your excell sheet secure!!!!!But what would be the fun if we can't make changes to fit our personal needs. HHHMMMMMMM

thank you for taking the time to write/summarize up the instructions from various posts.

As a new Garmin GPS user I'd like to share a few hints that I discovered in the last few months playing with the speed cameras file.

FYI, I own a Garmin Nuvi 1250T updated to the latest firmware and map version as of today and everything I found out was tested on this model only.

I live in PHX area and with so many cameras every unnecessary alert was driving me crazy. I started playing with the file and discovered that speed alert gets triggered only if I’m driving 7 or less MPH bellow the set speed limit for the speed camera. So I changed all speed limits for our freeway cameras to Speed Limit + 7 formulas. This caused that I don't get any speed alerts while driving at or below the actual speed limit. If I am over the actual speed limit up to 7 MPH I get one audio alert and speed alert message colored grey. If my speed is 8 or more than actual speed limit I get continuous audio alert and the message turns red. This was tested for the 55, 65 & 75 MPH limits.

Second, I moved all camera locations from current positions (majority of them are located in the middle of the freeway) to the side of the freeway and bingo! I don't get alerts any more while driving opposite direction. In one of previous posts ramcruzer mentioned something about it, but he had a fourth column with direction information which wasn't necessary. Apparently POI's are not triggered if they are located more than 50 feet from the road you're on. Moving them to the side of the freeway caused them to be more than 50 feet from the opposite direction lanes. I don't think this would work on two-way roads. They are too narrow for it, or you would have to move them further away from the road and risk missing them entirely.

Aft6er reading this, I'm darned glad that Ontario, Canada got rid of their cameras.

When we did have them, these were all mounted in vans at the side of the road, so you could never tell where they would be. The only warning was the brake lights suddenly coming on in a row of cars ahead of you.

Thank you for the post. It is quite helpful!

I agree that this post was quite helpful. I got tripped up by my nuvi and Garmin Mobile XT not recognizing the difference between miles and kilometers though and had initially solved the issue by setting a proximity alert. This time around I moved the Canada Speed Camera POIs to their own file and ran the new file separately through POI Loader.

The only thing I noticed in working on the files is that a couple of locations didn't have speeds given. I'll have to let Miss POI know.

thanks. this really helps in places ive never been before. it reminds me to slow down lol .

* ON EVERY HIGHWAY THERES ALWAYS SOMEONE SPEEDING TO GET TO NOWHERE QUICKLY *

Again, excellent info, thanks all!

Nice work...this simplifies the basics for the newbies to speed alerts!!!

Unfortunately, I read both pages of this loooong discussion and am too confused from just reading it. I'm sure it is easier when doing it, but I don't get if you're supposed to use the spreadsheet method or the text editing (find-and-replace) or what.

And I too am another in the Phoenix area (hence my screen name) and I am a paid subscriber who just downloaded the two files. Must I read this again and again to figure it out, or has Ramcruzer's file for AZ been posted for download? I like the idea of more accurate locations for the ones that were slightly off and also moving to the correct side of the road. It seems Ramcruzer made a lot of valuable tweaks I'd be interested in for the Phoenix area, as well as addresses. If you did all the work to get it just right will you take credit and share so we don't all have to start from scratch?

Also, do you load both the speed camera and red light camera files together with POI loader? I notice they both contain some of the same cameras. It's hard to follow reading everyone's posts and 2¢ on the issue. As this discussion has been here for a long time, is there a definitive step-by-step instruction guide for all this posted online by now? Seems it would be helpful for specifying what speed to activate the alert, switching between kph and mph, etc. Thanks for any help!

Multi graci! Mucho Gracias. Domo arrigato. Merci and a dozen other thanks.

Yes, MUCH thanks!

I've only been able to skim the forums of late, and I haven't downloaded the camera files in two months, so I don't know when the format changed. I also don't know if anyone else has already done this, or for that matter if anyone still wants or needs this. But I've updated the Excel formula that I posted to this thread back in December 2008 (it's up there somewhere!). All the steps I wrote there should stay the same, except this is the formula you should use instead of the one posted originally:

=IF(ISERR(FIND("Speed",C1)),C1,(LEFT(C1,FIND("Speed",C1)+5)&"@"&MID(C1,(FIND("Speed",C1))+6,2)&RIGHT(C1,LEN(C1)-(FIND("Speed",C1)+9))))

Do NOT enter any returns you may see on your monitor in this formula. It should be entered into the spreadsheet cells as a single line as described back in my original post.

This formula now ought to work for both US and Canadian entries as "MPH" and "KM/H" no longer appear in the file. If you want to change the warning speed from the actual speed limit, you can add a "+n" or "-n" (where "n" is replaced by the number you want to use) just before the second ampersand. This version will add 5 mph/kmph to the listed speed limit:

=IF(ISERR(FIND("Speed",C1)),C1,(LEFT(C1,FIND("Speed",C1)+5)&"@"&MID(C1,(FIND("Speed",C1))+6,2)+5&RIGHT(C1,LEN(C1)-(FIND("Speed",C1)+9))))

Hopefully someone besides me will be able to make use of this.

I've been using your original formula since you first posted it and modified it to just add the @ for the new format. I hadn't got to looking at the speed mod part as of yet as I have been traveling quite a bit on business the pas week or two.

Thanks. Set, Done.

Felix -

Once again, many thanks. Hopefully your post will get a prominent position by Miss POI.

Hi,

I'm new to this site and the things it has to offer. I am trying to download the speed camera warning sheet onto my Garmin Zumo 550. I'm not too tech-savvy and am quite confused on what I need to be doing to make the GPS alert me when I get near a speed camera. Is it possible to email me an excel spreadhseet that has already been set up for this? Or if someone could explain what to do in the simplest terms, that might be helpful also. Like I said, I'm not to good at all this stuff-

Thanks so much!
Misfit.

Welcome to the site Misfit.

You have to become a active member to download the redlight and speed cameras or pay a small fee before then.See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/262 and http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/us/red-light-cameras .I will be glad to help you out when you are ready as well as other members on this site.All other files are free. Here is a outline for custom pois http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 .

garmin needs to learn from this site thank you

Yes they do!

Just think you won't need this for Az and it will be sfe to drive thru now.

The cancellation of the Redflex contract only applies to the cameras enforced by the Department of Public Safety (the State Police/Highway Patrol). There is nothing to prevent municipalities, or even counties, from placing speed cameras on roads within their jurisdictions.

Thanks.