Need help

Take the file off your Zumo (or off your SD card if that's where you put it) and put it on your computer. Note that it's best to create a folder for ALL your Custom POIs and put them in there.

Now, once you have INSTALLED POI Loader to your computer, RUN the program that you installed.

When POI Loader asks your for the SOURCE of the data, browse to the FOLDER (not the file) into which you placed your Custom POI file(s).

And when it asks you for the DESTINATION, select the Zumo from the drop down list. DO NOT LOAD THEM TO THE SD CARD ON THE ZUMO. (Trust me.)

Then follow the prompts.

You need to KEEP your Custom POIs in the folder on your computer and load ALL of them at the same time when you run POI Loader.

Thank you M M I will let you know the results

I followed your advice and everything came out as planned
You are great thanks MM

Excellent!

Be sure to check out the Zumo forum.

www.zumoforums.com

Just confirming my understanding of how the POI Loader works. It seems like every time you run it to add a new POI file to the Nuvi, you must reload all your previously loaded POI files again. Is that correct? Is there a way to ADD a new POI file to your existing POI files already on the Nuvi?

This has puzzled me for the last few weeks and thought I would take the opportunity to ask. Thanks!

Yes, you're correct, reload them all, as the old file on the nuvi will be deleted.

It really isn't that much of an issue if you keep all your POIs separate in their own directory on the computer. With POI Loader's Express mode, no issue at all. With the manual mode, you will need to add again your distance or speed alerts for each POI in which you wish to add alerts. Many add alerts for Rest Areas, School Zones, etc. Note the speed cameras and red light cameras POIs already have alerts built into the POI file.

Well, yes and no. It depends on how comfortable you are with computers, folders and files.

If you are comfortable making changes and renaming files, then you can organize your custom POI into folders and have one or more GPI files in the folder.

As an example, assume I have custom poi for food, fuel, rest stops, and cameras. Some of these are going to change more often than others and I don't want to have to reload them all every time one file changes.

I can load all my food stops and rename the POI.GPI file to Food.GPI and store this in the Food folder. Same for the other categories. Then, if there is a change to the camera file affecting my area, when I download the new CSV I can run POI Loader and take the POI.GPI file and rename it Camera.GPI and overwrite the existing file - or - I can store the POI.GPI file in the Camera folder without changing the name.

While you can go in and rename the gpi files that are created by POI Loader, it's generally easier to just reload them, especially when you're first getting started. (Some people take the renaming route - nothing wrong with it.)

If you're concerned about the time it takes to reload them, don't be. I check the site daily (at least) to download any updates to files that I'm interested in, then about once per week reload them to my GPSr. I have currently about 375,000 custom POIs and it only takes about 2 minutes to load them.

You do need to have a well-organized folder structure once you start downloading lots of files, but as long as you keep your structure neat, reloading them is not a problem.

There are several ways to add a POI file without re-loading all the existing files.

1.) If the existing files are on the unit, you can add additional files to a card and they will be additive when viewed on the unit. You can only do this once.

2.) You can rename the existing POI.gpi before adding the new POI files and they will coexist as multiple gpi files in the \Garmin\POI folder. You can keep doing this.

3.) You can have multiple POI.gpi files in multiple subfolders under \Garmin\POI. This technique gives the benefits of renaming the POI.gpi files without having to go through the process of renaming files every time you do an update. This technique is described by ScrugneysGundogs near the end of http://www.poi-factory.com/node/17095 .

Since this started as a Zumo related thread, I will add that on the Zumo, renaming the POI.GPI file will result in loss of the subcategories in the Custom POI menus.

MM,
Does this loss still occur if you employ the technique described by ScrugneyGundogs? Note, with that technique it is essential that each source subdirectory be duplicated to preserve categories in the POI.gpi file. For example, you would have a source with:
My_POIs (folder)
...Clay Target Stuff (level 1 subfolder)
......Clay Target Stuff (level 2 subfolder)
.........FL Shooting Ranges.csv
.........FL Shooting Ranges.wav (or .mp3)
.........Shotgun Sports.gpx
.........Shotgun Sports.wav (or .mp3)
The "Clay Target Stuff" category is ensured by directing POI Loader to the level 1 "Clay Target Stuff" subfolder, which still has level 2 "Clay Target Stuff" subfolder (and no other subfolder) beneath it.

I guess if the Zumo just drops categories if it encounters multiple gpi files, this obviously won't help, but it might be worth checking.

Thank you all for the great detailed responses. I'll try to play around with the options. I may settle on just re-loading all the POIs each time but it's good to know there is another option!

Thanks!