GeePeeX Users

What I have been toying around with is this. I created a "dummy" POI using GeePeex saved it as a .csv file and use that as my template in Excel. I make my mass adds in Excel save the .csv, re-open in Geepeex and save it back as a .gpx file.

Hope this helps.

I can't see how Excel would be of any advantage to you whatsoever unless you somehow have columnar data that you could cut and paste all at once, as opposed to individually. Perhaps if you shared with us what data you are starting with.

GeePeeX seems handy for more than just file creation.

If you want a faster way to input data and, at least for now, can live with a .csv format rather than a .gpx format, I can give you a quick way to set up all of the data with a text editor. I just created a 260+ location plus file with a couple evenings of work, and a lot of that was the learning process.

If you cam create a simple text file with all of the fields labeled then I already have a very simple script that will translate it into a 4 field CSV file, with field 4 being a 4 line < br > separated field. And it is easy to tweak the script to produce other output. At the moment I'm trying to get up to speed enough on the .gpx format to rework the script to produce gpx files, from the same text file of data.

Here's a sample of how I formatted my text data:
CITY: Raleigh
STREET: 3070 Wake Forest Rd.
ZIP: 27609
LAT&LON: 35.824222,-78.621868
PHONE: (919) 872-2815
HOURS: Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00
COMMENT: Holly Park Shopping Center
END_of_POI

Here is the resulting generated CSV file line from the data (you might catch that the zip code field was deliberately omitted):

-78.621868,35.824222,DMV REGISTRATION & PLATE RENEWAL ,"3070 Wake Forest Rd., Raleigh <br> Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00<br>(919) 872-2815<br>Holly Park Shopping Center"

The coordinates can be put in in your choice of ways, the same script also accepts them individually labeled, such as:

LATITUDE: 36.0590441
LONGITUDE: -79.3961928

or

LONGITUDE: -81.1242686
LATITUDE: 35.912021

Unused fields can be skipped. Any field that stays the same from one POI to the next need only be entered once. To prevent a field from passing through to later POIs just include the label with no data on the next POI.

I have not used GeePeeX, but if putting the data together in a simple text file seems easier to you, then I'll gladly supply you with more details on what I've done and the script that I've used for translation into the final CSV file. Just hit me with an email.

Yes, I always start with a spreadsheet and import that into GeePeeEx. Be sure to use Name, StreetAddress1, City, State, Zip, and Phone in row #1 for a header column so that GeePeeEx understands the data. Save the spreadsheet as csv and import into GeePeeEx. GeePeeEx is very flexible.

Tim

Right now, using GeePeex seems to be the easier method for me, but I certainly appreciate your offer to share your script with me. I may take you up on your offer as I become more familiar with the whole process

I am trying to create a poi file for all the Fuel stations in Georgia that accept Fuelman gas cards, and sell diesel fuel. It's a list of over 500 locations, so I'm looking for the fastest way possible. Thanks for your help.

http://www.fuelman.com/sitelocator/sitelocator.aspx?searchty...

I will try this method. It sounds like an excellent idea.

Not being a GeePeex user, I can't really make a judgement. But for me it was very easy to start with a text file, clean it up and label it, add coordinates and then crank out a formatted .csv file by script. And the text file is easy to update and maintain, no special tools other than a text editor needed.

The other approach of using a spreadsheet is a good choice too. My intention of dealing with a text file was originally to import into a spread sheet or database. That's not completely off the table, but I realized that to quickly test the idea of text file formatted input I could convert directly to a .csv file with a script. I didn't use a spread sheet because I wanted to avoid any horizontal scrolling on the screen or any fancy input routines for the spreadsheet to work past that. But Excel, if you have it, or Open Office, should speed your work.

Since one of the options is to download the data as a spreadsheet, you should be able to do that and then open with Excel, put the columns in the proper sequence, save as a csv, and open in GeePeeEx. Your job could be greatly simplified.

OK, thanks, but I have some more questions. How do you move the colums to the proper order (I'm very new to Excel)??? Also, whaen I try to save as a csv file, I get a message that says that the file that I'm trying to save may contain features that are not compatable with csv format. If I go ahead and save the file as a csv, when I try to open it in GeePeeX, I get another message that says: failed to make working copy of csv file.

It is faster to do it in csv, if you can copy the data. Export a csv file from GPX. You will notice that you have a lat, long for the first two columns. Just enter those as a zero. Then you have the name. Leave the next two columns blank. The next two are street address. Put the most info in the first column and suite # in the second (often I find the suite will mess up the geocode). The next column is city, then state. Followed by Post code, leave the country column blank and then the phone.

So looks like (blk is blank data column)
long / lat / name /blk/blk/ street / add2 / city / state / zip / blk / phone

I use this all the time to cut and paste parts of files together into one. Works great.

Daniel

Ignore the errors. It is just saying that some formatting may be lost - but you don't care. See my above post for proper order. You will probably want to have two sheets(books) of excel open. Copy the data from the web page to one. Then copy the column (the up and down) all at once to the proper place in the file for geepeeeEx. Save the new file as csv. If you do like I showed above, then right click on the new saved csv file - open with GeePeeEx - and it should work. Contact me on my tab if you need more help with a phone number and I will call - probably be faster.

Daniel

I'm creating the gpx file for you. I'll upload it to the site in a few minutes.

Thank you for your help. I think it's working now. If I need to, I will take you up on the phone call later in the week.

I am very thankfull for that!!! Hopefully, I'll get all this figured out soon, and beable to do the same for someone else soon.

Another trick I use is not to fill in the city / state info if entering into GPX directly. When entering the zip only it will fill that info in for you when you geocode.

Daniel

Ok, here's the link to the file. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/19811

The file contains all Georgia Fuelman locations which sell diesel. A total of 907 locations. I included address, city, state, zip, store name, and phone number. I also included a description field which combines the info from five columns: hwy, exit, 24 hr, 18 whl, and maint.

You should check the coordinates. When I did the batch geocode I selected Address precision, so some of the locations have blank coordinates because the addresses couldn't be found. Also, as you may be aware, due to the nature of the geocoding process some of the locations may not be accurate. For example, I looked at the first three entries and they don't appear to be "on" a gas station.

I downloaded the file. How did you combine the five columns into the 1 description column????

I used the built in concatenate function in Excel. It combines text from multiple fields into one field.

=concatenate($a1, $b1, $c1, $d1, $e1) will combine the first five columns in row 1.

I think I'm starting to figure this out. I've almost got the SC Diesel Fuelman file compleated. It was all fairly easy after the help I got here. The only problem I had was with the Concatenate Fuction, but I think I got that figured out now. Many thanks folks.

As you are finding out each element to be concatenated or joined is separated by comma. You can also put text or other characters in between the columns you are joining as well. Use ...ate(a1," ",a2) to put a space between the fields. If you want the special line feed carriage return, put =char(10) in an empty cell. Then, when you concatenate your string should be ...ate(a1,$z$1,a2) with the $ signs indicating an absolute cell reference where the special charter can be found.