Custom POI's from the POI.GPI file.

You can try GPSBabel to try to open and convert .GPI files to other formats.

But wouldn't it be more simple to just use the data files on your computer that you used to load the Custom POI files to your GPS unit? Or just redownload them from the site?

And then just edit what you want.

Hi, I notice that the E-85 free download file from Garmin is in the .GPI format. How do I get it into my poi files? They tell you that you can add it to your custom poi's but I haven't figured out if I need to convert it first or if it can be added to my garmin .GPI folder. Of course, we have an E-85 file here, but I an it sure which is newer and I figured Garmins might be more accurate and complete, Maybe not.

If you want it on your GPS unit, you just copy the .GPI file to your GPS unit (or the SD card). It will co-exist with the other .GPI files just fine. No converting needed.

You mean I can just load it with my other poi .csv files with poi loader and it will load? Or copy it to my gps GPI folder?

"But wouldn't it be more simple to just use the data files on your computer that you used to load the Custom POI files to your GPS unit? Or just redownload them from the site?"

Sorry, - - Newbie here.
I thought the poi.gpi was the POI's that came with the unit. Is there a way to get POI info from the ones that came with the unit? For my example, I was able to find a Cracker Barrel POI list on the web, but not a Waffle House list.

The preloaded POIs are part of the map data. You cannot extract them in any way (other than saving them one by one as Favorites).

Have you looked at the POI file list here?

http://www.poi-factory.com/poifiles/alpha

Note that the POI.GPI file is the file created by POI Loader when you load Custom POIs from your computer.

Just copy the file straight to the POI folder on your GPS unit. It won't load with POI Loader.

Thanks MM.

I would like to have a particular poi file listed outside of the Custom POI list...

I noticed that my nüvi came preloaded with a sample database called rte66_samp.gpi. If I move it to folder on my PC all that remains in the Poi folder on the Garmin is poi.gpi which is a conglomeration of all the poi files I installed using POI Loader. If I copy it back, this file is listed below, not within the Custom POI list on the Garmin when I open Extras.

As an experiment, I used POI Loader to install only Zipcode.csv replacing the current poi.gpi so that I now poi.gpi contained only the Zipcode file. I then renamed this to Zipcode.gpi and then used POI Loader to install the remaining .csv files. The Poi folder on the Garmin now contains 3 files: poi.gpi, zipcode.gpi and rte66_samp.gpi, but when I open Extras on the Garmin, I see Custom POI and Historic Route 66, the Zipcodes are included within the Custom POI, but are now at the beginning of the list and not at the end as they were when I had originally included them with the other .csv files during the POI Load....

How do they get the rte66_samp.gpi to show up as Historic Route 66 separate from the Custom POI?

In reply to mwilley's question about combining 2 .csv files into one, while it is a straight-forward process using Excel or Notepad, it becomes a file that is requires manual fiddling to update once Cracker Barrel opens a new location and the Cracker Barrel.csv gets updated.

Take a look at: http://home.comcast.net/~ghayman3/garmin.gps/index.html

He outlines a process where you can group similar POI files into sub-folders. I've not tried this yet myself, but it looks like it might be possible to put these 2 files into a folder named Breakfast and then Breakfast will show up under Custom POI and may provide the results you want. As Cracker Barrel and Waffle House files get updated down the road, then you would only have to replace the old with the new, rerun POI Loader and your current.

There is some sort of algorithm, whereby invididual .gpi files are merged into a list, based on the order in which they are 'seen'. Normally, of course, this order is alphabetic - but you can fool it, by copying one .gpi file at a time (either reboot between copies, or use the 'copy/skip' processing when loading them from an SD card (and keeping popping the card in and out!)).

Once the order has been set in this way, you can overwrite the .gpi file with updated contents, without the order being lost.

This can be useful when you don't want to change the category names, just to alter the order of the list (ZZRedlightCameras.gpi indeed .

This might be a different effect. There are several different kinds of GPI files; those built by POILoader and those built by the GPI_Creator tool (and maybe others). Some of these GPI files have a different structure (eg Travel Guides) and are treated differently by the unit (especially with regard to whereabouts in the menu they appear).

I *think* this is what you're seeing.

That turned on a light. The "sample" Route 66 file that came preloaded says something about MAD Maps. I recall seeing that on the Garmin website as a prodcut they sell, maybe something like a Tour Guide. If the file structure is different that might explain why the menu treats it differently. It is obvious now that now all GPI files are the same. Thanks for switching on the light.

IS there a way to pull the POIs that came with the garmin into custom POI files? The one that I am trying to do is pull all the parking POIs so when I am in an area I don't know I can see if there is a parking lot around without having to search.

No. You can't extract data from the preloaded data other than to search for them and save them one by one as Favorites.