Extra_POI_Editor - A tool to View/Edit/Convert POI/TourGuides (Part 1)

I will have a look. Thanks for reporting the issue.

No problem loading my Favorites into EPE using File - Open Garmin Favorites. If you delete, change or otherwise alter any of the Favorites in EPE and then Exit the program, it prompts you to Save your changes.

The question I have is, if you click YES what happens? I'm finding that going back into the Nuvi favorites they appear to be exactly the same as they did prior to making the changes in EPE.

I found that if I told EPE to save it, it added a new one within the nüvi at the place I moved it to and added a "1" the name, e.g. Bart's Place and now Bart's Place 1.

I then selected Edit to delete the former and again to lop off the 1 on the latter. Worked for me.

When you click "Save", it automatically overwrite the original Current.GPX. Basically, it is the same as saving to a different GPX like Temp.gpx: on the next power-up, the old/new POI will be merged/modified into your Favorites.

When duplicate POI are found, I suspect the GPS to automatically add a differentiator like the "1" you are seeing.

@t923347,

You should look more closely at your Favorites after saving. There has to be a difference if you changed them.

Let me know if something needs to be changed on my side.

Turbo

I had 5 location in the current.gpx file that were duplicated but with different names, of course. I deleted all but one instance of each of these 5 locations. In addition I deleted 3 single favorites that I no longer needed. I then click on the X to close EPE and when prompted clicked YES to save the file. When I rebooted the Nuvi all of the deleted items were still in my list of favorites.

I also did a File - Save after my edits, instead of being prompted on exit with the same results.

It has always been my understanding that the current.gpx file was in fact an output file so just overwriting the old one with a new one didn't really accomplish anything because the Nuvi would simply create a new current.gpx using the copy stored in its non accessible memory when you reboot the unit. In other words you always end up with what you started with. That's why you have to have a file like Temp.gpx so the Nuvi uses the contents of it to output the current.gpx at boot up.

And that was my understanding also, but there must be some smoke and mirrors in there someplace. I went back and looked deeper and as I mentioned earlier, I had opened Favorites with EPE, made a location change on one favorite and then saved it. I then rebooted the nüvi and found that I had the original location and the new one with a 1 after it. On the nüvi, I deleted the original and edited the name of the new one by dropping the 1 suffix. Since then I had a chance to reboot my 750 and after reading your recent post, I examined the contents of my temp and current.gpx.

The nüvi displays the favorite correctly. Current.gpx (which I also understand is a copy of what's in internal memory) contains the altered favorite and not the old one. So far so good. However, Temp.gpx contains the original un-altered favorite and not the new one.

From this, I have to assume that the save from EPE was pushed to the internal copy at some point and this was then mirrored back to Current.gpx at boot up as Current.gpx has the modification time stamp of the most recent boot. Temp has an old date, so I'm not even sure what function Temp.gpx has...

I may be making too many assumptions about how this all works, but so far the way Favorites behave is a mystery to me.

True. I checked again in GarminDevice.xml and Current.gpx is an output only file.

Still, you cannot delete any POI using Current.gpx or Temp.gpx. POIs can only be deleted from the Favorites menu directly on the GPS. Garmin figured they needed to be very clever to prevent us from deleting your own Favorites.

I will add something in EPE to create Temp.gpx when the Favorites is currently loaded. This will solve this problem.

How do you put a carriage return on each line?

For example:
Item A
Item B

I tried to do it with a and it becomes double line-spaced. Without one then it is one continuous line.

Thanks in advance for the answer.

Hi Netizen2000,

I cannot read which character you used for the line break.Ok, you want to use the comment field and no tthe description field. Correct?

In the description field, just type hit the button on the keyboard and it should fo the trick.

In the comment field, you should try to use the | (pipe) character, like "ItemA|Item B" and it should put a line break between the 2. Do not forget to set the proper "Line Break" character to use for your GPS in the Preferences. If you used <br>, it should work as well and it will be converted correctly.

If I got it wrong, just explain a bit in more details what you have done.

Thanks,

Turbo

I added a few more features and corrected a couple bugs. v4.33 is still a beta. I still have to improve the View All POIs on Map. I think it is better anyways than before. Let me know.

In the meantime, here's a link to beta v4.33:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Some new stuff in this beta:

- (Bug report) Corrected a bad kml file parsing leading to loss of international characters

- (Request) Added a checkbox in the Preferences to remove the column header in the CSV output.

- Restored some keyboard shortcuts in pop-ups, menus and others.

- (Bug report) Corrected a problem causing Favorites not to be loaded.

- (Request) Added a save confirmation with the number of POI saved (only for Save, not Save As).

Turbo

Playing around and building source files for large POI files, it is often easier to organize the raw data by state. I normally work these in Excel with a worksheet for each state. Would it be possible for EPE to either open a workbook or at least retrieve the data from the active worksheet and not a CSV file? Some of my workbooks have 48 or more active worksheets, more if I work Canada in as well.

Hi a_user,

Seems possible although I have never done it which does not differ much from everything I have done in EPE. So far, I just see that you will need to have Excel to be installed on the computer running EPE. It should not be a too big requirement.

Let me check a bit in more details.

Turbo

Hi a_user,

It looks like it is working. I can open an excel file, find all the worksheets and scan all the cells.

Operation wise, I need to figure out how I am supposed to know that the worksheet names are States. I can probably ask the user or use one of the 24 columns settings or add a new one.

BTW, what are you expecting to do with this? Just read all worksheets using the M-Column assignment and I will merge everything in EPE? Then what? Let me know more about what you want to do.

What about saving? This can be done too.
Thanks,

Turbo

Being able to read the sheets is the important thing to me. I would do a merge/open to create a single GPX/CSV output. It's just that a lot of websites will allow you to search by state or province and when you have scraped the data, you need to massage it to put it into columns for processing. Working with smaller units leaves less chance to hose the final output. (I'm getting very good at variable length string manipulation.)

Just finished reading an XLS file with EPE. My computer crashed and I lost everything I did tonight. Damn! I'll have to start all over tomorrow.

At least, I know now that EPE can read an XLS file.

those creatures from Redmond strike again.

I know, the believers in the characters from Cupertino are chortling, but if the Mac OS is so great, why do they keep releasing fixes?

a_user,

Try this beta:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

It is not foul proof, but it seems to work ok. Do not forget to specify the M-Column Profile before opening the XLS file. EPE will read all worksheets using this profile and merge all POI.

LEt me know how it goes.

Turbo

Turbo,

It works. Now all I have to do is be certain all my worksheets are exactly the same. I've got some work to do on some of my earlier efforts were I was only concerned with building a 4 column CSV and not a full-featured GPX.

I need to do more testing, but the initial runs are good.

@a_user,

All right! This is a good start. In the future, it might be possible to have different column assignment for different worksheet. I plan also to have the possibility to select which worksheets you want to open, so you could process all of them or only some of them. Hopefully, this would be useful to more than one person...

Before I go there, I need to spend some time re-working the open/save dialog. I need to sub-class them which I have never done. Some challenges ahead.

Turbo,

While it would be nice to be able to have different formats for different sheets, the better solution would be to force all the input sheets to have the same layout. This will prevent the user from having to manipulate different masks for their sheets and then trying which mask went with which workbook and worksheet.

It also simplifies the upkeep of the source files as they would all then be forced to have the same exact layout which again speeds any updates once you complete the initial layout.

I'm getting smarter as I remember some of the rules I had forgotten when I programmed. (The only book on 'C' was the single Kernigan and Ritchie 1/4" thick one.)

Thanks again for your efforts. This is truly becoming a SAK (Swiss Army Knife) program for handling POI files.

Ok. I won't do anything for now.

Would you like the ability to save as a .xls file?

Here's how nice it can be: I could add the ability to export as xls and create worksheets based on States or Categories.

Turbo

Using Excel is how I do large POI files, and why I worked with Turbo on a few of his features, like launching his editor with a filename, and saving different column-sequence "templates" for his M-column input/output.

Originally I built my Excel add-in to import GPX files and save as csv (to edit and then rebuild in EPE), but you can launch EPE with any csv file directly with the add-in.

It will also insert/remove two sets of column headers to help keep your file organized.

It's kind of a work in progress but I confess that I haven't worked much on it lately. If you're interested, it's here:
http://gpspois.wikispaces.com/

That might be something that could come in handy. Assume you had EPE do the geocoding, it would be nice to write those back into the source file.

My standard layout is POI Name, Address, City, State, PC, Phone, Desc, and Lon/Lat. The only reason to put the coordinates in the last 2 columns is to prevent the data from being shifted if a blank column is not saved.

Except for not having the Excel macro and calculation functions, you could do quite a lot of large file edits in EPE if you had a "table" view and simple edits.

Meaning, take the existing gpx fields and display them in sortable columns, and multi-line deleteable rows. One column sorts would work, but Excel-like 3 column sorts are ideal.

Then using Save As and Merge you'd be able to do quite a bit of "slicing & dicing".

I built in Geocoding & Reverse geocoding as well as some speed warning stuff.

I really don't recal the state I left it in for release, but I may have taken out one of the geocoding routines, and you need a (free) Google Maps API key.

If there is any further interest I might start that project back up, but it does what I need and Turbo keeps adding features, so ...

Sorry JD4x4, I just added this feature on a_user request. I forgot you were doing this as well. I made a quick search on the web and found out how easy it was to read/process xls file and just added it.

Some of your ideas for EPE are good. Display in tables and so on. I am kind of stuck with my current front-end GArmin-like displays. I need to change that before going forward unless I open another windown. I need to think about my next move...

Don't be sorry Turbo! I'd rather use EPE for everything. I only built the Excel thing because I wanted to edit GPX in a spreadsheet grid/table, and nothing quite does that.

I've always thought you should do a table by opening it in a new window. I don't think changing your current view would be a good idea at all. But there are times that one record per row with sortable columns just can't be beat for bulk edits, sorts & comparisons.

I don't know just how many spreadsheet functions VB has built-in, but I think there are at least some displays, yeah?

Hi JD4x4,

Careful what you wish for, you may get it!!!

Stay tuned! I just got a cool idea...

Thanks!

Hi a_user & JD4x4,

Try this beta version:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

It will allow you to "Save As", "Export by States" and "Export by Categories" to an Excel XLS file. If there are more than one State or Category, it will split it in different worksheets inside the same XLS file. All worksheets will be named according to State or Category. Obviously, you can use the File-Open menu and read the XLS file back.

Do not forget to set the M-Column Assignment in the Options menu as this will be used to write and read back the files.

Warning: when saving, do not use a big file. It will take around 5 seconds per 100 POIs to save. If you have a 1000 POIs, it will take a minute. There is a way to improve this, but it is a bit more work and I was too excited to post this beta version.

@JD4x4,

About my cool idea. Tell me if it makes sense. Instead of exporting to an xls file, I will export to Excel and keep the Excel application open to you. It will allow you to browse and even modify your POIs (a bit like Open in MapSource). Once you are done, you do not close or save the Excel file. Instead you go back to EPE and tell it you are done. EPE will automatically grab everything back form Excel and bring it back to EPE. Basically this is the same as a File-Save to XLS, Open in Excel, Save in Excel and reopen in EPE, but all will be automated.

My only drawback is that you must ensure no other Excel files are open before and after you do this. When EPE grabs the Excel content, it will not know which Excel application to grab from when more than one is open. This means you can open more instance, but when you go back to EPE, only one can be opened.

Is it workable?

Oh yeah! That was the big idea: you wanted a way to see all POI in a table, well Excel will do that for you. EPE will just help in the process to ease your life.

NOTE: Reading and writing XLS file will not work if you do not have Excel installed on your computer. This will crash EPE with a runtime error.

When I try File Open I get a Run-Time Error 13, Type Mismatch

Try this one instead:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Turbo

That works, thanks.

Makes sense, and sounds like it would work for the things I use Excel for. My add-in attaches when Excel opens any file, so my speed conversion and line feed macros and other things should work as well.

Would you send all of the gpx waypoint fields to Excel? I sometimes do bulk category, link, display mode, symbol and proximity edits as well. (Edit, afterthought- I'm guessing you'd use the M-column fields, and that would work for me.)

I had once thought of doing my Excel add-in as an Open Office spreadsheet add-in so it might be of use to more people. I think OO emulates most MSOffice programming and spreadsheet functions, but I'm not positive. Just throwing that out there to see if anyone thinks it's worth the effort.

I think I got the script error issue when using View All POIs on Map.

Try this:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Turbo

Turbo,

Phone numbers are not handled correctly. No formatting.

My source file is formatted as a phone number (NNN) XXX-YYYY, but the display is just digits.

Hi a_user,

From where to where?

Source = gpx? csv? Did you use auto extraction?
Destination = EPE display? xls? gpx? csv?

More info please or send me the file with instruction.

Thanks,

Turbo

BTW, I solved the XLS writing speed. I will post after I fixed your phone numbers.

I'm using a XLS input. Multiple worksheets in the workbook. I think I have about 35 or more populated. I'm trying to do a bulk code right now and EPE is showing 4036 POI.

I do not have this problem. I put a phone number in its own column with the format you indicated. When I loaded the XLS in EPE, all is fine.

If you want, email me your XLS.

Turbo

to send me your address.

I still have the problem.

Hi a_user,

You made me laugh when I opened your xls file! LOL! Your phone numbers "appear" to be (XXX) YYY-ZZZZ, but they are typed XXXYYYZZZZ and you used Excel to format it as (XXX) YYY-ZZZZ. EPE could only see the numbers.

To solve this problem for you, I need to read the cell formatting and apply the conversion myself. Probably do-able. I will check that tomorrow.

Turbo

Once upon a time I learned to always work with a copy of a data file and it was a good lesson. This evening, I just tried out EPE 4.37 on a 382KB csv file that had been saved with 4.33 as a Garmin CSV. All was good with the original. I then edited one line and then saved it back as a Garmin CSV overwriting the copy I was working with. It then showed to be a 0 byte file and opening it with Excel showed nothing to be in it.

Thinking it was a fluke, I made another copy of my original. Made a change and saved it and closed EPE. 0 bytes again...

I then went back to 4.33 and recreated these steps and the saved copy was correct. Might be something you want to look at just in case it's not just me.

Must be covered under the "Law of Unintended Consequences"

If this is the case that the data was stored as all digits, the MColumn designation for that field was Phone. Shouldn't the program have read the digits as belonging to a phone number and acted according to the field designation?

Yes and no. The phone number format differs from one country to the other. Even when EPE extract phone numbers, it does not re-format them. I agree that for North America, it would be possible to offer this possibility.

Well, in that case a broke was introduced between 4.31 and 4.36. 4.31 reads the 10 digit string and displays it formatted with the (NNN) XXX-YYYY format.

V4.31 could not read XLS file, but only CSV. When you exported your xls to CSV, Excel was bright enought to preserve the formatting and this is probably why you remember seeing the right format.

When EPE reads an XLS file, it is not bright enough (yet!) to apply the cell format. I looked for a way to do this, but could not. Still, I'll find a way.

Ok, here's another beta.

I said this before, but I think I solve the script error issue when viewing all poi on the map. I also center the view area and adapted the zoom factor to the POIs.

I solved the Save to Garmin CSV and other CSV formats issue.

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Still, I need to find a way to preserve the XLS phone number format for a_user.

True, 4.31 was reading a CSV, but the phone number field was not formatted in the CSV. It was 10 digits, no parens, spaces, or dashes. I'll send the csv to the same address.

EDIT: Just reopened the file and it opened in 4.31 with no formatting. See my email for a possible explanation.

I got the script error on V4.39 when selecting view all.