POI .csv file format specs

column 1 - Longitude (up to 6 decimal places)
Column 2 - Latitude (up to 6 decimal places)
Column 3 - POI name
Column 4 - Additional information about the POI. This column often contains user friendly information such as street address, phone numbers, hours of operation or just about anything else you want. There is no format for this column.

Great info. I like the date of the POI being recorded in column 4 as that helps to determine how old the POI is.

Actually I prefer the location name in column three.. i.e. Best Buy where ever etc...

Format, as specified by Garmin's 'POI Loader', refers to structure as opposed to the data that field contains. Field 4 does have a format of sorts. It can contain linefeeds and commas, but then need to be enclosed in quotes. i.e.:
"Route 13, City
State
Zip"

A good place to start is the help section of 'POI Loader'.
The following are examples of Custom POIs in the proper format:
-94.81549,38.80390,Bonita
-94.79731,38.81099,Ridgeview@25
-94.74240,38.81952,Heritage Park,Perfect site for a picnic
-94.76416,38.81227,Garmin,"1200 E. 151st Street
Olathe,KS 66062
913/397.8300"

RT

It depends on how you interpret POI. Does POI or Point of Interest refer to a single location (yes) or does it refer to a file containing multiple points of interest (yes too.)

RT you are correct in that there are formatting rules for including certain items in the description, but there is no format stating column 4 has to contain specific information. Again, a semantics issue in how we use and define the term format. In fact, column 4 is completely optional and does not have to contain any data.

(I hadn't look at it in that manner)

I would argue that a POI is a POINT of interest - a SINGLE point.

A file containing multiple points of interest would be a Custom POI File (or perhaps something else) but not a POI.

From another website I found this:

Define: POI

POI stands for Points Of Interest and is the database of nearly everything other than roads in GPS navigation data. Restaurants, hotels, gas stations, museums, and other attractions are all examples of POIs.

Argue if you like, however POI is the name for a database.

Very good description RT.

Point vs points... Hmmmm Doesn't Garmin call the individual locations points of interst? Doesn't poi factory call the poi data base poi files? I would think that the argument can be made for both.. i.e. a poi = a poi file or a point of interest...

Since Garmin's 'POI Loader' is the program for loading, it is the standard we must go by for Garmin definitions.

From 'POI Loader": Garmin POI Loader allows you to retrieve Custom Points of Interest (POIs) from data files (.csv and .gpx) and install them into your compatible Garmin GPS device or onto a storage card. They also refer to individual POIs in a .gpx or csv file. Therefore, a POI is one Point of Interest within a POI file that contains one or more POIs. To solidify this definition, one only has to look at the final window when one loads the POI file; i.e. "Congratulations! You have successfully installed xxxx Points of Interest to your computer."

'POI Loader' is also the location for the definition of 'format' as it applies to Garmin POIs; i.e. The structure of, not the data contained within, the POI.

RT

Which model of GPS is capable of displaying non-english characters ?
I have seen some foreign models but not sure what encoding they use. Unicode or any other older codes

I have some data with mixed English and non-english characters. I would like to try it but not sure which software can do that with a GPS model that works.

Anyone try that before ?