Lost POIs on Garmin 755t

Look under "Where To", "Extras". That is where they are saved.

You would need to have used Garmin's POIloader to get the pois on your Nuvi. Once there, they would appear under Where To - Extras - Custom POIs. They don't appear under regular Where To - Custom Points of Interest icon.

Thanks, guys. I went to Extras and there they were. Only one problem. I put in park names that should be in the data under spell (ie, Crater Lake) and the query came back empty. If I want I can scroll through the heading and I get close parks, but I cannot tell if it is from the download or from the original garmin maps. It looks like it is just the garmin listing.

If your in Where To - Extras - Custom POIs and are using spell then the results would be coming from the POIs you downloaded and not from the built in POIs.

If your using spell from Where To - Custom Points of Interest then the results are coming from the built in POIs and not from the ones you have added.

Here is a procedure that will answer a lot of your questions regarding loading POI.

Basic POI Loading Procedure Using WINDOWS

Following these instructions will allow you to load custom POI into your Garmin unit. These are VERY BASIC instructions and are intended as a process on how to load POI to the memory in your unit.

1. Download and install the latest version of POILoader from http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/.

2. Create a Folder to hold all your Custom POI. NOTE: I put my folder on my Desktop.

3. Download the desired POI files from POI Factory and put them into the folder created in Step 2.

4. Visit the Icon library and download the desired icons for your POI files and put them into the folder created in Step 2.

5. Visit the Sounds Library and download the desired sound files for your POI. NUVI 2XX units require WAV sound files. WAV files require you to install a sound conversion program called SOX. SOX.EXE can be downloaded from http://rapidshare.com:80/files/139638423/sox.zip. Unzip the folder containing the program SOX.EXE. Select the SOX.EXE file, right click and select COPY. NOTE: You only need to load SOX once.

6. Using Windows Explorer, go to C:\Program Files\Garmin. This must be the same folder that has the program POILoader.exe. Right click on any BLANK space in this folder. Select PASTE. SOX.EXE should now be copied to the folder. Check and be certain the folder contains BOTH POILoader.EXE and SOX.EXE. If SOX.EXE is not copied to this folder, WAV sounds will not play.

7. Using Windows Explorer or another program, open the folder containing the files to be loaded into your NUVI.

8. Match the file name to the ICON file. Rename the ICON file so it has the same name as the POI file. POI files can be either CSV or GPX – it doesn’t matter. These file names must match exactly with the exception of the file extension. NOTE: there can only be one period in a file name. A period in a file name marks the beginning of the file extension. Icon file names can only end in BMP.

9. Match the file name to the SOUND file. Rename the SOUND file so it has the same name as the POI file. POI files can be either CSV or GPX – it doesn’t matter. These file names must match exactly with the exception of the file extension. NOTE: there can only be one period in a file name. A period in a file name marks the beginning of the file extension. Sound file names can only end in MP3 or WAV. Using WAV files requires another program not found on POI-Factory.

10. Connect your NUVI to your computer using the USB cable. Wait for the NUVI to show it is connected and ready to receive files (Black screen with an ICON at the bottom showing it is connected to the computer.)

11. Run POILoader.

12. Select Garmin Device as Where to save your Points of Interest.

13. Press Next and wait for the program to find your NUVI. The NUVI will be shown in the box labeled Device:.

14. Press Next. The program will ask the location of the files to be loaded. Use the BROWSE button and select the FOLDER containing the POI, ICON, and SOUND (Alert) files.

15. Select the measurement units used for your NUVI. Feet and Miles per hour or Meters and Kilometers.

16. The NUVI suggests running the program in Automatic. For BASIC file loading, this is sufficient. NOTE: The only two alert sounds that will play automatically are for Red light and Speed cameras. For other alert sounds to play, you must select MANUAL and set either a distance or speed alert trigger. NOTE: If a file name contains ANY number, POILoader will assume it is a speed alert and play the sound file for that POI automatically. Press Next.

17. POILoader will begin to convert the POI files, ICONs and ALERT sounds and load them to your NUVI. If POILoader encounters an error with a source file, it will tell you the name of the file POI file containing an error. When finished, POILoader will tell you the number of POI successfully loaded to your NUVI.

NOTE: Every time you run POILoader, it will overwrite the previous output file and you will loose any POI not contained in your source folder.

18. Disconnect your NUVI using the Stop or Eject USB device.

19. Power up the NUVI and select WHERE TO -> EXTRAS and see if CUSTOM POI is displayed. Press CUSTOM POI and you should see a list of all the POI loaded.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

20. If you do not see a custom icon or hear the custom alert sound for a Custom POI that successfully loaded, it is most likely because you have a double file extension (two periods in one or more of the file names.)

21. Open Windows Explorer. Select TOOLS. Select Folder Options. Select VIEW. Under FILES AND FOLDERS uncheck the box that states: Hide extensions for known file types.

22. Using Windows Explorer, open the FOLDER containing the custom POI files, icons, and alert files. Verify each file name has only ONE period just before the 3 character file extension. Rename any files containing more than one period so the file contains only ONE period.

23. Restart this procedure at Step 8.

Repeat as necessary.

As you are using a 755, you don't need SOX, but I recommend it and using WAV files for the alert sounds.

I went in and checked after reading all the help and found that I do have more pois than I thought and that the spell search does work.

I had used the process a_user outlined, but only after floundering a while. It is an excellent tutorial.

I now find I did such a through job of downloading, though I did not know it at the time, that I have duplicate files on my 755. How do I get rid of the duplicates?

What are duplicates? It's very likely you will have duplicates of the built-in POI, and depending on the files you load when doing custom POI you will have duplicate locations. But you shouldn't have duplicate file names.

Now Favorites is a different animal and it is entirely possible to have duplicates in that list. You need to delete them using the procedure in your Nuvi. As Favorites are stored in protected memory, you have to use the nuvi interface.

If you have duplicate custom listings such as 2 files having the same parks, you probably have 2 POI.GPI files in different folders on the unit or SD card. You can delete these and rerun POILoader to reload only one set.