How to combine or blend POI files?

 

I was trying to blend the Home Depot, Menards and Lowes POI files into one, but even a simple cut and paste by column fails completely - I've written quite a few Excel spread sheets and am flummoxed by my utter failure in this seemingly simple task.

Any ideas on how to blend? It would be nice to see a complete list and not have to keep jumping back and paging down to find the nearest 2X4 or whatnot...

Feel free to just post a new POI if you wish, I have no burning desire to create it myself after the beatdown it's given me already. smile

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17

How to combine or blend POI files?

Are you saving it in the correct file format?
If I could get a copy of the files I could probably "GET ER DONE". Give me some feedback and let me know.

Extra POI Editor

Probably the easiest way to do this is to use the merge feature in Turboccc's Extra POI Editor program. Here is the link to his thread http://www.poi-factory.com/node/21156

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Actually, I wasn't even able

Actually, I wasn't even able to successfully paste copied columns. And the merge feature in Excel failed as well. I'll look at the program you've mentioned.

These are the source files:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/12306
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/276
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/13818

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17

Another way to accomplish this

could be to create a category called "Home Improvement". When you are searching on the gps, you can choose to view all locations (not just Lowes, Home Depot, etc) that are under that category.

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Nuvi 3597 LMT

I had seen mention of

I had seen mention of category's before but I don't see an intuitive way to create category's for POI's in my 775 - is this done before loading?.

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17

Categories for your custom pois

1.Go back to the main folder on the computer you created your custom pois in and click on it. You will now see the files you have downloaded.
2.Right click mouse on any blank space and select new folder. Renamed the subfolder to the category you want for example Department stores for your Pennys, Sears and Target stores.Home Improvements for your Lowes and Home Depot.
3.Repeat step 2 until you have all the subfolders in main poi folder with the categories that you need.
4.Drag the csv, gpx, bmp and mp3 file into the correct subfolder. They should look like this.

>My pois=main folder
>>Home Improvements=subfolder
>>>Lowes.csv
>>>Lowes.bmp
>>>Lowes.mp3
>>>Home Depot.csv
>>>Home Depot.bmp
>>>Home Depot.mp3

>>Department stores=subfolder
>>>Pennys.csv
>>>Pennys.bmp
>>>Pennys.mp3
>>>Sears.csv
>>>Sears.bmp
>>>Sears.mp3
>>>Targets.gpx
>>>Targets.bmp
>>>Targets.mp3

>>Restaurants=subfolder
>>>TourGuide Cracker Barrel.csv
>>>TourGuide Cracker Barrel.bmp
>>>TourGuideCrackerBarrel.mp3
>>>Sonny's.csv
>>>Sonny's.bmp
>>>Sonny's.mp3

>>Alerts=subfolder
>>>Redlight cameras.csv
>>>Redlight cameras.bmp
>>>Redlight cameras.mp3
>>>Speed cameras.csv
>>>Speed cameras.bmp
>>>Speed cameras.mp3

5.Connect your GPS to your computer using the usb cable.
6.Now run poi loader http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/ .
7.When you see screen find device make sure you select the proper one. If using SD card use the pull down window .The arrow located across from device and selects the SD card.
8.Click next and put mark in Install new custom Poi’s onto your device.
9.Click next. Using Browse make sure to select the folder location for My poi’s not the subfolders. Looking below on same screen you will see selection for either express or manual mode. If you plan to set alerts for your custom poi’s select the manual mode . This will allow you to set alert by speed or distance. Click next.
10.Now you should get message so many points of interest has been installed to your device.
19.Based on model. Touch where to, extras and touch custom pois last and you will see the ones you downloaded.
11.Each time you run poiloader it will over write the existing files.
12. On the Nuvi 8x5 series. After you load the pois to your Garmin you will need to remove the battery or hold the off switch in the off position for 10 seconds to clear the memory before your new pois will take effect.

Tips.
The biggest problems with the alerts and icons not working are the files not being named the same except for extensions and having double extensions. Double-check each of them. The best way to prevent double extensions is to go to your folder options in the control panel and click view then find hide extensions for known file types and remove the check mark. Click ok.

You can download Extra Poi Editor at http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/Extra_POI_Editor and build the alert in. When you download the program if you get message about OCX file missing scroll down on the main page and under troubleshooting you will find the Extra Poi Editor Installer that you will need to download. Once installation is completed you will need to set up the preferences you want first. Under options click on preferences. For example using ft for input. Under units you will see editor, select Imperial/US. For Field Read and Field save select Metric. After setting your preferences click on file and click open to select from your computer the file you want to build the alerts for. Then go to edit and click on replace field. Once the next screen comes up use the down arrow for Field name and pick proximity. Under new field value put in the distance you want for the alert. Then click replace all. You now have alert set for each custom poi. Then save the gpx file.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Thank you for the clear

Thank you for the clear answer - it looks fairly straight forward, and I do appreciate the detail... just in case smile

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17

Combining files

Couldn't you just open each with notepad, copy and paste together and save as .csv?
I'm going to give this a try.

When my wife an I travel we want to know about all stores in an area like Wal Mart, Target etc, so instead of going to each stores poi if they were combined, you could pull up the stores poi and it would show all in that area.

The same would go for resturants, if we could not deciede on Applebees, TGI Fridays or the like we could pull up one POI and see what is closest.

I'll test it in my area where I already know all the stores to see if it works.

Combining Files

grigglesnbean wrote:

...

When my wife an I travel we want to know about all stores in an area like Wal Mart, Target etc, so instead of going to each stores poi if they were combined, you could pull up the stores poi and it would show all in that area.

The same would go for resturants, if we could not deciede on Applebees, TGI Fridays or the like we could pull up one POI and see what is closest.

...

The method charlesd45 mentioned above does this exactly. Example: When you search for Restaurants, you a presented a list of Cracker Barrel, Wendy's, ect. But, at the top of this list is a button labeled All Categories. If you select that you will see a list of all restaurants in your file displayed by distance. This way, you can search a specific brand or any of the lot that are nearby.

A real advantage of doing it this way is that when the Cracker Barrel file gets updated, you simply replace the old file with the new and re-run POI Loader. You won't have to go through any combining/manipulating of files.

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"There's no substitute for local knowledge" nüvi 750, nüvi 3597

EPE

With Extra_POI_Editor, if you merge all POIs using "Merge Open" and click on "View All POIs on Map", POIs from different files will be displayed on the map using a different color.

I thought it would be nice.

Turbo

Combing or Blending

Using Excell I had no problem copy and pasting the files together. The new file is: Homedepot-Lowes-Menards.cvs

I uploaded it for you.

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Bill

Check for this

jombl2 wrote:

I was trying to blend the Home Depot, Menards and Lowes POI files into one, but even a simple cut and paste by column fails completely - I've written quite a few Excel spread sheets and am flummoxed by my utter failure in this seemingly simple task.

Any ideas on how to blend? It would be nice to see a complete list and not have to keep jumping back and paging down to find the nearest 2X4 or whatnot...

Feel free to just post a new POI if you wish, I have no burning desire to create it myself after the beatdown it's given me already. smile

I also was combining files for the first time and experincing difficulty until I realized that when you save the combined file it saves as an XL file and not a CVS file. You might need to go back to file and resave as a CVS file?

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rv traveller

It is a lot faster to use

It is a lot faster to use Extra Poi Editor to merge files using the merge open function.You can save as a gpx or csv.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Homedepot-Lowes-Menards.csv

bfuller9999, how does one get the Homedepot-Lowes-Menards.csv file you uploaded. I would like to take a look at it but I am ignorant and don't know where to go to get the file. Also, I think you made a typo for the extension name. It should be csv.
Thanks.

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Kudos to all at POI Factory - a great site!

thank you

Thanks for the blend, what spreadsheet version did you use?

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17

Home Depot - Lowes - Menards

Sorry for the problem. It's uploaded now.

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Bill

Mac OSX

Is there a Mac OSX program that is similar?