TourGuide Success Story!!!

What exactly is tour guide?

...that gives you a radius alert, so that you will be alerted anytime you are within that radius, regardless of the direction

TourGuides will allow you to set a radius around a specific POI. For example, with Cracker Barrel; most, if not all Cracker Barrels are located along interstate highways. If you have the Cracker Barrel POI loaded, you will not get an alert unless you are on the street where the particular restaurant is located. However, if you have it set up as a TourGuide, and, let's say, you have the alert set for 2000 feet, you will receive an alert when you get 2000 feet (approx.) from the Cracker Barrel. This will work from any direction. Great way to set up POI's if you want to be alerted to a particular type of establishment.

that is a nice tool. can't wait to try it.

Is there anywhere where these tourguides are posted for general use? I know we have the POI's posted, but do we have tourguides posted as well?

It would be nice to not have to recreate the wheel if someone like the OP already has a copy.

TourGuides are not posted but they are fairly easy to create. All you have to do is add the term TourGuide to the file name. For example, TourGuide Cracker Barrel.csv, TourGuide Cracker Barrel.mp3, etc. You get the idea. Some people will use TourGuide at the end of the file name, for example, Cracker Barrel TourGuide,csv, Cracker Barrel TourGuide.mp3, etc. Be sure that you use the term TourGuide exactly as I have it printed here. All of the above formats will work. When you load them into your GPS, be sure to use the "Manual" setting so that you can establish the parameters that you wish to use for each TourGuide. One word of advice, do not create too many TourGuides because they will start to overlap each other and will drive you crazy. Start with one or two and see how you like them. You can expand from there if you wish.

Garmin's website has some sources for TourGuides at this link:
http://www8.garmin.com/products/tourGuideSource/

I created a TourGuide from the Hooters restaurant POI. But since I live 1/2 km from a Hooters, I set the proximity alert at 400 metres so it does not alert me to a Hooters every time I leave home. Otherwise I would never get anywhere!

I have my Cracker Barrel TourGuide distance set at 10,560 feet (2 miles) so I have plenty of time to think about whether I want to stop or not. Works great! Oh, I also have my Rest Stops setup as a TourGuide at 10,560 feet too.

Set both for 12,000 feet... It goes off before the 2 mile signs..... Other POI's set for 2000 feet.

TourGuide is perfect for Cracker Barrel, due to the distance from the highway's that they are usually at...

Not wanting to sound condecending, but why a TourGuide for rest stops? I have just a plain, ordinary alert set up for 3 miles. I drove from NC to MN and back, and it worked perfectly, since the rest stops are on the interstate. Tho, it will work the same way as regular alert or TourGuide.

I decided to use the TourGuide method just in case someone chose the coordinates for the rest stop building instead of where you exit the Interstate highway. It doesn't take any longer to setup the POI as a TourGuide versus a regular alert...so I chose TourGuide just to be sure I'm alerted.

"Travel by GPS™ tour guides are sightseeing adventures that include media rich audio narration and visual representation. GPS tour guides enable you visit what you want to see at your own pace. Example GPS tours are provided here free. To learn more about creating your own tours..."

http://travelbygps.com/TourGuide.php

...but I found the TourGuides annoying. I set up a couple for 7-11 and Mickey D but around locally it was annoying having the alerts pop up. At first, I was going to delete the locations in my home area but found it time consuming so I went back to just plain POIs. Just my opinion.

I would never setup anything like 7-11 stores or Mickey Ds as TourGuide POIs because you'll be alerted about every five minutes...and I don't think anyone wants that to happen. There are just too many of them, much like Home Depots, Starbucks or a zillion other similar places. It would almost be as bad as setting up alerts for each stoplight or stop sign! However, Rest stops and Cracker Barrel restaurants are very different because there aren't that many of them, and they are all located along Interstate highways. So, unless you live extremely close to an Interstate highway that has either a rest stop and/or a Cracker Barrel restaurant nearby the alert will never activate.

I also have New Time Zone POIs setup as a TourGuide at 10,560 feet too - just so I'm aware of the change. However, if I lived extremely close to where a time zone changes I would never do that...because (of course) I'd get an alert all the time.

It seems most of the TourGuide discussion refers to .cvs files and manual loading. Will the TourGuide filename also work with .gpx files and imbedded alerts?

Yes they will work with gpx files also.I use Extra Poi Editor to build my alert distance in the file so I can use express mode for poiloader.You still have to have TourGuide in the file name.

This is how I do it to set the distance.

You can download Extra Poi Editor at http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/Extra_POI_Editor and build the distance in for the alert. 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 distance 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 in feet you want for the alert. Then click replace all. You now have distance set for each custom poi. Then save as a gpx file. You will lose the built in alert if you save as a csv file. The nice thing about this method is that you can use express mode for poiloader.