POI icon problems and how to sort POI sets

 

I've a Nuvi 285w. This past weekend I discovered this wonderful site and downloaded a bunch of POI files, their associated icons and a few sounds. I made sure the filenames of the associated POI, icon and sound files are exactly the same (excepting the file extension, of course). Some of my POI sets don't display their icon. Some do. I'm really wondering why several of my data sets don't display their icon when I look at them via:

Extras> Custom POIs> (POI Category - Say, Target) > (select individual location) > Map

Like I said, when I do the exact same proceedure for a different POI dataset, say Chilis, I see the icon displayed on the map. Can anyone tell me where things are going wrong and how to fix it? I tried troubleshooting it last night and I'm completely stumped at this time.

Also, what determines the displayed order of the POI sets within the Nuvi? I would like the POI to be in alphabetical order. It looks to me like they are sorted by file date/time with the most recent file appearing at the bottom of the Custom POI list in the Nuvi.

I couldn't find answers to either of these questions in the FAQ.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

here's some help

POI Loading Procedure Using WINDOWS

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

1. Download and install the latest version of POI Loader 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. POI files may be either CSV or GPX format. GPX format files are written using the XML programming language and normally contain more information about a particular point of interest so the downloaded file size is much larger than a CSV format file.

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. Nüvi 2XX and Nüvi 1XXX 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.

6. Using Windows Explorer, go to C:\Garmin. This must be the same folder that has the program POI Loader.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 POI Loader.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 Nüvi. POI Loader will only load about 32 POI files along with their icon and alert sounds from a single folder.

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 Nüvi to your computer using the USB cable. Wait for the Nüvi 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 POI Loader.

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

13. Press Next and wait for the program to find your Nüvi. The Nüvi 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 Nüvi. Feet and Miles per hour or Meters and Kilometers.

16. The Nüvi POI Loader 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. The default alert sound is a bong or ding. NOTE: If a file name contains ANY numbers, POI Loader will assume it is a speed alert and play the sound file for that POI automatically. If you have set a speed alert and are travelling faster than the alert speed, the alert will continue to sound until you are at or below the alert speed. Press Next.

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

NOTE: Every time you run POI Loader, it will overwrite the previous output file and you will loose any POI not contained in your source folder so all files have to be present in the folder every time you run POI Loader.

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

19. Power up the Nüvi 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.

ADVANCED OPTIONS

POI files can be grouped and categorized. The most common method is by using sub folders. Sub folders are created under your main folder holding your POI files. You can only have one level of sub folders.

An example is:

My POI top level
>Food sub folder
>>Applebees.csv POI file
>>Applebees.bmp icon file
>>Applebees.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file
>>Cracker Barrel.gpx POI file
>>Cracker Barrel.bmp icon file
>>Cracker Barrel.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file

>Stores sub folder
>>Best Buy.csv POI file
>>Best Buy.bmp icon file
>>Best Buy.mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file
>>Wal Mart (Combined).csv POI file
>> Wal Mart (Combined).bmp icon file
>> Wal Mart (Combined).mp3 (wav) custom alert sound file

>Fuel Locations sub folder
>>Loves.GPX POI file
>>Loves.bmp icon file
>>Loves.wav custom alert sound file
>>Pilot Locations.GPX POI file
>>Pilot Locations.bmp icon file
>>Pilot Locations.wav custom alert sound file

Selecting Where To --> Extras --> Custom POI will show three entries, Food, Stores, and Fuel Locations. Pressing one of these names will show the POI files contained in that folder. NOTE: You must have more than one category in order for the category method to work. Having only a single subfolder will display all the file names rather than the desired group name.

There is no change to how POI Loader is run. POI Loader is told to load the contents of the top level folder, My POI. The sub folder names become category names. Using the subfolder method you can have 32 sub folders each with 32 POI files along with custom icons and alerts.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

Really, really great

Really, really great instructions!!!!

Maybe this should be sticky???, and kept on top of the posts??

Virgo

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Virgo53 Nuvi 780/265W

The only thing that could

The only thing that could have happened is that somehow my extensions somehow got hidden.

I'll have to go one by one tonight and figure this out. Based on my first read, it looks like I did everything as instructed. But, then it SHOULD have worked. smile

I hadn't realized subfolders would create categories. That's nice to know. However, my original second question remains, that is, POI must get loaded within any given subfolder based on the date of the file (most recent last). Or, duh, maybe I've got that folder sorted that way. (note to self, check that tonight)

Thanks for the Info.

I'll solve this tonight and (sheepishly) report back tomorrow to report where I was previously stupid!

razz

Changing the order that POI's appear

Great instructions. I've got several categories and like to see them in the order I use most. For example, if I want to see shopping first, then food and traffic enforcement last, I name the folders as:

a Shopping
b Food
z Traffic enforcement

Not to make it more complicated but this has been helpful when there are multiple pages of categories and I want the ones I use most on the first page.

The plot thickens

I didn't find anything inherently wrong with my approach last night. However, I did move the POI files, icons and sounds from my thumb drive to my computer's hard drive before I had POI Loader create the Custom POI file. I can't explain it because it doesn't make any sense but my Sandisk thumbdrive must have some encryption on it or something like that because once I moved the POI to the computer, the subfolders and POI files appeared in the Garmin in the correct order I expected to see. Also, all POI but my "Shopping" subfolder have the correct icons associated with them. I've no idea why my shopping subfolder doesn't have the icons or the associated sounds mated with the POIs. But, earlier in the night they were matched. It is weird and very inconsistent. I'm going to try again tonight but tonight I'm going to use a different computer. It shouldn't matter but....

One thing I thought of this morning is that I'm having the POI Loader place the Custom POI file directly onto my SD card whilst my SD card is in the Garmin. Can someone tell me if that is a no, no or if they are successfully doing the same thing?

Thanks.

Yes you can leave the sd

Yes you can leave the sd card in th gps and run poiloader.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.

I would delete the old files from the card first.

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

Micro SD

confused Would a micro SD (in an adapter) vs. a regular SD possibly make a difference to the GPS? Plus, any size limits on the SD, e.g., 4gb - 8gb?

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Harry. Nuvi265wt

as long as the adapter

smok7168 wrote:

confused Would a micro SD (in an adapter) vs. a regular SD possibly make a difference to the GPS? Plus, any size limits on the SD, e.g., 4gb - 8gb?

As long as the adapter will allow the micro to be read from and written to there should be no issues. I've bought some store brands where the Micro is good but the adapter doesn't work.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

Check the bmp Properties

Some GPS units and some icon bmp file types don't play together.

A 24x24 pixel 256-color bitmap works with my Zumo 550. But the Zumo 660 has a bug where only 16-color bitmaps display.

Compare the properties of ones that work and ones that don't display on your GPS model.

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Zumo 550 & Zumo 665 My alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.

A successful conclusion

Last night I moved the POI folder to a new computer, installed POI Loader from scratch, copied sox.exe and deleted the current poi file on my SD card. It worked like a charm. So, I can only conlude there was something screwy about my other computer, the installation of POI Loader or trying to overwrite the previous poi file created bizarre problems.

Like I said in a previous post, I can't explain it. I just know that I've got it working now. Henceforth, I'll always delete the previous poi file from the card before I create a new one.

Thank you to one and all for your help.