POI alerts

When you upload the poi file(s) to your gpsR, is to use the beta version 2.4.0.1 of the poi loader, then in manual mode you can select a proximity (distance) for your points of interest file.

Using POI Loader to upload to "unit" you should reach a screen to set alarms Manually or automatically - setting manually you can have an proximity alert for any distance up to about 25 miles (in feet or meters) and you can also set a
speed alert .
One problem I have had is that my C330 "sometimes" gives me properr alert while other times it differs ! Very recently returned from 2500 mile trip to San Antonio and back - alerts only worked I'd estimate 80 % of time ! Checked POI's today - cannot see any difference in individual locations ! Who knows !!!!!

...that for such things as redlight alerts, response is better if stored to main memory and not on SD card.

Another possibility is that the actual Lat/Lon is off a bit, thereby giving a delayed alert or none at all.

I've just finished a series of experiments on Alerts and Alert Distances. The rules I've come up with for the C5xx series, running V5.4 firmware (of course, other units, other firmwares could vary), are as follows:-

• Alert distances are by road, not "as the crow flies".
  This makes sense for an automotive unit - but it does mean that the Proximity circle that Mapsource draws is wrong.

• The POI has to be on the road you are travelling on. If it's off to one side, certainly if it's actually on another road, then it doesn't seem to count. Maybe if that other road runs parallel, and is within the error distance of the satellite signal, it might?
• If you're in 'Routing' mode, there is a far greater chance of Alerts triggering at the distance you expect. The reason being that it can calculate which POI's you're going to encounter in the future.
• If you're in 'Map' mode, then it won't even consider a POI alert until you're actually driving on the same road as the POI. So, if you join a road very close to a Speed Camera, there is a chance that you'll be upon the camera, before it's computed that there is an alert to be generated!

Anyone seen any other behaviour?

That's exactly, exactly how I've experienced them. (Perhaps without the "u" in "behavior" though.)

If you are headed on a road perpendicular to the road on which the POI is located, you will not get an alert. You have to be on that road (or sometimes on a parallel road if the alerting distance is great enough) to get an alert.

In Map Mode, I have gotten alerts when I'm on a parallel road, but only when the alert was set at a large distance (like 6 miles).

According to following quoted from 'POI Loader' Help, manual mode will not necessarily give you the alert you enter in the manual mode, depending on the name of the individual POI within the POI file.

"POI Loader determines speed information based on the following information, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Speed information included in the name of the individual Custom POI. For example, a POI named "SpeedZone@30" will have an alert speed of 30 regardless of the speed information specified in Manual mode or in the file name.

2. Speed information entered in Manual mode.

3. Speed information included in the file name. POI Loader interprets any numbers in the file name as speed information."

From POI Loader Help File:

POI Loader determines whether or not a file contains speed and proximity alert points based on specific criteria. Use the following information to help you create Custom POI files:

·If a file name contains a valid speed number or if all records in a file have speed encoded in the name, then all records in the file will include speed and proximity alerts. For example, a data file with the file name "Speed_30" generates speed alerts of 30 mph (or kph, depending on the type of units selected in POI Loader) for each POI in the file.

·If the file name contains "redlight", POI Loader assumes all records in the file have proximity alerts with a distance of 400m/0.25 miles

·If a file contains "GATSO," "mobile," "SPECS," "safety," "speed," or "camera," but does not have a speed, POI Loader uses a default alert speed of 0, which means you will always be alerted. You can override this default value by entering the speed in Manual mode.

·You can also enter speeds for each POI individually by adding the @ symbol and a number after the name of the POI. For example, a Custom POI named "Ridgeview@25" would create a POI named "Ridgeview" with a 25 mph speed alert.

·POI Loader calculates proximity alert distance based on speed. You can enter proximity alert distance for individual Custom POIs in a .gpx file. You can also enter proximity alert distance for all Custom POIs in a data file using Manual mode.

Hornbyp already said it, but I will stress it again. The location in question HAS to be on the road. I struggled with this forever, wondering why one school alerted and another one didn't. It was because if you zoomed in at 300 ft or less, you could tell that it wasn't exactly on the road. When I changed my POI file to put the location on the road, it worked very well.

I get nearly the same response to alerts as this and mistaknely started a thread regarding this issue in particular.

I do not get alerts unless I am on the same road as the POI except in the case of the "Relight" POI. It alerts me as if it has a true circle around the coordinates - ie, I get an alert while in the paking lot of a mall that is on a corner where ther is a redlight. Maybe the coordinates are in the middle of the intersection (I haven't checked yet) and that is why it gives alerts in multiple directions.

If you were in Routing mode, it might have worked out that your journey will take you past that Redlight. Or perhaps, it thinks you are off-road and just assigns the nearest road, which happens to lead to the Redlight?

I think the following scenario illustrates the sort of effects you get:-

My house is on a street that is no more than 50 yards long and is a dead-end. Say I set a Proximity Alert of 10 miles for it.

If I'm a 100 miles from home, and use the "Go Home" function, I'll will get an alert when I am 10 miles away - BY ROAD.

If I'm in Map Mode and drive past the end of the street - passing within 50 yards of the house, I will get no alert at all.

As I said, I've verified this sort of behaviour "by experiment". Someone said I should get out more -- I'm not sure that's what they had in mind though :-)

What is really strange is that it is not in the Routing Mode, nor is it in the off road mode. The streets that run through this mall area are mapped on the gps so it knows where I am in relation to the major cross street where the redlight camera is located and it still gives the alert when I am in the mall area and within the range set for the alert. I have not been by any other redlight cameras to determine if this is a fluke with this particular location or not.

The behaviour you are describing is the exact behaviour I get for the school zone alert though. I wish it would use a true circle for the proximity alert in this case though. There are many schools located on corners where the school speed zone includes a portion of the road that is not where the entrance of the school is located and therefore I will not get an alert.

Updated: 18th Oct 2007 - I've never reproduced this condition - or understood what caused it. I was living in hope this post would never surface again ;-)

I've not worked out the details - but the Nuvi 310, appears to be giving alerts based on true (straight line) proximity !!

I got an alert for a Speed Camera that must have been 2 or 3 miles away by road, but in a straight line is much, much closer - on a Motorway (Interstate) that passes through the area. The Nuvi was in map mode at the time, so there was no reason for it to think I was going anyway near the road with the camera on.

I think the Nuvi 310/360 team must work in a different building to the rest of the company ;-) ... this is not the only oddity I've come across.

HOW PLEASE? HOW? THANKS!!

How what?

What MM is saying is (in the post above): You need to use the [Quote] selection. It is hard to tell what posting you were responding to. (dp)

Just a my 2 cents.

dp = dangling preposition

New to this POI Stuff. I have spend about 3 hours reading and have learned a lot from this site thanks to you all. I have figured out how to create regular POI's. My question is now, how can I make a POI that will alert?

Thanks for any help that can be provided.

Michael
Nuvi 200W

If you run POI Loader in Manual mode instead of Express Mode, you can set alerts for any POIs you wish.

For automatic alerts, you can include numbers (which will be interpreted as speed information) in the file name, you can include keywords (such as redlight, speed, camera) in the filename, or you can add speed information in the specific POI location's name in the file. And Phil will be along shortly (I'm sure ... hopefully there are no UK holidays) to explain how you can really set alerts in a GPX file.

For more information on alerts, check out the Help File in POI Loader.

Ok what happened to Phil? I'm waiting to hear the rest of the story.

Now my ALERT question: I have a file that I made with 29 POIs in it. I want to have alerts on only about 5 or 6 of the POIs. Do I have to make two files - one with POIs that I load with alerts and another file with POIs without alerts?

Can alerts be inbedded into a POI file as it is generated/created not loaded?

Yes. Speed alerts are set by appending "@nn" to the end of the POI name, where nn is a number from 1-124 (if working in mph). This can be done on your 5 or 6 POIs and not the others.

However, if you want to set a Proximity alert (ie irrespective of speed) - or you want to change the distance at which a Speed alert is deemed 'active', you will need to use gpx format. The proximity is specified in metres, and is entered in the <proximity>field</proximity>

Thanks,

Exact answer I was hunting for. I know my question was badly worded. Glad you could figure it out.

I've only been within range of two alerts, one is set for a distance of 5000 ft, and that one worked, and the other for 30,000 ft and that one did not work. The latter one is a Love's Travel Stop on a parallel access road less than 50 yards off I-35. Maybe I should try it at 40,000 ft. Before I read this, I was going to try a shorter distance. I've loaded all custom POI's in manual mode using csv format. I've rechecked the alert setting.

My question is this: If you set an alert for a long distance like 40,000 ft, and you don't actually get on that POI road until you are only 20,000 ft from that POI, does it remember that it didn't give you an alert at 40,000 ft so it gives you the alert as soon as you get on the road leading to that POI? Or is there one opportunity for the alert on that road at 40,000 ft and, if you are not there, you lose the alert?

Dean nuvi200

No, it will alert you as long as you are within the alert distance. And it will alert you the whole time (which you might not want.)

What I left out of my post was that the alert will sometimes sound if you are on a road that is parallel with the road on which the location is situated if the alert is big enough. It will not sound if you are on a road perpendicular to the road on which the location is situated. Keep in mind that 40,000 feet is a long way and you will be alerted for the entire 8 or 9 miles until you get to the location.

I've noticed the discussion about "manual" and "expert" modes, etc., and thought I would point out that the proximity alert feature seem to be disabled in the iMac version of the software. I found it impossible to set proximity alerts, as described in these forums, through the Garmin-provided software. But once I installed the version on my PC, these options suddenly appeared that were not on the iMac. So, for those folks out there who, like me, enjoy the iMac operating system, you may be better off if you try the PC version of this software. Has anyone else experienced this problem? If so, did you find a work around?

I believe you need the beta version for that functionality. You can get it from this site.

http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/

I have a garmin 350, all of my poi are gone nothing they were there one minute then they vanished,what happen ????

By any chance did you run the poiloader and just load a new file?If so if overwrites the existing files.You have to load them all at one time.

did not load anything,also my vocal turn by turn does not work,even my state wont come up

I would try a re-set and see what happens.Do you have the latest software update?Or is that when the problem started.

run poi, remove the points then add it back on.