Extra_POI_Editor v5.0 beta (.gpi file creation only in this thread)

I have tried EPE 503 on my nuvi 200 with custom bmp and without. Turboccc icon did appear in Where To Meny
without custom bmp. Tried custom bmp, but icon will only show up if it is in correct format: 70x70 pix/96ppt/32 bit, and used in EPE Alternativ format.
24 bit did not work, it is black and white with stripes and twisted.
Thanks for all the time you use on this program,
its just getting better and better.

Oooooh! I forgot to mention the icon must be a 256-color bitmap format. Not 16-bit, not 24-bit and not 32-bit color format. Only 256-color. This is the native GPS format.

So I think anyways. Now that you mentioned it, I need to try other BMP format with POI Loader to see what will happen. EPE may support other BMP format in the future.

Maybe it appeared in the first level of Extra menu of the 200W?

I prefer Option 1 for Issue 1.

We currently do this for Red Light cam sounds and icons, so it is a semi standard way of doing things.

I don't remember ever changing any names in my POIs.

Hi Visiter555,

You will be happy to know that I implemented Option 1 for issue 1.

Maybe I ver unclear ,but I ment the Ikon on Where-to.
The only that showd up correctly on nuvi 200 was 70x70pix 32 bit.
I guess you were mention the icon to follow the poi files.

Yes, Icons in Where-To needs to be smaller. On newer devices, it can be as big as 136x136 pixels. On older devices, it is definitively smaller. It will show up, but it will break the Nuvi formatting. I guess 70x70 is a good size.

I will change the default icon in the Where-To to a smaller one.

By a mistake I put one of my testfile in nuvis internal memory, insted on the sd card as I always do when testing out new things. Suddenly I rememberd why.
My gps just start rebooting over and over again.
After many, many ,many rebooting i finaly get it conected to pc and could delete the test poi file , and its works fine again. PHHU!!!
I dont know why it happend.It was a file with 4 categories and bmp.
Realy close to brick!
Maybe EPE realy dont like those funny Nordic letters

Hi vestenfjell,

No worry. It would not have bricked your GPS. You can still go in Service/Pre-Boot mode and cure it.

Which EPE version were you using? V5.04? If yes, please email me your gpx and bmp file so I can have a look. Was it a 256-color BMP?

After investigating a bit more the 200W with WknThDg, we concluded the 200W does not work with such files made by EPE or even with Content Creator by Garmin. Only regular POI files in Extra/Custom POI works.

Once I am done with the current POI in Where-To, I will make EPE support the regular POI files as done by POI Loader.

Ok, I send you the file.
I was using 5.04. and 8bit BMP, that should be the same as 256 color, right?
By the way, the ikon was upside down.
Do you never sleep, you keep answering all day long.
Time i now 23.00 here, and over there about 17.00?

I looked over all my bmp icon and found a bmp icon at 24 bit.
After I converted it to 8 bit, gps worked fine without rebooting.
But bmp icon is upside down and does not appear correct, smudged with the wrong color.

Yes, the icon is upside down (as with any other Garmin logo). I normally make a mirror, but for some reasons I thought this one was correct as is. I have to say I tested with symetrical patterns which didn't show the problem. I will fix this in no time.

As for the color mix up, I will check. At the same time, I will see what POI Loader does with 24-bit logos. This will make everybody's life easier. Sorry for that. I tested with a B&W pattern.

One last thing: I think the symbols for the map need to be maximum 24x24 pixels. Somebody tried 32x32 and the symbol was cropped.

24x24 pix has been the max size for nuvi. Maybe newer nuvi accept bigger, i'm not sure.

Thanks vestenfjell for posting, I ran into the same issue on my 760, and also didn't use an SD card.

On my 760, I used 24-bit. 72 ppi worked. 96 ppi produced black and white with stripes and twisted.

Thanks Turbo! EPE 5.03 (and 5.04) fixed the multiple categories problem. The .GPI filenames now appear as the category names. The icon from the oldest .GPI file appears as the Where To menu icon.

Good to hear! 24-bit bitmaps probably worked by chance. Be careful. In any cases, I can make a cure as I did for my 760.

24-bit bitmaps are converted to 32-bit bitmaps by POI Loader. I am in the process of converting them as well. In the end, it will work with 8-bit, 24-bit and 32-bit bitmaps. I'll do the 16-bit bitmaps later on if there is a need.

Here's EPE v5.05.

Symbols for the map can be 8-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit bitmaps. If the corresponding bitmap is not found, EPE will supply a little square symbols by default. Normally, the color purple can be used as transparency. It works on my 760 with 8-bit bitmap, but not with 24-bit or 32-bit bitmaps. Could be unit-related. It does not work either when using POI Loader. Do not forget to zoom to at least 80 meters to see the bitmaps.

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

It's actually magenta that is invisible to the unit, and the bmp's need to be 8 bit for them to work.

An example is here:

http://members.shaw.ca/anon_y_mous/images/Redlight-Cameras.b...

and here

http://members.shaw.ca/anon_y_mous/images/Speed-Cameras.bmp

Sorry. Magenta. This was a typo. I am glad to hear it works only with 256-color BMP because I was worried not to see it work with 24-bit and 32-bit bitmaps.

Yes that's right. Transparent Icon must be 8 bit/255 color.
Color Magenta (RBG= R 255/B 0/G 255)

I was told ACDSee uses a different colormap for 8-bit bitmaps. So I made the fix in EPE v5.06.

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

When you edit a POI in EPE, you have the possibility of selecting a predefined symbols for your POI. I know it does not always display correctly on Win 7 (I have to fix this), but this feature really works when adding a symbol in your Favorites. POI Loader ignores it when making custom POI. Since I have all the bitmaps, I could automatically add the symbols when creating the GPI. Here's what I propose: if no symbol are set in the POI itself, I will use the one from the filename.bmp. If a symbol is set, EPE will add the symbol in the .gpi. If you do not want this, just use the global "Replace Fields" function to replace the Symbol field by "" (nothing).

I will probably not do this right away, but I will look at it. Maybe it is not possible to add one symbol per POI. It would an easy way to add symbols without having to find bitmaps for them. Also, it allows you to have different symbols inside a single POI file.

I plan trips inside aa single POI file and have all my stops be they camping, lodging, etc so the ability to have one symbol per poi inside a file would be awesome!

This is great work and many, many thanks!

Nuvi200 still have color mess in 8bit.In 24 bit it,s OK.

I do not get it. It works here on my 2 models and it has been confirmed working by others.

1- Are you using EPE version 5.06?
2- Can you send me a link to your 8-bit bmp?

Thanks

Sorry,too dark sunglasses, did not notice V5.06
Used V5.05
In V5.06 8 bit are now just fine.
Thanks.

Hi Turbo

First, my compliments on another incredible job.

Just gave 5.06 a spin today and did not get the results I expected.

I have a 760 like you do. I have in the POI folder on the GPS a single poi.gpi file loaded by POI Loader with several files including speed and camera files with alerts. These POI's are all loaded to give me proximity alerts when I am near them, so it is fine that they appear in EXTRAS.

I have an SD card with a different country's map for when I am on vacation. I used Extra_POI_Editor v5.06 to merge several GPX files and save as a gpi file in the SD card's POI folder.

When I turn on the GPS, I get the new poi name your program created on the main menu. This is great! But when I click on the new menu entry, it shows not only my new POI folder name, but also my old folder names loaded thru POI Loader. This is disappointing. I hoped only my new POI's from your program would show here. My old POI's still appear under EXTRAS as well as in the new menu.

Any suggestions?

Also have played with using .bmp icon for my new menu. If I make it 136 pixels, it seems to overlap other icons on the menu, If I make it smaller, no icon appears--just the name. Also magenta borders show as magenta, not transparent. What am I doing wrong? Do you have any suggestions on what are good graphic programs to create appropriate icons?

Thanks,
Mark

Yes, the POIs appear in the same list as the other ones. It is like that on the 760 and even the POI files made by Garmin do that. Not just EPE. There is nothing I can do about this. The good news is the new GPS models like the 37xx series do not do that. We only see the ones in that POI file.

as for the icons, 136x136 pixels is much too big for the 760. It is intended for newer GPS models. You should have a good result is you stick to 48x48 pixels. Maybe a bit bigger. In a next release, I will make the defalut Where-To icon much smaller to avoid this problem when no icon is provided.

As for the transparency, are you talking about the Where-To icon or the map symbols?

For the map symbols, magenta works well if the bitmat is a 256-color image. Even with POI loader, I think transparency with magenta does not work with 24-bit or 32-bit bitmaps.

For the Where-To icon, I added code to convert magenta to transparency. For 32-bit bitmaps, I did not do that. I use the transparency channel included in the picture.

Can you tell me what was the format of your bitmats? 8 bits, 24 bits or 32-bits?

Turbo

Note: I use PixelFormer (it's free) to work on 32-bit bitmaps. You can easily work with transparency and it is easy to zoom and work the small details. For 8-bit and 24-bit, I use either PixelFormer or MS Paint. Some have been using Photoshop, but it is not mandatory.

Amazingly fast help from you on my questions.

Thanks for explaining what to expect about which poi's will appear. I can temporarily remove the poi's from my GPS when I just want to work with the ones placed on my SD card. No problem.

I followed your advice and downloaded PixelFormer. Nice little program. Experimented more with my icons and found my icons were still not working right and didn't always appear on the where-to menu even when I used the smaller icons you suggested. A little more experimenting and I realized my icons were not square (for example, an icon was 48x32). When the icon is not square, it doesn't appear. I added a transparent border to the icon to make it 48x48 and it works perfectly and looks great on the 760.

So there is joy in my GPSland.

Thanks again, Turbo.

I didn't know the icon needed to be square. I did not tested that much...

Still, I have one file here that is 21x14 which works well. It is a 8-bit bitmap. Not 24-bit or 32-bit. It seems it makes a difference.

I made many tests. Too many to remember all the results. I guess I should start over and take notes. I guess you are the first in a long series of questions on the same topic.

I have several bitmaps that are not square, and they work perfectly well. I think Turbo is correct in that it needs to be 8 bit, thus the problem.

I do find it interesting that a 48x48 icon is working for you though. The largest on my 775 is 30x30. I'll have to play with this.

48x48 is the Where-To logo. It is a good size for old models like the 760. For the 37xx, I went up to 140x140.

For the map symbols, the max size is 24x24 on all models. 24x24 is perfect for newer models. On old models like the 760, 16x16 is better and match the other map icons.

Here's EPE v5.07 beta. In this release, I added speed and proximity alert. I am not sure what will be the alert without .wav file loading, but I guess there is a default sound. I disabled .wav loading for now. It was working, but I want to integrate sox.exe to convert unsupported audio file format. Probably in a next release. I also added Export by Symbol. It does not use yet the symbol as the map icon, but this will be coming too.

You can download here if you want:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Note 1: Sorry. Things are going slowly. There are a few things that pose problems from a workflow point of view.

I'm surprised at how far you've come with this, with all that's on your plate.

Thanks for the clarification on that. I guess I misread it.

Speed and proximity works just fine on my nuvi200.
Do the V5.07 only work with one gpi file, or more
then one ?
Edit:Does it work with more then one gpi file made with EPE in nuvi at the same time

So far, I tested with 2 GPI made by EPE. I think I put 3 at one time, but I could only see 2 in the Where-To menu.It is possible that the limitation comes from the unique partnumber I am using.

I need to test more. You can also test and let me know.

Tried EPE 5.07 with gpx files with combinations of Speed only, Proximity only, and Speed with Proximity. The POIs appear in the .gpi file, but no sounds or visible alert occur.

These files produce sounds and visible alert when used with POI Loader 2.6

Just tried 3 .gpi files created with EPE 5.07. There's only one Where TO EPE icon, but all three .gpi names appear in the category list.

Is that what you meant about seeing 2 in the Where To menu in your test?

No, I saw 2 in the Where-To but I use the SgMal firmware on my 3750. It may explain the difference. Again, I may have modified the 3 files manually to change the internal partnumbers and maybe some other names. I simply do not remember.

If you open the files with an Hex Editor, you should see the partnumber at the beginning of the file. It looks like 006-D9999-00. Youc an change one of the 9 for something else. Maybe change also the string "Made by EPE". Change a letter. If you change the 3 files, it may work.

First I changed the partnumbers to 006-D9999-00, 006-D9998-00, 006-D9997-00. No joy. Next, I also changed the strings to "Made by EPE", "Made by EPD", "Made by EPC". Again, no joy.

turboccc,

Sorry if I'm a little off topic here...

But when creating a .gpi with custom "Where To" icons (XXX1.bmp for non-pressed & XXX2.bmp for pressed), what did you use to create the color outline of your default pressed light-blue outlined turboccc icon (the pressed XXX2.bmp one)?
Maybe an image editor software plugin of some sort?

BTW... a custom "Where To" icon dimension of 64x64 seems to work best with my nuvi 775T.

yes. My Where-To icon is too big for such model. It is more intended for newer models like the 37xx. In the future, I will provide a smaller icon by default.

I used PixelFormer to edit the bitmaps. I simply used the brush and selected blue. Nothing fency. I use PixelFormer because it is free and because it allows me to play with the transparency with and without the foreground image.

I have tried with 2 gpi files in my nuvi200 , but only the first will show .
Example:
If I make a gpi named "My POI" with Where to icon, it show up under Where to.Then i make another without Where to icon Named "Gas station", this will not show
under the My POI.(Non of them shows under Extras, but that's ok)
If I delite "My POI", then the "Gas station" shows up
under Where to.
If I make 2 gpi files with same name "My POI" and put one in gps internal memory and one at the sd card,
then both shows under My POI.

I just loaded 5.07 and do not like the change to a smaller font. Is there a purpose to straining these old eyes? Please revert to the previous font. Thanks.

Hi Dave817,

Did you use any provious version of 5.0x ? I am asking this because I did not touch any fonts, but I have been compiling on my new Win 7 computer for version 5.0x. It may have something to do with that.

Let me know and I'll investigate.

Here's are composite screenshots of V4 and V5 displaying the same POI:

http://i53.tinypic.com/e7jpl2.jpg

Another difference is the formatting in the fourth (bottom right) screen. In this case, the V5 font is an improvement, but the description and address lines are double-spaced:

http://i53.tinypic.com/2d7ix45.jpg

If you want my opinion, fonts have beed wrong since v4.84 (August 2010). I do not know exactly why, but I am pretty sure it is related to Win 7.

I will try to see what I can do about this.

Correction: I may have changed the fonts because the original fonts suck on Win 7. I have restored the original fonts anyways. This will appear in the next beta release.

I posted EPE v5.08 beta.

- Corrected proximity and speed alerts for some GPS models. Still no WAV alert.
- When using "File-Export by Symbols (as .gpi)", EPE will automatically add the corresponding symbol as the map symbols. See the rules below.

Here's the d/l link:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Extra_POI_Editor+...

Rules for the map symbols.

Let's say you have a POI file called "My Places.gpx" with one of the POI with the "Anchor" symbol. EPE will search the locations below *in order* to find your symbol:

1- EPE will first try to find "My Places.bmp" in the source folder (where your poi file .gpx or .csv or ... was opened.

2- Next, it searches for "Anchor.bmp" in the Where-To icon folder as specified in the Preferences.

3- Next, it searches in its own internal bank of symbols and automatically adds the corresponding symbol bitmaps.

4- If not found, it uses a small 7x7 square icon as the map symbol.

Right now, the internal map symbols are 24x24 pixels. It is perfect for all new GPS models (like the 37xx series) with high resolution display. For older models (like my 760), 16x16 map symbols are much more appropriate. If you supply your own map symbol bitmaps, I suggest to make them the appropriate size. The most convenient place to put them is in the Where-To folder as specified in the Preferences. Use also 256-color bitmap and use magenta for the transparency.