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

Well, it's the first time this happened since I started using EPE way back in the day

I fixed the problem by manually editing the bad profile in the registry. Don't know that it can be reproduced - it happened out of the blue.

Thanks for looking in to it, and many,many thanks for EPE!!

After many failure, I think I finally have a working Win 7 installer for EPE. It can be found on my download page here:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/Extra_POI_Editor#Extra_POI_Ed...

The installer is only required on the first installation and if the program is complaining about missing OCX or other library files. After that, you can only overwrite the installed EPE by the new version.

kudos: I want to thank VersatileGuy for his help in creating this working installer. His knowledge and help were really appreciated. Thanks.

Now you know what you have to do to thanks VersatileGuy.

Buy flowers, chocolate and dinner to is wife in exchange for letting him spend time to work on the programs.

Good one!!!

On my Dezl 560 the Where-to icons must be 96x96 pixels (Just info )

I have made an GPI file using this fantastic program, but i have a little annoying issue with it. The file is called DFT.gpi. It's exported by category (3 categories, Customers, Sweeden & Ferries)

When i press the Where-to button, the POI shows fine, but when i press it, i get to a new screen where i have to choose between All or DFT. After i press DFT again, i the see the categories.

Where to -> DFT -> DFT -> Customers -> xxxxxxx

This makes me do even more key pressing, than using the extras menu

Is this the GPS or maybe EPE fault ?

Another problem: If i tick two categories in a poi in EPE, they don't export to those two categories, they export to a new category with the name cat1+cat2.
Is this the way it's supposed to be ?

Hi:

Could there be an option added on bringing up alerts between certain time of the day; viz school zone alerts are not needed at night or some other particular alerts that the user might like to opt at a certain time period during the day or night?

Regards

It's been asked before. There is no option for a time of day setting in GPX, and I believe there is none in the internal OS as well either. If there were such an option, you could be rest assured Garmin would have released files using it.

Installed on my new 2595, and works as follows:

• Appears after the Go Home icon
• also appears in Other Categories after Custom POIs
• Needs 6.30 firmware or later if using Categories
• Requires a hard reset to remove from Where To menu

Note that the 6.30 firmware fixed a bug that caused subcategories not to appear with EPE custom GPI files, but broke subcategories for regular Custom POIs.

I've used EPE since day1 but I've never created gpi files with it and I can't find the answer to this anywhere so I'm hoping those here with experience creating gpi (only) files can help:

I think I understand that when creating a gpi file that shows up in the Where To? menu, once the custom icon is pressed categories defined in the EPE file will show up as "sub" selection items.

Is there a way to use custom map display icons for different categories other than EPE's built-in icons?

Since EPE needs all of the pois in the same EPE file I'm thinking that if I want different map display icons for these sub categories then I can only use the built-in icons .. but I'm hoping that maybe EPE will use an icon with the same name as the category if it's in the path to the gpi icons directory when building??

I'm not sure what you mean by EPE's built-in icons. Are you just seeing a dot or a square?

As an example, if you have the MacDonads.csv file and also the MacDonalds.bmp file together in the same folder (and followed the naming rules), all of these get rolled up into the .gpi file. As you stated, you select Custom POI, then your desired category (assuming you followed the subdirectory rules), your MacDonalds locations won't show an icon in the list, but the Golden Arches will display on your map screen at the appropriate zoom levels. I seem to recall that there might be a setting on the Garmin to display those icons but I'm not where I can explore that at the moment.

The built-in "icons" are what EPE calls the poi's "Symbol" when using EPE to edit a poi.

I'm familiar with creating and using custom map display icons/symbols with csv files and PoiLoader, but in order to use EPE to create an entry that shows up on Nuvi right under the Where To? button/menu I think you have to greate the gpi file directly using EPE and not PoiLoader. That's where my confusion comes in. Granted, I haven't experimented yet but rather thought that there were some members here who have built gpi's directly using EPE.

I should have given an example, maybe..

I want an icon on my Nuvi that shows up on the screen you get right after pressing "Where To?". The icon will be "Burgers", and as I understand it, if I have 2 categories for all of the pois in my "Burgers" gpx file, one called "McDonalds" and one called "Wendys", after I press "Burgers" icon I will get the choice of McDonalds, Wendys, or "All". This is fine regardless of what map icon/symbol is attached to any poi. In fact the symbol isn't relevant.

BUT, if I want 2 different (but "custom") icons shown on the map when I'm driving, EPE only has built-in symbol/icon choices. This is unlike using PoiLoader, so I am wondering if there is another way for EPE to use custom map icons when it's (EPE) building the gpi file.

Clear as mud? lol

I also realize that PoiLoader can add the custom icons to a gpx as well as a csv file (as long as the names are the same as the file) when it builds the gpi file.

The difference here is that only EPE (as far as I know) can build a gpi file that shows up under the Where To? menu, and that raises the question of how (or if) one can attach custom icons/symbols to the gpx Categories in EPE when using EPE to build the final gpi file.

Only one WhereTo? Menu pushbutton can be added to a Garmin with a .gpi file created with EPE. In EPE:Options>Preferences, enter a Path to GPI file Icons which must contain two .bmp files. Mine are 68x68 pixels for my Zumo 665 & 660, your pixel count may vary for a good looking button. They must be named the same as the .gpx file with the numbers 1 and 2 appended to the file name of the .gpx file. For example, H-D Dealers.gpx would have H-D Dealers1.bmp and H-D Dealers2.bmp. The 1 and 2 .bmp files would be the normal image and the depressed image of the button in the Whereto? menu. In my case, the GPI Output has the Emulate POI Loader turned off and the Alternate "Where-To" Icon Format selected. MapSource Custom Symbol Path (and BaseCamp) should point to C:Users/[username]/Documents/My Garmin/Custom Waypoint Symbols where your images for Custom 0, Custom 1, etc. symbols live if you use them. I use Custom 0 for mine, so 000.bmp has my POI icon and 000.png Garmin default deleted.

Thanks Dave. I'm onboard with the 2 icons for the main icon, and where they go.. but I'm guessing that to have different map icons for the categories EPE will only use the ones built in?

Also, have you verified that different Categories in the main file result in the ability to choose between them or all of them once you press the main file icon after Where To?

Ahh! I missed the last, important part! So, you just type "Custom 0", "Custom 1", etc for the desired Symbol in EPE's field? It's not in the choice drop-down so I wasn't sure. And .bmp is the one that loads rather than .png?

Have you tried a custom name? (I guess I need to start experimenting, huh?)

Thanx again

You need to use the category option in epe. Add both Wendys and McD in the same GPX file, and then mark every poi with the right category. If you call a category Wendys, then you need a Wendys.bmp in the same directory as the gpx file.

You can keep the Wendys and McD gpx files separate, and then merge them in epe before exporting to gpi

The custom map icons in epe works just like in poi loader, just name them the same as the category

Gotcha. Thanx.
I had to take a little break from building files for my Son In Law's road trip to Alaska, but I'm back on it shortly. I've learned about a bunch of "quirks" in EPE around the gpi creation, and I'm going to try to post a summary of what I've found after I'm done.

- Things like EPE will display in the editor icons that are in the MapSource path, and only if they are .bmp, but won't use them when creating gpi files. As you said, they need to be in the csv/gpx folder that's opened (and need to be .bmp's I'm fairly sure). Base Camp however is fine with either .png or .bmp files named up to at least 030.xxx.

Don't know if I'll have time but I'd like to make an EPE help file add-on since the last available help file was done before gpi creation was added, I think.

My Dezl 760 only accept 8-bit bmp files, 54x69 pixel, but I think it's different from model to model.

I'm a european truck driver, and I have build up an very large customer POI database through the years. EPE makes it very simple to maintain and the 'Where to' integration makes it extremely easy to use on the device every day. I update my GPI file every month, so I'm pretty well into EPE by now.

But I do think an updated help file could benefit others, especially if it have step by step guides

If you run into any problems, feel free to ask

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post on this! What a long, strange trip it's been digging into the Where-To .gpi files with EPE. VERY long post- apology in advance!

I still have some unanswered questions but I thought I'd share what I think I found out! If you have known tips about some areas that I don't mention please post them because I'd still like to build (or help build) a FAQ here on the subject. Lastly, all of my comments are about building the files using .gpx files as sources. Building from .csv files may very well act differently.

I set out to build some Where-To gpi files for my 765T that my son in law will be taking on an RV trip to Alaska, and also for my own RV660. At this point I can say that the 765T will accept up to 2 Where-To files and the RV660 at least 3, but probably more. I need to try to find the 660's limit but that will have to wait.

My biggest problem was with the icons. Think of the icons as 2 distinct types: the Where-To icons and the map display icons. They each have there own "rules" and it can confuse you if you mix these rules up, lol. The only thing common about the two is that each type must be .bmp type, .png won't work with EPE like they do with BaseCamp.

Where-To icons are the easiest to explain so I'll start with them:
Format:

I was only able to get proper color & transparency on the 765T & RV660 (haven't experimented with different image color/bit formats yet on the 660) using the "Alternate" setting in preferences and:

Some of my issues & frustrations may have come about because late in my experimentation I discovered that with 8bit (256 color palletized) images, some image editors allow you to add colors and paint with them but don't always include the color in the final saved image's palette! This is particularly a caution when converting between color & type formats. My solution was to convert & save them, then reopen the saved file and make sure the color (magenta!) was added to the "Custom Colors" and save again.
Placement:

Placement:

Alternatively placed in the Where-To folder but named same as .gpx file. I wound up putting in both as a "fail safe"

Somewhere in all of the postings here and from Turbo, he mentioned:

I could never get that to work with the merged file combinations that I used. I think I might have got that to work, but maybe only with a single .gpx file. It's all still a bit of a blur. All I could ever get to work were files named the same as the .gpx files, placed in the .gpx folders and/or the Where-To folder.

While typing this, I thought I resolved my last point of confusion/frustration! My problem file was in a "set" of files something like this-

Road Trip.gpx

Campgrounds.gpx

Food.gpx

. . Tim Hortons.gpx

. . Dairy Queen.gpx

Auto Parts.gpx

Dump Stations.gpx

All of the .gpx files had Symbol files specified in each POI, including the two in the (merged) Food.gpx. When I created the final Road Trip.gpi file, everything had the map icons I wanted (in this case one named after the .gpx file names) except for Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen which always had the default EPE square symbol. All of the food files had the same category, and the final .gpi file was an "Export As: Category". But no combination of .bmp renaming or putting in folders helped, and I was about to just live with it. Then I realized that when using the Food.gpx as "one" of the files along with the other three (one, each) EPE wouldn't allow the two different symbols for "one category (or file)"... just as Turbo stated.

..Except that changing the symbol fields in the merged Food files to one filename, or even making the symbol fields blank still resulted in just the Food pois having the default EPE symbol. I'm beat and it will just have to be that way for now.

Turbo! come out of retirement, lol.

Much of this experience was painful and took WAY longer than it should, so apologies for typos, the long post, and anything someone finds in error, or has better advice on! Maybe we can eventually make a EPE/Where-To .gpi Creation FAQ?

It seems to me that using POI Loader fits your use more than the EPE gpi file. The EPE gpi file with the button in the Whereto? menu is used for categoried multi-use POIs, such as my H-D Dealers, where the user has a set of POIs that they operate like the various branded devices, e.g. Harley, BMW, etc. to be able to quickly look up an important set of POIs for general use.
What you are doing is normally reserved to Waypoints (Favorites) in your gdb file (MapSource) or List (BaseCamp). The user can see these POIs by selecting Favorites. Custom POIs and the one EPE gpi direct button are typically used for general POI files, not specific to one trip.
In the Favorites, each POI can have Custom 0-Custom nnn bmp or png files as icons to display on the map. But the map symbols are very small and one shouldn't be spending that much time looking at the map while driving or motorcycle riding. Favorites are sorted by distance from current location and can effectively show travel options at a glance. Custom POIs for finding custom restaurant, fuel, museums, etc. are a better option for general travel lookup while stopped or for your passenger to review.

Thanks for the reply Dave, but POI Loader won't work for my typical "road trip" usage because of exactly what you are saying about taking your eyes off the road. My usage is typically finding the closest in the list rather than a specific poi.

The reason I wanted EPE was because it lets you put an icon right there on the first screen when you press "Where To", and it puts the icon(s) right there near the top rows. When I press the icon, the next screen that comes up presents "All" or my pois in categories. Once I do a second press then the poi list comes up and shows the closest to my location first, letting me (or my navigator when I can wake her) then pick from the list.

To do that in a POILoader file, my pois will be under Extras, Custom POIs, which is paging down the Where To screen and two extra touches plus likely another page down or two, to get to my categories.

My 765T allowing for 2 custom Where To icons and well thought out Categories let me quickly refine the lists a bit.. like one "Overnight" icon that lets me choose between All, Campgrounds, Boondocking Sites, and locations like Camping World stores that allow sleeping overnight.

EPE does allow for subsets/category choices by opening a gpx (or csv) file and then merge-opening others. The final file is an "Export by" filename, state, category, symbol, etc. and saving it as a .gpi. Whatever you "Export by" becomes the sub-sets (choices) of the named, saved .gpi file.

I was able to get mostly the results I wanted, just had/have an issue with assigning map icons to the one "nested" category/sub-group.

Turboccc- Have you thought about rehosting your great programs somewhere after wikispaces closes up shop this month?

If Turboccc isn't listening anymore, has anyone thought how we will archive his work so new users can use EPE, et. al. ?