Custom POI help please (zoo ahead)

Are you sure you have the correct .wav file?

I played it before posting this. It plays home on the range. I'm looking/listening to the files on my computer, which I am assuming are the same files I transferred to my gps. Can I open the file somehow to see what's in there?

I would remove the POI with the Loader, and then try it again. As well, remove the 'Redlight' from the file names. That may be part of it.

Ghayman's document says "the word 'Redlight' MUST appear, there can be no spaces (but you can use the underlined space (as I did above), and the file type has to be '.csv'. The word Redlight is recognized by the POI Loader program as a code word which will set the proximity alert."

So, I think for this exercise I need to keep it there. I just removed all of my POIs with the Loader, and re-loaded only this one. I drove down the street and back and still get "zoo ahead"
AARGH

From Gary's website:

Can your GPS play MP3 files?

Rath *curious*

Take out all the other files you loaded with Poiloader.Re-run Poiloader with just the Home_Sweet_Home_Redlight.bmp
Home_Sweet_Home_Redlight.csv
Home_Sweet_Home_Redlight.wav
and see what results you get.

Tried that charlesd, I get the same results.

If that is the only files you loaded with Poiloader then the wav file is the problem.Take it out and see if you only get the bong alert.

Did you make the wav yourself or load from some where else?

You can make your own wav files by going to http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php and typing in what you want it to say. Then rename it to match the others except the extension.

Thanks Rath. No I don't think it does, it's a 255w. Somewhere else on his site he talks about being able to use .wav files, but maybe I'm mistaken about using them here. Darn.

wav files work ok on my 255W

Gary gives a mp3 as the sound file. How did you convert it? Is there a chance you messed up when you converted it?

List all of the files that are in the garmin/poi folder on your garmin. Search your garmin and SD card for any other *.gpi files. Even outside the garmin folder.

BTW, Gary’s mp3 file is Gene Autry singing Home On The Range – Home Sweet Home is a different song.

home.gpi is the only one there. Yes there is definitely a chance I messed up when I converted it, I can't even remember how I did it!

I definitely recognize Home On The Range, just wanted to name my file home sweet home

When using the conversion it must be saved as PCM, 44.100 kHZ., 16 bit, Mono.

What should I use to convert the file with?

I hear you. When I did that exercise I recorded my own wav file with me singing “Home again. I’m so glad to be home again!” to the tune of “On the road again” and named all the files “HomeAgain…

Several programs will do it.I use GoldWave.Still does not answer mystery of zoo alert you get.

On the road again.....LOL TOO FUNNY!

I just started typing a message and poof it went away. Maybe one of the zoo animals took it.

I have now converted the mp3 properly to a wav using audacity. I have sox.exe and Loader in the same folder. I am going to load the POI (after removing the old one). I think it will work!!!

Thanks to everyone!!

CAN YOU .WAV WITH LESS FREQUENCY?
- PCM 44.100kHz 16 Bit, Mono Is Only One Setting

http://bit.ly/garmin_gps_tricks

It's on page 11

=========

Linda has writen me and we have e-mailed a couple of times. Thanks all for helping her out here.

I still don't know where the 'zoo alert' came from.

Gary Hayman

Why don't you load the home alert both wav and mp3 to the site?

Yes, I probably should. You are my motivator.

I wrote that Home Alert article way back in 2007 when I owned a nuvi 650 with .mp3 sound capability. Later I owned a 755T which also had .mp3 sound capability. Now a 3790LMT (no .mp3).

Most, back then, were using .mp3 sounds, but now the tide is shifting back to .wav. I'll get on that today and try and get a matching Gean Autry serenade .wav file link so that those with 'sox' can use it.

Did you find the fact that you can use other specifications of a .wav file useful?

Gary Hayman

Are you saying we need to WAV bye-bye to MP3?

Actually those with Sox could use it to convert lots of different sound formats to wav files. It is “the Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs”.
Garmin could include a choice to do the conversion from mp3 to wav right in POI Loader since they are already using the tool (apparantly to convert out of spec wav files to the wav spec needed by newer nuvis).

While on the subject of SoX.exe, I wonder how many know that the latest version of it can be used with POI Loader 2.6.1 (if the three .dll files that come with it are also copied to the location of POI Loader.exe).

You'll have to enlighten me on this one.

I've been using sox.exe along with POI Loader 2.6.1 for my 3790LMT

WITHOUT having the 'three .dll files' copied to the location of POILoader.exe.

The only .dll files I have in that folder, along with the poiloader.exe and sox.exe are .dll loader files for countries (23 of them placed by the installation of POI Loader) -- such as
POILoaderCHS.dll
POILoaderCHT.dll
etc.

and one file named

CondMgr.dll

What are the names of the three files you mentioned?
Why is my set up working without those files?
Is it unit specific?

Gary Hayman

Gary, the three dll files are those that come with SoX version 14.3.1:

libgomp-1.dll
pthreadgc2.dll
zlib1.dll

When I ran Poi Loader without them in the same folder as poi loader.exe, I got error messages that the dll files could not be found.

If you are using SoX 14.0.1, there were no dll files with that version.

Not unit specific because I chose the option to save the gpi file to my computer, so Poi Loader would not know what unit it was for. I then copied the gpi to my 255W. I also have sent the gpi file directly to my 255W from POI Loader- it makes no difference.

BTW I see that SoX is now at version 14.3.2 I have not tested that version.

Yes I did.Was not aware of the different frequency that could be used.

That's it!

I am using sox.exe 14.0.1 and it is working fine with the current POI Loader v2.6.1 without those three .dll files you listed.

Right now, I'll keep using it.

I also do the save .gpi files to my computer before transfering it over to my 3790LMT. It makes for a cleaner technique so I don't have to be re-processing the same .csv and .gpx over and over again with POI Loader each time I add something to my POI Folder. [Very frequently for me when I am doing testing.]

It is important for me as I often like to clean my nuvi out temporarly while I test a Custom POI set to make sure all is working properly before I write an article.

Gary Hayman

If everyone looked at it that way, we would still be using ROM BASIC booted up via ROM BIOS.

Your old SoX may not smell but may be holey. There have been a lot of bug fixes and additional features added since 14.0.1 and one has to wonder why Garmin made Poi Loader 2.6.1 compatible with SoX 14.3.1

Since it 14.3.1 works for me, I am taking the step forward.

EDIT: On first glance, Sox version 14.3.2 seemed to work with PoiLoader 2.6.1 on my 3760. However, I realized that I had only placed version 14.3.2 in the Garmin folder that contained the PoiLoader folder. The PoiLoader.exe program was inside the PoiLoader folder along with an older version of sox.exe. My bad.

After I placed sox.exe 14.3.2 in the proper folder, even with the .dll files in the same file folder, PoiLoader reported it was unable to convert the .wav files to proper format and so was not able to transfer them to my unit.

FYI ...
I have a zumo 660 but use the SOX.EXE I got off this site 3 months ago because I share POI files with friends that don't have MP3 capability.

I don't know the SOX.EXE version, or how to tell, but its size is 1.68 MB. All of the following WAV file properties are currently working on my zumo, nuvi 765T and I believe the 1300LM. I Don't know about the nuvi 205 & 255, I'll have to check with them.

KBPS BIT CHANNELS RATE FORMAT
352 16 2 - STEREO 11 kHz PCM
256 16 1 - MONO 16 kHz PCM
705 16 1 - MONO 44 kHz PCM
768 16 2 - STEREO 24 kHz PCM
352 16 1 - MONO 22 kHz PCM

I tested the 14.3.2 and here is what happen.It requires ."The binary SOX.EXE can be installed anywhere you desire. The only
restriction is that the included ZLIB1..DLL and LIBGOMP-1.DLL must be
located in the same directory as SOX.EXE or somewhere within your PATH". I place them along with new sox.exe in the poiloader folder.

I have a Sonny's located from me appx 2 miles and a Walmart 3.9 miles.Only have a wav alert for Sonny's.No alert for Walmart.Both located along the same road of travel.Sonny's set at 8000ft for the alert.Done a simulation route and low and behold got alert for a Walmart for the Sonny's location.Checked the wav file on Windows media to make sure my alert was correct.Everything ok.Pulled up the Walmart location just to make sure no alert.Ran poiloader again and removed all pois like I do each time.Reloaded and still got the Walmart alert instead of Sonny's.Removed the new sox and the two dll files and loaded pois back with poiloader with the old version of sox.exe.Everything back to normal now.Not sure why this happen.The Walmart is a gpx and Sonny's is gpx with alert distance built in with EPE.Starting to understand why the zoo alert came up for home now if that sox.exe was used.

Please let us know what Sox version you were using whe the "zoo" problem came up. Right click on the .exe file, select properties and then version tab

When I select properties on the newer version of sox.exe I get the version number. On the older version that is working on my unit, selecting properties does not show any version number. It show size as 1.63 MB (1,712,128 bytes).

Is there any other way to identify the version number?

If from here http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 14.0.1

If you know how to make a batch file put the following text in it: sox -h >soxver.txt

Put the batch file in the same folder as sox.exe and double click (ie open) the batch file. When the DOS box closes there should be a soxver.txt file in the sox folder. Open the text file and the version number can be seen at the top.

Another way is to use notepad to open sox.exe

Use notepad's edit,find to look for 14.

@charlesd45 - That is where I found the download info. I also linked to the ressearch.att.com website and use it regularly to create .wav files.

@Evert - Can't do batch files but am a whiz with notepad! Confirmed version as 14.0.1.

sox ver 14.3.2 is not working with Poi Loader 2.6.1 for me either, but 14.3.1 does.

I checked some of the ones I got from the site and they show similiar to what you have posted.When I do my own conversion I save as PCM, 44.100 kHZ., 16 bit, Mono.

Thanks to all of you I was finally able to make my proximity alert work. The main problem seemed to be that I was using an mp3 instead of wav file. I converted using Gary's suggested Audacity program.

I also removed all POI files using POI loader, and then reloaded the new POI file with wav file.

The mysterious zoo has left the building. No CLUE what that was. It was entertaining though

Tomorrow I am giving my Mom her 255W for her birthday, and now I have a lot of good stuff to add to it for her. Including Home on the Range!

Thanks again for all your help.

hope she enjoys it