CSV to GPX files

The gps will only display the 50 closest pois to you at a time.You can use the near tab at bottom of screen after touching where to and select another city to get another 50.Welcome to the site AntonyA.

Brilliant charlesd45, many thanks. I am now a happy bunny.

Technically. I think there is but it's so huge I'm not sure anyone here has reached it. We have files here that have several thousand pois so 160 should not be a problem at all.

charlesd45's message may explain why you don't see them on your unit, but ...

This is where I'm a bit confused about your problem, so let's make sure we are all talking about the same things-

- There are two types of poi source files, .CSV and .GPX.

- The poi file that your Garmin puts under Extras/Custom POIs has a .GPI extension, and POILoader makes this type from either a .CSV or .GPX source (input) file.

Some people here also use software to convert a CSV file into a GPX file for editing before compiling a GPI file using POILoader.

When you compile a CSV or GPX in POILOader, at the end of the process the software tells you how many pois were 'installed'. Is this where you get less than the 160, or only when you are looking for them on your unit?

EDIT- Took me so long to type this that I see charlesd45 got you up & running! I'll leave it anyway for future reference!!

POI Loader crashed trying to convert the largest CSV file I have: the source file to Postal Codes Canada consisting of 765,344 entries.

Is there a reason to use GPX file rather than CSV?

Great Googala-Moogala! ..but how many will it take without choking??

Yes. and No. Not even going there since there are SO many opinions for/against! Do a search here on gpx vs csv, & then experiment. You'll find PLENTY of pros & cons to either format. It's personal preference (mostly, but not totally imo).

Various reasons more data input,phone numbers for Bluetooth and etc.I like to use gpx files to build my alert distance into the file.That way I can run poiloader in express mode.See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/28521 .Just load the csv and save as Garmin gpx and using the replace all tab before saving.

Ouch ... you might have to check the commas in every line.

POI Loader handled the final version of Canada Postal Codes I uploaded back in December (link: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/31416 ). That was 7,661 entries. I can try it, simply by slicing the file up into several chunks of various sizes to see what happens.

EDIT: After playing around with things for a little bit, I've discovered the following:

1. The source file that the Canada Postal Codes POI came from causes POI Loader 2.6.1 to crash. My best guess as to cause of the crashing is that in some cases there are thirty or forty entries, all with the same coordinates, and differing in their POI name only by one letter (being addresses).

2. To test how many entries a CSV could have, I had to create a test file. Using the Canada Postal Codes source file as a base, I used Excel to create a series fill in increments of .0001 degrees. This file I ran through POI Loader, and all 765,344 entries went through into the GPI file.

The next test was to expand the file to 1,000,000 entries. The file worked fine.

So, POI Loader can handle a CSV file with 1,000,000 entries in it. Next test: 1,000,000 entries in a GPX file. Can POI Loader handle it?