Proximity alert problems

1. No. The unit must support MP3 files as well. Otherwise, you need to use WAV files and SOX.EXE.

But you must SET an alert for most Custom POIs manually. They don't alert by default except a few specialized ones such as Redlight cameras.

2. No.

3. If you copy the .GPI file to the unit, it should be read automatically.

4. Proximity is set individually for each file when you load them. You can't turn them on and off individually on the unit.

So I have a Nuvi 265WT and it looks like all 2xx only use WAV files, probably why I didn't hear anything.

Great, then the way to create these would be on the computer and copy them as necessary. This should also mean and uninstalling them means just removing them from the POI folder...right? Makes me wonder why POI-loader has only an option to remove them all.

One of the nice features of the newest POILoader is that you can NAME the .gpi file that it creates (on your GPS or on your computer). Earlier versions of POILoader created ONLY a "poi.gpi" file which overwrote any file of that name on the GPS.

In those days, Many of us would go into the POI folder on the GPS and rename "poi.gpi" to something that made sense to us. I always would rename the file because that let me do "test" POI loads to answer a question someone may have had about a particular file or let me try something out in simulation mode. All my previous custom POI files were not affected by my testing.

You do not have to let POILoader "delete" all the old files - it is your choice. What I do is attach my 765 to my computer so that it becomes a "disk drive" and then look to see which files I no longer need or am about to replace.

keep pluggin away

First off, Welcome to the forum

If the information on your user account is correct, you are using a 265. This unit does not have MP3 capability, but doe handle audible alerts with either a tone or spoken alert with a WAV file. Using WAV files requires you install SOX.exe version 14.0.1 to convert the WAV file to the proper format used with your unit. Alerts also have to be enabled on your unit, this is through Tools and Settings.

I believe it is entirely possible you could have a spoken direction and multiple alert announcements happening at the same time. I know I get both spoken alerts and directions played at the same time on my 885. As far as interfering, it depends on what you mean by interfering. The coordinates are in a database and reaching the coordinates will trigger an alert but one doesn't have priority over another as far as the custom poi downloaded and set up with proximity alerts.

I have to assume you are using the latest version of POILoader, 2.6.1. This version creates a GPI file which defaults to the same name as the folder the files are in on your computer. Each time you run POILoader, it will ask you to confirm the overwriting of a GPI file with the same name if it exists on your device. The only way to put custom POI on your unit with icon and sound information is by running POILoader.

The best answer is "It depends." it depends on the type of file you are using for input. For CSV files it's generally all or nothing. With GPX files you can set a proximity alert for some points within a file and not for others. You can do somewhat the same with a CSV but it involves setting either a speed alert using the @ symbol and a number or including one of the keywords for speed or red light camera for the points you want to alert. Using automatic alerts for CSV files is almost always a fixed distance - 400 meters or 1300 feet.

Yes I have the latest version of POI loader. If you can't copy gpi's to your unit connected w/ a usb cable then why does POI loader give you the option of saving these files to your computer? I thought what POI loader did was essentially build a gpi from the csv, bmp, and wav/mp3 files. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway I've tried it again here at work by converting an MP3 to WAV and using sox. We'll see on the way home if it works.

You don't have to wait. Just put your unit in GPS Simultor mode, set your Location near the alert point, tell your vehicle to go past the point and let the alarm trigger as you approach it in drive simulation mode. No waiting to drive home.

Gary Hayman

I misread your question and glossed over the fact you were creating a GPI file on your computer. You can copy GPI files from your computer to the unit. They all reside in the \poi sub-directory.

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if it installed other pieces elsewhere in the system as part of the process.

Anywho, the prox. worked on the way home, sort of. The first Wachovia I passed worked, but the second did not. I have prox set for 5000ft and I passed within about 200 ft and no alert. The third Wachovia I passed again worked, but the fourth did not. All different banks and all in the database.
Not sure why it's so inconsistent, makes no sense.

Thanks, I was just about to leave anyway, but I'm going to try this now with the same banks. If it works, then maybe it had to do with direction, but it shouldn't because prox usually draws a circle with the radius being the distance. At least that's the way it works on my Etrex Legend.

The POIs don't have to be on your route but they do have to be close. Some estimates say the POI has to be within about 90 feet. If the POI is 200 feet off your route it will not alert you.

For POIs that aren't close to your route you will need to set the file up as a TourGuide (radius) alert file. To learn about TourGuide files hold your ctrl key and press this link to open the link on a new tab.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6656

This is the link to the Garmin FAQs which has multiple articles on creating TourGuide alerts as well as many other great articles.

Thanks Bear007,

From reading that it does look like they have to be along the route. This may be why some work and some don't. I think that the tour guide type would be more to my liking since I intend to use them on trips for proximity which will work much better when searching for stops off the highway on trips etc.

The Garmin Cyclops is still not worknig so I'm going to uninstall the custom POI and test it again.

Welcome to the site.

If you do not have a manual, You can download a manual by going to http://www8.garmin.com/support/userManual.jsp

On your 265, alerts are on or off depending on the following

Tools > Settings > Proximity Points > [On/Off]

Then, "Custom POIs" can be loaded with the capability to sound alerts.

Also, certain keywords/numbers will cause alerts to sound.

Recognize that, if alerts are not turned on in the Nuvi itself, non-speed/camera POI files will not sound an alert even if POILoader was run in manual mode and a proximity distance was set.

Also note that Custom POI files WILL NOT alert you if the maintainer of the file has not set the coordinates of the location such that those coordinates are within 30 meters of the route on which you are traveling.

If you desire alerts when the location is within a "circle" with your 265 as its center, then "TourGuide" is the way to go. See
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/8748
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/15028

Many of us use .gpx files because one can set a proximity distance in the file itself and thus use the "Express" mode of POILoader.

This applies only to custom POI. When Garmin's own cyclops was loaded and working this setting didn't even appear, so there was no way to turn it on or off. It appeared only after I used POI loader to load the custom POIs. Tonight on the way home I'm going to turn off this alert and see if Cyclops works at the red light camera. This is going to be troubling if I can only use one at a time.

In both your manual and mine (765), I find

Changing the Proximity Points Settings
You must have proximity points (such as custom POIs or a safety camera database [or a TourGuide file {in my 765 manual}]) loaded to adjust the proximity points settings.

I am confused by

Were you getting sound alerts from cameras before you loaded "custom POIs"? Tell us a little more about what you experienced before and after you loaded "custom POIs". As I understand it, Cyclops is a Europe database.

This is the Garmin safety camera subscription listed on Garmin's site as "Cyclops saftey camera subscription U.S. and Canada". Yes it was working up to the point where I loaded custom POIs. Now I get no notification at all. I'm going to shut the custom alerts off and test it again when I drive by them on the way home.

It still doesn't work. These are updated weekly and last night there was another update so I ran it and again this morning no cyclops alerts at the red light camera.

Next is to uninstall the custom poi and try again. I'm also going to try to get a hold of Garmin today. They should work at the same time, this site is even listed on Garmin's web site as a source of custom POI.

It is very hard for someone with a problem to tell us EVERYTHING that they have done; so why don't you back up a bit.

First, you should do a complete backup of your unit if you have not already done so. This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT and could save you much grief. If you need to know how to do this, see
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

By the way, if you hold down your CNTL key while you left click on a link, you will see a new "tab" open in your browser. Clicking on that new tab will let you read it and then return here by clicking on the tab for this window.

Next, I would suggest deleting all of the custom POI files from your unit. You can use POILoader to do this or do it yourself. To do it yourself, attach your 265 to your computer; when it is recognized by the PC, navigate to the "Nuvi"/Garmin/POI folder, and delete all of the .gpi files you find there. Since you will have just done a backup, you can take note just now or by reference to the backup of the name of the Cyclops file (and I am assuming that this file gets loaded to the POI folder - anyone else know???; also, how is the Cyclops file loaded - POILoader??? or something else??)

Just as a matter of interest, I would like to know if you can find the setting to turn on Proximity Alerts. I recall you said this did not appear until you added custom POIs.

Now, do a load of the Cyclops database and take note of any messages - for example, how many locations were loaded.

If you recall, Gary H. suggested above that you do not have to get into your vehicle in order to see if POIs are working as you intend. You can use simulation. If you need to know how to do this, please look at
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/31482

Since you know where speed zones are, find some intersections that are, say, a half mile, prior to the speed zone as well as a half mile past the speed zone. Set these intersections as favorites. By doing this, you can go into simulation mode, set your location at one intersection and then "Where To" the other intersection.

It would appear that your speed camera alert would now work, based on what you have told us thus far. Assuming that it does in the simulation, then do a load of the Wachovia banks ONLY (let's keep it simple until we know what happened in the past, and why). Do a simulation to check these alerts.

Hopefully, this latter simulation can be set up to do both speed camera and banks.

Let us know what happened.

Ok... a little experimentation and research and I'm making a little progress. First off the cyclops safety camera subscription comes with 3 files in the POI folder a .gpi .unl and .gma file. POI loader had erased the .gpi file for this app and that's why it didn't work and why from now on I'll only use it to build .gpis but I'll erase them manually. So that's working again after a full reinstall. I didn't initially realize that there were 3 files associated with cyclops.

What I found out about the custom poi is that the two that didn't sound alerts weren't in the database. After sorting the csv spreadsheet I found out that they weren't there. This is confusing because they somehow showed up in the "extras" database...ie by hitting "where to" and then going to extras. These come from the custom poi you load. Yet when I did a search by street address or city in the spreadsheet they could not be found. I'm going to load that again to double check that and make absolutely certain I'm not mistaken.

Another thing I noticed is that the poi do not have to be directly ahead. I got an alert from more than a 1/4 mile away for a poi that would have required me in about 200 yards to have made a right and then go up another 400 yards to get to the ATM. That's almost what you'd expect from a tour guide type prox. alert. That's encouraging because that's more the way I'd like alerts to work.

Anywho I'm going to do more experimentation this week end.

I'm seeing a couple of things here from your inexperience in working with the units and POI in general. I faced the same issues when i was just getting started as well.

First off, there are two databases for POI on the unit. There is the database included with the maps and then there is the one created when you load custom poi. Both are searchable, but not from the main menu screen. The main menu only looks at those included with the map data and not any you have added as "Extras."

Secondly, the newest POI loader (2.6.1) uses the name of the computer folder as the default name of the custom poi database file. You don't need to remove all the .GPI files, nor even an existing custom poi GPI. The program will check for an existing file and ask you to confirm deleting it. As long as your custom file folder is not the same name as the cyclops file, there should be no problems in just running POILoader.

You will also find the built-in POI often lack locations that have been at their location for many years, and you will find entries for locations that have been gone for many years. The built-ins are generated from a purchased database and at best, is only a portion of all the locations for a particular entry. There may be 30 McDonald's in a town, but only 10 listed by the built-in list. The custom POI you download from this site are usually much more complete and current than the provided locations.

Perhaps the easiest summation is, from Garmin's POV, anything you add is "extra" while theirs is part of the supplied data they control.

Let's do some doublechecking on this, can we?

Unless something has changed, to get an alert for a Custom POI (absent something that makes it into a TourGuide), it must be within 30 meters (as best as I could isolate it) perpendicular to the road on which you are traveling. You determine how far the location will be in front of you by setting the proximity distance in manual mode of POILoader or using .gpx files that include that alert distance.

I like to think about this by imagining that, even if the road is curving, the GPS has straightened the road out and looked ahead to find POIs off to the side of that road.

An interesting thing about ATMs is that they are in places (gas stations, quick stops, etc) that we don't imagine they might be. I found that out when I was first setting up custom POIs. My unit gives me a little oval with the name of the POI and that is how I determined that I was not getting an alert for the ATM I was thinking about but from an ATM I did not know about.

This is the great thing about simulation. You can analyze the little oval alerts without being distracted from your driving and more easily determine what is really alerting you.

Let us know your results.

Correct. This is why I want to double check what I thought I saw. Unless I'm mistaken I saw entries for the exact banks that weren't alerting in the custom poi database even though I could not find them when searching the csv in excel. Doesn't make sense and I'll have to double check that again.

Not exactly sure what you mean by this. I used 2.6.1 and don't remember any option but to delete ALL custom POI and that's where I think the app deleted the .gpi from cyclops. I haven't edited that folder manually to date.

I had the proximity set at about 1800 ft. I know the area very well and that was the only bank in the area and no ATMs either. I will check this once again though, and I will simulate.

What box car was referencing was the fact that POILoader gives you a screen with the following lines

• install new custom POIs onto your device
• Remove all previously installed POIs from your device

when you take the install choice, you will see a label for a dialog entry that says
Please select the folder where the data files can be found

There is a browse button you can click to find the folder. Once the folder is located, POILoader will automatically place the folder name into the line that that has the label
Choose a name for the newly created custom POI file

You can leave this name or change it; it is up to you.

Somehow, I think we've got installing confused with uninstalling WRT POI loader. My point was that I don't think it's possible to selectively uninstall with the application. I thought that was the point boxcar was trying to make after I mentioned that it was POI loader which uninstalled my cyclops .gpi along with the other customs. That was the reason in a prev. post that I stated that from now on I'll manually uninstall so I can be selective.

Correct. I was misunderstanding your comment.

I agree that the best way is for each person to do any deleting of .gpi files themselves. Hopefully each of us give the file a descriptive name so that we remember what that file was for.

Myself, I put a lot of test files on my 765 trying to learn something new or trying to help someone figure out a problem. I periodically clean those out.

Further, selectively loading new POI files means that any problems relating to the load are related to one file only. Don't you just hate it when you do a mass load and it fails and gives you no indication which file it did not like?

If you tell POILoader to delete all custom POI, it does exactly that. It deletes all files ending in .GPI.

If you have custom POI in a folder named MY POI (as an example) 2.6.1 will create a MY POI.GPI file on the unit. Next time you run POI Loader and use the same folder on your computer POI Loader will check to see if MY POI.GPI exists and, if it is there, ask you to confirm overwriting the old file. All other files ending in GPI are left alone. When POI Loader asks you to confirm the deletion I believe you can also specify a new name.

Ok...testing the POI that sounded an alert by being over 1/4 mile away and at a 90deg dog-leg angle did not sound in simulation, nor by driving that route on the way home last night. Further it did not sound by driving right by the bank even though it is in the database. Now I'm confused. I'm also confused by the fact that a year old branch of Wachovia is not in the custom dbatabase, but is in Garmin's database.
This is very confusing since this GPS is over 2 years old.

You will not get any alerts for the poi's that are part of garmin's built in files.

For the custom files that I assume you downloaded from here, you will get alerts if set up properly. We can work on that.

As for a bank/atm not in the custom file you got from here, there are a couple possibilities. The 1st being that it was just missed when the file was created. After all we as maintainers are not perfect. We rely on the community to tell us of an issue with our files. The 2nd problem is that the 6 files under Wachovia I looked at were last updated in 2007. So basicly, no one seems to be maintaining them and therefore they are out of date. Usually we recommend contacting the maintainer but I suspect that person is mia.