Question re Garmin poi loader

See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/16639 and http://www.poi-factory.com/node/8779

Yes, if all of the POI files are in the same folder and use just one name on your Garmin. No, if you use separate folders or it you change the name of the file on your Garmin after you load it.

My personal choice is to use separate folders. I find that it is less confusing to this old, slow mind. It takes a bit more work the first time to set it all up but after that it is really faster.

Assuming that you are using the latest POILoader (ver 2.7.1), you are asked to point to a directory which contains the file(s) you wish to load. This directory can contain just one or multiple files. It can also contain another level of directories (more about that later).

POILoader offers to name the .gpi file it is about to create on your GPS the same name as this directory. You can accept that or use any name you choose.

As charlesd45 and jackj180 have suggested, you can later "rename" the created .gpi file by pointing windows explorer to the (Garmin Nuvi)\Garmin\POI folder, finding the file you just loaded and giving it a new name.

Myself, I do that as a matter of course. When it finishes, POILoader tells me how many points it loaded, so I go in and add the characters "220147 pts" to the end of the file name just before the extension .gpi. Sometimes I delete the previous POI file I loaded a month ago; sometime I just change the extension to .gpy and leave it there.

What I point POILoader to is a directory called MyPOIExpress. This directory contains more directories and three files. The directories are
--Auto stuff
--Banks
--Malls
--Other
--RestAreas
--Restaurants
--Stores

There also are three files in MyPOIExpress directory.
HamptonInn
Redlight-Cameras
Speed-Cameras

Whenever I going out of town, I update the camera files; I may or may not update the other files (depending on how much time I have). I usually reload all of the files - updated or not. It does not take that long.

I have said all this to talk about what happens when POILoader uses MyPOIExpress directory.

When I go to
Where To > (down arrow) > Extras > Custom POIs, what I see is

All Categories
--Auto stuff
--Banks
--Malls
--Other
--RestAreas
--Restaurants
--Stores
HamptonInn
Redlight-Cameras
Speed-Cameras

Because of the way MyPOIExpress is organized the names of the directories and files turned into "Categories" inside my unit. That is why I started the directory names with "--". I forced them to sort to the top of the list alphabetically. Note that the HamptonInn was the eighth entry in the list.

Once you have downloaded more than 10 or so POI files, you find that "Extras" gets pretty hard to navigate to the particular POI file you really wanted when you started the "Where To" process.

Hope this gives you some insights.

This is another way:

POI(folder)
Red Light (folder)
Speed Camera (folder)
Restaurants (folder)
Etc...

The just update from the folders you want.

If you pick the POI folder, it will update from all sub-folders.

No! Only download the ones you are concerned about. The other POI files should still be where you left them on the PC. Here is a simple FAQ to organize the POI files in folders -

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30728

dobs108