Portland, OR - Project Discussion

Here ya go, I got restaurants and top attractions up for you, let me know what other files you would like. We are still looking for volunteers.

Miss Poi

...but not even really scratching the surface yet.

I could really use someone more in touch with the Portland club/restaurant scene as I'm a suburanite and rarely spend much time (OK, I never spend any time) in this scene.

Anyone want to join me?

I will be assisting you with the Portland area, I lived there 22 years of my life. I will be more focused on things that I don't have to worry about changing like the zoo and other tourist attractions like Omsi.

I may ask some of you locals about some of my favorite restaurants to see if they are still around. Our favorite Thai place is Thai Orchid.

Miss Poi

Just for you...I added all the Thai Orchid locations in this metro area.

I'm thinking that a POI file for the Portland MAX Light Rail stations might be a good one to add.

I just had another thought for a POI file that should be included...Portland is know for its microbreweries and brewpubs. We should probably have a file just for those...again something I have little to no exposure to. Hoping someone will speak up and assist with this.

I will add these files to the area sometime today.

Miss Poi

files have been added. I will be adding the McMenamins locations this week. If you have not been to a McMenamins theatre and you live in the Portland Metro area you are missing out.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/

Miss Poi

For anyone interested...I just completed the Portland MAX station POI file. It is complete as of today.

One note:Some of the stations the train stops are on either side of an intersection. In such cases the POI marks the intersection.

MissPOI, have at McMenamins, I'm going to have to take a day or two off from all this work just to preserve my sanity.

Just keep in mind this is supposed to be for entertainment value not stress inducing value.

Miss Poi

No I'm fine. I just tend to focus on something and block out the world around me too much. I just need to take care of all the other things in my life that I've let slide.

The last thing I want is a bunch of angry wives and husbands coming after me because I have been distracting you all from your other duties;)

Miss Poi

I can hear it now, "have you been spending more time doing stuff for that Miss Poi lady again." I don't want to cause any marital problems people.

That's why most of the POI creation I've done has been at work. My boss doesn't care about it nearly as much as my wife, but for the MAX light rail POI I had to use Google Earth (most train stops have no address), which I can't install at work. Stupid IT guys won't make me an administrator. They think if they do I'll go installing a bunch of junk on my computer. Now where did they ever get an idea like that.

There's still plenty of POI's to create. I could certianly use the help. So help me show off what makes this place the greatest place to live.

there will also need to be a "Coffee Peoples" file;) that is the best place to get Mexican Hot Chocolate. I have one everytime I am in town. We also can't forget about Burgerville!!! I have one of those too:)

Miss Poi

Yes, Burgerville. How could I forget.

Edit: All Burgervilles in the metro area added.

I lived in Portland a few years back and Burgerville was the best. Fresh Halibat real cheap. Now living on the east coast I can't find fresh fish dirt cheap at a fast joint like Burgerville.

Since I didn't see these up yet, I went ahead and did all the McMenamin's locations. Hope you don't mind...I just had the time.

Thats what happens when Miss Poi gets sick, I don't get things done in a timely manner. I should be back up to 100% by Monday.

Thanks for adding them p38nut;)

Miss Poi

Been a Portland native...roughly since birth. What can I do to help out?

I have added you as a maintainer, so if you go to the file that you would like to contribute to and open it you can use the "edit Locations for this POI Type" link to get into the database where you can use the "add a new location" link and add your details. Hit the submit button and you are done entering in your first local.

Miss Poi

Just added. Been going there since I was.... Well, back when you had to kill your own cow to get the meat.

Arguably, the BEST ppizza in the entire Portland Metro area. Period.

47th & NE Fremont

Just added the three Portland/Metro area locations.

Thanks for assisting. I only just moved to the area a few years ago and really haven't found all the best locations for everything yet.

It's good to have the help.

I was just browsing thru the restaurant file and found this location. I moved it to the Pub/Brewery file.

I just added this location to the Portland attractions file for lack of a better place. It's a Farm produce stand & U-pick operation that is all natural.

Just moved to Portland, and am already enjoying some of the POIs I've downloaded from here. Any help needed, I'm there.

BTW:, already posted in another thread, but the Oregon Disc Golf map is AWESOME. Wish we had a nationwide one.
http://www.oregondiscgolf.com/map.html

Glad to have you here. The Portland POI file has been pretty static, lately, but I want to start finding the time to begin adding new items. If you think of something, just ask!

B_P

I am trying to add a number of new places to the top attractions. However, I have hard time trying to figure out the coordinates... How exactly do you come up with all those coordinates in the csv files?

There are many tools you can use to look up coordinates. Click on the "faq" and pick "How do I find the coordinates for an address?" or "Creating POI files with Google Earth"

As you already have been told, you can use Global Earth and you can also use Garmin's "Map Source", or the two together as many do. Yahoo has a mapping source as well, but many say it's not as accurate. Good luck...

TriMet announced today that some schedules and routes will change effective December 2. I'll post updated POI files close to that date, once TriMet releases the new data.

http://trimet.org/alerts/december_07_changes.htm

TriMet just released new data that's marked effective 10/28/07. I sanity checked some of the stops that no longer appear in the new data and verified that they appear to have been closed.

This is not the December 2 update (which is also available as of today); I'll post that at the end of November.

Great job;) thanks for the attention to detail.

Miss POI

I am a complete noob when it comes to POI, but I am learning fast. I don't even have my Garmin yet, but I am so anxious for it to come next week I am already making plans to be ready for it when it comes. I don't know yet how it could work, but URBANDRINKS.com is a good website that has locations of all places with happy hours in all areas of Portland. Are you able to add info to the POI or just the location and name? I'm not trying to promote the website, just use it as a source for locations.

bvr,
Welcome to the site, you may want to shoot off an email to the owner of that site and let them know if they allow us to use their data, we would give them a copy of the file to put up on their site for the local gps users.

Miss Poi

I went ahead and contacted them about the idea. I will wait to hear from them before I start working on it.

Is there a tutorial anywhere that I can see how to edit the text of a POI, or is that going to be really obvious when I get MapSource

You don't need MapSource to edit a POI. You can do it right in Excel and save it as a .csv file.

Hi, this is Bryan from www.urbandrinks.com (I'm the programmer). I'll be working with BVRNation to provide the bar listings. I'll try to generate GPX files and CSV files.

I have a GPS, but it's old and I doubt it would even work with this.. but it's a very cool idea anyway!

Regards,
Bryan

BryanD,

Welcome to the POI Factory, I love your site!!! I was born and raised in Portland and will use your site next time I am in town meeting up with my friends.

I am sure that your users would love to find a gps file on your site to upload into their GPS units;)

Miss Poi

I too live in portland and will help out with locations

Let me know if the 24 hour Pharmacy POI file needs mods/tweaking/additions...

Take care,

Chip

I have been gathering locations of all US Bank ATMs in the Portland Area, but I have yet to test the CSV file since I am still waiting for Christmas to open my GPS. I can't wait!

I added to the Portland Brewery and Pubs and just submitted a CSV file. There is a total of 72 in my file.

Cool! Nice add - another web resource I use for this is http://www.beermapping.com

I got my nuvi 760 about a month ago and am just learning how to do POI's. I would be more tan willing to help on any areas needing help in Portland. This thing is the coolest and most useful gadget I have ever had!

I would not mind helping out.. I have a couple ideas for POI files.

I could use a tutorial or reference page for how to build one.

Been a while since this board has active huh?

- joe

...this page sorts posts in reverse order...oldest first. aha... = }

If I were you I'd start by downloading the portland POI files and see if you have any locations that you'd add. Post those locations here with which file they should be added to and one of the file maintainers will be by to add them.

You know if you get ambitious enough MissPOI will probably just add you as a maintainer.

Hi,

I've set up a page on UrbanDrinks.com that lets you download POI files for restaurants and bars in Portland, Beaverton, and Vancouver (although there's not many places for Beaverton yet). Portland has 759 locations alone, so hopefully this will cover most people's needs.

You have to create an account at UrbanDrinks before you can download the files, just so we don't get hit with too many requests at once. Creating an account lets you write reviews and rate places as well, so it's well worth it!

Here's the link:
http://www.urbandrinks.com/poi

And you can sign up for an account here: http://www.urbandrinks.com/user/signup

The POI files are generated on the fly, so they'll always have the most up-to-date information. I threw in some happy hour information as well, although I didn't include the days and times.. I think that might be a bit much for a GPS display, but I don't know..

I should note that we also have Seattle, Dallas, and Columbus, OH available as well.

Let me know if there are any issues or suggestions. This is certainly a "beta" service at this point, but I'll gladly make changes to improve it.

Regards,

Bryan
UrbanDrinks.com