POI Factory vs Garmin Cyclops

I load my files at the same time included with many other POI files.

However, I do not have wav files associated with them.

Does Cyclops have a sound file?

It uses the default beep that you turn on and off in the unit settings area.

But, I did NOT run both the Cyclops set and the Factory set at the same time. I moved the Cyclops set off the unit and onto the laptop during the testing.

I hardly ever load all the POI groups into one GPI file, updating one or two groups and remembering if I had any distances set during the load is too cumbersome IMHO. But I thought it would be easier to group the Redlight and Speed files into one GPI. Hence the initial post problem.

1. Garmin Cyclops could have inaccurate information. The advantage of using the POI Factory files is that they are updated weekly. When is the Cyclops file updated?

2. Each speed camera or red light/speed camera combination in Speed-Camera.csv has the speed embedded in its entry, e.g. "-114.04858 51.01597 Blackfoot & 42 @43.5 AB Calgary". The "@43.5" is the speed limit in MPH: in this example the speed limit in km/h was converted to MPH. When you compile with POI Loader, POI Loader reads this and converts it to a speed alert. A few entries do not have speed limit information. In the case of those entries POI Loader will treat the entry as a red light camera, although the distance set may not be the same as for the red light camera file.

3. If you run POI Loader in Manual mode, you can then combine files and set different alert types for each. For example, I combine the red light and speed camera files into a single .GPI file named "Alerts". For the red light cameras I set a distance of 528 feet (default is approximately 1/4 mile). The speed cameras, as mentioned above, are read by POI Loader and an alert tailored to the speed limit set for each entry.

Another brief example. I combine the US and Canada rest area files into a single .GPI file: Rest Areas.gpi. The US portion of the file has an alert distance of 5280 feet (1 mile). The Canada file has alerts set for 3280 feet (1 kilometer). Both sound off at the appropriate distance.

If I misunderstood your post and you already understand all this, then simply ignore me. If someone else has already posted this information in this thread, then ignore me again. However, if I did get your post right, what you're missing is that POI Loader has a Manual mode where you can set the alerts for individual files, and thus can combine different files together.

You either misread or did not understand what I posted.

#1 of your post: Does not enter into the posting about the Factory files. It was merely an observation of the difference between the Cyclops and Factory.

#2 of your post: There is no speed entry on the location I posted.

#3 of your post: I understand how to use POILoader in manual mode. Again that is not relevant to the problem.

#4 of your post: I understand how to combine many POI files into a single GPI file, I choose not to do it that way and in the final analysis the GPS unit does not see any difference in the two ways.

EXCEPT in this case combining the Redlight and Speed files with Icons and Sounds seems to work differently and I believe it is a function of the keyword SPEED and REDLIGHT in the file names which is interpreted by the loader as meaning something. When I changed the name of the CSV files they functioned as expected.

Did not mean this to be a rant so please don't take it as such. Thanks for your input tho.....

I thought I might have misunderstood you, which is why I said to ignore me.

I rename my files as well, but only to get rid of the dash. As is, I don't believe POI Loader recognizes them for what they are.

I agree that if you rename them, assuming you remove the SPEED and REDLIGHT keywords, POILoader does not recognize what they are. If you look on the Garmin site the POILoader help file is there and it explains this keyword business further.

At any rate, I solved my problem with it and was wondering if anyone else noticed it.

Thanks.

Not sure if I have welcomed you to the site, but I am pretty sure you are not a "beginner" so I'll jump in with a way for you to check out that camera.

If you have not already gotten a copy of Extra POI Editor (written by one of out members, Turbocc), then do so by going to
http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/Extra_POI_Editor#toc5

There are some FAQs on EPE at

Downloading and Installing EPE
Configuring EPE
Building alert distances in GPX files using EPE
Troubleshooting EPE - Application window does not appear
Troubleshooting EPE - Run-time errors and crashes

What I just did was to run EPE and did a File > Open for the file Redlight-Cameras.csv
I then did a File > Merge Open for the file Speed-Cameras.csv

I then did an Edit > Find > cleveland to locate one of the cameras in Cleveland OH.

I then did Tools > Sort by Location and EPE sorted all of the locations in the combined files by the distance from that first Cleveland location.

I then double-clicked on the first location to bring up the POI Edit dialog. That dialog has a button on the lower right that is called "Next POI"

Now, I was able to step through the 50 Cleveland cameras (both redlight and speed) looking at where they were.

Although it meant nothing to me, you would be able to locate, I think, the camera in question above.

I have used EPE, not so much lately though, and your idea is a good one.

What I did was to copy the CSV files and rename them to RLC.txt and SC.TXT the use notepad to ferret out the Cleveland ones using a simple FIND for OH.

Different approaches that end up with the same results. Although yours may be faster because you can easily sort.

I'll print out the Cleveland (or nearby) ones on routes that I use for a manual check.

One thing I have noticed with Garmin Cyclops is that although there seem to be updates on a somewhat weekly basis, you never know where and what the updates are for. And of course for the kind of money you are paying for it yearly they could at least do that!

But, In any case, Cyclops is going to fade away on our 2 units in favor of Factory.