POI factory POI's

 

This coming fall I will be doing a 6,000 mile plus trip and have been busy downloading any POI's I think may come in handy. A total of 55 different ones. All were installed with the current POI loader directly to a 2GB SD card.
My 855 only has 111 MB of space left, YES I have already removed any un-necessary files long ago. The large JCV resides on a SD card and I also installed all 55 POI's on the SD card in a POI folder. There is still 1.05 GB of free space on the SD card.

When I fire up the GPS it asks if I want to install the "Extras" in the GPS, I chose NO.

Using Windows Explorer it shows all 55 POI's on the SD card, but when I open up the "Extras" and the "Custom POI folder in the GPS it only shows 22 as being available, these are from A to H. What I have is from A to Y.

Is there a limit to how many POI's can be installed? The total of all 55 POI's is only 12.3 MB on the SD card.

Edit: OK, just for the heck of it I pulled the battery and restarted the GPS and this time opted to install the POI's in the GPS. When done, there is no difference. Only from A to H is available yet all 55 are there using Windows Explorer.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

No limit

Melaqueman wrote:

...
Using Windows Explorer it shows all 55 POI's on the SD card, but when I open up the "Extras" and the "Custom POI folder in the GPS it only shows 22 as being available, these are from A to H. What I have is from A to Y.

Is there a limit to how many POI's can be installed? The total of all 55 POI's is only 12.3 MB on the SD card.

Garmin says

Quote:

There is no set limit on how many custom POIs can be loaded into the Garmin device. This depends on the size of the POI files and the space available for POIs.

Am I correct in assuming that Windows Explorer shows 55 .gpi files on the SD Card?

Given the total size of 12.3 MB for POIs, I would suggest that the .gpi files be on the 855.

Tried that too.

[quote=jgermannThere is no set limit on how many custom POIs can be loaded into the Garmin device. This depends on the size of the POI files and the space available for POIs.
Am I correct in assuming that Windows Explorer shows 55 .gpi files on the SD Card?
Given the total size of 12.3 MB for POIs, I would suggest that the .gpi files be on the 855.

Correct, regardless of what I do, all the *. gpi files on either the SD card or installed in the GPS, WIndows Explorer shows all 55 files. Yet the Custom POI's only display 22 files from A to H.
Very strange.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

gmap3d.img

Melaqueman wrote:

...
My 855 only has 111 MB of space left, YES I have already removed any un-necessary files long ago. The large JCV resides on a SD card and I also installed all 55 POI's on the SD card in a POI folder. There is still 1.05 GB of free space on the SD card.
...

I have often wondered what would happen if I removed the file "gmap3d.img" form my 765. I do not use the "3D" map display and the file is 226MB.

Anybody tried this?

Yes.

I have removed the gmap3d.img from my 755T with no consequence other than the expected behavior of the 3D buildings not showing. You can also move the gmap3d.img file to the SD card in folder \Garmin.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Lump together?

Melaqueman wrote:

...
Correct, regardless of what I do, all the *. gpi files on either the SD card or installed in the GPS, WIndows Explorer shows all 55 files. Yet the Custom POI's only display 22 files from A to H.
Very strange.

I have a lot of old .gpi files so I will have to load more than 22 and see what happens to my 765.

However, I would suggest that you have one MyPOI folder and then - within that folder - have all 55 of the POI files.
Try that to assure yourself that they will all show up.

Later, we can discuss methods of creating "Categories" to make accessing a specific POI easier.

Limits

I suspect that you may be hitting a limit on how many folders the receiver allows in a directory. For a work around try creating a few category folders such as "FastFoot, Lodging, Parks, and so on, and put the resulting POI files (after loading) into the appropriate folder. This is best done by loading one (or just a few) pois at a time and manually moving and renaming the file that is created by the loader (keeping the three letter extension the same).

43 .gpi files

Ok, I just copied 43 separate .gpi files from my testgpi folder to my 765.

This resulted in 255 "categories" (because some of the .gpi files were previous tests of categories). Did not try to open any category - just counted them.

@malequeman, the number of .gpi files does not seem to be a problem since I got more than 22 on my 765 which should be close to your device.

32 file limit

And as you do what Frovingslosh advises, keep in mind the limit of 32 files per folder or subfolder.

Edit: now that I think about it, is the 32 file limit a global limit or the limit in each folder? Does anyone know the answer?

2nd edit: I guess jgermann just answered that question. Thanks.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

I'll try that!

Frovingslosh wrote:

I suspect that you may be hitting a limit on how many folders the receiver allows in a directory. For a work around try creating a few category folders such as "FastFoot, Lodging, Parks, and so on, and put the resulting POI files (after loading) into the appropriate folder. This is best done by loading one (or just a few) pois at a time and manually moving and renaming the file that is created by the loader (keeping the three letter extension the same).

Just went through re-loading them and this time only some of the lower alphabet showed u.

I am going to try creating different folders such as Lodging, Food, Entertainment and see what will happen.

Now I wonder if I am going to have the same problem in my 3790? The 855 is the guinea pig for different stuff.

Thanks to ALL for the suggestions and taking the time to post.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Folders

I created 6 folders and the most files in one folder are 20 files.

Regardless of what I do the 855 will not show all 55 files. None of the folders I created show up, though pulling the battery and rebooting the GPS asks me if I want to copy all to the GPS. Answered "Yes" and I could see the files being copied from the different folders. It clearly showed the path from the SD card\Garmin\POI\Lodging etc.

Maybe its time to call it quits with the 855 and just use it for basic navigation as my back up GPS.

I will try my 3790 next, but not today. Time to take a break.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

I'm unclear on how you are running poi loader

Melaqueman wrote:

I created 6 folders and the most files in one folder are 20 files.

Regardless of what I do the 855 will not show all 55 files. None of the folders I created show up, though pulling the battery and rebooting the GPS asks me if I want to copy all to the GPS. Answered "Yes" and I could see the files being copied from the different folders. It clearly showed the path from the SD card\Garmin\POI\Lodging etc.

Maybe its time to call it quits with the 855 and just use it for basic navigation as my back up GPS.

I will try my 3790 next, but not today. Time to take a break.

I'm uncertain as to the procedure you are following when you run POI Loader.

Try this, create one single folder, call it POI for a good default name.

Inside the folder POI create your sub folders each with a name describing your contents.

Put the GPX or CSV files matching the sub-folder category into the proper folder.

When finished and all the POI files are in their sub-folder inside the main folder run POI loader and tell it to load the folder POI. POI Loader should run and tell you the number of separate locations loaded from the main folder and all the sub-folders.

Let us know what happens. You should have a single GPI file with the default name POI. If you open Custom POI on the Nuvi under Extras you should see the name of all your sub-folders listed. Inside each sub-folder (category) named folder should be all the individual files loaded into that sub-folder.

If you load them to the SD card, when the 855 asks you to load them to the unit, answer YES. The next prompt will allow you to tell the unit to skip the loading and not nag you any more. (Note: Not all units do this any more. Only the older ones and the 8X5 series is in that group of "Great but Forgotten" units with nifty neat quirks.)

--
Illiterate? Write for free help.

32 limit

alandb wrote:

And as you do what Frovingslosh advises, keep in mind the limit of 32 files per folder or subfolder.

Edit: now that I think about it, is the 32 file limit a global limit or the limit in each folder? Does anyone know the answer?

2nd edit: I guess jgermann just answered that question. Thanks.

This is a tricky one.

The limit of 32 applies to the number of file sets that can be in a sub-folder to the high level folder to which you point POI Loader. A file set is defined as a .csv/gpx file with possibly 1) an Icon file (.bmp) and/or 2) a Sound file (.mp3/.wav) where the character string of the File Set names to the left of the extension are the same.

There can be any number of .csv/.gpx files in the high level folder to which POI Loader is pointed. There can be any number of sub-folders in the high level folder to which POI Loader is pointed.

BUT - it will be a lot easier on you if you organize your Custom POI files into a limited number of "Categories" (ie. sub-folders).

Here we go again

Well between Boxcar and jgermann I now have enough to keep me busy today. Will definitely follow your suggestions to see what will transpire.

As an aside just did all 55 files with the POI loader on my 3790 and all POI's got loaded and are shown without creating any subfolders. So obviously the 855 requires a different approach.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

A happy follow up

As per Box car's suggestion I created a single folder on my harddrive and copied all the files I want into it.

The only two I did not copy there are the Red-light and Speed camera files. Reason I figured it would make it easier to update those two files if and when needed.

So now I have a single "All.gpi" file and they are all shown in the EXTRA - Custom POI folder

Thanks for the help by all.

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

One more follow up

June 11: Since then I have redone all the POI's and have also downloaded the available corrsponding sound files and icons. BMP for icons and MP3 for sound files. Also set alert distances using POI loader.
POI loader tells me I have installed over 220,000 POI's

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Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

@melaqueman

Good for you.

Thanks for the follow up. we always like to know that some situation has been resolved favorably.

except

Melaqueman wrote:

June 11: Since then I have redone all the POI's and have also downloaded the available corrsponding sound files and icons. BMP for icons and MP3 for sound files. Also set alert distances using POI loader.
POI loader tells me I have installed over 220,000 POI's

Garmin no longer uses MP3 files.

--
Illiterate? Write for free help.