Can not see icons for POI's

not knowing where you got your icons from, my suggestion would be to start simple.

Download a .bmp file (which is what POI Loader wants) from here. For example, get the one at
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/5038

At this page, right click on Bank_of_America_ATMs_AA.BMP
and select "Save link as..."

Put the file in some folder you can find later.

Now copy this file to the folder where your POI files are and then change the name of the .bmp file to the name of one of the POI files. That is, whatever the "character string" of the .csv file is to the left of the extension, copy that "character string" and replace "Bank_of_America_ATMs_AA" with it.

It really makes no difference what the .bmp is - all we want you to work with is one that we know is proper and works.

For the POI file, pick something that you can drive by or simulate driving by.

Load the .csv and .bmp files and see what happens.

Recall that you must be zoomed into around 200 feet to see icons.

Let us know the results

I believe that it isn't the MB size of the icon that matter, but the pixel size. For standard definition (not HD) units the max icon size is 24x24 pixels. Remember too, that the icon name must be the same as the csv.

All the POI's are from POI factory. Most Icons if available are downloaded from POI factory as well. None are JPEG files, all are BMP, so they must be converted to jpeg.

Any icons I could not find I located on the internet by typing "Company ??? logos" and tons of logos come up.
All including the ones I sourced from the internet work as BMP file in the 855. In the 855 I can zoom out to 30 miles and I can see the icon as well as when I zoom in.

Just did a quick check of the sizes I have as jpeg and they are all around 20 x 20. Some are even a bit smaller and some are slightly larger. So using the 20 x 20 figure then all icons smaller than that should show up.

I use Irfanview to manipulate photos etc and when I have a BMP file at 2 MB and then save it as a jpeg it automatically makes it a 1 MB file. Irfanview allows me to resize any file.

Yes I went over every GPX and CSV file and named all icons, sound and poi files identically, usually by copying one name and then pasting the same name to the other files.

The ones I have been driving by at are RLC's and I get the sound and a small black box warning me about the RLC, but not the icon I assigned to the gpx file.
I have also passed some places such as WENDY's a chain store and nothing shows up.

you have said several times that "they must be converted to jpeg" and I am having trouble with that.

POI Loader help says

I really get confused when you speak of 1MB.

Why are you converting .BMP files to .JPG? AFAIK, all Garmins use .BMP for custom POI icons. What am I missing here?

Are you saying that POI loader will automatically convert from BMP to JPEG?

When I install using POI loader I do not see any option such as that unless I am blind.

I have 97 different POI categories and in them are the GPX or JSVfiles, MP# and Wav files as well as BMP and Jpeg files.

Now to load the files I have created one folder for the 855 files and a second folder for the 3790 files.
So each separate POI has either a GPX or CSV file and the appropriate sound file as well as either a BMP or Jpeg file.
As an example the Americas Best Value has a GPX, a Wav and a jpeg file for the 3790.
Same for the 855 except there is a GPX, a MP3 and a BMP file.

I can not remember where I read that the jpeg files need to be 1 MB.

I am going to create a new folder for the 3790 and use the POI file with a BMP file. Now as far as I know the 3790 can not use MP3 so I guess I still need to use wav files.

Edit:Just spent 30 minutes to set up the folder using BMP files and did a simulated run.
No icons showing at all.

Done some searching on the internet and seems I am not the only one with this problem, there was no solution there.
See this link from 2013:
http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/27409/nuvi-3790-custo...

Thanks to Brendan we have a sample:

Garmin 3790T does not like this icon:
(24-bit bitmap)

Good icon:
(8-bit bitmap)

Figure it out... you have to convert all Hi-Res icons to an old 8 bit format...

Another post in a forum:

robak65
GPS: Garmin nuvi 3790T

PostPosted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 15:33 Post subject: Re: Camera Icon Reply with quote
This is a newbie question I’m sure but how do you convert the icon to 8bit in MS Paint.
The choices I have with “save as” are
Monochrome Bitmap (*.bmp;*dib)
16 Color Bitmap (*.bmp;*dib) (that throws a warning that some color will be lost and it does affect some icons more than others.
256 Color Bitmap (*.bmp;*dib)
24-bit Bitmap (*.bmp;*dib)
Then JPEG,GIF,TIFF and PNG
Is 16 Color the same as 8 Bit Question
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robak65
GPS: Garmin nuvi 3790T

PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 11:16 Post subject: See missing Icons 3790T Reply with quote
To answer my own question... “Saving the image as a "256 colour bitmap" in MS paint should give you an 8-bit image.”
And I can now confirm this to be true and works on my 3790T.
I opened the Icon image in paint and saved with the file format 256 color bitmap. Uploaded my POI’s with the POI Loader and it now shows icons where it didn’t before Very Happy

There was a solution there. See my post of February 2013 which reads in part:

"- each bmp file MUST be saved as 256 color bitmap. Saving at other color depth will result in the icon not appearing on the map screen. This may not be true for other Nuvi models, but is on the 3790. "

Two post later you will also find this post, again in part:

"What I do is load the .bmp file into Paint and then do a SAVE AS. In Paint I then get an option to save as a jpg, bmp, etc file and I pick bmp. On the Save As screen there is a drop down box called "save as type" where I can pick 256 color bitmap. Once selected I can save the loaded bmp file, insuring it's the same name as the POI file. "

t923347, would you kindly post the link to your posting? I did a search for your handle but could not come up with the post you mention.

I did find some info from a member "FunkyBoss" posted last year and I downloaded his icons from a provided list. I used the ones applicable to my own list and proceeded to reload alll the POI's including the new icons. Most were about 4MB in size. They were barely visible when I zoomed in to a maximum of 50 feet and were the size of a pinprick. Forum thread: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/40226

So it seems as if somewhere along the way I got the wrong info regarding the jpeg files.

The picture viewer uses JPEG.

I know that my 765 has a picture viewer. BUT that has nothing to do with POIs.

Please believe us that POIs use .bmp files ONLY for Icons.

Your 8xx device is one of those capable of displaying a "Picture" using "picture viewer". Perhaps this statement (or one like it) is where you got your information on jpegs

The link is the same link you posted, and that I was responding to:

http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/27409/nuvi-3790-custo...

There are 13 posts in that thread. The ones I quoted are the fourth and second from the bottom of the thread.

AFAIK, user created POIs (Garmin POI Loader) that have an associated icon have never used .jpg files...always .bmp for the icon.

I have spent several hours redoing all the icons to reflect 256 colors, my Irfanview program lets me do that. They come up mostly as a 51 kb file and that seems too big. The 3790 only shows a blank square instead of an icon.
Is there a maximum size the icons should or can be set for?
Some are square and others are rectangular and are on average approximately 225 x 225. Will I need to reduce them in size?

225 x 225 is WAY too big! Try 24 x 24. That's the size I've always used.

They should be saved in 256-color bitmap format.

From the POI Loader help file:

Yes, 24 x 24 will work on the 3790 (the 3597 likes 44 x 44). They are going to be small icons on the screen but they will appear. You can try a bigger icon size like 44 x44 or 48 x48. I think I've done that on a 3790 and it worked OK. May want to do just one CSV/GPX file at that size to see if it works before spending "hours" doing all of them.

I use Irfanview for lots of stuff but I've always found Microsoft Paint (part of the OS) to be easier to use when converting these POI icons to 256 color.

Thanks for the help all of you. I think before my eyballs become rectagular I'll take a weekend break.
I'll follow the suggestions and maybe try one or two at about 44 x 44 to see if that will work in the 3790.

I do not have MS Paint but in Irfanview it is dead easy to change to the 256 color. Just go to "Image"
and there select "Increase Color Depth" or "Decrease Color Depth". Easy as pie.

Have you used one of our files with its associated icon and are able to report success?

Started with all the icons from POI factory and they did not show up at all, even zoomed in to the max.
Nothing, nada, nichts!

But any POI icon's from Gamin show up.

But the icons from POI factory all work in the 855. That's what has me flabbergasted.

I read that things are working in the 855, which means that the naming scheme for the files is correct - otherwise they would not show up on the 855.

However, you are saying that when you use POI Loader to compile the exact same files for the 3790, the Icons are not showing up regardless of what zoom level is set (where 300 ft or less is required, according to Garmin)

What do you have when you do
Tools > Settings > Navigation > Automobile > Map detail?

He mentioned in an earlier post that he saw blank boxes when he had the icons sized at 255 x 255 so he probably has the Nuvi setting correct. It really does look like it's a color depth and icon sizing issue (mostly color depth) as the 3790 is a very different animal from most Nuvi's and requires only 256 color icons be used for Custom POI icons.

That is one reason why I was suggesting a test using the BofA icon from us.

Today I downloaded 'Five Guys.gpx" from POI factory as well as the icon for it. That icon is 2Kb in size and 24 x 16. Irfanview tells me it is 16.7 million colors, 24 bits per pixel.

Removed all other POI's and only installed the 5 guys.gpx file and BMP icon via POI loader.

Still no icon showing. Nothing, nada.

I now converted the bmp file still at 2kb and 24 x 16 to 256 colors ( 8 bit per pixel ).

No icon showing.

On the screen under Tools is an icon "Picture Viewer" and the Picture Viewer contained no pictures.

Now I poked around the GPS and there is a folder called "Pictures". It was empty. Another folder called "Roadside Assist" has a folder in it "Images".
All the images have a .png extension.

So now I converted a picture to PNG and copied it into the "Pictures" folder. It did not show.

Repeated that and copied a picture with the BMP extension and it did not show up in the picture viewer.

Lastly I copied a JPEG picture into the "pictures" folder and the JPEG picture shows up in the Picture Viewer.

If as per your advice the 3790 can not read JPEG files, how come the "Picture Viewer" can?

I am ready to give up, I am pulling out what few hairs are left already.

Note that your icons may be just fine...you are just not zoomed in far enough for them to show on the map.

To test on the 3790 (I just tested on mine):

1. From the Where To? screen, turn ON GPS Simulation just to be on equal ground with me here.
a. (Where To screen) Tools/Settings/System/GPS Simulator: ON

2. Exit back out to the Where To? screen

3. Find your POI:
a. Where To?/Points of Interest
b. Arrow down to Extras & select it
c. Select Custom POIs
d. Find your desired POI and tap on it from the list

4. The Map screen should show up with the POI's name in a "speech bubble" type box/pointer on the map.

From this screen, tap the "+" button to zoom in the map view...on my 3790, you NEED to be zoomed in to 200 ft or below to even see the icon. The starting map zoom value begins at 0.2 mile so you need to tap the "+" button 4 times for the icon to even show on the map. The icon will only show on this map at the lowest 200 ft & 100 ft zoom levels. And when the icon does show, it will be very small...I don't believe there is any way to increase the displayed icon size (it's been a while since I played around with icon sizes on this unit so I could be wrong).

I'm not sure anyone said the 3790 could not read JPEG files and if they did they meant it couldn't read them if they were being used as a Custom POI icon.

As you've seen the 3790's picture viewer can display JPEG files and that's because it's a Picture Viewer that supports the display of, at least, JPEG images.

The 3790 can display Custom POI icons only in one supported format, .BMP.

So attempting to compare what the Picture Viewer and the Custom POI process can display on the screen is really comparing apples and oranges.

I want you to do something and give us a report, please.

What we are going to do is to check on whether or not POI Loader has successfully compiled an Icon to be associated with a POI file.

I am going to give the steps which I use with my 765 and with my 2595. I think these work in a similar fashion to your 855 and 3790.

Whenever I use braces "{", it represents something on my device that will be different on yours but you should have something similar in nature.

On my 765:
Where To? > [down arrow] > Extras > Custom POIs > {Food} > {Burger King} > [pick one].
At this point, I can select "Map" and I will see the chosen POI. There will be a "Word Bubble" with the name and it will point to the BK Icon. I can change the zoom level (in or out) and the Icon will continue to appear.

On my 2595:
Where To? > Categories > [down arrow 3 times] > Custom POIs > {Food} > {Burger King} > [pick one].
At this point, I can select "i" and I will see the chosen POI on a split screen map on the right side. The info on the POI will be on the left side and the map will show the BK Icon. I can change the zoom level (in or out) and the Icon will continue to appear.

Note that this technique shows the Icon associated by POI Loader with my {Burger King} file. It could be any of poi-factory's Icons. That is why I was encouraging you to use one of our Icons without change because, at this point, we just want to make sure that "something" appears.

Side note to others: There was a very significant pause on my 765 before it even began to show me the 50 nearest locations. The 2595 immediately showed the search hourglass and quickly filled in locations. I do not recall this lag in the 765 being there before and wonder if it is because the map is now on the SD card. Any thoughts?

Thanks for trying, I followed all to the letter. No icons at any distance range. I can zoom in as close as possible which is 50 feet and all I get is a black box with an arrow pointing to a loacation.

Installed the five guys GPX file and the five guys icon direct from POI factory and making sure that both names are identical to each other I still get nothing regardless whether zoomed in or out.
Icon size as I mentioned is 24 x 16 pixels, color count 256 at 8 bits per pixel, exact size on disk is 1.462 bytes. Resolution is 72 x 72 DPI

This is driving me nuts!
I'm at the point of just to let it go and use the black box with the name and location name pointing to the street location. Though I think the icons are presumably showing up as you drive along whereas the black box only shows up when the particular location has been selected.

I just connected the 3790 to the computer and opened up MapSource.

In Mapsource I can see hundreds of icons for different objects regardless of what area I select. Yet when I select the same area in the 3790 there are no icons for anything shown.

But I seem to remember seeing them in the past.

Not sure what having your Nuvi attached to the computer will do for seeing custom POI icons in Mapsource.

Basecamp reads the contents of the Nuvi if it's connected to the computer but I don't think Mapsource does.

The only way you'd see anything from the Nuvi in Mapsource is to do a Transfer-Receive from Device and at that point I think you'd only see Favorites/Saved Places, Routes/Trips, and tracks, not Custom POI icons.

In any event, AFAIK, neither Mapsource or Basecamp display custom POI icons.

Start>Accessories>Paint has been included in XP, Vista and Win7.

Irfanview could be part of your problem.

Download my H-D Dealers.bmp at http://www.poi-factory.com/node/14533
and rename it to [same name as your poi file].bmp
and verify that it works with POI Loader to make that icon appear with your POI file.

That will narrow down the problem to your bmp files. Dump Irfanview and use Paint to eliminate another variable.

Save your POIFILE.bmp as My Documents>My Garmin>Custom Waypoint Symbols>000.bmp and you can then select the Symbol to display in either MS or BC from the properties window of those Waypoints. You can save at least 000.bmp-063.bmp Custom Symbols. These Custom Symbols are only for MS & BC use. POI Loader uses the bmp files in the same folder as the gpx.

I agree, Paint has worked 100% of the time for me. Irfanview, not so much, to the point that I quit using it for modifying POI icons.

I wasn't going to argue with the OP but as long as he's using Windows, as you say, he will have MS Paint on his computer.

IconXP lets me create a icon from scratch and can add the differnt sizes / color / etc in one file.. Real cool. I used that back in the day when I made all the icons that are on this site. fun tool to play with.

After 6 days I really have not got any further along and I am calling it quits with this problem.

Two members, "jgermann" and "Box car" even tried to help me out by email and I want to thank both for their effort.

I had no problem getting the icons to be seen on my old 855 but the 3790 seems to be a lost cause.

Thanks to everyone else who proffered their suggestions.

Just to close this thread off then, here is what the POI-Factory's Five Guys custom POI icon (24 x16) looks like on the 3790 when named exactly the same as the GPX file, saved as 256 color using MS paint, installed on the Nuvi using POILoader, a route has been calculated on the GPS and the screen zoomed in as far as possible:

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad75/t923347/70547.png

Yes indeed, Rick...the POI icons are pretty tiny on the 3790. And as I mentioned in my last post, you need to zoom WAY in (at least when viewing the POI on the map screen) for them to even show up as you've confirmed by your screen shot. Other than this issue (which seems to affect only the 37xx series, AFAIK), my 3790 is one of my favorite and best featured units.

A couple of members have tried to help me with this problem and finally TODAY, I think there is some success.

I played around with a RLC icon and managed to have it show up very small on the GPS screen. After that I did my Speed camera icon and used the identical settings, using Irfanview. The Speed cam icon is now visible too.

So now I have to go over all 90+ icons and set them all up using the same or identical settings, one at a time.

The settings on the 3790LMT that will work are these:

Resolution at 72 x 72
Size 40 x 38 pixels
256 colors (8bit) Yes that has been mentioned !
Number of unique colors 226
Disk size 2.54 kb (2,598 bytes) 3KB file.

The only problem may come in when an icon is less square and much more rectangular.

Once again thank you all for helping out.