tourguide question to Garmin tech support

 

i now use Nuvi 2797LMT and asked Garmin tech support:
question: my poi folder is titled costco tourguide, will the sound alert, when I get within the set range (manual downloaded & set to 8000 ft) ?

strange reply:
While navigating, the proximity point will need to be within 30 meters of the route, regardless of the distance set in the POI Loader, to trigger an alert. This helps to reduce false alerts that can occur if you are traveling on a road close to a proximity point even if it is not affected by the alert.

is this true ? if true, then "tourguide" is of no value

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marnoldi Nuvi 680 & Nuvi 2797LMT

sounds

like a canned answer.

tourguides are a radius

the 'normal' alerts are about 30 meters along the route

along the route

marnoldi wrote:

i now use Nuvi 2797LMT and asked Garmin tech support:
question: my poi folder is titled costco tourguide, will the sound alert, when I get within the set range (manual downloaded & set to 8000 ft) ?

strange reply:
While navigating, the proximity point will need to be within 30 meters of the route, regardless of the distance set in the POI Loader, to trigger an alert. This helps to reduce false alerts that can occur if you are traveling on a road close to a proximity point even if it is not affected by the alert.

is this true ? if true, then "tourguide" is of no value

What was described is an along the route alert condition. You have to understand Garmin does not support TourGuide alerts (officially) so they are going to respond with an answer matching what they do support. TourGuide alerts fall into the same category as the audio alerts we all use (WAV files and SOX) which again Garmin will tell you can't be done.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

TourGuides

marnoldi, Box Car has nailed it.

There are times when contacting Garmin is the way to go. But there are probably more times when searching The Factory's faqs or asking here on the Garmin Forum is the way to go. Since Garmin does not acknowledge the nuvis' abilities to play wav audio files, since new nuvis can not play mp3 audio, and since TourGuides MUST have an audio alert, ask here rather than asking Garmin Tech Support.

I'm not sure if you're having a problem setting up a TourGuide, but if you are, ask here. Note that if you had TourGuide success with your nuvi 680 or 760, but are having problems with your new 2797, then the issue is probably a wav/sox issue.

adding to craig's response

I will state that no one in the active POI-Factory members has seen a true TourGuide. From my research they are special files that are compiled into an executable (GPI) loaded into a compatible unit. Tour guides were initially set up for driving tours in an area that would display a picture of the site or attraction and play a description that would let the driver/passengers know what was present.

I'm certain most of us have taken audio tours where we have purchased/rented an CD or tape that played while we drove from point to point. A true Tour Guide is much the same except it would have the added ability to show a picture while the GPS would perform the routing to get us from one point to another. What we use and call a TourGuide here is just a subset of what the true file can contain, pictures, routing and descriptions. What we do is here is use a standard audio alert which is usually just a sentence or two and a marked location just as with any alerting file. The difference is the addition of the key word TourGuide changes the alert from an along the route trigger in which you have to pass within 25 to 30 meters of the point on the road you are on to one where you can draw an electronic circle around the point and entering the circle triggers the alert.

I also believe TourGuides are unique to Garmin so that would also be a hindrance toward their being widely used. It would be similar to having to produce a different CD for every type of player on the market because each had some unique features that kept the others from working.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

TourGuide

marnoldi wrote:

i now use Nuvi 2797LMT and asked Garmin tech support:
question: my poi folder is titled costco tourguide, will the sound alert, when I get within the set range (manual downloaded & set to 8000 ft) ?

strange reply:
While navigating, the proximity point will need to be within 30 meters of the route, regardless of the distance set in the POI Loader, to trigger an alert. This helps to reduce false alerts that can occur if you are traveling on a road close to a proximity point even if it is not affected by the alert.

is this true ? if true, then "tourguide" is of no value

On your post you show name of file "costco tourguide" .If that is the way you have spelled tourguide to get a radius alert it will not work. It has to be costco TourGuide.csv or gpx for the file name.Your present set up if you did spell it like that.Will only get you a along the route alert using PoiLoader in manual mode.

When you bring up Poi Loader click on the help tab.There is a lot of information there that comes in handy on many subjects.On TourGuide it refers to mp3 for sound files.The newer units do not support that but wav and sox.exe can resolve that.Just another item not supported by Garmin.Members have found work around for many items.So don't rely on there answer as being final until you post on the site for a follow up answer.Or better yet ask here first.

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Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

When I used my Nuvi 750

It came with a couple of tour guides and I also bought a few.
It was a neat thing as there were photos of the places it was talking about.
We would play the tour guide when we were in the car to learn about places we planed to go later.

Although they were for the actual place I don't think, memory getting old, we ever used them when we were at the places. Just in the car when we wanted to listen to something.

--
Mary, Nuvi 2450, Garmin Viago, Honda Navigation, Nuvi 750 (gave to son)

Lots of Information

marnoldi wrote:

i now use Nuvi 2797LMT and asked Garmin tech support:
question: my poi folder is titled costco tourguide, will the sound alert, when I get within the set range (manual downloaded & set to 8000 ft) ?

...

There is an INDEX to FAQs and Other Pages found at
http://www.poi-factory.com/faq/index

You can get to the INDEX through the "Learn" Tab in the upper right pane of any page. Or, click on the "faq" link just below the four Tabs and choose the INDEX link right at the top of the page that appears.

Once you get to the index, scroll to whatever subject interests you - in this case "TourGuide". Click on the subject and you will be taken to any FAQs on that subject.

I suggest, in your case,
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/36539

However, you may want to read through a number of the other FAQs on TourGuide to get a firmer understanding of how they are created.

The "Help" file on POI-Loader says

Quote:

Creating TourGuide Files

TourGuide is a feature available on compatible Garmin devices. TourGuide files include Custom POIs with descriptive .mp3 audio files. When you approach a TourGuide point, the .mp3 file plays and provides you with information about that point, much like a guided tour. TourGuide files must be saved as .gpx files.

NOTE: TourGuide files are usually created by third party developers.

To create TourGuide points, follow the steps for creating Creating Custom POIs in MapSource and use the File/URL field to attach the appropriate .mp3 files to the points. The .mp3s must contain the word “TourGuide” in the file name to activate the TourGuide feature. For example, “TourGuide.mp3”, “TourGuide USA.mp3”, or “TourGuide 12.mp3” are all valid TourGuide file names.

After you have created all your TourGuide points, save them as a .gpx file. See Creating Custom POIs in MapSource for more information.

After you have saved your TourGuide points in a .gpx file, you can save them on an SD card or load them on your compatible GPS unit using Express Mode or Manual Mode.

Adding Pictures to TourGuide Points

You can add .jpg images to your TourGuide points by following the steps for creating Creating Custom POIs in MapSource. Save the .jpg images and TourGuide .mp3 files in a directory, then use the File/URL field to link to that directory.

You can also include the path to the .jpg image in the ID3 data of your TourGuide .mp3 file. Search the internet for more information on ID3 tags for .mp3 files.

While it has already been noted that Garmin has not been willing to admit that those units that do not have built-in mp3 players can have a TourGuide, it is possible by using a specific version of a software executable called sox.exe which must be placed in the same directory as POILoader.exe. All this is noted in the FAQs.

Also note that .csv files can be used - even though the "Help" file implies that you have to use a .gpx file.

tourguide nuvi 2797LMT

i don't know if this model has MP3 , but i changed my csv file names with a .gpx at the end, used capitals for T & G TourGuide eg. COSTCO TourGuide.gpx as the main folder name and inside that folder
costo (bitmap art) ,
costco (csv file) ,
costco (mp3)

i just talked to Garmin & they use .VPM files (not .MP3) anyone know what program will convert to .VPM files ?

can this be tested by doing a "simulation" drive ?

--
marnoldi Nuvi 680 & Nuvi 2797LMT

couple of things

marnoldi wrote:

i don't know if this model has MP3 , but i changed my csv file names with a .gpx at the end, used capitals for T & G TourGuide eg. COSTCO TourGuide.gpx as the main folder name and inside that folder
costo (bitmap art) ,
costco (csv file) ,
costco (mp3)

i just talked to Garmin & they use .VPM files (not .MP3) anyone know what program will convert to .VPM files ?

can this be tested by doing a "simulation" drive ?

You can't change the file extension from CSV to g]GPX and expect anything to work properly. It's like trying to open a music file with a word processor program.

CSV and GPX are both text files in that they can be opened and manipulates with a word processor, but GPX files are constructed with XML commands describing each field and CSV files have no fixed structure other than the elements or parts are separated with commas.

GARMIN CSV files do have the coordinates as the first two entries with the location name as the third entry. The fourth entry or field is "description" and has no structure so it an be almost any length with virtually any data.

You can add TourGuide to a CSV file, like TourGuideNeatplaces.csv. You would also need a sound file, TourGuideNeatplaces.wav and the proper version of SOX in the POI Loader program folder to convert the WAV to a format used by Garmin.

VPM files are sound files Garmin reads and acts upon directly created by their proprietary Sound Studio software.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

As we've said...

marnoldi wrote:

i don't know if this model has MP3 , but i changed my csv file names with a .gpx at the end, used capitals for T & G TourGuide eg. COSTCO TourGuide.gpx as the main folder name and inside that folder
costo (bitmap art) ,
costco (csv file) ,
costco (mp3)

i just talked to Garmin & they use .VPM files (not .MP3) anyone know what program will convert to .VPM files ?

can this be tested by doing a "simulation" drive ?

Don't ask Garmin for advice. Ask here. You need wav audio rather than mp3. You need sox.exe.

Start here, then ask questions here at The Factory:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730

No mp3 for your model.

As listed your unit requires wav and sox.exe to get voice alerts. Without this setup you will get the ordinary bong alert. You may want to also review http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 for custom pois.

To make your own files see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25743 and http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25752

For simulation you asked about see https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

--
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

new GPS WITHOUT mp3 player HOW TO get TourGuide sound

thanks to everyone that replied, so now i owe you all to show what i did
in my computer i removed the check mark of hidden extensions see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/41141
i had my folder for each special store e.g. COSTCO TourGuide [note the capital T&G in TourGuide.
in that folder i would have a costco gas.bmp , costco gas.csv & costco gas.wav
i made sure i had the latest poiloader http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 & in the same location Download
sox from http://www.poi-factory.com/images/csv/sox-14-0-1.zip
i had to convert my MP3 sound files to Wav files by using http://media.io/
once everything was in order, i used the poiloader in manual format & transferred every folder at a time with the choice of distance in ft , until all the folders were transferred by the poiloader.
now i have tourguide alerts when i am in the vicinity of my setup poi.
e.g. while driving on a highway on a trip , i prefer to get gas at either Samsclub or Costco and this alerts me a few miles before of their locations

--
marnoldi Nuvi 680 & Nuvi 2797LMT

@marnoldi

Sounds like you have a handle on things now.As a side note lots of members like myself use Extra Poi Editor.It is a great tool to have if you have a Windows computer.Using GPX files and using Extra Poi Editor you can build the alert distance into your files.This will allow you to use Poi Loader in the express mode instead of the tideous manual mode.See http://www.poi-factory.com/node/28521

--
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

????

marnoldi wrote:

...
i had my folder for each special store e.g. COSTCO TourGuide [note the capital T&G in TourGuide.
in that folder i would have a costco gas.bmp , costco gas.csv & costco gas.wav
...now i have tourguide alerts when i am in the vicinity of my setup poi.
e.g. while driving on a highway on a trip , i prefer to get gas at either Samsclub or Costco and this alerts me a few miles before of their locations

This is interesting. I thought that the "file" name had to have "Tourguide" within the name for a "TourGuide" to work.

You are saying that only the FOLDER has to include the character string "TourGuide".

i think

jgermann wrote:
marnoldi wrote:

...
i had my folder for each special store e.g. COSTCO TourGuide [note the capital T&G in TourGuide.
in that folder i would have a costco gas.bmp , costco gas.csv & costco gas.wav
...now i have tourguide alerts when i am in the vicinity of my setup poi.

This is interesting. I thought that the "file" name had to have "Tourguide" within the name for a "TourGuide" to work.

You are saying that only the FOLDER has to include the character string "TourGuide".

I think you are probably one of the few that didn't understand he has a folder with the word TourGuide along with the specialty stores and supporting files enclosed in that folder each including TourGuide as part of the name. But then we make assumptions as the files work as he intended them to and we know the keyword has to be part of each file name being setup to have a radial alert.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

@Box Car

I read marnoldi's post as saying he had
costco gas.bmp
costco gas.csv
costco gas.wav
in the COSTCO TourGuide "Folder"

not
TourGuide costco gas.bmp
TourGuide costco gas.csv
TourGuide costco gas.wav
as files in the folder

As did I.

As did I.

--
I never get lost, but I do explore new territory every now and then.

I also

I read it the same way.

I read marnoldi's post as saying he had
costco gas.bmp
costco gas.csv
costco gas.wav
in the COSTCO TourGuide "Folder"

not
TourGuide costco gas.bmp
TourGuide costco gas.csv
TourGuide costco gas.wav
as files in the folder

--
Nuvi 2460LMT.

A test?

pwohlrab wrote:

I read it the same way.

I read marnoldi's post as saying he had
costco gas.bmp
costco gas.csv
costco gas.wav
in the COSTCO TourGuide "Folder"

not
TourGuide costco gas.bmp
TourGuide costco gas.csv
TourGuide costco gas.wav
as files in the folder

I read it the first way but given the success, I assumed the second way was what was really done.

A test of this would be for one of us to load the POI using the first method, then see if it works. Since I use the 2nd way for my TourGuides, I'm not interested in doing the test.

OK CraigW, I took the challenge

I have my POI files organized into folders, and normally use proximity alerts but not TourGuide. One folder is called Attractions and contains a number of files including Bobkz's Offbeat Tourist Attractions. I renamed the folder to TourGuide_Attractions, but didn't rename the individual files within it. I reloaded my POI's with POI Loader, specifying a 2 mile alert distance on each file in the TourGuide_Attractions folder. The 2 mile distance (10560 feet) is what I normally use as the proximity alert on these files.

Then I simulated a local route I use frequently where I normally don't get any alerts, but this time I got several alerts from the Offbeat Attractions. None of these were directly on the route, so they were definitely triggered as radius alerts.

So marnoldi is correct that the TourGuide will be applied if it is used on the folder name ... now I need to go back and redo my POI's to get rid of all the unwanted alerts!

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

Good find

I am glad you tried that out. I was thinking after reading the post.You can take a single bmp and associate it with a complete folder of pois.Why wouldn't TourGuide do the same?Nice going Alandb.

Pulled this from Poi Loader help to show example of my post.

You can also associate .bmp images with all the data files in a subcategory. For example, a customized bitmap called "restaurants.bmp" would be associated with all the points in a "Restaurants" subcategory. Custom bitmaps associated with individual file names take precedence over custom bitmaps associated with subcategories.

--
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

Eating crow

alandb wrote:

OK CraigW, I took the challenge...

Goodness gracious, that isn't the finding most of us expected.

@alandb

Please be sure to do a FAQ on this. This will come up in the future and benefit many members.

--
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

+1

CraigW wrote:
alandb wrote:

OK CraigW, I took the challenge...

Goodness gracious, that isn't the finding most of us expected.

On eating crow that is. All my experience had been the individual files had to include the keyword. But then, renaming a folder works only if you have separate folders for POI

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

Subfolders.

Actually, I use subfolders to organize into categories. Top level folder is POI, so I end up with only one poi.gpi file.

I didn't try POI Loader with the "TourGuide" name at the top level folder, but I suspect it would work the same.

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

POI Loader version?

CraigW wrote:
alandb wrote:

OK CraigW, I took the challenge...

Goodness gracious, that isn't the finding most of us expected.

Maybe the older versions of POI Loader required TourGuide to be in the filename.

dobs108 smile

FAQ?

charlesd45 wrote:

Please be sure to do a FAQ on this. This will come up in the future and benefit many members.

I could do that, but I wonder if it would make more sense for jgermann to simply add a couple sentences to his existing tutorial: Tour Guide Radius Alerts

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

Either way

alandb wrote:
charlesd45 wrote:

Please be sure to do a FAQ on this. This will come up in the future and benefit many members.

I could do that, but I wonder if it would make more sense for jgermann to simply add a couple sentences to his existing tutorial: Tour Guide Radius Alerts

He could still add something.It would be nice that someone could just go to it from the FAQ and see the instructions and the layout and how you accomplished it.

--
Charlie. Nuvi 265 WT and Nuvi 2597 LMT. MapFactor Navigator - Offline Maps & GPS.

POI for nuvi2797LMT needed updating

i used to have folders that had key words that would allow an alert come up when traveling on the same road eg. (redlight, camera, speed, GATSO). These key words no longer trigger an alert for my rest areas, time changes, redlight cameras...etc, but the only key word that works is "TourGuide".
knowing this, i changed all my POI folders to have TourGuide in their descriptions and now all my alerts work within the radius i have selected for each.

--
marnoldi Nuvi 680 & Nuvi 2797LMT

Things to watch for

marnoldi wrote:

i used to have folders that had key words that would allow an alert come up when traveling on the same road eg. (redlight, camera, speed, GATSO). These key words no longer trigger an alert for my rest areas, time changes, redlight cameras...etc, but the only key word that works is "TourGuide".
knowing this, i changed all my POI folders to have TourGuide in their descriptions and now all my alerts work within the radius i have selected for each.

It has been suggested but to my knowledge never verified that TourGuides use more of a GPS's processing power than a simple POI. So be on the alert for slowdowns or freezes/crashes of a GPS requiring a reboot of the device if you have many TourGuides, especially when two TourGuide alerts overlap. If these occur, my first suggestion is to remove or greatly reduce the number of TourGuides on your device and see if that fixes the problem.

And for the newbies here reading this threads regarding alerts in general, be careful of the alerts you choose. Alerts for redlights, speed cameras, upcoming rest areas, etc. are found useful by many here. But alerts for McDonald's and Starbucks for example, may have alerts going off every other block in the city and could cause you missing an upcoming navigational alert. TourGuides are even more of an issue in this regard since they will occur within their radius whether or not they're on your current route.

Regarding your loss of alerts for POIs that are not TourGuides, this is not normal. It may be better to identify and cure this issue without resorting to TourGuides. The nuvi 2797 should give alerts for POIs the same as for all other Garmin On-The-Road devices.

just out of curiosity

marnoldi wrote:

i used to have folders that had key words that would allow an alert come up when traveling on the same road eg. (redlight, camera, speed, GATSO). These key words no longer trigger an alert for my rest areas, time changes, redlight cameras...etc, but the only key word that works is "TourGuide".
knowing this, i changed all my POI folders to have TourGuide in their descriptions and now all my alerts work within the radius i have selected for each.

Have you chosen a theme for the display on your 2797? I use the Italia theme and often have problems with speed cameras alerting. I really haven't played around with the issue on my 3597 but have success by renaming the contents eliminating speed from the locations.

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Illiterate? Write for free help.

My Tourguide

As I recently wrote in another thread, I was doing a historical marker TourGuide for my Garmin 1490. This way I could drive past a historical marker and the Garmin would read to me what the sign read.
I downloaded the states I was interested from the website http://www.hmdb.org/CountiesGPXList.asp .
I then converted the GPX to CSV and then alphabetized them by name to keep track of where I was. The GPX files were made into Redlight files which would tell me a monument or sign was approaching. The reasoning is that not all markers are historical, but memorials to events that happened elsewhere.
I then deleted the memorials from the CSV file which for the states of Iowa and Missouri was over 200.
I had read all the posts on POI-Factory about TourGuides and still was baffled. There was to much various information out there. Even the web had discrepancies so I did my own investigation.
1. It had to be a MP3 File or with SOX installed could be a WAV file. 1490 needs WAV files.
2. The sound file could only be so long. Must be governed by which Garmin one has. I took the Jesse James Train Robbery about 50 miles from my house and copied from Wikipedia a description about it. It was over 2500 characters long. I then converted it to MP3 speech (IVONA READER) and then to WAV (ImTOO Audio Maker) and then loaded the GPX file with sound to my Garmin.
3. Minimum distance is ¼ mile the maximum is 1.25miles for notices according to some sources. Not my 1490 in GPX mode. I Had given the warning distance at 1800 meters (people on I80 would get the message) of the previous train robbery. I then placed myself by Adair Iowa driving west and the Garmin read the whole document. Before Adair is Stuart where Bonnie and Clyde robbed a bank. I set that reading at 1500 meters and then changed the train robbery at 4800 meters. One is about one mile and the other is over 2 miles. I simulated the drive and they both worked.
4. The wave files must be on the garmin or micro card. Not true. All my sound files are on the computer. When attaching the sound files to each spot, you direct where the file is located and the distance you want the speech to sound. Poi Loader will locate the file and embedd it into the whole gpx file. A 137 POI's file started as a 61 kb GPX and with the embedded sounds became a 478 kb GPI file. It took 15 minutes to write to Garmin.

Works For Me

Was going through the comments last night and decided to try it out on my 2797LMT.
I have all my poi's in a folder named Custom Poi.
Each poi is in a separate folder within that one, along with custom bmp's and custom wav's.
Wanting proximity alerts with sounds on certain folders, I then changed their names to TourGuide_, leaving the rest of the folder name intact (ex.TourGuide_Harley Dealers.)
I have the latest poi loader and sox installed.
Did an uninstall and a manual re-install, entering how many feet I wanted the proximity alerts to go off.
Turned the Nuvi off, waited a couple seconds and turned it back on.
Went for a short drive to test it out, and, VOILA!!< it worked like a charm !!
Thanks to all of you for your comments and help.

--
Under no circumstances whatsoever, will logic and common sense be tolerated.