Alert Sounds Discussion

Speed Information

Speed information can be included in the file name or in the names of individual POIs within the file.

POI Loader determines speed information based on the following information, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Speed information included in the name of the individual Custom POI. For example, a POI named "SpeedZone@30" will have an alert speed of 30 regardless of the speed information specified in Manual mode or in the file name.

2. Speed information entered in Manual mode.

3. Speed information included in the file name. POI Loader interprets any numbers in the file name as speed information.

Just having some fun... I created a poi file with the single point in it being my house. I found a sound file of Ricky (Desi) yelling, "Lucy, I'm Home!" and made that the alert sound. Puts a smile on our faces every time we pull in the driveway

Anyone else doing goofy stuff, just for laughs?

Paul

I've linked the 3 Stooges "alphabet song" ( http://www.jibjab.com/view/105261 ) to play when we approach my kids school.

Kinda puts everything into perspective, doesn't it?

dd

Hi,
Here is the link where you can download the instructions regarding the POIs including setting the speed or proximity alerts. Hope that it will be helpful.http://www.gps-poi-us.com/files/Instructions-Garmin.pdf

WindChill

Holy double-vision, WindChill!

I got the double vision corrected:)

Miss Poi

I just had this same problem with my Nuvi 350. It appears that the old POI Loader software did not handle 'illegal' characters very well within the files you are importing. As a result, I lost all my alerts. I went to Garmins site and downloaded the latest version of the POI Loader software and installed it, then re-imported the POIs back into the Nuvi 350 and all is well again. Hope this helps you!

A good friend of mine does professional voice-overs for a living and I asked him to create some mp3 files for the red light and speed cameras. His name is Jim Myers and I have permission to offer these files for free. He is happy to be heard.

How can I submit the mp3 files?

MM:
I'm a geek, just not in techi things. Thanks for your geekness to help us techno-phobics out. I save some of your postings for future reference.

I sent you the address to send them to.

Miss Poi

I added the two sounds that Carey's friend Jim made for us. They sound great and are a nice addition to our library.

Here are the links to the new sounds.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6455
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6456

Thanks Jim and Carey;) I have added a poi contributor badge to your profile page. Please let me know if Jim gets signed up and I can make sure to pin one on him also.

Miss Poi

Here are the most recent additions to the sound library:

Xnman Contributed:
Church of Christ Alert

Rick526 Contributed:
Low Clearance Alert

Jacknmarry Contributed:
Beer Alert
Waffles Alert

JSFJr Contributed:
Shoney's Restaurant

oops - just answered a question on Page 1 :-)

I'm a noob both here and to GPSr units, so if this is posted in the wrong place, please move it.

I bought my wife a Nuvi 750 for Christmas and I am taking care of getting it all set up for her... you know, loading POI's, Custom Sounds, TESTING (Man,is that fun!), etc.

The unit is fantastic, except I can't seem to get a custom alert to work with my redlight camera poi's. No matter what I've tried, I only get the Garmin tone when approaching a redlight poi. The poi does show up on the screen header and I do get the icon on the map.

Listed below is what I have done.

1. Created a custom alert message on the AT&T site.
2. Convert said alert message from .wav to .mp3.
3. Named .mp3 file exactly the same name as my redlight camera file (except for extension), and copied it to the same directory on my computer as all of my custom poi files.
4. Used Garmin Poi Loader to upload to the Nuvi 750's internal memory. (Both Manual and Express attempted)

Results: All POI's are there, Icons show up on map, NO CUSTOM ALERT SOUNDS!!!

What am I doing wrong? What else can I try???

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

►Tools ►Settings ►Proximity Points ▬▬ Proximity Alerts ► touch Change to turn on or off.

Custom POI's is checked and turned on.

Other suggestions?

Thanks for taking a stab at it.

I "thought" that I had converted the .wav to an .mp3. Turns out, I saved the .mp3 in a different directory and since windows explorer does display the extension for me, I didn't realize that the file was actually a .wav.

Well, that's my dumb mistake for this week. Time to start working on one for next week now.

Thanks again for the help.

When I download alert sound file via Sarari the ,mp3 defaults to the built-in Quicktime movie handler. Thus, it plays the sound, but, I cannot save it anywhere. I cannot find any way to change the default or route the file to
anywhere else. Ideas???

Do you have a two button mouse or other ability to functionally right-click? Windows users are able to right-click in order to save the file.

That doesn't work either. as soon as the .mp3 downloads it displays
and plays it as blank movie with the sound playing. The "save as" menu item is dimmed and unuseable. Also, I found that i don't even have a proximity alert button under the tools tab on my nuvi 750. the POI loader also doesn't ask about alerts. Does that mean I need at least one custom alert sound in order for it to load that feature into the Garmin?

Hmm ... hopefully, a Mac user will chime in on the saving issue.

As to the other issue, you won't get the Proximity Points button on your GPS unit unless you have POIs that contain alert information loaded.

You can run POI Loader in Manual Mode to set alert for any POIs you wish. In addition, speed alerts will be set automatically if the POI file has a number in it. And certain key words will produce alerts (redlight, camera, speed, GATSO).

You don't have to have any sounds loaded at all for the alerts to work. The default sound will play.

I finally discovered that you need to purchase the full version of the Quicktime
Player ($29.95 at the Apple Store) in order to save downlaoded mp3 files (or movies). Hope that helps other Mac users.

I have a 660 and can only see the custom poi icons on 2D maps. When viewed in 3D all I see is a dot marking the poi. Try turning off 3D and see if icons appear.

Does anyone know if it is possible to have both an alert sound and voice message at the same time for a red light camera? I was going to try it with a 1-2 second dead time at the start of the voice so it doesn't overlap the alert. If this has already been tried and doesn't work I won't waste my time.

A POI can only have one alert - either a built-in one, or one set by POI Loader.

However, you could always edit the 'voice' .mp3 file to include 'tones'. If you wanted, you could disassemble one of .VPM files to obtain the 'official' Passive or Aggressive (as they're called) "bong bongs"

The ones I have loaded for the UK speed cameras start with something akin to an airport/railway station tone sequence, followed by a voice alert.

How do I download alerts for my Garmin 350?

If you want Custom Alert sounds, click on the sounds link at the top of each page. Find the sound you want, then right click on it to save it to your computer.

On the main sounds page (at the bottom of the page), there are instructions for associating them with your POI files and loading them to your unit.

How can I upload a new sound alert file for a Garmin GPS

I just sent you instructions.

Miss POI

Has anyone got .mp3 files to work for alerts on the Palm Garmin Mobile XT software for a Palm cell phone Treo like the Treo 755p ?

The alert tone works as does a .bmp file. The file names are all exactly the same for the .csv .bmp and .mp3 files for input to POI Loader.

The Treo works as a MP3 player with other software but it almost looks like the Garmin Mobile XT program needs to have a built in MP3 player.

Any thoughts ?
Thanks,
Rich

I just updated my Nuvi 350 and version 5.2 installed. The only note is that it corrected the alert tones issue. I wonder if my experience below is related?

On that note, I just got back from a trip to my son's house and used both the Harley POI and Rest Area POI files. Both alerts worked fine when I was using the Nuvi "stand alone", but when I was playing music on it all the alert tone did was advance to the next song. It didn't play. This was also when using the earphone jack to an FM Modulator to get the music onto my car radio.

This is a great site, keep up the good work.

MM,

I read your instructions on the sound link. They were great. I had a follow on question. I have not been able to find the answer with several searches. Is it possible to have two proximity alerts for the same poi? For example, is it possible to have an alert at say 3000 ft and then another at 500 ft? Does the proximity function have this kind of notification. Thanks in advance.

You'll need a second POI with the same info to alert you the 2nd time.

As mariner has indicated, you can't have two proximity alerts on the same POI location (cue Phil explaining how you can do it with GPX) : ) , however, it has been my experience (and this may not apply to all units) that the alert continues to alert me the whole time. I get a continuous alert for the duration of the alert distance. So, I would think that if you create a 3000 foot alert, it would still be alerting you at 500 feet.

This posting and the one below that talks about Quicktime Pro is a concern and a possible solution of using Quicktime Pro but there's an easier answer.

I recently made (am making) the transition to using a Mac. As a quick aside, I made the decision to go to Mac after Bill released the worlds 3rd OS, Vista. As long as nothing works with Vista ... what the heck... why not start anew with something well built to start with and if I must I can load XP on it ... although I have not found the need yet to be honest with you.

Anyway .... back to the question of downloading MP3 files to a Mac without it converting the file to a Quicktime file. Buy a mouse. Get a non apple mouse and hook it up. Apple is a great computer, but their mice stink ... the goal is to have a mouse with a right click button and when you use the right click on an Apple you'll see the familiar save as "download linked file" ... and there you go. You don't have to buy anything. You can then rename the file as you need to so it matches the POI file, etc. Have fun.

Mariner, MM,

Thanks. I think I had my alerts set too short so it sounded like just one alert vice the continued alert.

Happy New Year.

Don B gave us:
New Time Zone
Offbeat Tourist Attraction
Milwaukee Attraction
Memphis Attraction
Shell Station
Tourist Attraction
Tower
Shoney's Restuarant
Bob Evans
Wisconsin Landforms

sewisdom gave us:
Pollo Tropical
Church's Chicken

Aconite gave us:
Traffic Camera 14

I still have more to pull out of my hat tomorrow, I will make another update then.

Miss POI

Sewisdom Gave us:
Publix Market
Hurricane Wings
Bennett Auto Supply
Bahamian Restaurant
Advance Auto Parts
Duffy's Sports Grill

Don B Gave Us:
Carlos O'Kelly's
Old Country Buffet
Swamp
Civil War Site
Classic Diner
Covered Bridge
Historic Military Site

And 1speedman gave us:
Traffic Camera 15

I'm having the same problem. Purchased my Nuvi 350 in December 2007. The unit sounds a 2-beep alert, the speed alert displays, but the custom sound alert does not play.

Ok, since you are getting the default alert sound, we know that the alerts are activated on your unit and that you have POIs loaded that have alerts.

First, be sure you have read the instructions for loading sounds. Click on the sounds link at the top of each page. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the instructions.

Second, be sure that the sound file you are trying to load is actually an MP3 and not some other format.

Third, be sure that you have named the Custom POI file EXACTLY the same as the sound file except for the file extensions. Capitalization and spaces matter. They have to be exactly the same.

Fourth, double check to be sure that you don't have double file extensions. Be sure that your file browser is not set to hide file extensions (many are by default).

Examples

Wrong
redlight.csv
Redlight.mp3

Right
Redlight.csv
Redlight.mp3

Wrong
redlight.csv
redlight.mp3.mp3

Right
redlight.csv
redlight.mp3

Thanks Motorcycle Mama. I had a numeric in the file name that was causing a speed alert. I renamed the mp3, csv and bmp files to exclude the numeric, reloaded everything and it now appears to work. I need to do more testing with the unit in different modes. I tested it by setting a route to the POI. That worked. I'm hoping it'll also alert me if I drive past the POI on a route. I don't mind if it doesn't alert me when I'm just in map mode.

I'm new at this. Thanks again for the response.

I sent an email out to the "Voice" of POI Factory, our very own RhythmTip asking for a favor.
I have been feeling like the Factory needed some generic sound files that would work for a large group of files. So he answered the call and now we have all of the following alert sounds added to our library. I have not had a chance to start connecting these to files yet, I will work on that later this week.

RhythmTip, thanks again for letting me use your voice.

Outlet Shopping Mall Alert

Temple Alert

State Park Alert

Shopping Mall Alert

Night Club Alert

Light House Alert

Library Alert

Hotel Alert

Hot Dog Shop Alert

Hospital Alert

Health Club Alert

Grocery Store Alert

Golf Course Alert

Gas Station Alert

Parking Garage Alert

Diner Alert

Church 2 Alert

Church Alert

Campground Alert

Boat Ramp Alert

Airport Alert

You are welcome MissPOI.... I am ecstatic to be dubbed the "Voice" of this great site! Let me know if anymore files are needed.

i found this website with free MP3 sound effects

http://simplythebest.net/sounds/MP3/MP3_sounds.html

You guys are doing a great job with all the POI sounds, thanks to all.

Any chance we could get one for Longhorn Steak House and for National Parks?

Thanks again,
Ted

Longhorn Steak House is already here:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/2301

and National Parks:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/2254

Thanks,

I was looking for an mp3 file voice tag for them.

I was sleeping at the keyboard.

I thought I was in an other area and missed the word Sound in you post. Just ignore me and I'll probably go away

I asked rhythmtip to make us a FAQ about recording a MP3 Alert sound and here is what we now have for our FAQ area.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/10169

Thanks Rhythmtip for helping me out with this project.

Miss POI

After reading Rhythmtip's excellent write-up I thought could my Nokia cell phone's recording feature be used to make mp3's? It appears so.... with some file conversion. It turns out the sound file has an "amr" extension. A search found this freebie AMR to wav file converter: http://www.miksoft.net/mobileAMRconverter.htm Basically I substituted a cell ph's recorder for a laptop and added a file conversion step but used audacity to convert wav to mp3.