POI Download for Love's Travel Stops

 

I have downloaded the Love's POI zip file which contains a .csv and a .gpi file.I can load them to my Nuvi but when I call it up from my Custom POI category, it's not all there. My first location is about 450 mi from me when I know there is a Love's within about 70 miles. No matter how I load it in my GPS, POI Loader or via my computer, same thing, many known locations not showing.
I am not sure what format should be in my Garmin/POI folder either on my unit or my SD card.
I have loaded other POI factory files with no issue.

Wrong format

I'm assuming you downloaded this from the Love's website.

http://www.loves.com/LocateUs/GPSDownload.aspx

Even though they have a Garmin download, it isn't formatted for a Garmin.

1) They have Latitude / Longitude reversed. Garmin wants Longitude first.
2) They use 8 columns, Garmin only uses 4, so any of the data, I'm guessing, is ignored in the last 4 columns.

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Garmin Nuvi 2450

@jflossy

I have never tried it for a large file but according to change history for Poi Loader.Longitude and latitude can be switched.
Changes made from version 2.5.4 to 2.6.0:

Added ability to specify a custom POI file's name
Added ability to handle swapped lat and lon values in CSV files
Fixed issue with multi-line CSV files not being read correctly
Fixed issue with extended ASCII characters in CSV files
Fixed issue with reading large gpx and csv files making the application unresponsive

Since the GPS shows the closest 50 pois based on the location you are at. May be possible the point of interst he is looking for is not there and file may be missing a lot of locations.

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

Hey Charlie,

charlesd45 wrote:

I have never tried it for a large file but according to change history for Poi Loader.Longitude and latitude can be switched...

I hope someone will do some simple testing of switching Lon and Lat to either confirm or deny my findings.

I created a simple file .csv POI with 5 locations near me in Lon, Lat order and loaded that file, which works as expected. Then I reversed the Lon and Lat and ran POI loader. It accepted the file but, as I expected, must have located the points exactly where they were on the ground. So when I tried to access them, my nuvi tells me "No matches found"

I then combined the 5 correct and 5 incorrect points into one file and ran it. POI Loader told me that it loaded 10 points but only the 5 whose coordinates are near me showed up.

@charlie, hope you will do a quick test and let me know. By the way, I used my 765.

My guess ...

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the ability of POI Loader to correct reversed coordinates depends on the values themselves. Latitude values must be in the range of -90 to +90 while longitude values range from -180 to +180. So if POI Loader gets a number whose absolute value > 90, it knows that has to be the longitude.

POI Loader could also use some other logic when the absolute value of both numbers is <90. In this case, POI Loader might know the range of values for earth's major land masses, and reverse the values if the point falls in the middle of the ocean. Because of the positioning of the continents, many land based coordinates when reversed will land in the ocean. My guess though is that Garmin didn't make POI Loader that smart.

Another possibility is that POI Loader looks for patterns of value ranges in the points it processes, and reveres an entry if it finds one that falls outside the pattern.

It would be interesting to know what methods POI Loader uses.

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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

Reverce coordinates

I took a csv file of mine and reverse column a and b.Total of 29 points of interest Made a folder MY POIS and put the folder in it. Ran poiloader,touched custom pois then the custom poi file and all 29 are showing. Searched the list and pulled up the one I was looking for.The problem I found is when I look at the distance showing from my location it doesn't make any sense for some but not all.Even hit go on a few and it appear to be no problem routing me to them.Even CA location.6 of the ones that are way out of what the distance should be I get message." Can not calculate the route". 5 in FL and 1 in SC.

Will send email to Garmin and try to get the real answer from the ones that are suppose to know.

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