Hello all - And a question for you clever people

Garmin's warning is time based. The warning is 36 seconds, so the faster you go the longer the distance and the slower you go, the shorter the distance.

I have no idea why 36 seconds, but likely based on typical driver reaction times.

Maybe a Garmin would be better if Tom Tom is fixed distance.

Garmin does support warning distance set in EPE. If you set 2000 meter warning for a rest area, in EPE you will get 2000 meters, regardless of speed. The same goes if you set a proximity alert, using Garmin's POI Loader.

EPE?

Yea that's what i meant. I read somewhere that GPX files can contain poi's with alert distance. That's why I was looking at Garmin. My TomTom doesn't support that.

The question is then... What is the shortest distance you can define in the file?

Also known as Extra_POI_Editor. The program uses/converts all distances and speeds to Metric even though you have the option of selecting Imperial or Metric measurements in the setup. The programmer who developed the program lives and works in Canada and does visit the board occasionally. He used to be a lot more active but has changed jobs to where he just doesn't have the time to invest in the discussions he used to have.

There are still some of us "old timers" here on the board that have been using the program since the very early days and have made many suggestions for features which were incorporated. However, as the majority of users here at POI-Factory are Garmin users, there just isn't a lot of expertise on the Tom-Tom line. Probably the most active TT "expert" is ET or Tom and he would be able to answer your questions about Tom-Tom.

I've used Extra POI Editor myself, just didn't connect the dots with the EPE acronym there

The question is not TomTom related. I've already determined that it can't do what I need, the question is: will a Garmin or another device/app?

guess any non-zero value. .001 or 1mm for metric. Ive got one I use 1 foot on. I think you would be better off with a value such as 1 meter or 3 feet though as I don't know if a Garmin would recognize a small value like 1 foot or 1 mm.

Is that the case for any Garmin gps?

Or do I need to go for a special one, or...?

Sorry, I'm a complete newb at this

I honestly don't know. I've been playing with Garmin units since late 2007 and been doing GPX files using EPE for at least 5 or 6 years. As it stands right now, there is only one file I load as a CSV, Speed Cameras. Even that file is modified from what is downloaded from here with everything else converted to my own GPX format.

For some information (which is convoluted) I suggest you look at the POI Loader help file. It explains a lot of the necessary keywords and lays out the format for a standard Garmin CSV file. The help file hasn't been updated since the very early days of POI Loader so some of the fixes and enhancements haven't been documented there but are buried in the release notes for each version. There is also a wealth of information buried in the various threads dedicated to EPE, but it is a daunting task to look through them for those nuggets. I've gotten to the point where I know what is needed for my use, and I don't go exploring to test the limits of EPE. All I know is it's a much more powerful program than for what I use it for and capable of doing some really neat stuff that I'd never use.

Do check out the FAQs on creating POI files and setups for EPE. They will answer a great many questions and get you pointed toward doing some exploring of the program capabilities.

I set my RLC alerts to 200 meters, and can set them closer if desired. I use POI Loader to do it easily.

Just use a similar file type setting to do the same.

I have an RLC for Waterloo Region and have a number of the RLCs set to 10 meters, to make sure I don't get alerts from the wrong direction.

I've had no problems.

If you set a POI proximity alert distance that is less than the estimated position error of your GPS receiver, you run the risk of navigating past the POI without getting the alert.

I've done this only for RLCs that I created for Waterloo Region. I've been able to test most of these and all are ok.

If the POI alerts you set are on or near a road, this problem is minimized by the “snap to” feature built into most automotive GPSr’s. I’ve also used 10M alerts for POI’s along highways with no problem. It is far more critical though when alerting off road POI’s for use with handhelds.

What about the POIs as a TourGuide file? He should get an alert when he is within the reference circle for the POI.

Well TomTom doesn't support TourGuide. And that was the gps I had when I wrote the question. I was just trying to determine if there was any way of getting the TomTom to alert less than 100m from the poi. Seems like it's not possible.

So what I did today was go buy myself a Garmin. So I'm kneedeep in EPE right now. Seems like people don't want standalone satnavs anymore. Got a slightly used Nüvi 760 for 30USD, so I'm pleased.

Anyways... thanks for your input

I'm with oldpa. My feeling is that you are looking for alerts within an area around you. Why don't you look at
Comparing Alerts - Speed, Along The Road, And TourGuide
and give us your reaction.

Then we will know where to go from there.

I've already read that. And no disrespect, but did you read the question? I have a pretty good idea how to make it work like I want it to on a Garmin. The question was, does anyone know how to do it on a TomTom or know of an android app that could do the same.

Seems like it wasn't possible on a TomTom, and thats why I bought a Garmin today. Problem solved