convert .csv to .gpx garmin

Other files I've used had a Garmin .gpx file available. I'm new.

Most POI files here are available in multiple formats. Some are not and a conversion is necessary.

I import .CSV files into MS Excel, save them as .xls files, import into Basecamp and save as .gdb or .gpx. You can then import the file into Mapsource. A bit complicated but it works.

This youtube video on importing .csv files into Excel is helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Pxil4jVO4

Many of us here use EPE to do conversions but the learning curve is pretty steep.

There is a TomTom .ov2 version of the Choice Hotel file available which might be easier to work with.

There are many other ways to do the conversion. It is a common question around here. You might want to check out these threads:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/14015
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/38881
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/5503
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/7086
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/43325

The easiest method to convert from csv to gpx is EPE "Extra POI editor"

All you do is to import the csv file then save it with the gpx extension. Easy as pie !

Thank you very much. Have a Blessed Day.

Let me joust at windmills for a moment. A rant, if you will.

But first I have to thank the authors and contributors for their efforts in building POI datasets. You're all better men and women than I for having the time, dedication, and ability to do this.

I'm not a newbie to GPS; I've been using them since the Garmin GPSIII. I've had the opportunity to use many of the various GPS programs that are out there.

However, I don't do it on a daily basis. Once or twice a year I have a need to do some GPS stuff that is over and above building a route in BaseCamp and loading into my zūmo 660 or doing housekeeping in BaseCamp.

As I read through the threads on how to convert .csv to .gpx I note that a common theme is that there is much gnashing of teeth, rending of clothing, jumping from one program to another before finally achieving success. It's a heck of a learning curve and, if one doesn't do it frequently as is my case, needs to be half-relearned every time.

I thought I had tumbled to some good clueage when bdhsfz6 said "...I import .CSV files into MS Excel, save them as .xls files, import into Basecamp and save as .gdb or .gpx..."

I tried that, but BaseCamp will import neither a .csv file nor an .xls file. What I see is the ability to import .fit, .gps, .gbd, .kml, .kmz, .tcx, and .loc files. Foiled again, or perhaps I'm merely 'differently abled'.

I have tried with PoiEdit, which gives me obscure tech-speak errors such as "'Corydon Lake Park' is not a valid floating point value" and, when I finally get it imported and try to save as a .gpx file I get "Extension ".gpx" of filename does not match selected filetype." Those are both WTF,O? moments in what should be a simple process. Bah! Runs from keyboard screaming and foaming at the mouth....

Next up is GPSBabel, which I will have to resurrect from somewhere in my system, but this is all a rather large waste of time.

My question is this: Why, after having gone to the considerable trouble and effort to build a POI dataset, would an author not provide a .gpx file for the grab 'n go people? Why would one expect, from a work-flow perspective, every downstream user to go through the trouble of converting the .csv file to .gpx? One of my early mentors admonished me "Son, don't add entropy to the universe; there's already enough to go around."

The .gpx extension is meant for GPs eXchange and is fairly universal and understood by the vast majority of desktop programs and most GPS units (I understand TomTom may not).

Surely the creator of the dataset, at some point, had a .gpx file in hand or had the easy opportunity to create one. Again, why not provide it along with the .csv file?

I understand the utility of .csv files; I recently downloaded NORTH AMERICAN CAMPGROUNDS by rivopom, some 21,450 records. I don't want all of them and have edited the file down to what I do want. It would be so much easier for me, an admitted grab 'n go guy, to have all 21,450 records in a .gpx file that I can bring into BaseCamp and edit from within BaseCamp.

Getting the edited file into a .gpx file that I can bring into BaseCamp has been frustrating enough to make me stop and write this long, boring rant (my first post in 6 years and 29 days of membership).

Tom

OK, looking forward to read from you in 2022

POI files can simply be loaded to your device using POI Loader, which converts .csv files to .gpi files which are installed into your POI folder. Nothing could really be simpler.

Or am I misunderstanding what you're trying to do?

I guess I'm not one to post up if I have nothing to offer and, other than finally being compelled to rant, I don't. I've given a bit of my bona-fides, and they don't include creating POI datasets.

I'll get the conversion re-learned and done _again_, but the "Why" has me stumped...

Tom

When we are working on a file we create a CSV. We may not have any other format around.

If I need a GPX file for a subset of the POIs, I create that manually with a text editor. It isn't in a Garmin format because I use CSV for my Garmin. I create small GPX XML files of the route I need.

In a sense, you are. The conversion from .csv to .gpx is the soft underbelly of the issue, easy to poke at, but it is not the real issue.

The hard crust is "Why do I have to do this when the creator had the file in the first place?". A bit of a rhetorical question, I suppose, embedded in a rant.

To your suggestion:

I down loaded Garmin's (properly spelled, Grrrmin) POI Loader. It is typically obtuse. Heritage here is 100% German, believe me, I know about Teutonic obtusity.

It asks for the directory where I want to store my POI stuff. Fine, users/Tom/Documents/MyGarmin/POI.

Then it asks where it can find the data files. Note, it doesn't ask me to find the data file for it, it asks where it can find the file.

Fine, users/Tom/Downloads.

It then proceeds to tell me that file 20150910095609-1098.csv (the first .csv file it found) contained no valid data and pukes. Why? Because I chose "Express", the default.

Choosing "Manual", I can step through the .csv files in my Downloads folder (wouldn't it be easier if I were just allowed to specify the file?). Stepping through all the .csv files (I know, I've created a red herring; now I know that I should dump the file of interest in a handier place) and ignoring all but NORTH AMERICAN CAMPGROUNDS.csv, I successfully created NORTH AMERICAN CAMPGROUNDS.gpi. Booyah!

But it is not a file format that is importable into BaseCamp....

Grrrmin!

Call me a Luddite, but I don't want a bunch of POIs (especially 21,450 campgrounds) loaded on my 660 so that I get alerted every time I ride by a campground. I want to select campgrounds to use as waypoints in routes, 'cuz that's what I do. I ride and stay in campgrounds.

I can see the POI utility with respect to traffic cams and Starbucks, but isn't the larger utility to be found in using the POI files as a collection of points of interest to be used as waypoints?

I get back to my original, hard question. Why not provide the universal exchange format?

I'm a devout contrarian, I know.

Tom

But BaseCamp will read POI files from your device or a SD card or USB stick. With your device connected and selected in BaseCamp look at Maps, Manage custom POIs and you should see the custom POIs you have installed on your device, and you can then decide which ones you want displayed. Perhaps not as elegant as you'd like but I find it works for me.

You can also then select the waypoint tool, click on any of your custom POIs and you'll get a waypoint with the POI name etc.

Tom,

This may not be the answer you are looking for but allow me to present my side.

I can't speak for other maintainers, but many of my POI files contain coordinates, name & address and a phone number and nothing else. The .csv format fits the bill for simple files such as these. If I were to create a POI file that had a need for additional information fields, proximity or speed parameters, etc., I would certainly create it in the .gpx format.

As an experiment, I just now converted one of my larger .csv files to .gpx and the file size went from 1.31MB to 5.70MB. I'm probably still living in a time when storage was expensive and download times were more of an issue. I don't know how much the POI-Factory spends on storage and bandwidth, but if we all published both versions here, wouldn't we be placing an extra load on the site? I don't know if this is an issue or not.

I also don't know the percentage of users who have a need for these files to be in a .gpx format. If there is indeed a significant demand for .gpx files, perhaps we can reconsider and the mods could give us guidance on this. As a maintainer of some of the files, if you were to message me requesting a .gpx copy, I would gladly forward one to you. I'm sure there are others who would do so also.

As Melaquman noted above, the Extra_POI_Editor application that runs on Windows is a very simple fix if you only want to open a .csv and save it back as a .gpx so that you will now have a copy in that format. It supports a long list of formats that the data can be saved it. You can snag a copy at: https://turboccc.wikispaces.com/Extra_POI_Editor

All of us here that use the POI files appreciate the effort that goes into creating them.

...

You assume much, and much of what you assume is incorrect. As one who does post both CSV and GPX files, I can tell you that not all datasets are equal.

The vast majority of source data is scraped from various web sites as plain text files. From there, the data is organized into a format that can be manipulated using, most commonly, a spreadsheet program. Here is where you assumption takes a very snaky path as the data from the text file does not always lend itself to easy separation.

The format of a Garmin CSV file is known for its simplicity and readability without having to know the format of the XML language and the various element names. Unless one has access to a program that will allow a dataset to be read and output with the correct formatting and descriptors, creating a GPX is an exercise best left to experienced programmers. Fortunately, one member did create such a program for our use and with a bit of effort at learning how to configure it, will spit out a Garmin GPX file from a dataset. The difference between the input datasets can be extensive. A CSV requires 3 fields with an optional fourth while the dataset to create a GPX file can contain many defined fields. Personally, the dataset format I use contains 13 different fields even though some are not populated in all files.

It's easy to point a finger and say something like "You have the data, why don't you create the kind of file I want from that dataset you have formatted for another purpose." Well, it ain't always easy. So, just remember, when you point a finger, there are four others pointing back to you. If you want to take a CSV and manipulate to your needs, either learn how to do it in a spreadsheet program or, download and learn the user created Extra_POI_Editor program by TurboCCC.

I won't take any exception to that, as you have my respect for doing stuff I don't and can't do.

See my post above for rationale; I prefer to have a .gpx file so that I can use but a point or two in a route as Waypoints/destinations.

This all started because I wanted to update my set of waypoints for campgrounds. A couple of years ago I converted a .csv file of south west campgrounds to a .gpx file, so I know I am capable of it and that it can be done. That set of waypoints is aged and I wish to renew it.

I use BaseCamp to create routes. I can make BaseCamp jump through a hoop, even a flaming hoop. Same with my 660. I do it so constantly that I'm quite adept at it.

The conversion process, though, not so much. I do it so seldom that it is an occasionally recurring nightmare. My life would be so much simpler if there was a .gpx file of the data and I didn't need to convert. I suspect others may feel the same and may simply not go to the bother of trying.

Now, I'm a simple person. I can spell XML, but that's about it. I'm not sure I want to know more about it, as it is the end I am interested in (route) not the means (XML, file conversion, etc).

I'd be interested to know, though, how you use .csv files for your Garmin and how you create a .gpx file with a text editor, though I can't help but wonder why you wouldn't put the whole mess into a large .gpx file and use it in BaseCamp (or MapSource or Tyre or whatever your routing program is).

I suspect I'm starting to whine a bit...

Tom

You know, when I made my original post I figured "Nobody will respond to this, there will be a collective eye roll..."

sussamb, TXRVer, Box Car and dmauray, I owe each of you a great thanks. You've provided me with quite a bit of peripheral vision. I've learned some things today, and I hate going to bed at night not having learned something. I've gotten a pretty good answer to my "Why?".

Most of all, I got a solution from TXRVer and Box Car. I had read Melaqueman's post, but the post above it had mentioned a tough learning curve for EPE. I've played with enough GPS programs to know that I really didn't want to fiddle with another one, especially if it was 'hard'. Weak, I know...

It may be tough to learn for stuff smart people do, but for what I needed it was a rollicking slam dunk.

I have 21,450 new waypoints to choose from when I need to go camping.

Again, heartfelt thanks to youse guys.

I'm a happy camper (pun intended).

Tom

Tom,

I have no use for Basecamp. It would be a waste of my time and disk space to create a large GPX flavored XML file for something I don't need.

When I travel on the bike, I create a GPX in HD format for the route I want to take. The GPX does not contain all the points in any POI file and I only load them when needed since I will need to delete them when I return. If I want to take a non-standard route I will create a route.

I use a text editor like notepad for most of the work I do on the GPX file. I could put everything in a DB and then write a script to output a GPX but it isn't worth it to me.

You cant expect everyone to do what is convenient for you simply so you don't have to do it.

I have 1 file that a user wanted in gpx format. I did that and put it up on the site. That was a long time ago. I probably would not be able to update that file again even though I do use EPE. My files are simple and in csv. The gpx would do them no good. I don't need base camp and won't use it.

So there are many reasons as to why on any question that is asked.

The OP was looking to import into Mapsource, not Basecamp nor into a GPSr with POI loader. GPX is to Mapsource as rocket science is to a puppy! It will not work. Please, stay on target. He/She may have their reason for not upgrading, but that too is not the crux of the question.

On that note, I too would suggest EPE. Not all folks have knowledge or need to edit their POI files in the GPX format. CSV is far easier to play with using any simple text editor. I wouldn't do that with a GPX file if you paid me (and I edit HTML by hand!).

My two cents

Tom, I hope you are still lurking around because I feel that you made a legitimate request and are someone who wants to use their GPS for enjoyment.

As I understand the request, you wanted to be able to take a file in .csv format and convert it into .gpx so that it could be read by BaseCamp. Then you would use specific waypoints from the imported file to create a route for your zumo 660.

Now, I do not use BaseCamp, so I'll admit that I do not know what BaseCamp can use for creating a route.

But, what might work for you would be to use
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input
to convert a .csv file into a .gpx file.

Since the 21,475 NORTH AMERICA CAMPGROUNDS (GPX) By Rivopom
(see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/35298)
is already a .gpx file, let's use
Campgrounds And RV Parks Combined
(see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/17657)

GPSVisualizer needs for us to edit the Campgrounds file and add a new line at the top. Open the file in Notepad or Wordpad and add this line at the top.
"longitude,latitude,name,comments" (without the quotes), then save the file

In GPSVisualizer, locate the first "Choose file" box and click it. Navigate to where the Campgrounds And RV Parks Combined.csv file is located and highlight it. Then click "open" in the Explorer window.

Back in GPS Visualizer, click the light green "Convert" button. When GPSVisualizer finishes processing the file you will be given a screen from which you can download the .gpx file. I would suggest choosing a better name than "20160610133337-21205-data.gpx" which is what I got. I changed it back to Campgrounds And RV Parks Combined and saved it into the folder into which I downloaded the .csv file.

See if this will load into BaseCamp and be usable.

I would appreciate knowing if this works for you.

This part of my response has already been touched on, but I wanted to be sure that you and others understand a bit about the process of creating POI files.

Yes, POI Loader help does state that it will accept either a .gpx file or a .csv file. BUT, notice that Help suggest that the way to create a .gpx file is to use MapSource - doing each waypoint manually until you have enough. Then Save As a .gpx file.

However, POI Loader says (of .csv files)

The critical line is
"You can create .csv files using a text editor, MS Excel, or a similar program."

Back when poi-factory was first started, not many people were expert at MapSource, but most everyone knew how to use a text editor or Excel.

I do not think I would be far off if I asserted that 99% of the creators of POI Files have submitted .csv files.

It was only when TurboCC gave us Extra POI Editor that people starting using .gpx files. And the reason that most of us used EPE was so that we could create files which we could load using "Express" mode of POI Loader. Note we would start with a .csv file.

So, very, very few POI file maintainers "had a .gpx file in hand or had the easy opportunity to create one".

I use BaseCamp and like the .gpx file format.

I thought I used to put my .csv file in EDP and save it to .GPX and the addresses are in the correct field.

I just converted a .csv file to .gpx and the entire address, city, state and phone number are on the address line.

I have hunted on this site for the correct way to use EPE in converting a .csv to .gpx and having everything in it's correct place.

Did I do this before? Or am I dreaming?

Mary, it depends on the CSV file and how the information is stored in it. If you go into OPTIONS on EPE make certain the check boxes for extracting city, state and phone are selected. It helps. I normally use Excel to break down the 4th column in a CSV, then then I'm an advanced user of that software.

I will go into EPE and check to see if that is checked.
If that doesn't work I will go back to Excel and see what I can do.
I think what you are saying is to move the city, state etc to their individual columns in Excel? Can you have more than 4 columns in CSV?

CSV means Comma Separated Variable, or each element is separated from the previous by a comma. There is no limit to the number of variables you can have.

I'll activate my contact link and let you send me a PM with your contact info and I'll break down a Garmin CSV into the format I use to create GPX files. It's quite extensive, but I'll leave the Excel command strings in each cell so you can see what I did.

Thanks for the offer, but after looking at others .csv files I think I will forgo the extra work. If I change my mind I will let you know. Thanks.

I put the csv file on my Nuvi. I will just not have it in BaseCamp. As long as I keep it in the folder I use with POI Loader it should be ok.
I did load the .csv with POI loader and it looks ok but I can't find it while searching my Extras unless I put in the 's. I think I will take the ' out as most people might just search it with out that.
Another thing I tried in my Extras on my Nuvi was I could not search by City. I looked at the McDonalds, and DQ file that I downloaded in csv and the maintainer put the city in the name field (McDonalds-Fort Worth) and when I search for Fort Worth, while in the McDonalds file on my Nuvi Extras, I could find all that were in Fort Worth.
I am going to update my file like that Braums-(city) so if any one needs to search for it by the city they can.

Also, do you think it is a good idea to take the ' out (Braum's) and just use Braums because of the search problem?

That is what I was thanking. Thanks.

It is my understanding that in CSV files you cannot set an alert for the GPS whereas in a GPX file you can.

I download either format given here. I load the CSV into EPE and then save it as GPX. Once in the GPX format I import it back into EPE and use the proximity setting and re-save it.

One other thing I do, especially with CSV files I trim them by eliminating using the ALPHA search, I delete all states and provinces I never expect to be in and again save it as GPX. Then repeat the proximity setting in EPE.

What the heck, I'm retired I have the time.

Problem for most newbies when converting files is what to do, when something goes wrong. Because when there is something wrong in csv file, then conversion just gets killed without explanation. Saving csv from Excel not always will be done correctly, and if there is some error in file, they will just not convert.

POI Loader will give you chance to look record after record to find wrong entry, but not everyone is proficient enough to do this and fix manually problem. This probably is main concern for new people, who are expecting file to simply work. I got a few files with coordinates that needed quite extensive work with fixing their structure before they can be loaded.

So if you are creating gps file in csv format it's always good practice to make conversion just to check if everything will be fine. Because file size can be a concern, there is no need to put gpx file to download. But if you publish csv format be sure, that it will work correctly.

Like the entropy quote.

I hope a few of those who responded to Superdoo back last July are still around.
I have to agree with a large amount of what he said, I have just loaded Openmaps to a card in my Garmin 2440 with updated firmware.
Next of course it to get UK Post Code Search so after trying a couple of places with the aid of http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Postcod...
Good advice here pointing to CodePoint Open which has all the codes sorted under first two letters.
Next is getting it on to the Garmin. Several places say no need to convert them as PIOloader can deal with csv's.
I have downloaded the latest version and it will not !
GPSBabel says there is no compatible data and stops, Extra POI Editor even though I select one file it opens every file in the folder (16858 ) I select save as Garmin GPI and it creates one file of 6,726kB, so far so good !, but, it's extension is GPS exchange.
Open POIloader...... Error.... the file Garmin.gpi is invalid.
There are no headings and here is a line from the csv.
AB101AB 10 394235 806529 S92000003 S08000020 S12000033 S13002483

3 days of frustration, I don,t know what to do next !!!.

Welcome to the site.

We usually recommend the following.

There is a "Learn" button in the upper right of this page next to "red light cameras" that takes you to a Getting Started page. It is worthwhile visiting this page.

To make navigation easy, most browsers provide the following option. When you want to follow a link - but still keep your current page open - you can hold down the "Ctrl" key as you left-click on a link. That action will open a new "Tab" in your browser up on the "Tab" bar. When you then left-click on that new "Tab", you will follow the link - leaving the "Tab" you are now reading open and available to click on and return here.

So, using the "Learn" link, you might try the "Ctrl" - left-click sequence and then return here. You can return by either "X-ing" out of the "Getting Started" page (using the "X" on the "Tab" itself) or just left-clicking on the "Tab" for the page you are on right now.

Note that the Learn Button will give you access to two valuable reference pages -
the "Index" to all of the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and the Glossary of Terms and Links.

Since you are new here, I encourage you to go through a couple of the Tutorials.

The first link makes sure the settings on your computer are such that you can do more advanced POI loading.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

The next link helps you make a backup of your GPS by attaching it to your computer. (NEVER do anything to your GPS until you have a backup). It also assures that you put your (newer) unit into a state where you can see all of the folders there.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

Let us know how we can help you enjoy your GPS.

When I followed the link you provided, I did not see reference to a .csv file but did see comments about .gpi.

A few more details, please.

Poi Loader can deal with csv files if they are in the proper format. Below is the proper format taken from the current help in Poi Loader:

Creating .CSV Files

POI Loader accepts .csv files that contain longitude, latitude, speed alert information, and optional comments. You can create .csv files using a text editor, MS Excel, or a similar program.

POI Loader assumes a .csv file utilizes the following format for each POI (brackets [ ] denote optional text):

Lon,Lat,["]Name[@]["],["] [comment]["]

Longitude and latitude must appear in WGS84 decimal degrees format (ddd.ddddd; negative numbers indicate West and South).

If you include quotes around the name or comment, you can include line breaks in the text.

The following are examples of Custom POIs in the proper format:

-94.81549,38.80390,Bonita

-94.79731,38.81099,Ridgeview@25

-94.74240,38.81952,Heritage Park,Perfect site for a picnic

-94.76416,38.81227,Garmin,"1200 E. 151st Street

Olathe,KS 66062
913/397.8300"

First, thanks to all who replied and so rapidly.
Jgermann
Step two say convert the WGS84 to lat/long in Excel which creates a csv file.
Step three says convert it to GPI
Evert
As it appears that most GPS unit require a csv as a starting point to creating files of what ever format they each require it would seems reasonable that the CodePoint Open csv "would be" in the correct format, nothing in the wiki page suggests it would be anything other.
Echos again of what Superdoo had said, "Thanks for providing the data, but it turns out they are not usable without considerable conversion." and perhaps not even then.
I have no idea what the fields in my csv's refer to but I do know that do not look like Lat/long so it appears the Codepoint open files ( already converted to WGS84 lat/lon ) are not suitable for Garmin. http://parlvid.mysociety.org/os/
There are loads of file here, have I picked the wrong one ?? Code-Point Open February 2017. This includes current Great Britain postcodes
As you can see in the Wiki page aimed at
OSM Map On Garmin/Postcode Search On Garmin
appears to be nothing of the kind ( I'm sure that can't be right ) and the official Ordinance Survey list is no longer available.
Thanks

After following a link in Step 1 I downloaded this zip file which I assume contains the csv file you are dealing with:
http://parlvid.mysociety.org/os/ONSPD_FEB_2017.zip
The ONSPD_FEB_2017_UK.csv file included in the ZIP file is very large (1.4GB) and complex and certainly not compatible with Poi Loader as is.

The file does include Garmin compatible Longitude and Latitude so it is possible that it could be edited with Excel to conform to Garmin csv format. I have no idea which of the many fields of other data you need to have.

Here a few lines of a Garmin compatible csv file I created from the data mentioned above.

-2.242851,57.101474,AB1 0AA
-2.246308,57.102554,AB1 0AB
-2.248342,57.100556,AB1 0AD
-2.255708,57.084444,AB1 0AE
-2.258102,57.096656,AB1 0AF
-2.267513,57.097085,AB1 0AG
-2.252854,57.099011,AB1 0AJ
-2.254688,57.101765,AB1 0AL
-2.245483,57.097553,AB1 0AN
-2.245768,57.098244,AB1 0AP
-2.252504,57.098554,AB1 0AQ

Here is a single line from the original csv file:
"AB1 0AA","AB1 0AA","AB1 0AA","198001","199606",
"S99999999","S12000033","S13002484","0","385386"
,"0801193","1","S08000020","S99999999","S92000003"
,"S99999999","0","S14000002","S15000001","S09000001
","S22000047","S03000012","S31000935","99ZZ0099"
,"ZZ0099","9","SN9","QA","SN9","72UB43","72UB43"
,"00QA36","99ZZ00","S00001364","01C30","S99999999"
,"S01000011","S02000007","6","3C2","X98"
,"S00090303","S01006514","S02001237","S99999999"
,"S34002990","S03000012","S99999999","S99999999"
,"3","1C3",57.101474,-2.242851,"S99999999",
"S99999999","S23000009",6808

(The longitude and Latitude are near the end of the line.)

Since Garmin's .csv format only allows four fields (which are separated by commas), (lon,lat,name,comments), using quotes around the last two fields allows the use of embedded commas. For instance, the readability of line above that reads

-94.76416,38.81227,Garmin,"1200 E. 151st Street Olathe,KS 66062
913/397.8300"

is enhanced by using quotes which allows the use of commas to separate the city and state in the address. Without the quotes, that statement would be invalid. Bottom line is that if you want to embed one or more commas in the name or comment field you must enclose those fields in quotes.

Phil

I learned something!

Once again I'm grateful to all who responded.
Echoing back to Superdoo's comments, clearly what I want is possible, it's probably a one off task, the learning curve is steep, it's a time consuming task.
Having got "my" joust at the windmills over with................
I have several problems with the ONSPD_FEB-2017-UK.zip file which I had previously downloaded, it is too big for my version of Excel, in fact it contains something over 2500000 lines and I don't know anything that will open a file this big.
Good old Google, http://www.fxfisherman.com/forums/forex-metatrader/tools-uti...
I set it to 50,000 lines per file, ( my excel max 65xxx ) and I now have 52 separate sheets that I can open !.
What I don't know now is..... If I edit them all to show just the lat, lon and code do I need to try to combine them back into one file ( I also don't know if that's possible ) or do I load all 52 via Garmin POI loader ?, and also how would that look when searching the Extras ?.
Evert..... would you please confirm in fact that Garmin require the order that you showed of Lon, Lat, Post code is correct as against Lat, Lon, Post code ?.
And another kick in the teeth, I did edit one the sheets to the required three columns but when using Garmin POI loader it fails with an unexpected error, BUT, I can reload my previous POI's OK !.

Should have added......
I have saved the edit file as a csv and when I open it in Word it appears as

57.101474,-2.242851,AB1 0AA
57.102554,-2.246308,AB1 0AB
57.100556,-2.248342,AB1 0AD
57.084444,-2.255708,AB1 0AE
57.096656,-2.258102,AB1 0AF

Thanks

I believe you need to switch the longitude and latitude around. The Negative number goes first.. (but that is for the usa at least.. not sure for other countries..

Yes the order I showed is correct but the negative numbers in your example are longitude and should be first.

The commas help but you can make it easier to read on the GPS if you add a line break instead of a comma. You can add a which is a HTML line break. This will not work with a GPX file without escaping it.

Yes it is huge. I opened it with notepad++ and it lists 2593614 lines. You should be able to direct Poi Loader to the folder holding your 52 csv files and load them but I have not tried using that large amount of data. Also I have seen several lines in the data that do not have the coordinates to 5 decimal places and that may cause problems.

BTW did you notice the zip file included a folder named multi_csv that contains 125 csv files that separates the data according to the first two characters of the code such as: ONSPD_FEB_2017_UK_AB.csv

Do you need to have the entire data set or just those for Wales? In any case you may want to start with one of the smaller files till you find a method that works.

Once again, thanks for the replies.
Evert...... I'm not sure that a negative indicates it's longitude as 57.101474,-2.242851 is as valid as -57.101474,2.242851 or indeed -57.101474,-2.242851 but of course they are completely different places each on the opposite side of the world, all longitude for the US would be negative but here in the UK anything East of Greenwich and the zero longitude meridian will be a positive number.
But even if I change the columns around I still get the error which just closes the POI loader program.
My guess is that the edited file still contains information that the loader does not like, the question is what ?.
When I goto save the edited file I get the Excel message...... this file may contain features that are not compatible with CSV, the keep this format which leaves out any incompatible features click yes. The odd thing is that even though I have just saved the file when I goto close Excel it wants to save the file again with the same message and I then get a this file already exists, do you want to replace it and then the incompatible message again.
Normally saving it the first time is enough.
Elsewhere on the site http://www.poi-factory.com/garmin-csv-file-format show the Name field in " " marks.
I have used Excel to format the columns A & B as numbers from general and C as text but that has not helped, might it be the absences of the quite marks is the problem ?.
dmauray... Does the line break need to be after the contents of C ?, I'm not sure how to add it ( Excel 2003 )
If I open the csv in Word it shows a carriage return at the end of each line. ( with non printable characters turned on )

Thanks

I wanted to see what EPE would bring back for just one entry with the following information

57.101474,-2.242851,AB1 0AA

If using this information it took me to the waters of Somalia
If you reverse those cord, I was placed near Milltimber (Milltimber Farm is close) Cross Roads were N Deeside Rd and B979

Now about the excel file, I get that sometimes too, just make sure you are in fact saving it as a CSV file, and you can even use Notepad for the smaller file to make sure it is in text. You do not want to have any special char. floating around. You might want to open your CSV file using EPE (Extra POI Editor) to see how it reads the file.

I did not mean that in general negative indicates longitude. I said "the negative numbers in your example are longitude and should be first". A negative number in the position you had it would be taken by Garmin as a latitude south of the equator. That indicated that you had the columns switched.

In the original file latitude is in Excel column AZ and longitude is in column BA.

You do not need the quotes unless you are working with multi-line fields or have commas within the text of a field.

Your simple name field does not need quotes.

Also you don't need any line breaks because you don't even have a comment field let alone a multi-line one.

These points are in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Is that where you intended them to be?