need help with proximity alerts, custom poi

When you ran poiloader you need to select the manual mode on the pull down tab. This allows you to set in feet the distance you want for the alert distance for .As you go through each poi file. click next if no alet is required. This gives you the typical bong alert. If you want a voice alert see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 . See also http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 for installing custom pois. Attention to 16 a,b,c and d.

Not to tread on charlesd45's feet but I use Extra POI editor to set my alerts for the POI's. It seems easier for me to do it that way.

In Extra POI editor just go into "Edit" then select"Replace field" and in the drop down box next to FIELD name click the arrow and scroll down to "Proximity". Now a new box opens up
"Field values". In Field values input the distance you want for the alerts.

Now when you use POI loader it installs them all with that distance.

Same method I have used for sometime as well as many other members. http://www.poi-factory.com/node/28521 .

This thread is getting off topic by bringing in Extra_POI_Editor. Suffice it to say that EPE has its own learning curve and can be a bit daunting.

There are some excellent tutorials on loading POI and creating alerts. There are two things you will need to create an alert for the rest areas. First of all, you will need an additional program called SOX which is short for Sound Exchange. There are links to the only version that will work with POI Loader. SOX.exe goes into the same folder on your computer as the POI Loader program which is usually found in Program Files(X86) in the Garmin folder.

The second thing you will need is the selected alert sound file with an extension of WAV. Garmin units used to play MP3 sounds, but that stopped several years ago. The sound file goes into the folder where you have put the Rest Area file you downloaded from here. If you want an icon or symbol to display at the location of the rest area, you will need to select one of those as well. It also goes into the same folder as the POI file and sound. The icon file has an extension of BMP.

Once you have all the pieces/parts assembled and in the correct locations, run POI Loader again in the Manual mode and you can set an alert distance. The distances are in either feet or meters, so 5300 feet is just over a mile and 10.600 is just over 2 miles. 1600 meters is approximately equal to a mile, so 3200 is around 2 miles.

If everything is set correctly, your Nuvi will sound off at the alert distance with either a "Bong" or the alert sound when you reach the alert distance.

As well as the above all the files (sound, icon and POI) MUST have the same name, the only thing that differs is the file extension.

Here is the video version of setting up alerts on your GPS using Sox.exe and a wav file https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsJTUmvb6_o .As posted by Melaqueman's on using Extra Poi Editor to to build the alert distance into a gpx file see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMAbHO4DI6I . Many members including myself have adapted this method after using method one for a while.So you may want to consider this at a later date.Another video for custom pois will show the installation process using manual mode for poiloader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhhb5FPyLW0

Let us know how you make out? Sounds like you have already mastered loading custom pois.Everything else should fall in place after a few tries.

It took me a few tries to figure it out as well. I find that I have to set the manual parameters every time that I install the updated POI file. Is this normal? That is, without having to learn the Extra POI Editor....

Yes, it is. The program doesn't remember the last settings used.

You got it mow. As posted each time you run Poiloader in the manual mode you have to input the parameters as well as all the pois at one time..

There is another process one of our members came up with for pois that don't require a lot of updating called renaming method that may be of interest to you. Discussion found at http://www.poi-factory.com/node/16639 and the FAQ http://www.poi-factory.com/node/8779

Hi again. I would just like to thank everyone for the fast and informative posts. With your help I think I have it figured out.
Who knows maybe someday I'll be able to help someone.
Thanks so much

Glad to hear everything worked out. Enjoy your GPS.

Great info - thanks for all the tips and links.

I do the same. The choice of distance is up to you, but I use about 10000 feet or 3000 meters.