How to give downloaded poi files a symbol

Welcome to The Factory.

Here is one of the FAQs that explains how to install custom icons for your custom POIs:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/4359

It's a great place to start. Once you've got this down, know that you can add custom alert sounds and have an alert as you approach a custom POI location. But start easy and learn about adding custom icons. If questions arise, feel free to ask and we'll either direct you to a Tutorial, FAQ or will offer advice and maybe request more info from you in a reply to your post.

Categories and folders for custom POIs:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721

You will need to revisit this thread to find our replies.

jgermann will be by soon to offer you his stock 'Welcome' reply which is a good way to see what we think are the important FAQs and such available here to get you up-to-speed more quickly and safely.

Craig has provided some excellent direction for getting you started in the right direction to loading and enjoying custom POI in your unit.

I just want to add a couple of finer points to what has been referenced.

ICONS: Motorcycle Mama's FAQ/Tutorial is excellent and even after 9 years it still holds basically true. Over the 9 years since it was posted the size of the displays has changed going from a 3.5 inch screen to monsters such as a 7 inch screen. The pixel or picture element density has also change slightly. Larger screens can use a larger icon, so the 18x18 or 24x24 size doesn't always work well on large screens. Many of us use Microsoft's Paint program to make icons or to change the size of a supplied icon so you need to understand that when we say an icon should be 24x24 as an example, we are speaking of the widest/highest part of the icon.

FILE TYPES:For your Garmin, there are two basic file types, either the Comma Separated Variable (CSV) or the Garmin POI Exchange (GPX). Both of these files are text based files so they can be opened with many different text editors however, the contents is vastly different. The CSV file is limited to four elements or variables. The first two are the position of latitude and longitude and the third is the name the creator uses to identify what is at those coordinates. The fourth field or variable is free-form and loosely identified as "description." This can contain almost anything but generally contains such things as a street address, city, state, post code, telephone number or any combination of items the creator want to include. As this file is plain text it is the easiest to manipulate, usually with a spreadsheet program.

The second, the GPX is a different animal all together. This type of file follows rigid rules in which each element is first defined and then the contents for an element are identified. Because each element is both defined and identified, they can appear in almost any order. The definition and assignment also allows more information in the file as the creator has some control over how and what data is displayed. The point being is the two files, an Esso.CSV and an Esso.GPX often contain exactly the same data it is your choice which to load onto your unit. The raw file size difference is because the GPX has to contain all the definition and identification elements not needed for the CSV. The upshot is don't be limited to one file type or the other, but be aware that your final file stored on the GPS can only contain one copy of the source file in either a GPX or CSV. In other words, you can't have both an Esso.CSV and an Esso.GPX in the files you load.

This video may help https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhhb5FPyLW0 other videos can be found at http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45601

@JiggyG1,

They know me too well on this site, so here it is (the stock Welcome)

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
.......................

I am like a broken record - always trying to make sure that members protect their investment by a backup.

Let me suggest that you first get the .bmp file downloaded as per http://www.poi-factory.com/node/4359 - making sure to get the .csv name and the .bmp character strings to the left of the "period" the same. The reload the Canadian Tire files using POI Loader.

I think you are wanting to see the icons for Canadian Tire on your device but you may soon find out that having all of the icons for all of the Custom POI files that you will be loading show on the device will be very distracting because they will only show up a zoom distances of about 200 feet or lower. They just get in the way.

Again, welcome