Newbie needs help understanding use of custom POI files

 

Hi All! This newbie has spent over an hour on the POI-Factory website reading FAQs and discussions but remain unclear about how a custom POI file is used.

One specific scenario that I would find valuable is to be alerted every time there is a rest area 30 miles ahead or to see one by using the "Up Ahead" function.

I see the restroom POI files here and understand the need for Garmin's POI Loader to get one onto my zumo XT but what do I do after that.

I there a tutorial that I have missed?

I have questions like:
Where do I set the 30 mile alert?

Is a Rest Rooms option automatically added as an "Up Ahead" category?

TIA!

2 mile alert

Welcome to POI Factory!

I set the alert for rest areas at 2 miles. Alerts are set in Garmin POI Loader software while running it in manual, to choose the alert distance. If it is run in auto, POI Loader chooses the alert distance.

If the alert distance is a long way, alerts get too confusing. Picture yourself five years from now with tens of thousands of POIs!

Use the Rest Areas With Restrooms file.

Alerts are not the main use of custom POIs. You can navigate to a custom POI location by viewing it on a list. On the GPS, Where to/ Categories/ Custom POIs. I don't know if a Zumo has that menu.

30 mile alerts

I don't have a way to do exactly what you're looking for, sorry.

I agree that if you could set an alert for 30 miles away, it would be confusing, because you'd be alerted for rest areas inaccessible to you in the direction you're headed, as on other crossing highways. And if I heard an alert for a rest area 30 miles away, I'd have a problem, because I'd need to pee Right Away lol! It's like Pavlov's dog.

Some Garmins can do what you're looking for, kinda, apart from the custom POIs. If you have them set to suggest a rest break if you haven't shut off the vehicle in the last x hours (I think it's two, by default), it will pop a window saying how long it will take to reach the next rest area closest to you.

The other thing I sometimes try if I'm a passenger, not a driver, is scrolling the map view up to see if a rest area is coming up.

--
"141 could draw faster than he, but Irving was looking for 143..."

30 Mile Alerts

I hate alerts so have all of them turned off. I have done +4000 miles rides each of the last two years and the one thing I wished for is to know whether a rest area was coming up of if I needed to exit and seek out a restroom. My XT doesn't show rest areas so scrolling the map view doesn't help. Will they show once a rest area POI file is installed?

In one of the articles I read I understood that the POI detection was based on the road being travelled not on a radius. If this is not the case then my hopes for a fairy godmother granting my wish may be dashed.

Alerts

Just install the custom Rest Stop POI and set the alert to the distance you want. Rest Areas With Restrooms USA http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45844 . Setting up the alert see Alerts Garmin | How Do I Get Voice Alerts For My Custom POI's Using WAV Files?
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 or http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25721 for setting up custom POI'S

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

If you set an alert for 30 miles,

you would have to set the alert for 158,400 feet. That, in my opinion, would drive you absolutely crazy. I would not go any further than 5 miles, or approximately 26000 feet. I have the alert set on my GPS at 3200 feet. That gives me enough time to decide if I want to stop or not.

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With God, all things are possible. ——State motto of the Great State of Ohio

Where does alert mp3 file go?

Thanks all.
Now I can't find instructions on how to install a sound .mp3 file. The zumo XT has a built-in mp3 player so should be able to use an alert .mp3 file but I don't know where to put it on the device.

Custom pois

Just install the mp3 file along with the cvs or gpx file for your custom poi. Use same instructions as outline above but forget the sox.exe and wav file. Make sure to name the mp3 the same as the custom poi except for the extension. Not many units now around that have mp3 anymore.

Rest areas.csv
Rest areas.mp3
Rest areas.bmp

If you need to make your own mp3 see https://www.text2speech.org/

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

Put it in the same folder on the PC as the POI file

Put it in the same folder on the PC as the POI file. POI Loader loads them together. Change the filename of the mp3 to exactly the same filename as the POI file, except the filename extension will be .mp3

This is assuming the Zumo can have an mp3 alert.

take small steps

First, load a POI file. If that works, load a POI file with an alert sound. If that works, load a POI file with sound and icon.

Can't figure out how to load sound file for custom POIs

dobs108 wrote:

First, load a POI file. If that works, load a POI file with an alert sound. If that works, load a POI file with sound and icon.

How do I load a POI file with an alert sound? I tried placing the custom POI file in a directory on the PC in which I also placed a .mp3 sound file with the same filename as the custom POI file. I then ran POI Loader pointing it to that directory. I now see the custom POIs on the device but no reference to the sound. Also, I can't find that .mp3 file in the devices internal storage with a file explorer.

POI'S

See this video.Again just use the mp3 instead of the wav and forget the sox.exe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuHHgAnOeMo also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxlkiVQU41Q for custom pois. Other videos http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45601

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

Figured it out!

I don't see any sign of the sound file but it was played when I ran a simulated route. I would like to understand what is going on behind that scenes but that is secondary to knowing that it is working.

Thanks to all who helped educate me on this.

Welcome.

As you have discovered, if there are answers to be found about POI files and GPS navigators in general (especially Garmin's) POI Factory is the place to be. Hope you stick around and participate in the discussions.

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Custom pois with alerts

Peobody wrote:

I don't see any sign of the sound file but it was played when I ran a simulated route. I would like to understand what is going on behind that scenes but that is secondary to knowing that it is working.

Thanks to all who helped educate me on this.

Nice going on your success installing voice alerts for you custom poi's. A nice feature for getting the best out of your GPS.

Not sure what location you are looking for the sound file. If for the files located on your GPS. In my case My POIS is my main file name. Click on POI and you will see your main file name with a gpi extension. My POIS.gpi for me. When you run poiloader to install the files to the gps they are converted to one big gpi file.

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

.gPI file

Peobody wrote:

I don't see any sign of the sound file but it was played when I ran a simulated route. I would like to understand what is going on behind that scenes but that is secondary to knowing that it is working.

Thanks to all who helped educate me on this.

The sound file and the POI file no longer exist on the Zumo. POI Loader has turned them both into a single .gpi file on the Zumo.

That, simply, is what POI Loader does.

Need clarification on 30 mile alert distance

maddog67 wrote:

you would have to set the alert for 158,400 feet. That, in my opinion, would drive you absolutely crazy. I would not go any further than 5 miles, or approximately 26000 feet. I have the alert set on my GPS at 3200 feet. That gives me enough time to decide if I want to stop or not.

Why would this drive me crazy? My understanding is that the alert is an "along the route" alert so my expectation is that it will trigger once each time I am 30 miles away from an upcoming rest area. Is this not how it works?

If I need to change the alert distance will a reinstall of the POI file with a different alert distance overwrite the existing one?

alerts

Peobody wrote:

Why would this drive me crazy? My understanding is that the alert is an "along the route" alert so my expectation is that it will trigger once each time I am 30 miles away from an upcoming rest area. Is this not how it works?

If I need to change the alert distance will a reinstall of the POI file with a different alert distance overwrite the existing one?

One POI file with 30 mile alerts is fine. It sees POIs along the route, not within a radius. If you like it, suit yourself. For me, it becomes a problem if there are a number of POI files alerting.

POI Loader will overwrite the old POI file with a new one of the same filename. There is also a separate feature to run POI Loader to "remove all POIs." This is useful to deal with duplicate POIs.

The more I understand the better I feel!

Thank you @dobs108.

Rest areas

dobs108 wrote:

One POI file with 30 mile alerts is fine. It sees POIs along the route, not within a radius. If you like it, suit yourself. For me, it becomes a problem if there are a number of POI files alerting.

Since I usually drive without passengers that may want to know how far the next potty is, or more likely, "Can I hold it for another 20-30 minutes?" I'm good with 16,000 feet, roughly three miles. cool That gives me a 2-mile heads up before the blue Rest Area 1 Mile sign appears.

The Rest Area POIs are probably the most common POI file with a distance alert set among our members and everyone has their own favorite distance choice. POI files that would drive me crazy in a big city with audio alerts of any distance would be for McDonalds, Starbucks and the like.

It isn't clear that I know what I'm talking about

Peobody wrote:
maddog67 wrote:

you would have to set the alert for 158,400 feet. That, in my opinion, would drive you absolutely crazy. I would not go any further than 5 miles, or approximately 26000 feet. I have the alert set on my GPS at 3200 feet. That gives me enough time to decide if I want to stop or not.

Why would this drive me crazy? My understanding is that the alert is an "along the route" alert so my expectation is that it will trigger once each time I am 30 miles away from an upcoming rest area. Is this not how it works?

If I need to change the alert distance will a reinstall of the POI file with a different alert distance overwrite the existing one?

Consider this possibility: You are on interstate X and 30 miles ahead is a rest area with a POI that alerts you. Perhaps 20 miles ahead you will intersect interstate X+1 with a rest area ~30 miles from you in one direction and another ~30 miles off from you in the other direction. Both of those POIs will set alarms too. Each of the three will be correctly identified so you can figure it out.

Now consider almost the same situation. The only difference is that the rest area on interstate X isn't there but the two on interstate X+1 are. If you only want to know about rest areas on interstate X then you will be interrupted by two alarms you don't want. If you'd like to know about sorta nearby rest areas off interstate X the you'd be pleased with the results.

If I've got this wrong then I am hoping for criticism.

Alerts

I have used the Rest area pois for years. In most all cases the coordinates are located close to the entrances of the rest area. Since most are located on the interstates or 4 lane highways. You can be headed north and not even get the alert on the south side rest area. Not to say impossible but doubtful you would get alerted for intersecting highways based on how careful the coordinates have been set up. If someone decides to use TourGuide that is a different story.

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