Suppose I should have read further....

I had the same issue when I loaded the Route_66 POIs. It wasn't until I ran the POIloader with the "manual" mode set before I saw the proximity alerts for 66 being activated. Now I step thru every file and if I don't want alerts on, I'll just click to ignore that setting.

dd

When you load the POIs with POI loader use manual mode. For each file you can set the proximity or speed alert.

Also, if any individual POI line within the file contains @ followed by any number (Example: @20) in the 'Name' field, this will cause an alert.

As far as the file name, you may be interested to know that POI Verifier will tell you of numbers in the file name and give you the option of removing them if an alert is not desired.

RT

Is there any similar way to tag the lines within a POI file to have a different proximity alert distance. My only other alternative is to use a separate file for each alert distance.

Joe

There are some interesting differences between speed alerts and proximity alerts and how you set them.

Creating Custom POI Files

Advanced users can create their own .csv and .gpx data files that include Custom POI lists or TourGuide files.

POI Loader loads all .csv and .gpx data files saved in a particular directory. When creating or downloading Custom POI data files, it is recommended that you save all the data files you want to upload to your device in the same directory.

POI Loader determines whether or not a file contains speed and proximity alert points based on specific criteria. Use the following information to help you create Custom POI files:

If a file name contains a valid speed number or if all records in a file have speed encoded in the name, then all records in the file will include speed and proximity alerts. For example, a data file with the file name "Speed_30" generates speed alerts of 30 mph (or kph, depending on the type of units selected in POI Loader) for each POI in the file.

If the file name contains "redlight", POI Loader assumes all records in the file have proximity alerts with a distance of 400m/0.25 miles.

If a file contains "GATSO," "mobile," "SPECS," "safety," "speed," or "camera," but does not have a speed, POI Loader uses a default alert speed of 0, which means you will always be alerted. You can override this default value by entering the speed in Manual mode.

You can also enter speeds for each POI individually by adding the @ symbol and a number after the name of the POI. For example, a Custom POI named "Ridgeview@25" would create a POI named "Ridgeview" with a 25 mph speed alert.

POI Loader calculates proximity alert distance based on speed. You can enter proximity alert distance for individual Custom POIs in a .gpx file. You can also enter proximity alert distance for all Custom POIs in a data file using Manual mode.

dd

Yes, that's how it's done.

Example:
Longitude,Latitude,Name@20,Comment
Longitude,Latitude,Name@50,Comment

If loaded in Express mode, the first POI will have a 20mph alert; the second a 50mph alert.

RT

If you use gpx files instead of csv, you can have different Proximity settings and/or different Speed settings on a per POI basis. Each entry in the file could play a different alert, and have a different icon associated with it, if you so desired.

I use a MAC for my computing needs (I do have a PC as well) and I do not have a "Manual Mode" in my POI Uploader. This is the 'loader' that I downloaded from Garmin.

Is there a better POI loader than the Garmin one? Or am I not seeing a manual mode because the MAC version doesn't have this function?

All I see in my POI loader is the device (NUVI) and the location (directory) I want to load the POI's from. My POI loader also does NOT see my external memory card, although my computer does.

Am I missing something??

TIA

The Mac POI Loader does not yet have a manual mode. I have heard future versions may have it. You can get speed alerts by using a number in the file name of the speed you want an alert (65 Interstate Traps will trigger alerts at those locations if you driving greater than 65 mph).

I am not sure why POI is not seeing the external card. I would try it within the Garmin and in a USB card reader. One of those routes should work.

Thanks to dd, RT and PH for the input. Did not think about proximity alert was being a function of speed, but I guess that makes sense. Did not know that setting a speed of 0 always triggers the alert. Did know about file naming and using the @ in the POI file, since I have played around with redlight camers and POIedit and POIloader. GPX files are a new beast for me. Is there any source that plainly, in simple terms, explains the structure of the GPX files? From what I can quickly determine, it looks a lot like XML.

Thanks,

Joe

Some links for you:-

Topografix - Official GPX website
Yahoo! GPX Developers Forum
Garmin's schema extensions
Wikipedia article

...and there's always the site mentioned in my signature

Thanks for the links. Topografix can be overwhelming; the Garmin and Wikipedia add more info. Visited your website, downloaded the trial version. Will give it a try. Looks/sounds promising.

Joe

This explains the issue I had. Thanks the detective work.