Garmin POI Loader | Hornbyp's guide to setting alerts with POI Loader

 
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Speed and Proximity processing
in Garmin POI Loader

Priority Order for Speed & Proximity Information

  1. Information from the POI itself (i.e. speed and distance for .gpx files - speed only for .csv files).
  2. Information entered in “Manual Mode”.
  3. Information derived from keywords or numbers in the File Name.

Alert Sounds

Two different Alert sounds are allocated automatically:-

Proximity Alerts are assigned “Passive Tone” = BONG, BONG
{lower tone}

Speed Alerts are assigned “Aggressive Tone” = P-I-N-G, P-I-N-G
{higher tone}

These can be overridden by the presence of an .mp3 file, whose file name matches the .csv or .gpx containing the POI’s. This comparison
is not case-sensitive. MP3 files only work with models that have mp3 player functionality. For models without mp3 player functionality, .wav files can be used in conjunction with SOX.exe (see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 for details).

The default tones may vary with the voice file (.vpm) in use, since that is probably where they are stored. It may be possible to modify these default tones (for units that do not have mp3 player functionality).

Individual POI settings

If the name of the POI is followed by an “@” sign and a number, that number is used to denote the speed portion of a Speed Alert. The
associated default proximity distance is derived from this speed.

Special File Names

If the file name contains numbers, a Speed Alert is created unless the file name also contains ‘Redlight’, in which case the numbers are ignored and a Proximity Alert created.

In addition to “Redlight” the following keywords also generate alerts:

“Gatso, Mobile, specs, safety, speed & Camera".

Unlike the case of “Redlight”, these become Speed Alerts, if there is also a number in the file name – otherwise, they are Proximity Alerts (of 1/4mile (402m). (In other words, when specified alone (with no numbers), they generate identical Proximity alerts to “Redlight”.)

Whichever way they are set, Speed Alerts also have a proximity associated with them. By default, this is the greater of 1/4mile (402m) or the distance required to give 36 seconds warning.

Alert Implementations

The Speed and Proximity alerts detailed above, are all of the type “Along Road”. They are only triggered when you are at the specified distance (and travelling at the specified speed) on the road that contains them. When in Routing mode, the concept of the ‘road that contains them’, is extended to consider the whole route as one road.

But if your calculated route (or your actual journey) does not take you past the POI, then the alert will not trigger.

Tour Guide Alerts

If the file name contains the (case-sensitive) phrase “TourGuide” (sic), then the Alerts are of the type “Tour Guide” (sic). “Tour Guide” alerts seem to be of a straightforward circular nature – where the proximity distance is the radius of the circle. They are always Proximity Alerts: any attempt to associate a Speed with them just alters the computed
Proximity distance (a useful side-effect!).

“Tour Guide” alerts generated in this manner have the same audio associated with every POI (from an mp3 of the same name as the csv file).

gpx files

Using .gpx format, you have complete control of Speed/Proximity and Audio on a per POI basis, with no interference from POI Loader. Missing information is defaulted in the manner already discussed.

This method is much less likely to lead to unexpected effects!

The information in this FAQ has been derived from observation and experimentation. The version of POI Loader at the time of writing was V2.4.2

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