What are the fields in a POI File and how many fields can one have?

The first set of Quotation marks displays in large letters. The following data appears in a smaller font.
As an Excell file it is comma delimited, however it appears to display on the unit with commas, wordwrapped. You can put whatever data you think is appropriate (tel. Nos., Event dates, etc.) Up to a certain amount of data, anything else will not display. You can also use line breaks to keep lines more organized.(see posts on line breaks)
(Hint: keep the first info after the coordinates as short as possible (large font) more data can then be displayed.)

The quotes are so that if there is a delimiter in the data (that isn't really a delimiter) then whatever is importing the file in, won't see it as a delimiter. For example, the first line is a header...

Name, address, phonenumber
Charles,Richmond,VA,23233

Without the quotes, Excel or the POI Loader would see VA as the phonenumber.

Name, address, phonenumber
Charles,"Richmond,VA",23233

Now, the program will know that the comma in "Richmond, VA" is part of the data, not a delimiter.

Understand?

Now, Excel will insert the quotes automatically, so you don't have to add the quotes. If you do, you would actually double up the quotes.

A csv file is not an Excel file; it's a comma delimited text file. Excel can be used to create a csv file; but a csv file is not an Excel file.

Garmin csv format will allow 4 fields; anything over that is lost. Anytime a comma or linebreak is in fields 3 or 4 it must be enclosed in quotes. If using Excel to create the csv file, do not enter the quotes as Excel will do this automatically.

POI Verifier will always enclose fields 3 and 4 in quotes for safety sake.

Use Notepad to view a csv POI file if you want to see exactly what it looks like. Excel will sometimes format a csv file in a way you don't want.

RT

I never said that a excel file was a csv file, did I? If I did, I didn't mean too. I work with csv files day in and day out at the job. We do a lot of data conversions and we perfer csv files vs tab or other delimiters.

RT, is right, if you open it in notepad, you will see the "Naked" truth of what a csv file is. However, I found in my experience that csv files can sometimes be corrected easier and faster in excel. But, sometime you have to correct stuff in notepad as well.

I was referring to the post prior to yours in which it was stated: "As an Excel file it is comma delimited".

Sorry for the confusion.

RT

You guys have been a big help. Thanks
I think I got it except for one thing...

What about the cs files that have a line started in quotes and then has a carriage return and then finishes the quotes on the new line?

Does it make a difference in how it's read in Nuvi?

Those are traditional linebreaks (CR/LF).

Field 4 display without linebreaks:
City State Zip Phone

Field 4 display with linebreaks:
City
State
Zip
Phone

BUT .... Garmin has a problem with the nuvi 350 and the nuvi 360 in that they do not display these linebreaks correcly. That was the main reason I wrote POI Verifier. These linebreaks have to be converted to <br> ... POI Verifier has an option to do this for you.

RT

Thanks RT... I'll download POI Verifier ASAP. Looks like that's what I need for my Garmin 350.

Thanks again.

RT, I went ahead and purchased POI Verifier - sight unseen so to speak.
Normally I would like to try software purchased over the internet, at least once before I buy it.
I would suggest you set up some kind of trial version to allow a potential customer to try it once or twice before they have to pay for it.
Honest people, like me, will pay for what they have a need for but it helps to be able to check it out.

Thanks

If one has Microsoft Office on one's computer,.csv files show the ion for Excel. If one doubleclicks on the file in Windows Explorer, it is opened in Excel.
If it Looks like a duck, walks like a duck & quacks like a duck...
Sorry for my semantics.

C:\>assoc .csv
.csv=GeePeeExFile

Sometimes they open in something altogether different

If you change the association, for example to a word file, the icon and the program that opens it will change. It is true that it is a default.

In Windows you can associate a file extension to open with almost any program you want (I have my csv files to open in Notepad). If you have your computer to open a xls file in Notepad won't make it a Notepad file ... it's still an Excel file. The same is true here ... just because you have a csv file to open in Excel doesn't make it an Excel file. "It just ain't no duck."

RT

excellent explanation of your question(s) in the FAQ section

proper file format

Apparently .cvs (comma separated values) files are supported by many applications and many platforms.
Thanks for the clarification, guys.

Maybe more than you ever wanted to know about CSV files.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values

For some reason it is taking an hour so far to load up, is something wrong with the web page?

Hope it's not too late to add my 2 cents worth.
Not a critisism, just a suggestion.
I am using a Garmin c330 with a 3 and something inch screen. When the good people take their time to compile a list, thank them very much. I wish they would separate some of the information using Fields D and E so the information is not all crammed in one line. IE: City and State, Address, Phone Numbers etc. When its all in the C collumn, it comes out more like a phone directory than a location. If the other fields were used, the information would be spread over more of the screen and to make it more readable.

I would agree with this for the most part, however, I would only add that only things in the first four columns (A-D) will be read. And sometimes extra information in columns E and beyond can cause errors.

The file 'POI Verifier_1_0_1_2.exe' took exactly 7 seconds to download. Are you sure were still connected to the internet? Did you have a firewall installed which wouldn't allow *.exe files to download?

RT

I right clicked on it to open new tab, it just keeps on loading, but no results. Just clicking on it doesn't work either. I don't know if my firewall is blocking it. It doesn't seem to stop me from d/l anything else. Oh well, so much for that idea.

If you want to send me an email address that accepts attachments, I'll be happy to send the file to you.

RT