Downloading address information sans coords, why not

 

Are there any GPS units that allow you to download address information alone, not address+coordinates? I have Garmin 330...I enter address information and the GPS finds the coordinates. I want something that lets me download the text information from the PC so I dont have to enter it all manually.

Is this unreasonable or irrational??

I have a list of 100 customers to visit. I dont have lat/long coords obviously. Why do I have to enter them all manually? Why do I have to use another pgm to create coords? Am I missing something?

Thanks

Sans Coords, Why Not...?

Maybe I am not understanding your question, but if I do maybe you can tackle it one of two ways...

Method 1 ... the site: http://gpsvisualizer.com/convert
will give you the lat/long if you have an address. With this info, you can build a maintainable csv file that can be uploaded using the free Garmin POI Uploader which you can get from Garmin. The file would be something like:
longitude,latitude,Contact,"address,city,state,zip,phone#"
Notice the quotes around the last group of fields. What I do for myself is change the commas within the quotes to "<"br">" (bracket br bracket without the quotes) and then it is formatted the way I want it on my Garmin 350.
Then all you have to do is add or modify your customers at will and upload them to the Garmin.

Method 2 ... I don't know if the 330 has ability to save locations. If it does, then you can look up the info on the Garmin and save the location. The problem with this method is modifying and changing the info such as phone numbers, addresses, contacts and such.

There may be another method but I don't know about it. To me the first method works cool. I keep a phone list on my Garmin of about 150 people that I contact somewhat regularly. When something changes with them, I change the csv file and the next time I upload to my Garmin... Willy Whally Bing Bang...the info is there. :)

thanks for the info.... why

thanks for the info....

why do you have to enter the coodinates though?
why cant the GPS figure it out?

whether you enter the info on the GPS itself (and you dont enter the coords, just the address), or you provide a download of the address, whats the difference?

Just went through this...

stevenjwilson wrote:

thanks for the info....

why do you have to enter the coodinates though?
why cant the GPS figure it out?

whether you enter the info on the GPS itself (and you dont enter the coords, just the address), or you provide a download of the address, whats the difference?

To get the coordinates, put the GPS into simulation mode. Then enter the address and hit "GO". Now, go back to the map and into 2D mode. Pan over to the destination, zoom in and put the cursor on it. Hit "Set Loc" for set location and it will move the car icon to where the cursor/destination is. From there, go back to the main menu and hit "Where To". Scroll down until you see "coordinates". Hit that and you'll have the lat/long of wherever you put the cursor. This is how it works on my Nuvi 660...

You have to do this for creating Custom POIs, but can't you just enter your peoples' addresses and save them as favorites? Quicker and no coordinates needed.

--
Newest to oldest... Nüvi 660, Street Pilot 2720, Magellan SporTrak Pro, Lowrance Global Map 100

.

stevenjwilson wrote:

thanks for the info....

why do you have to enter the coodinates though?
why cant the GPS figure it out?

whether you enter the info on the GPS itself (and you dont enter the coords, just the address), or you provide a download of the address, whats the difference?

The GPS unit cannot read a text file, as such. And even if it could, it would take a lot of processing power to geocode a list of addresses from a text file on the GPS unit itself.

It's a completely different thing for the unit to understand a single address that you input into the interface that is set up for this purpose on the GPS unit and as opposed to it deciphering this information from a text file.

The GPS unit really only understands coordinates.

"coordinates"

Hit "Set Loc" for set location and it will move the car icon to where the cursor/destination is. From there, go back to the main menu and hit "Where To". Scroll down until you see "coordinates". Hit that and you'll have the lat/long of wherever you put the cursor. This is how it works on my Nuvi 660...

------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately for us that have the low end units we can not see the "coordinates". I too wish this could be done but can't. Otherwise I would have a nice log book filled out on excel that could be saved.

--
Garmin nuvi 2455LMT (wife uses nuvi 255w) (sold C330)

I see...

compman72 wrote:

Unfortunately for us that have the low end units we can not see the "coordinates". I too wish this could be done but can't. Otherwise I would have a nice log book filled out on excel that could be saved.

I see. Not familiar with your units. I just saw 300 something and assumed it was a Nuvi.

Now, does the 330/340 have a simulation mode and can you pan the 2D map around and "set location" anywhere? Does it have a GPS status page that shows the satellite strength, etc? If so, the coordinates are usually listed on that page. Try setting another location in sim mode and checking the status page for coordinates, if possible. There HAS to be a way to pull coordinates from a point on the map as that's one of the most basic function of any GPS!!!

However, from your post, it sounds like you can't see coordinates at all, which is stupid. You should at least be able to see the current position ones so you could keep you log.

--
Newest to oldest... Nüvi 660, Street Pilot 2720, Magellan SporTrak Pro, Lowrance Global Map 100

streetpilot models do not show coordinates

buffettck wrote:
compman72 wrote:

Unfortunately for us that have the low end units we can not see the "coordinates". I too wish this could be done but can't. Otherwise I would have a nice log book filled out on excel that could be saved.

I see. Not familiar with your units. I just saw 300 something and assumed it was a Nuvi.

Now, does the 330/340 have a simulation mode and can you pan the 2D map around and "set location" anywhere? Does it have a GPS status page that shows the satellite strength, etc? If so, the coordinates are usually listed on that page. Try setting another location in sim mode and checking the status page for coordinates, if possible. There HAS to be a way to pull coordinates from a point on the map as that's one of the most basic function of any GPS!!!

However, from your post, it sounds like you can't see coordinates at all, which is stupid. You should at least be able to see the current position ones so you could keep you log.

While the streetpilot models do not show coordinates, you can save the location to your favorites. Then, you can use Mapsource to input data from your GPSr and view them as Waypoints. Within Mapsource, you will then be able to see the coordinates and then create a POI file if desired.

--
Garmin StreetPilot c530, Mapsource

Not all Street Pilots are

Not all Street Pilots are like that. I can direct input and pull coordinates on my 2720.

--
Newest to oldest... Nüvi 660, Street Pilot 2720, Magellan SporTrak Pro, Lowrance Global Map 100

"It's a completely different

"It's a completely different thing for the unit to understand a single address that you input into the interface that is set up for this purpose on the GPS unit and as opposed to it deciphering this information from a text file."

It is? .How much different is it if I enter 5 address "by hand", walking thru the menus, compared to having those same addresses downloaded via a text file and saved. Its already downloading and parsing a poi file....

If I am a sales guy and I have over a hundred addresses to enter....your method means I have to find the coodinates for 100 places on the internet, enter them by hand - fill in file, and download the POIs. Or I can sit in front of the unit and enter them all by hand. Or sit there and search for them ...maybe a few will be there.

Why cant I just feed it a text file of the addresses, select the one I want from a list when I want to use it - just as if I entered it by going thru the menus?

I almost bought the explanation, but it seems like an obvious feature to have that requires little/no more work to implement.

adding more this, after

adding more this, after researching further,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocoding

when you enter a POI by hand, the units guides your selection to addresses it understands. I uses whatever methods it needs to figure out the coords. So, if you feed it an address it doesnt understand, thats a complication...

but still that easily resolved

.

stevenjwilson wrote:

"It's a completely different thing for the unit to understand a single address that you input into the interface that is set up for this purpose on the GPS unit and as opposed to it deciphering this information from a text file."

It is? .How much different is it if I enter 5 address "by hand", walking thru the menus, compared to having those same addresses downloaded via a text file and saved. Its already downloading and parsing a poi file....

If I am a sales guy and I have over a hundred addresses to enter....your method means I have to find the coordinates for 100 places on the internet, enter them by hand - fill in file, and download the POIs. Or I can sit in front of the unit and enter them all by hand. Or sit there and search for them ...maybe a few will be there.

Why cant I just feed it a text file of the addresses, select the one I want from a list when I want to use it - just as if I entered it by going thru the menus?

I almost bought the explanation, but it seems like an obvious feature to have that requires little/no more work to implement.

Ok, let me see if I can break it down a little bit more.

When you manually enter a single address into the interface that is designed to accept an address on the GPS unit, that interface is designed (ie programmed) to read that address information and convert it into a location that corresponds to coordinates. It basically is searching a database which is why you have to input the data in segments (state, city, address number, street). It tries to match what you enter with the information that exists in the database. And this takes a certain amount of processing power.

And take note that you are not simply feeding it an amount of text information. You are inputting information into data fields, again, in order to have it search the internal database.

A list of addresses would need to be geocoded. Geocoding a list (whether you believe it or not) takes a bunch of processing. That's why it is done off the unit and on a computer.

The GPS unit simply does not have this kind of processing power. And the firmware isn't (and probably never will be) programmed to read a text file in this manner. It's a lot more complicated than you seem to think.

Perhaps you are not understanding the relative simplicity of geocoding a list of addresses via the internet site. You don't have to "enter them by hand". You can past a list of addresses into GPS Visualizer and it will give you a list of the coordinates. That's how the majority of the files on this site are created.

Kudos...

EXCELLENT explanation, MM. Although, eventually the processing power to do all that will (as always) soon be here. Now, whether it will implemented or not, that is he question.

For now, the way to go is the visualizer. I have to use it for the WalMart thing. I downloaded it, but there it sits, for now, anyway.

--
John - with a Garmin 650 and a 750

According to Garmin, the

According to Garmin, the 750/760 has the feature I am looking for.

.

Really? Does it say that somewhere on their website? I'd love to see that, so we can point people to it.

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stevenjwilson wrote:

Why can't I just feed it a text file of the addresses, select the one I want from a list when I want to use it - just as if I entered it by going thru the menus?

I think what you have suggested is interesting and it's something most of us hadn't considered. You're right, in that it could be made to work.
However, if I were a Garmin developer, I would be inclined to pre-process the file before downloading, given that a PC (or equiv.) is necessary to load it in the first place. This would at least have the advantage that each entry is processed only once, rather than every time it is accessed.

But, there's more than one way to skin a cat...

--
------------------------ Phil Hornby, Stockport, England ----------------------               http://GeePeeEx.com - Garmin POI Creation made easy           »