nuvi 200 and Custom POI's on map

 

I've downloaded a couple of POI files to my Nuvi. When I select "Where To"..."Extras"..."Custom POIs"...[category], I see the list of items in distance order. I can click on one and click "Map", and it shows the item on the map.

I was under the impression that using custom POI files would show the icons for the custom items on the map screen as I panned around. But unless I'm looking for a particular one, I don't seem to see any. Is there a setting I'm overlooking? My map detail is set to "Most".

I do see icons on the map for my "Favorites", but I don't see any for my custom POIs sad

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nüvi 200

.

You'll need to have Custom Icon for your Custom POI.
Download the custom icon from the top right of this site and save it in the same folder as your poi.
Rename the icon file with the same file name as your poi file.
Example:
downloaded files - icon.bmp & custompoi.csv
renamed as follows - custompoi.bmp & custompoi.csv
Run POI Loader and you should see your custom icon.

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nuvi 2460LMT

yep...have all of that...and

yep...have all of that...and I finally got them to show up...I just didn't know I had to drill down to the 300ft view to see these things...I don't see that being very useful while driving wink In fact, on the "drive" screen, I don't see the POIs even when drilled down. If I touch the map to pan, they show up?!?!?!?

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nüvi 200

just to confirm...while

just to confirm...while driving, in either 3D or Track Up/North mode, there are NO icons for POIs (custom or built-in) that will show on the map???

In order to see these, you have to touch the map and put it in the panning mode, true?

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nüvi 200

I don't know what I'm doing

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it isn't working on my nuvi 200. I even deleted my custom poi's and started over, but I still don't see the icons. Do you have any idea where I might be messing up? I checked to make sure that the filenames are the same, as you said.

Thanks

if it's as I think, you will

if it's as I think, you will ONLY see them in the "Panning" mode. Click "View Map", and then touch the screen somewhere other than on top of your vehicle. The screen will change to a 2D track-north view, and if you zoom down to about the 300ft mark, you should see your icons.

as I stated in my previous post, I think that's not very usable for finding spots as you're driving. I can only see them if I'm "looking" for them. I really thought I'd see the various Starbucks icons as I drove around town.....but nope sad

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nüvi 200

Turn on alerts

Turn on alerts and then when you get close to one you will get a bell noise on the GPS but also the icon will show up on the screen.

PT

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Garmin nüvi 200 (my first GPS), 780, & 3700 Series. And a Mac user.

first, how do you turn on

first, how do you turn on alerts on the 200? or is that the POILoader function?

second, I'm not sure I want alerts. I was hoping the 200 would work like my eTrex and my brother's in-dash unit, where the icons are displayed as you drive along. yes, you have to be zoomed in some, but not too much to keep it from being drivable. I don't think the 200 does this at ANY zoom level sad

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nüvi 200

Poi Icons

I do not have a Nuvi, but on three StreetPilots they will show up on in the "track up" view. You have to be zoomed in around 400 feet or less. At 200 feet or less than then all the locations in Custom and the Map database icons will show.

It has nothing to do with the proximity alert. In my testing, it has been most reliable using the lon/lat of a drive entrance to the parking lot, rather than the actual store entrance. There is an error factor to consider from the yahoo/mapquest/google maps and what your gps actually reads.

When I first got my unit I did extensive testing (ok playing) along my drive to and from work. Making different files of only 1 line each, and then trying out different distances from the road to see what worked best. This was mostly with prox alerts. I learned to double check your basics, as that was most of my errors.

1) After installling the poi file, double check and see (while you are still at your computer) that when you select the location, and then view map that the icon displays where it should. This will save frustration later.

2) Then Drive your route and see what happens. By making multiple files several blocks apart, you can test screen zoom and lon/lat settings without anyone calling the police as you circle circle the block.

3) If this still doesn't work, you could try sending the file to someone else to check.

I think that it should be working as you describe it, so it is possible there is something simple that has been overlooked.

Daniel

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Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas

I'm not sure if the post was

I'm not sure if the post was for me, but I can see the POIs when I'm in panning mode. They definately don't show up in 3D mode, and I was pretty sure I tried track-up this morning with no luck. And it's not just custom POIs, it's any. While driving, I don't think I can see icons, but I will double check. As soon as I put the map in pan mode, and drill down to about 300ft range, they ALL show up.

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nüvi 200

i've confirmed that my 200

i've confirmed that my 200 won't show these in either 3D or 2D navigation screen. Once I touch the screen and put the map into PAN mode, and THEN drill down to about 300ft, I can see various POI icons. FAVs, however, do show up on the nav screen if you're zoomed in pretty good.

I've also noticed that the 200 will auto-zoom at turns, disregarding the zoom level you had just drilled down to. That's annoying sad

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nüvi 200

Auto Zoom

Ya I think it zooms in so the turns are clear. Not a big deal if you are just making a right turn onto a side street obviously, but I think the idea was that if you are, for example, exiting off a highway and there are two or three choices of turns or additional off ramps to choose from, the zoom in will help make it more clear where you need to be when you have choices.

Favorites will hold 500 entries, so if the unit shows the icons for favorites, and you don't have more than 500 things you want to see all the time, you can put them in there instead of Custom POIs.

The alerts settings for Custom POIs work fairly well, but if you have too many in there, you might find it annoying with the nüvi "ding"ing at you every other mile when it gets close to a McDonalds or whatever you put in there.

On the other hand, you can put in custom POIs, then at anytime during a trip, if you just go into to the Custom POIs and pick the one you are interested in, it will automatically list the closest ones first. So if you are away from home and not familiar with the area, you can have it show you the closest ones of whatever POI you want, but you have to go in and call it up manually.

PT

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Garmin nüvi 200 (my first GPS), 780, & 3700 Series. And a Mac user.

Even the Nuvi's are different

dr5274 wrote:

i've confirmed that my 200 won't show these in either 3D or 2D navigation screen. Once I touch the screen and put the map into PAN mode, and THEN drill down to about 300ft, I can see various POI icons. FAVs, however, do show up on the nav screen if you're zoomed in pretty good.

I've also noticed that the 200 will auto-zoom at turns, disregarding the zoom level you had just drilled down to. That's annoying sad

This behavior seems to vary considerably between units. On my Nuvi 350, the only time that POI icons show on the 3D view screen is if there is a proximity alert set. And then only the POI's that have alerts will show.

POI icons show just fine in Track Up and North Up map modes, whether there is an alert set or not.

What about Favs?

"And then only the POI's that have alerts will show."

I think the other poster was talking about Favorites being the ones showing up in 3D mode rather than POIs. You may not have noticed it because like most of us you don't tend to pass one Favorite getting somewhere else.

You might try adding a Favorite somewhere along a route you travel frequently and see if you see it when you pass it.

PT

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Garmin nüvi 200 (my first GPS), 780, & 3700 Series. And a Mac user.

I award the points to you :)

Guttermouth wrote:

Ya I think it zooms in so the turns are clear. Not a big deal if you are just making a right turn onto a side street obviously, but I think the idea was that if you are, for example, exiting off a highway and there are two or three choices of turns or additional off ramps to choose from, the zoom in will help make it more clear where you need to be when you have choices.

Favorites will hold 500 entries, so if the unit shows the icons for favorites, and you don't have more than 500 things you want to see all the time, you can put them in there instead of Custom POIs.

The alerts settings for Custom POIs work fairly well, but if you have too many in there, you might find it annoying with the nüvi "ding"ing at you every other mile when it gets close to a McDonalds or whatever you put in there.

On the other hand, you can put in custom POIs, then at anytime during a trip, if you just go into to the Custom POIs and pick the one you are interested in, it will automatically list the closest ones first. So if you are away from home and not familiar with the area, you can have it show you the closest ones of whatever POI you want, but you have to go in and call it up manually.

PT

I know there's no points, and I know we've all said about the same thing. These are definately features (or lack of) that I can live with for my rare travels. If I travelled for a living, I'd probably be using laptop software, or something much nicer than a 200 wink

I've loaded the POIs for Starbucks, even though my wife doesn't drink coffee. But I can always find one if I need to smile I know she'd be happy if I could have a POI file for McDonalds across the US rolleyes

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nüvi 200

auto zoom

dr5274 wrote:

I've also noticed that the 200 will auto-zoom

This has been confirmed at the Garmin support site sad

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nüvi 200

Zoom and a Call to Garmin

Zoom - Again I don't have a 200, but you usually have two map settings for zoom. One is below 50 mph and the other is above. Depending on the location and street type, but as a general rule this is what I see. You can adjust the zoom for your speed and the map should hold that setting. So for me, I have my lower speed at 300 ft and my higher speed at 800 to 1.5. My unit adjusts between the two when I get on the highway or come into town. Now, if I am on a route, then the unit will zoom in just before the turn and back out when finished. I guess it is a personal preference, but I have found this feature to be very helpful as at times there are more than one "turn right." If it is not zooming back out, then there might be an issue.

As for your icons not showing I have no idea. If you are driving in View Map mode, track up with zoom at 300 feet they should show. Since you have stated very clearly this is what you have tested, I would call Garmin. It could be that you have a defective unit. I don't think we can help you much more.

Hopefully someone with a 200 can chime in here and offer more unit specific feedback for you.

Daniel

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Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas

how to add alerts to nuvi 200?

Hi PT,
You mentioned this. I don't see an option on my nuvi....

Proximity Alerts

hellomousey wrote:

Hi PT,
You mentioned this. I don't see an option on my nuvi....

You can manually set a speed or distance alert for any poi file. You do this by running poi loader in manual mode. As is loads each csv or gpx file, it asks if it should have an alert. For a distance it is in feet, 5280 ft is 1 mile. You can also use special characters such as the @30 in the third column of the csv. That will trigger a speed alert. There are several more in depth nodes on this:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/8133

Daniel

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Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas

i'll give it some time

dkeane wrote:

Zoom - Again I don't have a 200, but you usually have two map settings for zoom. One is below 50 mph and the other is above. Depending on the location and street type, but as a general rule this is what I see. You can adjust the zoom for your speed and the map should hold that setting. So for me, I have my lower speed at 300 ft and my higher speed at 800 to 1.5. My unit adjusts between the two when I get on the highway or come into town. Now, if I am on a route, then the unit will zoom in just before the turn and back out when finished. I guess it is a personal preference, but I have found this feature to be very helpful as at times there are more than one "turn right." If it is not zooming back out, then there might be an issue.

As for your icons not showing I have no idea. If you are driving in View Map mode, track up with zoom at 300 feet they should show. Since you have stated very clearly this is what you have tested, I would call Garmin. It could be that you have a defective unit. I don't think we can help you much more.

Hopefully someone with a 200 can chime in here and offer more unit specific feedback for you.

Daniel

Thanks, Daniel. And even thought I "think" things aren't working right, I've only had the unit just over a week, so I'll give it more time/testing before raising the flag smile

Thanks,
David

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nüvi 200