c330, POI's, mapsource, and SD card

Yes, if you load a map to your SD card and if that map contains built-in POIs as part of the map data, and if the map type is compatible with your unit, then yes, the built-in POIs will show up.

hmmm.. I have committed that dangerous sin of ASSUMING..

anyone here know if the POI's in mapsource stay with the maps when copied to a card?

Anything downloaded on the card that is included with the map download will be there.

What map product are you asking about? MapSource is the shell program not the data. The data (maps) will be named something else. City Navigator, Blue Chart, Topo, etc.

Not all map products have POIs.

And when you say you "copied [it] to a card", do you mean that you loaded it with MapSource, or something else?

I am using Europe Metroguide v9 with mapsource and have successfully created and downloaded a set of maps (Spain actually) to a SD card.
The maps are "visible" from the c330, it asks what country on "address", etc..
I have not been able to test for included POI's, not sure how or if they are there.

Ok, MetroGuide contains POIs, so that data will come with the maps when they are loaded. The one caveat is that the c330 does not show up on the compatibility list for that product.

You should also know that that product doesn't autoroute. Meaning that it will not create turn-by-turn directions only point to point routes on the GPS unit.

You can "test" for POIs by using the Where to? > Near ... > A Different City function. You can also search by turning the GPS receiver function off by going to Wrench/Settings > System > GPS Mode > GPS Off and then searching for a city in that country, viewing the map and using the "Set Loc." button to set that location as your current location.

You should also be able to browse the map and zoom in to see the POIs on the screen.

Your "turn off the gps" worked fine, really appreciate the help.

you said, "You should also know that that product doesn't autoroute. Meaning that it will not create turn-by-turn directions only point to point routes on the GPS unit..."

I'm not sure I understand (I'm so new to this my unit's suction cup sticks to me).

Ok, autorouting is the term for what the GPS unit does when it creates a route that follows the roads on the maps.

For example, you select Tony's Pizza and hit Go! With an autorouting map such as the City Navigator preloaded on your unit, the unit will calculate a route that follows the roads to get you to your destination and gives you turn-by-turn directions.

Turn left on Main Street. In .2 miles, turn right on Center Avenue, etc.

With non-autorouting maps such as MetroGuide, if you select Tony's Pizza and select Go!. It will only calculate a straight line, point to point route. There will be a straight line from your current position to Tony's Pizza and it will indicate the distance to Tony's Pizza and perhaps show an arrow pointing you in the direction of Tony's Pizza.

Now, having said that, there may be a way to force MetroGuide to autoroute. You can read the details here and see if it's something you think you can and want to do.

http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/gps/MGautorouting.html

Or you can try MetroGold.

http://www.geodude.nl/gps/modules/smartsection/item.php?item...

Can you do routing that is downloadable, etc.?
Or does mapsource (the actual maps) just act as a download source for maps and their associated data?

You have to have a unit that is capable of storing routes in order to transfer routes from MapSource.

Unfortunately, the c330 isn't.

The only current Garmin units (I think) that support stored routes are the SP2820, SP7200, SP7500, nuvi 7xx series, and the Zumo series. (and maybe the Quest2?)

Otherwise MapSource can be used to load compatible maps and transfer waypoints.

So, it's a limitation of the GPS unit not of MapSource. You can still use MapSource to create, plan, and preview routes. You just can't send them to your GPS unit.

What you can do, however, if you want, is to create a series of Waypoints/Favorites, and select and navigate to them sequentially.

I really appreciate the "education", I'll try and learn more before I bother you again...

You are very welcome.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions. That's why we are here.

now my c330 often says insufficient memory to calculate

To clarify, Europe, about 1.2G, is on an SD card, North America remains in the c330 herself.

What did I do wrong this time?

Does the size of the maps on the sd card effect use?, i.e., would putting Europe on 2 different cards help?

Well, can you give some additional information about what you are trying to calculate?

Did you, for instance, select a point (POI, address, etc.) in Europe and try to calculate a route from North America?

Or are you getting this when you try to calculate a route between two points in Europe?

I turned off GPS, selected a city in France, Paris, and a city in Germany, Berlin, it asked if I wanted to simulate the trip, I aid yes, it started calculating, got to about 50-odd percent, announced insufficient memory.

I did select Paris as current location.
I just tried again, this time got the same messages BUT then is started the route.

It stopped showing speed at o mph.

Well, you are no dummy. It sounds like you did the right steps.

Hmmm ... I would think that it could handle a 9 hour route.

For comparison, try the same thing with a route approximately the same length in North America and see if it chokes on that, too.

Also, for the Europe route, can you preview it on the map to be sure that it's not taking some wild detour (for example if you have "Avoid Tolls" selected on your unit) which would make the route too long?

Google Maps indicates that there are tolls along the route.

I believe the route was too long, a shorter one seems to work- still curious about map size, i.e., less map on card, say just one country, work better?

I don't think that will matter since you are loading them to the SD card and all the calculations are occurring on the unit. But it won't hurt anything to try that.

"For comparison, try the same thing with a route approximately the same length in North America and see if it chokes on that, too."

I setup a trip from Florence, AL to Jacksonville, FL.. seems to be working fine.

(US maps are in the unit)

Odd.

And you don't have "Avoid Tolls" checked on your unit?

I found the problem, all of Paris was NOT in the map sets I loaded - I guess I have to re-do the whole thing, you can't add a single map to an existing set I assume?

Well, now THAT might cause a problem. : )

Nope, you can't add a map. You must send all of them at the same time.

our own private list of things we have screwed up.

I'll try again, wonder what new and exciting errors I'll make this time... sigh...

THANKS!

one of the discussion groups suggested that you could have mapsource write to your PC then transfer the resulting (with a change in suffix) to your SD card.
10 do you know if this works?,
2) is there any advantage, speed for instance, in doing so?

As to speed of writing, I assume (oh boy) that the speed of transfer to the c330's SD card is a factor of the c330, or is it the computing power of the pc in creating the index, etc.?

Hmmm ... probably. Why not just get a card reader and put the card in there? That would definitely speed it up over having the card in the unit.

Hmmm.. this seems to demonstrate that a c330 can read POI's from a card IF they are in the right format, I assume no one has been able to modify these files to add additional POI's.

No, this demonstrates that the unit can read the MAP data from the card. The built in POIs are embedded as part of the map data.