Creating POI files

Hi all,

I'm busy creating a .POI file and am using google maps to locate all the poi's and their corresponding coordinates. however google maps prints them out in reverse IE:

38.573944, -121.296049

and it's my understanding that the Garmin needs them in

-121.296049,-121.296049

UPDATED:
Added the option to create 'Priority' speed alerts based on a combination of the mph figure given in field 3 and user input. For more info, see:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/19045

POI Verifier II v2.0.1.1 will:
1. Verify POIs conform to Garmin's csv format.
2. Removes text headers from the beginning of the POI file.
3. Removes leading and ending spaces on each field.
4. Removes quotes from the Longitude and Latitude entries.
5. Checks the Longitude and Latitude values against user selectable parameters of '48 States', 'US 50 States, Canada, PR, and VI', or 'World' parameters.
6. Verifies longitude is field 1 and latitude is field 2.
7. Removes all fields over 4 to conform to Garmins' csv POI format.
8. Fills empty fields 3 and 4 with a space to conform to Garmins' csv POI format.
9. Gives the option to remove '@' and numbers from the file name to eliminate the alert if it isn't desired.
10. Gives the option to check for duplicate entries in the POI file.
11. Gives the option to modify the POI file to correctly display line breaks in the nuvi 350/360.
12. Gives the option to convert the nuvi 350/360 linebreaks to standard linebreaks
13. Gives the option to remove all linebreaks from fields 3 and 4.
14. Gives the option to create a file of only the POIs in the selected state.
15. Gives the option to swap the longitude and latitude coordinates.
16. Gives the option to 'Selectively' remove duplicate POIs.(Hot Keys added.)
17. Converts odd character count in field 3 to even, 'user selectable' for either all odd character count or only odd character count starting at 3 incremented by 4.
18. Converts POI files with degree/minute/seconds coordinates to a POI file with decimal coordinates.
19. Configures a 4-field POI into a 3-field POI.
20. Reformats and converts most all Garmin formatted csv POIs to TomTom's OV2 format. (Many thanks to 'Rick2' for his help in making this option possible.)
NEW:
21. Creates 'Priority' speed alerts (@mph) based on a combination of mph figures given in field 3 and user input.

... And retains the original POI file unchanged.

Free upgrade to all v2.x.x.x users. Thank you to all who supported this project ... greatly appreciated.

RT

CSV Editor

I found this great editor for CSV files I was able to insert prefixes i.e.: STARBUCKS—and suffixes i.e.: @25 in the name column very easy. that way you know what the alert is not just the address of something. In addition, if you are working with school zones or other speed sensitive things you can do the same.

using the great facilities at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ to convert the CSV files to GPX then editing them in mapsource adding proximity data seems straight forward. when loading into nuvi with POIloader run it automaticly or is the straight up csv file run manually and adding proximity alerts?

I'm visiting Florence & Venice in Italy soon and I wondered how the existing poi's marked on the google earth map for these cities can be captured.

For instance I'm mainly interested in the dining so if, in GE layers, I turn off all but the restaurants and try to save this as a KML file I don't get the restaurants marked on the map.

Where is it written the actual and total list of Keywords and their associated behavior?

I know some words are linear as in you need to be on the same road in the right direction and others are circular but for the life of me I cant find a complete list any where.

even Garmin POI loader help file says things like this

Would be nice to have a way to dump my address book into a POI/CSV file. Are there free tools to do such conversion ?

Thanks
Kc

I noticed that people frequently add pictures to their descriptions of POIs, i.e., Burger King shows a picture of a BK restaurant and the description follows. I have not been able to figure out how to do that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thx

anyone able to set up excell spreadsheet and have the phone number set up as dialable directly from the poi ?
[not using gpx]

Is there anyway to link a picture to the POI? If I have a photograph of an address loaded on my Nuvi, is there anyway to link it to the POI and display it?

Hello all,

I'm still very new at GPS and really excited about creating POIs. I downloaded several POIs here. When I looked at some of these POIs files, each file has 4 columns: Long, Lat, Name, Address.

I have downloaded a couple of .csv files from POI Factory, including Beer Me.csv.
I then look at the file's contents in Excel. In Beer Me, many beer places are just listed by name, no city or state info is included.

Hi folks,

I just finish my first set of POI file. Even if (i think...)everything seem perfect I don't have any reaction when i pass in front of those specifics locations.

My file are named as:

Milette family.csv
Milette family.bmp
Milette family.mp3

My Garmin Nuivi 660 doesn't react in any way ???
No notification, no alert sound...

I have a Garmin 660 and have downloaded my POI's to a folder and manually loaded them in my GPS to alert me at distances of 15000 feet for example. The files download fine, but the alert perimeters do not show up on the GPS in all cases. Some have them and some don't. I tried to create a "TourGuide" folder, naming the files .csv and manually setting alert distances with no luck.

on a school zone poi, is it possible to have a distance alert and also a speed alert if you go over 30 km an hour?

I've downloaded some csv files but I'm curious which do I use for a 260. Sometimes when I click to download 4 options come up with which file i want to download, do i use regular line breaks or no line breaks downloaded csv file for my model or doesn't it matter

I'm working on my first really large POI file (~800 locations) and am looking for some advice regarding tools.

Hi All, I am sure this question has been asked before...................but here goes. I have downloded several POI's using the loader. I have downloded them to my card. When I start up the Garmin 650, it says there is new files, then askes if I want to copy it to the device. I have chosen no, as I did not want a bunch of content that I may not use.

Hi. This probably has been in FAQ's somewhere. Small problem (I hope). I have downloaded three state rest area POI into My Documents and the excel files are there.

Hi folks,

After a lot of reading, I do my best to create my own Excel page (CSV extension). All the ones from this site that i transfered on my Nuivi 660 works like a charm.