Unlimited Waypoints On Garmins

[+Crusso]

Does anyone have any experience with the New POI downloader from Garmin? The way I read it is that we could take Geocache waypoints and instead of saving them as Waypoints which are limited to say 500 on a V, we would be able to save as many as we wanted as POIs. As long as we save the waypoint info as a "comma separated value" file you could use "POI Downloader" (free from Garmin) to make the conversion.

Has anyone tried this? Does it work? Is it worth it?

From Garmin:

Q. Where can I get data files to use with POI Loader?

A. Currently, there are several free and subscription services on the Internet that provide files in the correct format. At this time, most of these sites have downloads for European POI databases only, since this technology is very new to the United States. As the technology becomes more available in the United States, these databases will become more widespread.

 

Q. Where do I put the CSV files so POI Loader will load them?

A. Place all the POI CSV files into one folder on your computer. The POI Loader will prompt the user to show the program where the files are located on the computer. Having all files in one folder will make this process much easier.

 

Q. What is the required format for the data files?

A. The Garmin POI Uploader will upload POI files in a CSV (comma separated value) file.

 

Q. What format should the bitmap files be?

A. Though almost any BMP file is supported, the best size for the bitmap files is 16 X 16, 16 or 32 bit BMP files.

 

Q. How many POIs can I fit into my unit?

A. There is no set limit on how many POIs can be loaded into the Garmin device. This depends on the size of the POI files and the space available for POIs. The size of the loaded POIs will depend on the amount of text included with each POI and the size of any included bitmaps. Since POIs can be loaded into internal memory or onto SD cards, the space available will vary widely. Typically, the user should be able to fit more than 3000 POIs onto a unit. If the available space is exceeded, POI Loader will tell the user how much space is available in the device and how much space would be required to fit all the POIs that were chosen.

 

Q. Can I load more than one CSV file of POI’s onto the unit?

A. More than one CSV file of POI’s can be loaded onto the unit as long as all of the CSV files are loaded at the same time. If one CSV file is loaded to the unit and then another one is loaded using the POI loader software, the unit will overwrite the existing POI’s with the ones being loaded by the software. An easy way to work with this is to put all CSV files onto the same folder on your computer so that they are all loaded together. This way it is possible to load more than one set of POI’s.

 

Q. What languages does POI Loader support?

A. Currently the POI Loader software supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Portuguese. Coming soon: Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

 

Q. Will POI Loader load other formats like MapSource or GPX files?

A. Currently, the POI Loader only supports CSV files because that is the format that most data vendors support. POI Loader may support additional formats in the future.

Edited January 9, 2006 by Crusso

[GeoBobC]

If you have one of the supported devices, yes. Check the list of supported units: it's quite small.

[+Crusso]

cr@p! I didn't realize that there was a list of supported devices! I see it now.

It is quite limited. I thought it would work with any unit that had POIs. No wonder it wouldn't recognize my V.

There goes 7 megs I can free up on my hard drive!

iQue M3

 

iQue M4

 

Quest 2

 

nüvi

 

StreetPilot C310

 

StreetPilot C320

 

StreetPilot C330

 

StreetPilot C340

 

StreetPilot i2

 

StreetPilot i3

 

StreetPilot i5

 

StreetPilot 2720

 

StreetPilot 2730

 

StreetPilot 7200

 

StreetPilot 7500

 

Edited January 9, 2006 by Crusso

[Neo_Geo]

Nevermind...

 

Crusso beat me to the punch with the list!

Edited January 9, 2006 by Neo_Geo

[peter]

I think the application that Garmin sees for this feature is just the ability to input locations of speed and traffic-light cameras and that's why they've put it on many of their automotive GPS models. It's especially important to European consumers where the fixed location speed monitoring cameras are common and many buy GPS units specifically for this warning function.

 

If Garmin gets enough input from users who would like to have this feature for geocaching we might see them including it on handhelds as well.

[Grasscatcher]

I've got an e-mail in to Garmin asking if I can load custom POIs into my Map76CS and if that unit is compatible.

It's not on the list but we'll see what they say.

[+GOT GPS?]

I would like to see this feature added to the new Garmin X-series GPS units like the 60 and 76 series. Also to have like a Geocache manager to create the Geocache POIs for loading on the microSD memory card. This would be cool.

 

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Geoff