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Poi Loader For New Garmin "x" Series


GeoBobC

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I have a 60 cx. I can get the POI loaded OK. No special icons, just a poi. I have used the macro files for GSAK and csv file and my own attempts, but I cannot get anything to show in the comments field. All I ever get is Alarm Range:1319ft and Alarm Speed unknown.

 

I can't see the data I select to be in the comments field. I am not sure what I am doing worng. any advice/help?

 

Thanks

 

I think I am having a similar problem with a 60CSx. I've spent a lot of time reading through this forum and found some great information for creating Custom POIs. I signed up as a Premium Member on Geocaching.com so that I could download caches as GPX files. I installed GSAK 6.6.2, pulled a set of caches into a GSAK database. Then, in the GSAK Export to GPX dialog, I set the Way Point Name field to: %code %name, and the Cache Description Format field to: By %By (%Dif/%Ter) %con1 %hint (got this from an earlier post that included great screen shots of how this would translate on the GPSr). Then I use POI Loader to load the GPX to the GPSr. All is good as far as getting all the caches to show up in the Custom POIs on the GPSr. What is not working is the detail information about each. The Way Point Name field variables translated just fine. But, the "By %By (%Dif/%Ter) %con1 %hint" variables did not. All I get is:

Alarm Range Unknown

Alarm Speed Unknown

 

Any help from the folks that have posted screen shots of this working would be great.

 

**Note: The posts I referred to were much earlier in this thread by Timpat and Got GPS? (If you are still checking this thread, I would love to know if there was anything special you had to do to get the Cache Description Format variables to translate appropriately. Thanks!

Edited by adventus
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Any help from the folks that have posted screen shots of this working would be great.

 

**Note: The posts I referred to were much earlier in this thread by Timpat and Got GPS? (If you are still checking this thread, I would love to know if there was anything special you had to do to get the Cache Description Format variables to translate appropriately. Thanks!

Yes, there is a bug with the latest version of the POI Loader. If not for the bug your steps would work perfectly. Red90's advice is great on both counts. The work-around, and the sending of an email to Garmin Tech support. They do listen and respond to us users! You can also grab the previous version linked to on this thread by ProsperoDK for now.

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Any help from the folks that have posted screen shots of this working would be great.

 

**Note: The posts I referred to were much earlier in this thread by Timpat and Got GPS? (If you are still checking this thread, I would love to know if there was anything special you had to do to get the Cache Description Format variables to translate appropriately. Thanks!

Yes, there is a bug with the latest version of the POI Loader. If not for the bug your steps would work perfectly. Red90's advice is great on both counts. The work-around, and the sending of an email to Garmin Tech support. They do listen and respond to us users! You can also grab the previous version linked to on this thread by ProsperoDK for now.

 

Are your referring to these steps?

QUOTE(Red90 @ Jul 16 2006, 10:21 PM) *

 

There is a workaround for the proximity bug on the new release.

 

1) Open the GPX file in Mapsource.

 

2) Go to the waypoint tab and select all (CTRL-A)

 

3) Right click and choose "waypoint properties"

 

4) Uncheck the box "Proximity", under zero in the field and hit OK.

 

Re-save the file as a GPX.

 

I tried these steps, but ended up with the same result on the GPSr. While I had the GPX files exported from GSAK opened in MapSource, I did verify the comments fields contained what I had specified in the GSAK export. So, I'm sure the comments are what I wanted.

 

Let me clarify step 4 above. It states, "4) Uncheck the box "Proximity", under zero in the field and hit OK." I assumed it meant "enter zero in the field..", but since the solution didn't work for me, I thought I would be sure. If this solution doesn't pan out, do you know what version of POI Load does not have the issue, but does support GPX files? Also, what is the best way to contact Garmin to report an issue like this?

 

We're days away from a summer vacation to Colorado with a new 60CSx and first-time cache hunting with my son. We're excited about what we've read here and learned about the 60CSx. We just need need to get past this final issue.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Thanks.

 

Edited:

Found this on Garmin POI Loader download page.... looks like I would have to find at least version 2.2.1 to get GPX capabilities.

Changes made from version 2.0 to 2.2.1:

 

* Added support for reading POIs from GPX files. You can now create POIs in MapSource and load them in POI Loader. See product Help for more details.

Edited by adventus
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Yes, enter zero. It should already be zero. Have you checked that the proximity box is unchecked if you open the GPX file again? Did you reload the POIs to the unit?

 

OK, If that does not work, download the POI files. I've uploaded my copy to here: http://members.shaw.ca/caccoins/POIloader.zip

 

Take those files (of the older version) and replace the newer version files on you HD. They should be in the main Garmin program folder.

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Yes, enter zero. It should already be zero. Have you checked that the proximity box is unchecked if you open the GPX file again? Did you reload the POIs to the unit?

 

OK, If that does not work, download the POI files. I've uploaded my copy to here: http://members.shaw.ca/caccoins/POIloader.zip

 

Take those files (of the older version) and replace the newer version files on you HD. They should be in the main Garmin program folder.

 

I am also following this closely since I am having the same issue. I followed the work around but still had the speed/range text. I verified the ptoximity in the gpx file was 0.0000.

 

I downloaded your Poiloader zip file and tried again. I still had the speed and range text.

 

Finally, I opened the gpx file selected all waypoints and CHECKED the proximity box again. I saved the gpx and reloaded using your Poiloader. That finally worked! Yea!

 

Thanks "Red90" for you help and patience!

 

- CC

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Yes, enter zero. It should already be zero. Have you checked that the proximity box is unchecked if you open the GPX file again? Did you reload the POIs to the unit?

 

OK, If that does not work, download the POI files. I've uploaded my copy to here: http://members.shaw.ca/caccoins/POIloader.zip

 

Take those files (of the older version) and replace the newer version files on you HD. They should be in the main Garmin program folder.

 

I reopened the GPX files in MapSource and confirmed the proximity box was unchecked and it had 0.000. I reloaded the GPX file of POI's to the unit.... same result.

 

I used your POILoader files (5 files) to replace mine and it worked just fine! Your POILoader.exe version is 2.2.1.3 and mine was 2.3.1.0. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your assistance. Let me know the best way to communicate with Garmin. I would be happy to. From reading these forums, it appears they do at least take input from the user community.

 

Thanks again!

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Yes, any GPX file. It is a bug with the new version of POI Loader. And the bug seems to affect every model, not just the 60 series.

I kinda already got that, I was just a little confused since "apersson850" said that his "iQue 3000" and "StreetPilot c550" worked as expected, I guess that means without the proximity alert with all POI's.

 

ProsperoDK/René

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I've gotten custom icons to work with POI loader on a 60csx (2.9 / 2.6)

 

Saved as a 16x16 bmp named "geocache.bmp" with a file "geocache.gpx".

 

However the 255,0,255 color is not transparent. Anyone figure out which color is transparent?

Edited by bansheegeo
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… However the 255,0,255 color is not transparent. Anyone figure out which color is transparent?

exactly that one. not supporting this is another bug in garmin’s firmware.

 

happy hunting - the old fashioned way (trads only, exceptions may appear)

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I've gotten custom icons to work with POI loader on a 60csx (2.9 / 2.6)

 

Saved as a 16x16 bmp named "geocache.bmp" with a file "geocache.gpx".

 

However the 255,0,255 color is not transparent. Anyone figure out which color is transparent?

 

I was having the same issue, I have a 76csx, however, the pink will be transparent on the map and in the gps.. Just do not try to be creative...ie I used simple black and did 1 pixel at a time, then click save..it will be a .bmp. It worked. I uploaded with xImage.

Edited by Dirtnapper
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I've gotten custom icons to work with POI loader on a 60csx (2.9 / 2.6)

 

Saved as a 16x16 bmp named "geocache.bmp" with a file "geocache.gpx".

 

However the 255,0,255 color is not transparent. Anyone figure out which color is transparent?

 

I was having the same issue, I have a 76csx, however, the pink will be transparent on the map and in the gps.. Just do not try to be creative...ie I used simple black and did 1 pixel at a time, then click save..it will be a .bmp. It worked. I uploaded with xImage.

 

Tried everything with a 60CSx, FW 2.9 as well as the brand new 3.0. Custom waypoint symbols created for MapSource in 16x16 do show Magenta as transparent (in MapSource (6.11.1) as well as on the unit). But using the exact same bitmaps (256 color) for custom POI's, loaded with the POI loader, they show the Magenta and not transparent.

 

How did you manage to use ximage to upload them? My ximage 2.3 only offers to load "Waypoint Symbol 000...023" and however I name the files for POILoader, the unit doesn't use those but just the gray dot.

 

And last, when using the POI loader, they neither show their label, nor can they be selected with the pointer on the map screen. All one can do (when zoomed in close enough) is to get the pointer close, hit find, and then select the nearest POI to the pointer. Thus far, custom POI's are nothing but second class.

 

Jan

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You can select them ONLY if the waypoint display is turned off.

Aaaah ... that was the know to fiddle with this time ... thank you so much.

 

Now all that's left is to split the data into different CSV files so that they show up on the unit with the Traditional/Multi symbol. The transparency problem isn't significant, I can live without transparent icons.

 

Jan

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iToo am trying to get this to work before I go on vacation, downloaded some caches to GSAK after that Im kinda lost..

It really is quite simple (I will explain using .GPX, although .CSV may be used as well):

 

1) Download and install POIloader.

 

2) Load your caches into GSAK

 

3) Export to .gpx using these settings (or whatever settings you think will work best for you-- see the GSAK help for information on what tags produce what info). Make sure you export to a folder created specifically for loading POIs (I called my folder "POI load").

 

4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 using different file output names to create different databases (i.e. - traditionals.gpx, multis.gpx, vituals.gpx, etc...). Make sure these additional files are all placed in the same "POI load" folder.

 

5) If you are using custom bitmaps, copy the 16x16 .bmp files to the "POI load" folder, ensuring that each bitmap is named exactly the same as the .gpx file it is supposed to correspond with (so the bitmap file for traditionals.gpx would be traditionals.bmp). You can skip this step and use the default Custom POI icon, if you choose.

 

6) Connect the GPSr to the USB port, open up POIloader, designate the "POI load" folder as the upload folder and then start the transfer.

 

7) Hit find on your GPSr and select "Custom POI". This will bring up the list of all your custom POIs. To filter by database (each different .gpx file you created is a different database), hit menu -> select database.

 

Hope that makes things more clear for you. There are a lot of different methods floating around these boards on how to use POIloader, so once you understand the basics you can start experimenting a bit and see what works best for you <_<

Edited by Cache Heads
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I feel like a about 2 brain cells shy of a full load.. I got some waypoints to transfer then loaded on to my GPS but all it gave me was the gc number alarm range and alarm speed. Ive read this whole thread and I feel like Im trying to piece together a puzzle but not sure how many puzzles there are and which pieces go to which puzzle <_<

GSAK generated the message I had earler

 

Does downloading the poi's erase your maps??

Edited by oldnavy59
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I'm having similar problems.

 

I've gotten the POI loaded. But it's annoying the crap out of me by spamming

my GPS with Proximity Alarms. I cannot seem to view anymore of the hints than I could previously. Frankly - GSAK so far seems like a far better option.

 

Unless I'm just totally missing something.

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… But it's annoying the crap out of me by spamming

my GPS with Proximity Alarms. …

it’a a version 2.3.1 bug. use v 2.2.1

downloadable there.

don’t worry about the file name. it’s 2.21 indeed.

 

happy hunting - the old fashioned way (trads only, exceptions may appear)

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okay making some progress changed POI loaders (thanks) and loaded some into my gps (thanks again for all the patience) now Im going on vacation and I want to load some for by where my dad lives (racine WI) and where the Wisconsin Dells are. Do I run pocket queiries for both place but how would I run a filter? also not sure how to do the different folders for the POI's

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Note that the POI loader deletes all the POI stuff in the GPSr prior to loading new stuff. So the way you control what is in the custom POIs is to have the full collection that you want in there. Each file that you put in the POI loader folder should result in a separate set of custom POIs. So when you load in the Wisconsin data into POIs make sure you use a different filename name.

 

If you need help using GSAK to filter stuff, then post in that forum: http://gsak.net/board/index.php?

But if you run out of time, then don't bother with filtering because the number of POIs you can have is basically unlimited (I have 13000 POIs).

 

Note that the PIO icons only shows up at the 800 meter level. The name comes up only if you have the maps set up to NOT show waypoint (that's a bug in the firmware).

 

It sounds like you are going to be successful; so keep at it.

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also, has anyone messed with the proximity alert stuff? That's been a long time wishlist item for me. All the caches on a proximity alert just so I know. I selected the option and loaded the caches in one big file, but when I go to the proximity alert screen it shows none configured.

 

[edit: Well I can see what happened now. Instead of getting the extra cache data like I want, it gives me proximity / speed info in the extra space. Read some other threads. The info. is kind of scattered in here, eh?]

 

How do I turn off this alarm? This is what is showing on my screan, not the notes!!

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Something weird. I just installed the POI program and now whenever I have the GPS hooked up to the PC, it runs the POI program when I turn the GPS on. Is this supposed to happen? It's kind of annoying.

There was something about this in the Forums recently. I think you need to check the Programs/StartUp folder in your Documents and Setttings/Profile and delete the shortcut from there. The thread discussed this recently, so you might find it by doing a quick Search to see if there was a different "fix" mentioned there.

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Something weird. I just installed the POI program and now whenever I have the GPS hooked up to the PC, it runs the POI program when I turn the GPS on. Is this supposed to happen? It's kind of annoying.

Go check your System Tray (screen bottom right) and you will find a small "g" in a circle - this is "Garmin gStart". This is a small program that detects when your USB gps is plugged into your computer and then runs POI Loader in anticipation that you want to update your POI's in your gps. Simple to stop. Turn it off.

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Strange.

I also have 23 icons.

The first one on the first row is "Waypoints" and the first one on the last row is "Custom POIs".

When "Waypoints" is selected, pressing up-arrow advances to the bottom row and highlights "Custom POI"; when that is highlighted, down-arrow advances to the top row highlighting "Waypoints". Since these are the two things I try to find most frequently, that works well for me.

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I don't have a "Custom POI" icon when I press the "Find" button. I have only 23 icons. Do I need to load some custom POIs before it appears?

Correct, Centex - the "Custom POI" icon only shows up if you've got a custom POI loaded. (For what it's worth, on mine, with a custom POI loaded I have 24 icons on the Find screen.)

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Has anyon mentioned this before?

 

If you setup your map details to 'level' most, then your POI's show up on the map at 800 ft view. That is drive friendly. I tried creating some graphics, but the most affective and best looking is a simple dot, for me anyway. Orange for multi, green for Trad.. etc. I just got my new 60csx and it's sweet. Powers off USB also. :laughing:

 

TA

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Has anyon mentioned this before?

 

If you setup your map details to 'level' most, then your POI's show up on the map at 800 ft view. That is drive friendly. I tried creating some graphics, but the most affective and best looking is a simple dot, for me anyway. Orange for multi, green for Trad.. etc. I just got my new 60csx and it's sweet. Powers off USB also. :D

I first saw this a while back in "How To Display Poi On A Gpsmap60csx", but that thread fell off the front page a while ago and is now buried six pages down in the topic list. (I just happened to have this particular post bookmarked. :()

 

Custom POI visible with the following Map Detail settings:

 

MAP DETAIL:

MOST: 800 ft zoom

MORE: 500 ft zoom

Normal: 300 ft zoom

LESS: 200 ft zoom

Least: 120 ft zoom

 

800 ft zoom sounds cool, but with a cluttered map

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Has anyon mentioned this before?

 

If you setup your map details to 'level' most, then your POI's show up on the map at 800 ft view. That is drive friendly. I tried creating some graphics, but the most affective and best looking is a simple dot, for me anyway. Orange for multi, green for Trad.. etc. I just got my new 60csx and it's sweet. Powers off USB also. :D

I first saw this a while back in "How To Display Poi On A Gpsmap60csx", but that thread fell off the front page a while ago and is now buried six pages down in the topic list. (I just happened to have this particular post bookmarked. :()

 

Custom POI visible with the following Map Detail settings:

 

MAP DETAIL:

MOST: 800 ft zoom

MORE: 500 ft zoom

Normal: 300 ft zoom

LESS: 200 ft zoom

Least: 120 ft zoom

 

800 ft zoom sounds cool, but with a cluttered map

 

Thanks for the additional information. :(

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Hi all. First, thanks for the effort on all this. It helped me get up the learning curve in a matter of minutes, rather than days.

 

If I may ask a few questions:

1. The Map Detail list just above my post... are those settings I can specify globally so they apply all the time? In other words, do I need to change the detail level every time I change the zoom, or rather can I preprogram that map so the detail automatically adjusts every time I zoom in or out?

2a. I can see my custom POI's on the map (as the default icon; I haven't specified one of my own yet). However, at no zoom or detail level can I see the POI name on the map.

2b. When I place the cursor over one of those POIs and press enter, it tells me "No map information at this point." and asks me if I'd like to create a waypoint. Is that normal?

3. There is no way to store a hint using the Geocahing Mode, correct? If I want that information I'll need to use the custom POI features?

4. Once I find a cache via the custom POI interface, how do I remove it from the list? Just delete it?

 

I should note I'm using the basemaps at this point. I'm still waiting for City Select to arrive =)

 

Thanks again folks! I look forward to reading your responses.

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1. they are set in the map set-up and stay in effect until you change them to something else.

2a. that's apparently the intended behavior

2b. yes, that is the way the unit is programmed

3. Attaching a hint to the waypoint is not feasible because there are not enough characters in the waypoint name. I do have Custom POIs comments set up with hints.

4. I don't think you can delete it. You have to use your grey cells to remember to not search for it again.

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1. The Map Detail list just above my post... are those settings I can specify globally so they apply all the time? In other words, do I need to change the detail level every time I change the zoom, or rather can I preprogram that map so the detail automatically adjusts every time I zoom in or out?

Yes, it's a global setting - if you set the Detail to "More" then you'll see your Custom POI icons whenever you're zoomed in to 500' or less, and the icons will go away whenever you're above the 500' zoom level.

 

2a. I can see my custom POI's on the map (as the default icon; I haven't specified one of my own yet). However, at no zoom or detail level can I see the POI name on the map.

I haven't found a way to do this, but see 2b below for a partial solution.

 

2b. When I place the cursor over one of those POIs and press enter, it tells me "No map information at this point." and asks me if I'd like to create a waypoint. Is that normal?

It's rather unintuitive, but if you disable the display of User Waypoints (go to Map display, hit Menu, Setup Map, scroll over to the Points/flag section, change User Waypoints to "OFF") then you'll gain two things - the name of the Custom POI will be displayed if you move the cursor over a Custom POI icon, and you'll be able to hit Enter and bring up the POI's information. Note however that when you disable User Waypoints, your regular waypoints will no longer show up on the map. (Regular waypoints will still show up if you do a Find->Waypoint though - so for multis you could still create regular waypoints for the 2nd/3rd/etc stages, then do a Find->Find to retrieve the waypoint and navigate to it.) Hopefully this will be improved in later "x" series firmware updates.

 

3. There is no way to store a hint using the Geocahing Mode, correct? If I want that information I'll need to use the custom POI features?

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) has a way to put the hint into the Notes field of a regular waypoint, or at least as much of a hint as can fit in the very limited space available for a Note. (See Question 11 in the GSAK FAQ.) Definitely more space available if take the Custom POI approach.

 

4. Once I find a cache via the custom POI interface, how do I remove it from the list? Just delete it?

There's no way to delete/alter a Custom POI "on the fly" - you need to recreate and redownload a new Custom POI database via the POILoader program. The approach I've been taking is to periodically generate a "My Finds" PQ and using it as one of my POI sources, and then have my other PQs only return caches that I haven't found yet (which get merged together via GPSBabel to form another POI source). If I want to revisit a cache I've already found, I can do a Find -> Custom POI -> Select Category -> My Finds. If I want to find a new cache, I'll do a Find -> Custom POI -> Select Category -> Unfound Caches. But like Hynr said, I need to use the ol' grey matter to keep track of caches I've found in between the times I update my PQs and redownload my Custom POI database. Again, there might be a way to simplify things a bit using a program like GSAK - perhaps mark the cache as found in GSAK, export a fresh Custom POI file containing just your unfound caches, and send that down to your GPSr with POILoader.

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I have to ask if anyone tried this, since I noticed the files... If you set the 60Cx to the "Mass Storage Mode" there are a bunch of gpx files in the "root" of the drive. These are "track" files in what appears to be an XML format.

 

Now to my question... has anybody tried skipping the whole POI loader and just copying the files directly onto the "Mass Storage" device? I'm interested in what would happen.

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I have to ask if anyone tried this, since I noticed the files... If you set the 60Cx to the "Mass Storage Mode" there are a bunch of gpx files in the "root" of the drive. These are "track" files in what appears to be an XML format.

 

Now to my question... has anybody tried skipping the whole POI loader and just copying the files directly onto the "Mass Storage" device? I'm interested in what would happen.

Go ahead and try it and see what happens.

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I have to ask if anyone tried this, since I noticed the files... If you set the 60Cx to the "Mass Storage Mode" there are a bunch of gpx files in the "root" of the drive. These are "track" files in what appears to be an XML format.

 

Now to my question... has anybody tried skipping the whole POI loader and just copying the files directly onto the "Mass Storage" device? I'm interested in what would happen.

Go ahead and try it and see what happens.

 

I didn't think they would work... even though they have the same extension, they're completely different formats. I thought they might have a program that reads them.

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Hi, I have strange problems here with my Legend Cx. Just use newest POIloader (tried old one too, but with same result) and when I upload one file with custom POI I cannot see anything in custom POI menu (writing "no POIs" or so) and don't see database menu. But when I tested it outdoor it works. If I upload more than one file, then I still cannot see POIs in custom POI menu but I can choose from databases now.

Any ideas how can I make my POIs visible in custom POI menu? Or I'm doing something wrong here?

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Hi, I have strange problems here with my Legend Cx. Just use newest POIloader (tried old one too, but with same result) and when I upload one file with custom POI I cannot see anything in custom POI menu (writing "no POIs" or so) and don't see database menu. But when I tested it outdoor it works. If I upload more than one file, then I still cannot see POIs in custom POI menu but I can choose from databases now.

Any ideas how can I make my POIs visible in custom POI menu? Or I'm doing something wrong here?

 

Sounds like we need to ask Garmin about this. I have the same problem.

 

If I load one POI db, it doesn't show up in the search "No Custom POIs" or something like that. It does show the blue dots, but they don't tell me anything.

 

If I load more than one, it still shows No Custom POIs, but it lets me choose a db. Once I do that, all the waypoints in the db show up in the list.

 

I'd love to be able to search for the nearest of all POI lists.

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Hi, I have strange problems here with my Legend Cx. (...)
Sounds like we need to ask Garmin about this. I have the same problem. (...)

Man In The Wild, TantalCZ - is there any chance either/both of you could take the .csv/.gpx file that you used with POILoader and put it somewhere for folks to download and experiment with? Or if it's a .csv file, maybe just post a few lines from it? I've been trying to replicate this problem since TantalCZ first mentioned it, but haven't had any luck getting it to happen with my own .csv/.gpx files.

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everytime I think Im getting this figured out it comes back to bite me in the behind... got a new computer Yeah downloaded GSAK and I think the right POIloader tried to put some caches in to make sure Ive got it set up right and it told me it downloaded 470 POI's yet nothing is there??? second question... I couldnt find my original Mapsource disk but I did install my CSv7 and got it set up through Garmin is this going to be a problem??? should I be tearing up the house to find it or is that same info on CSv7??

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