Bm's As Custom Poi's?

[+dhbaird]

Hello

 

I am a newbie to BM hunting, only found 5 that are within my walking route in the mornings. I do want to do this some more.

 

I have a Garmin 76csx and know that I can load up a custom POI file of points to my GPSr. I recently have done so... but when I use a *.loc file the information that actually appears under the BM name on my GPS is very sparse.

 

I used GSAK to read the *.loc file. Exported the BM's via a filter and then the export utility to a *.gpx file that Garmin's POI loader can then load.

 

Is there way to increase the amount of information about each BM on the Garmin so I can read at least part of the description etc?

 

Thia may be the wrong forum to post this, but I wanted to start here. Moderate, feel free to move it to GPS Units and Software if that is where it needs to be.

[Wintertime]

I don't know what POI files are, but they sound like the kind of extensive cache information that a PDA might be able to display with Cachemate. There's a lot of information in this forum's archives about getting more benchmark information into Cachemate, including this current discussion: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=119705

 

I think that one even mentions POIs. Basically, you need to get the info from the NGS datasheets, because Gc.com doesn't have .gpx-style files for benchmarks.

 

Patty

[+cjf]

dhbaird,

I think the .loc files have less information in them than a .gpx file. In other places in this forum are descriptions of how to download NGS Benchmark databases, then use the free BMGPX program to translate to .gpx files. That will give you more information for your Garmin program.

 

Wintertime - POI is "Point of Interest" and used in some of the newer Garmin GPSr.

 

cjf

[James1549]

When benchmark hunting, turn off your GPS and leave it at home. That is what I do now. The co-ords are usually not good around here, ever. I copy the NGS sheet, edit out the useless information, then print only the info that I think that will help me actually find the mark. Take a handshovel and 100' tape measure. Good Luck. James

 

http://current.net/james1549/geocache

[James1549]

Since you have a Garmin, as I do, I suggest using Mapsource which should have come with your unit. If it did not come with your unit, you can DL it free at Garmin.com. Once Mapsource is installed on your PC, set up that Mapsource is your default program for [.loc] files. Download your [.loc] files from the website, open the [.loc] files in Mapsource, then transfer the waypoints to your unit. It works that way for Garmin 60CX and Etrex CX. Yours should be similar.

 

James

[Bill93]

Note that if your Garmin unit works like my 76S, writing waypoints to the unit wipes out any waypoints previously in the memory.

 

To do an addition from MapSource, I first read the waypoints from the unit, then open the file (I'm using .gdb not .loc) and tell the program it is ok to add rather than replace. Then I load the whole set back into the handheld unit.