turning caches into POI's

[+johnbarber]

I can't seem to figure out how to turn geocaches from a pocket querie into POI with garmins POI loader. I would like to load up my gps for a long roadtrip but with a waypoint limit of 500 I can't do that. I have heard other people talk about loading them in as POI's and I would like to do that but no luck! Any suggestions are most welcome.

 

Thanks!

[+myotis]

Here is what I wrote for someone else

 

The best way to get the hints with the 60 CSX is a custom POI

>

> File: Export gpx/loc (or ctrl-g)

>

> For waypoint name use: %smart=13 %typ1 %con1 %last4 %Dif/%Ter %by

>

> Maximum characters 44

>

> Cache description: %hint %name %code

>

> Then save it in the custom POI directory

>

> You can create a macro to do this and have a button on your tool bar

> for the macro

>

> Then load it with POI loader.

>

> If you need the hint, select find Custom POI and it will show up as

> the nearest custom POI. Select it and you will be able to see the hint

> (well sometimes it is too long, but almost always the entire hint will

> show). After you see the hint, don’t select goto. Just push quite and

> the GPS will still be pointing you to the cache waypoint.

>

> You still load the waypoints and that is what you use to find the

> cache and mark it as found, The custom POI will hold much more data

> than a waypoint so you can usually get the hint in the custom POI. So

> you have a waypoint and custom POI for each cache.

>

[+Nachtraaf]

Hi Johnbarber,

 

You can find a related article on this on my weblog (signature).

It's about putting pois on a garmin gps 60csx (microSD). But I think it might work well for other garmin devices with a external memory.

 

greetings,

Hans

Edited July 11, 2007 by weedboer

[+WindChill]

I can't seem to figure out how to turn geocaches from a pocket querie into POI with garmins POI loader. I would like to load up my gps for a long roadtrip but with a waypoint limit of 500 I can't do that. I have heard other people talk about loading them in as POI's and I would like to do that but no luck! Any suggestions are most welcome.

 

Thanks!

 

You dont say which Garmin unit you have. Not all of them can do POIs, but most (?) of them will do 1000 waypoints if you have the latest firmware.

 

As I recall, I didnt have any luck gettting the POI Loader to work with GPX files. But I didnt spend much time on it when I found there was a GSAK macro to export POIs. It exports as CSV.

[+johnbarber]

I am playing with the vista cx with the latest firmware update. The version of gsak I am using is an early version and I am not sure just what you are trying to explain to me. I have looked for that option but am not sure what I am missing.

[+hisgrace1]

I can't seem to figure out how to turn geocaches from a pocket querie into POI with garmins POI loader. I would like to load up my gps for a long roadtrip but with a waypoint limit of 500 I can't do that. I have heard other people talk about loading them in as POI's and I would like to do that but no luck! Any suggestions are most welcome.

 

Thanks!

Did you figure out a way to add more waypoints?...I just purchased a 1gb memory card thinking I could add more waypoints on my vista cx but haven't a clue of what I'm doing

Edited September 14, 2007 by hisgrace1

[Motorcycle_Mama]

You can't change the number of waypoints that a unit can hold. And you can't put them on the SD card.

 

You can, however, use POI Loader to load the GPX files as Custom POIs which can be stored on the external storage card.

[+hisgrace1]

You can't change the number of waypoints that a unit can hold. And you can't put them on the SD card.

 

You can, however, use POI Loader to load the GPX files as Custom POIs which can be stored on the external storage card.

then what does that do....

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Waypoints and Custom POIs are two different things. And are stored in different places. The number of Waypoints is fixed in the firmware and can't be changed.

 

For units that support Custom POIs, you can take the GPX files and use POI Loader to load them to the external storage card. The only limit in numbers will be dependent on the size of the storage card. I have probably 50,000 locations (of various things) loaded as Custom POIs.

 

The Custom POIs will show up typically as "Extras" on the unit. Each unit has slightly different menus so users should check their user manual.

 

The disadvantage would be that you can't use "geocaching mode" with Custom POIs. However, the advantages of Custom POIs are many.

[+YeOleImposter]

Yes, using GSAK to manage my waypoints I have 17,000 caches and 15,000 benchmarks stored in mine. The nice thing about using the GSAK macro to feed the POI Loader is that I actually have different icons for each cache type, just like the gc.com web page.

[+Chuy!]

The POI v waypoint issue is mostly semantics. A waypoint is a point of interest. And POIs can be waypoints if your GPS allows you to save it as just.

 

All Garmin handheld units with an "x" support customized POIs. But, since customized POIs are installed on the external card, you gotta have a memory card installed.

 

Download POI loader.

 

The POI loader installs csv and gpx files. I don't have any experience with csv files. gpx files are what come in your zip file from Garmin when you set up PQs. The only way to take advantage of being able to put 44 characters in the title and 88 in the hint/comment section is to use GSAK, or update each waypoint/POI manually with MapSource. There may be other software to do this, but GSAK is outstanding. There is a thread with detailed information, type "silly Garmin tricks" or something like that in Search to find the thread.

[+goldsy]

The disadvantage would be that you can't use "geocaching mode" with Custom POIs.

 

The way around this is bring up the POI on your GPS screen and instead of selecting goto, select save, and it will then store it in the waypoints, then select goto in the waypoints menu. Then you can use geocaching mode with it. That will work with the GARMIN GPSmap 60 and 76 series.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Right. Of course, then they are Favorites/Waypoints and users will be subject to the limitation of the number of Favorites allowed by their unit.

[+hisgrace1]

I think I need someone to walk me through the forest on this ....I have down loaded POI loader...have a 1gb in my garmin vista cx now what do I do...I can't seem to find the 1gb on my computer and where do I get the POI's or create them...

[Motorcycle_Mama]

POI Loader will load CSV (comma separated values) or GPX files. You either create them, download them from POI websites, or in the case of Geocaching.com, get the GPX files from the cache page or from your Pocket Queries. (For Premium Members only, obviously.)

 

Then you put all your Custom POI files into a folder on your computer. Put all of them in the same folder.

 

Then hook your GPS unit up to your computer and be sure you have a USB connection to the unit.

 

Run POI Loader and select your SD card as the destination. Just follow the prompts.

 

Then select the folder into which you placed your POI files as the source of your data.

 

If you select Manual Mode instead of Express, you can set proximity alerts for your POIs.

 

Then just follow the prompts and the POIs will be loaded to your unit.

 

Check your user manual to find out under which menu you can find them.

Edited September 18, 2007 by Motorcycle_Mama

[eaparks]

The POI loader installs csv and gpx files. I don't have any experience with csv files. gpx files are what come in your zip file from Garmin when you set up PQs. The only way to take advantage of being able to put 44 characters in the title and 88 in the hint/comment section is to use GSAK, or update each waypoint/POI manually with MapSource. There may be other software to do this, but GSAK is outstanding. There is a thread with detailed information, type "silly Garmin tricks" or something like that in Search to find the thread.

 

.csv files can be created in Microsoft Excel and saved as a .csv file. Very simple to do if your creating your own POI file from scratch. The POI Loader only retrieves the data from the first (4) columns in the Excel.csv file (columns A,B,C,D).

 

You still can add a custom POI icon to the .csv file just like with the .gpx file.

Edited September 18, 2007 by eaparks