POILoader

[+Puppy Dawg]

How do you send custom POIs to GPSrs using the mentioned program?

[ryleyinstl]

How do you send custom POIs to GPSrs using the mentioned program?

 

 

Everything you need to know....... http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Here's the basic procedure.

 

Download and install Garmin's POI Loader onto your computer in order to load Custom POI files onto your GPS unit.

 

Then create a folder on your computer for your Custom POI files.

 

Download and/or create whatever Custom POI files you want to load onto your GPS unit and place ALL of them in that folder and keep them there.

 

Attach your GPS unit to your computer with a USB cable. (Alternately, if you have a unit that will read the Custom POIs from the SD card, attach or insert the SD card to the computer.)

 

Run the POI Loader program that you installed to your computer and follow the prompts.

 

Select your GPS unit (or SD card if applicable) as the destination for the Custom POIs in the POI Loader screen. Use the drop down arrow if necessary. Be sure you select the correct destination.

 

When it asks for the location of the data, Select 'Browse ...' and navigate to the appropriate folder. Be sure you are selecting the FOLDER and not the FILE.

 

Select Manual or Express Mode using the drop down list. (Express Mode will set alerts based upon the data in the files. Manual Mode will allow you to set the alert information manually, if desired.)

 

If you select Manual instead of Express, you can set Proximity and Speed alerts for your POIs.

 

Follow the prompts.

 

Express Mode will load you files and present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

 

Manual Mode will present you with each POI file you have in your folder giving you the opportunity to skip loading that file, and to set or change the speed or proximity alert information. At the end Manual Mode will also present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

 

POI Loader will create a file in the destination you chose named POI.GPI with all your Custom POIs.

[roybassist]

Here's the basic procedure.

MM,

Thank you, thank you! I’ve been putting off getting into POI, because in spite of all that I had read about it, I knew I was still going to have to stumble through the process the first time and learn a lot of things the hard way; and I just hadn’t had the time for that. Your concise, thorough, step-by-step instructions are exactly what I’ve been needing, and I am sure they will be extremely helpful in getting through the process the first time. Your posts are always thorough, well written and helpful, and a pleasure to read. I would like to see the moderators link this one as an FAQ, with a title of something like: Getting Started with POI

[+Prime Suspect]

How do you send custom POIs to GPSrs using the mentioned program?

Everything you need to know....... http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

Or just click the HELP button on the opening POI Loader screen.

[+RonFisk]

MM,

 

What do you use for a POI editor? I have made a POI of my found caches and it lists them by GC number. I'd like to edit them and add additional information. Mainly the cache name in place of the GC number. Additional information would be nice as well, but that's the main concern.

 

Ron...

[ryleyinstl]

MM,

 

What do you use for a POI editor? I have made a POI of my found caches and it lists them by GC number. I'd like to edit them and add additional information. Mainly the cache name in place of the GC number. Additional information would be nice as well, but that's the main concern.

 

Ron...

 

 

I just use Excel and then convet to XML if I want to dump them into the Garmin, GPSmapedit or some other program.

[+Miragee]

I Export a .gpx file from GSAK. From my Found database, first I filter for all the caches that are now Archived, then I Export those. Those have the name FoundArchived.gpx and have an associated bitmap file called FoundArchived.bmp which looks like a tombstone. Then, I filter for the still Active Found caches and Export the Found.gpx file. Those get an associated icon that is a box with a check mark. It is named Found.bmp

 

The "smart name" code I use for the waypoint is: %smart=9 %con1%typ1%dif1%ter1 %By

 

For the description, I use this code: %Hint %Code

 

That way I have most of the Name, the Size of the container, the Type of cache (Traditional, Multi, Virtual, Puzzle, etc), the Difficulty and Terrain (based on a 10-point scale), and the cache owner.

 

The Description gives me the Hint and the GC code, something I don't generally need, but some of the people I cache with use it.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Yeah, do what Miragee said. For geocaching files, use GSAK and export them with the smart name or whatever codes you want. Then load the files you export as your Custom POIs.

 

You can also use GeePeeEx Editor (http://geepeeex.googlepages.com/) for editing regular Custom POI files.

[+Puppy Dawg]

Here's the basic procedure.

 

Download and install Garmin's POI Loader onto your computer in order to load Custom POI files onto your GPS unit.

 

Then create a folder on your computer for your Custom POI files.

 

Download and/or create whatever Custom POI files you want to load onto your GPS unit and place ALL of them in that folder and keep them there.

 

Attach your GPS unit to your computer with a USB cable. (Alternately, if you have a unit that will read the Custom POIs from the SD card, attach or insert the SD card to the computer.)

 

Run the POI Loader program that you installed to your computer and follow the prompts.

 

Select your GPS unit (or SD card if applicable) as the destination for the Custom POIs in the POI Loader screen. Use the drop down arrow if necessary. Be sure you select the correct destination.

 

When it asks for the location of the data, Select 'Browse ...' and navigate to the appropriate folder. Be sure you are selecting the FOLDER and not the FILE.

 

Select Manual or Express Mode using the drop down list. (Express Mode will set alerts based upon the data in the files. Manual Mode will allow you to set the alert information manually, if desired.)

 

If you select Manual instead of Express, you can set Proximity and Speed alerts for your POIs.

 

Follow the prompts.

 

Express Mode will load you files and present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

 

Manual Mode will present you with each POI file you have in your folder giving you the opportunity to skip loading that file, and to set or change the speed or proximity alert information. At the end Manual Mode will also present you with a Finish screen indicating how many POIs were loaded.

 

POI Loader will create a file in the destination you chose named POI.GPI with all your Custom POIs.

 

What I don't get is... How to CREATE the POIs in the first place!

[+Red90]

What I don't get is... How to CREATE the POIs in the first place!

 

Simply save a GPX file of whatever you want.

[ryleyinstl]

What I don't get is... How to CREATE the POIs in the first place!

 

However you would like......

 

MapSource - create some waypoints with the data you want and then load them with the POI Loader.

 

or try this http://www.gpsinformation.org/penrod/poilo.../poiloader.html

 

or just google the subject...........

Edited July 22, 2008 by ryleyinstl

[Motorcycle_Mama]

POI Loader will load both properly formatted CSV and GPX files as Custom POIs.

 

If you are a Premium Member, the GPX files you get as PQs or from downloading from the cache page or from exporting from GSAK, can be loaded as Custom POIs.

 

If you want to create your own Custom POIs, the format for CSV files is very simple.

 

longitude1, latitude1, name1, description1 [optional]

longitude2, latitude2, name2, description2 [optional]

repeat as needed

 

Also, you can use the aforementioned software to create GPX files which can be loaded as Custom POIs.

 

Or you can download Custom POI files that others have created.

 

Check out POI Factory. They have millions there.

[+Crid]

Are POIs different from waypoints?

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Absolutely! They are completely different. They show up in a different place on the GPS unit. They are edited on the computer not on the unit. They can have speed and/or proximity alerts associated with them. The number you can have on a unit is limited only by the amount of space available. You can typically include tons more information with them.

[+PlumNuts]

I have created several POI files and uploaded them to my GPS. If I want to delete some of them, how do I do this? Do I have to delete them individually or can I do a mass delete?

[Motorcycle_Mama]

All the Custom POIs are kept in a file named POI.GPI. You can't delete just some of them. But when you run POI Loader, it will overwrite the POI.GPI file, so just remove the ones you don't want from the data files on your computer and then reload the ones you want using POI Loader.

 

If you simply want to delete all of them without reloading anything, simply delete the POI.GPI file (or move it to your computer).

[+KD5XB]

So now I'm trying POI's, too -- do I load both Caches AND POI's in the unit? Is there an advantage to either doing this or not doing it?

 

Thanks

 

7 3

[+longlakeloonies]

On a (somewhat) related note, how do I keep from seeing all of those other POIs that come with the maps.

 

I'm a converted Magellan user who is trying to get used to the way things are done in Garmin-speak.

[+Kit Fox]

Are POIs different from waypoints?

 

They are a bit different in that they can't be deleted after you find a cache, and you can't change the icon like you can when you find geocaches with the unfound/ found icon.

 

The best part about POIs is that you can give them custom icons. With the correct icons, you can have micros look like 35mm canisters, small to large caches look like the traditional cache icon, etc. Check out this thread for the GSAK Macro (This is the one I use.) http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry42277

 

 

So now I'm trying POI's, too -- do I load both Caches AND POI's in the unit? Is there an advantage to either doing this or not doing it?

 

Thanks

 

7 3

 

With most new Garmins, the limit on waypoints is 1000, I think the limit for POIs is something like 7500.

 

My thread on POIs Etrex Vista HCx (POIs versus Geocache waypoints)

[eaparks]

 

With most new Garmins, the limit on waypoints is 1000, I think the limit for POIs is something like 7500.

 

My thread on POIs Etrex Vista HCx (POIs versus Geocache waypoints)

 

There is virtually no limit to the number of POIs you can have. It is pretty much limited to the amount of available memory left after loading your maps. One individual on the forum in the past reported having 30,000 POIs on his GPS. A rough approximation is that 10,000 POIs take up about 1Mb of memory.

[jholly]

The best part about POIs is that you can give them custom icons. With the correct icons, you can have micros look like 35mm canisters, small to large caches look like the traditional cache icon, etc. Check out this thread for the GSAK Macro (This is the one I use.) http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry42277

 

 

Ah, but you can have custom icons without POI's. There are these and these . In both cases it is done without the POI and is for waypoints loaded.

 

Jim

[+Kit Fox]

The best part about POIs is that you can give them custom icons. With the correct icons, you can have micros look like 35mm canisters, small to large caches look like the traditional cache icon, etc. Check out this thread for the GSAK Macro (This is the one I use.) http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry42277

 

 

Ah, but you can have custom icons without POI's. There are these and these . In both cases it is done without the POI and is for waypoints loaded.

 

Jim

 

One issue with waypoints is the limited number of characters you can enter. With POIs, I can add full hints, placed date, number of finds, last find, etc. I rarely turn on my PDA now because the POIs have most of the information I need.

[+Crid]

Can you specify the POI type? So for instance, adding restaurants to the ones in the existing map? Or are user-created ones all "custom" type?

[+KD5XB]

So now I'm trying POI's, too -- do I load both Caches AND POI's in the unit? Is there an advantage to either doing this or not doing it?

 

With most new Garmins, the limit on waypoints is 1000, I think the limit for POIs is something like 7500.

 

My thread on POIs Etrex Vista HCx (POIs versus Geocache waypoints)

 

I guess I don't have enough background to understand all of it.

 

I'm using a Legend HCx, and I downloaded the macro, and it works fine. However, I don't see how to make the POI's have a custom icon -- they all show up as a little gray dot/circle thing. I guess it'll come to me if I keep fooling around with it.

 

I also notice that I can have Geocache info on teh POI's, OR I can have proximity alerts, but not both. I had hoped to have the GPS alert me when I was driving down the road and got within 1000 feet of a cache, but I guess that isn't going to happen if I want to see the cache data.

[+KD5XB]

Oops, belay that info about icons -- they do seem to be working.