POI Loading for a beginner

[Now at Zero Gravity]

Hello folks:

 

I'm very familiar with my 60C; downloaded loc. files, waypoints and the usual. But my experience with POI Loader is nil. Here is my sample problem:

 

There is a bike trail near my house.

I have the route broken down to 5 segments (under 500 waypoints), so they will load on any Garmin.

I have the mileposts stored as waypoints.

I have other stuff, like Water Source, Camp Site, etc. stored as waypoints.

 

So here's the question:

 

What's the common, accepted, modern, techno-savvy way to organize all this stuff into one file, (Local Bike Trail), for web distribution, so the next guy can load it all onto his GPS? Can you point me to the appropriate tutorial?

 

Thanks all!

[+Red90]

Save the file in GPX format with Mapsource.

[Now at Zero Gravity]

Save the file in GPX format with Mapsource.

 

I can do that, but then all my stuff will show up on your GPS as waypoints. (Right?) Wouldn't most people prefer the info as POIs?

 

I'm thinking that the next fellow will e-mail me and say, "Here's some updated POI's for the bike trail, you may want to add them to the website..."

 

Let's say I own a hotel, lodge, boat dock, manage a trail, state park or whatnot. People are coming to the area, and I want to put the relevant information on my website so they can download it right to their GPS before they come up here on vacation.

 

The idea is how to arrange the database:

 

1. Here's the route.

2. Here's critical waypoints that anybody using the route will need.

3. Here's POI's that you might like, sorted into catagories:

A. Benchmarks

B. Geocaches

C. Hotels

D. Ad infinium

 

What's the best way to do this?

[+Red90]

No, you can put them on as POIs as well with a GPX file. In addition, the tracks can go to the units as well.

[Now at Zero Gravity]

No, you can put them on as POIs as well with a GPX file. In addition, the tracks can go to the units as well.

 

OK, I'll give it a try--I was messing around with POI Loader, and forgot about Mapsource. Just wondering how you other folks were doing it...

 

Totally noob question: Does the Garmin Communicator Plugin recognize GPX files? I've used it for loc. files before. Idea being to post the GPX file on the website so it goes right to your GPS?

 

THANKS!

[eaparks]

Take a look at GPS File Depot http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/ it is a good site for the sharing of trails and waypoints/POIs. There are a lot of trails all over the country and free street maps and topo maps. When POIs/Waypoints and tracks are uploaded as a .gpx file anyone can download them. A .gpx file is as close to being a standard file type for the sharing of GPS files as there is, if you had to pick a standard.

[FanMan]

Also see this thread.

[GeoBobC]

Red90, you wrote that "You can put them on as POIs as well with a GPX file. In addition, the tracks can go to the units as well."

 

Are you saying that POI Loader will load tracks to a 60Cx?

[+Red90]

Are you saying that POI Loader will load tracks to a 60Cx?

 

No. If it is a "newer" style Garmin, simply putting the GPX file on the unit and the tracks are available. With other units, you need to transfer the tracks with a program like Mapsource.

 

The point is that he wants to share the POIs and tracks. The easiest thing to do is have them all on one file.

[GeoBobC]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Now at Zero Gravity]

This might need a new thread, but--

 

I'm lost with Mapsource and GPX files.

 

1. I open a .gdb file with my tracks. OK. Now how do I import another .gdb file, say POIs? I want to merge the two but don't see the way to do it.

 

2. I open a .gdb file, click Save As, change to .gpx extension, and Save. I get "Mapsource has experienced an unexpected problem and needs to close". Any thoughts?

 

Thank you very much for your responses!!!

[+JBnW]

This might need a new thread, but--

 

I'm lost with Mapsource and GPX files.

 

1. I open a .gdb file with my tracks. OK. Now how do I import another .gdb file, say POIs? I want to merge the two but don't see the way to do it.

 

2. I open a .gdb file, click Save As, change to .gpx extension, and Save. I get "Mapsource has experienced an unexpected problem and needs to close". Any thoughts?

 

Thank you very much for your responses!!!

Partial help, but help nonetheless:

 

1: Open the first GDB file in one interation of MapSource. Open the second GDB file in another iteration of Mapsource...copy the waypoints, tracks, routes and then paste into the first. Viola, files merged.

 

2. Not much help, but is it recurring? Maybe a reload of MapSource in order?

 

HTH!

[Now at Zero Gravity]

This might need a new thread, but--

 

I'm lost with Mapsource and GPX files.

 

1. I open a .gdb file with my tracks. OK. Now how do I import another .gdb file, say POIs? I want to merge the two but don't see the way to do it.

 

2. I open a .gdb file, click Save As, change to .gpx extension, and Save. I get "Mapsource has experienced an unexpected problem and needs to close". Any thoughts?

 

Thank you very much for your responses!!!

Partial help, but help nonetheless:

 

1: Open the first GDB file in one interation of MapSource. Open the second GDB file in another iteration of Mapsource...copy the waypoints, tracks, routes and then paste into the first. Viola, files merged.

 

2. Not much help, but is it recurring? Maybe a reload of MapSource in order?

 

HTH!

 

1. Yep, that's what I needed: Cut and paste works fine.

 

2. I got it to save as a .gpx file; without extensive testing, it seems to work if I save the file to somewhere other than C:\Garmin\Data, where the original .gdb was opened from.

 

Thanks!!