UK youth hostel POI 's

[mcshroom]

A quick test ... see if the attached file means anything to POI loader. (It is a GPX file with 3 Brighton landmarks in it, each with a comment.)

That would be the Royal pavillion, Hollingbury Castle, and some small lump that features on the FNRttC then

Looks fine for me on Easy GPS

 

[ColinJ]

Ok mate...

I downloaded to my docs then tried it in poi loader but it doesn't see the file. I tried to upload it to bike route toaster but it doesn't upload.
Please remember that I am a nob and this could very easily be just pilot error on my behalf.

I had poi loader recognize my garmin then browse for the file,,,I think poi loader accepts gpx and csv files so I don tknow why it cant see this one...ill keep trying

I'd say you were a 'noob' rather than a 'nob'!

I had a look on the Garmin site and it said that POI loader understood GPX.

I just downloaded the file from CycleChat back to my PC and neither MemoryMap nor EasyGPS had any problem with it so it isn't corrupted.

Some while ago, I saw a file which showed all the UK YH's as a KMZ file, put for the life of me I cannot remember, but it did at the time seem to me to be a handy piece of Kit.
I wi

...ll finish my post when I'm less busy?

 

[ColinJ]

That would be the Royal pavillion, Hollingbury Castle, and some small lump that features on the FNRttC then

Looks fine for me on Easy GPS

Great minds think alike!

 

[andym]

the Garmin POI Loader does understand gpx files - but garmin software can be fussy about gpx files. Try importing it into Basecamp. If basecamp won't accept it then try converting it with gpsvisualizer.com either convert from gpx to gpx or convert to csv (set the delimitor to comma). the second option means you can open it in Excel and nuke any irrelevant stuff.

search on free geography tools for a how to on using a custom icon.

Or alternatively if you can produce and upload the .gpx file - I'll turn it into a POI file and upload it.

 

[ColinJ]

I found in the past that certain problematic GPX files could be sorted out by importing them into EasyGPS and exporting them again. Let me try that ...

Hmm ... the new file is much bigger than the original - try this one!

 

[BigonaBianchi]

tried it...but poi still doesn't see it...poi loader just goes one level deep so I cant even open my documents or downloads to get to a file inside when browsing in poi loader...but I can see the file is there when I just go direct to my docs.

clearly pilot error this end....can you get poi loader to open it?

 

[andym]

Erm guys - you need to remove the .xml suffix

here's the POI file (I've had to turn it into a zip file to upload it here)

 

[BigonaBianchi]

..ok..well...I downloaded the new file (Cheers guys for doing all this by the way!)
It is a zip file so I extracted it.
It opens in it's own sub folder in my documents
POI loader can only see the new folder and I cant browse to a lower level in poi loader to access the actual file.

My guess is Im doing it all wrong. Can you load it into poi loader? That would prove my numptyness once and for all

 

[andym]

You put the gpi file onto the memory card of your gps (you'll need to create a folder called POI inside the Garmin folder).

If you want to use the data in POILoader then just use the .gpx file - delete the .xml suffix ie so MadeUpFilename.gpx.xml becomes MadeUpFilename.gpx. That's all I did and POI converted it into a gpi file in a fraction of a second.

 

[ColinJ]

You put the gpi file onto the memory card of your gps (you'll need to create a folder called POI inside the Garmin folder).

If you want to use the data in POILoader then just use the .gpx file - delete the .xml suffix ie so MadeUpFilename.gpx.xml becomes MadeUpFilename.gpx. That's all I did and POI converted it into a gpi file in a fraction of a second.

The file I created didn't have an xml suffix!

I've been able to download both of my files from CycleChat and get POI Loader to do its thing with them.

While I was looking up the YHA and SYHA hostels, I also found a guide to independent UK hostels so I think I'll add those to my file too. I found that there is a hostel in Hebden Bridge that I didn't even know about!

I'm busy over the next few days but I'll try and get the hostels file done next week.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Cool...at least it works ans I know its pilot errory end...

 

[ColinJ]

I don't want to spend ages creating a POI file that doesn't work, so I'll do one with just 3 or 4 hostels in and you can see if that is okay***.

When I create the points in my software, I can give them sensible names like Mankinholes YHA.

There is also a GPS name field which I think I am supposed to restrict to only 6 characters so that could be a bit of a problem. I'd be tempted to id them like this e.g. youth hostels YHA046, Scottish youth hostels SYHA34, Independent hostels HOS001, bike-friendly B&Bs BAB043, bike-friendly hotels (Travelodge, Premier Inn etc.?) HOT123 and then maintain a list which could be printed out to identify them.

There is a comments field for each point in which I was going to include some or all of the following information:

• Name of establishment
• Phone number
• URL of website
• Email address

How does that sound? How would you access that information on your GPS. Mine is a basic Etrex which can only display the 6 character GPS name, AFAIK.

I'll create the list of YHA/SYHA first, then extend it with other establishments as I find out about them.


*** PS
Okay, could you take a look at the attached POI file and see if it makes any sense on your GPS? I have created 3 points in Brighton, each with a long name and a short 'GPS name' and a comment field with some fake contact information. (I had to add the .txt extension to get it to upload. Strip that off when you save it to your computer.)

 

[BigonaBianchi]

That info sounds great. Not sure about how it will display in the garmin, Currently when I hit a poi category it lists one line to select from...then when I select it, it offers options to see it on the map or have the garmin navigate me to it.

 

[ColinJ]

That info sounds great. Not sure about how it will display in the garmin, Currently when I hit a poi category it lists one line to select from...then when I select it, it offers options to see it on the map or have the garmin navigate me to it.

I thought it might be available on some sub-menu.

My GPS is really old and simply sees a list of points with their 6 character 'GPS names'.

Anyway - I just uploaded a file for you to check out.

Sorry - it is attached to my previous post, rather than this one!

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Thanks again for doing this mate

I downloaded the 3 brighton places file above to my documents, and I see it sitting there in my documents.

I opened up Garmin POI loader and it recognized my GPS map 60 Csx.

It asked me to browse for the folder.

Once again I cannot browse to the actual 3 brighton place file


..POI loader just keeps throwing up a message saying the folder contains no files with a .csv or .gpx suffix


....so currently I cant get the 3 brighton places file to load into my garmin via poi loader.