HowTo: working with custom POI's

The Quest 2 has a feature called custom POI's, which enables you to load searchable POI's outside the limit of 500 waypoints. The Quest 2 has 2048KB of POI memory, enough for about 20.000 POI's with an average description length.

So, how do I create custom POI's? Well, first of all you can download collections of POI's from the internet. The Links page of this site gives you some startingpoints. But you can also create your own POI collection. This is what you should do:

• collect the locations and description of POI's, e.g. by collecting waypoints
• create one or more  Comma Seperated Value (CSV) files that contain POI's in a special format (see below) and/or create GPX files with waypoints in any GPX compatible application (such as Garmin Mapsource)
• create a custom POI icon for each CSV/GPX file (or download some from the Custom POI page on this site)
• upload the collections to the Quest 2 with POILoader (see below)
• just navigate as usual and get warned for speed-dependent POI's if you are above the speedlimit for that POI, every time you get near a proximity POI or search the list of POI's and navigate to one you select (see below)

CSV file format

Okay, so what does a CSV file look like? Let's look at an exerpt from the POILoader help file:

POI Loader accepts .csv files that contain longitude, latitude, and speed alert information.  A .csv file can contain multiple POIs.  POI Loader assumes a .csv file utilizes the following format for each POI (brackets [ ] denote optional text):

<Lon>,<Lat>,["]<Name>[@<Alert Speed>]["]

Longitude and latitude must appear in WGS84 decimal degrees format (ddd.ddddd; negative numbers indicate West and South). The following are examples of Custom POIs in the proper format:

• -94.81549,38.80390,Bonita
• -94.79731,38.81099,Ridgeview@25
• -94.74240,38.81952,Heritage Park

GPX files

If you want to use a GPX file as the source for POI's, just create a waypoint as usual and use the name of the waypoint as the description. You can also use the @speed modifier attached to the name if neccesary. Note: large GPX files can crash POILoader, convert a large GPX file to CSV format before uploading!

Speed and Proximity Alerts

POI Loader determines whether or not a file contains speed and proximity alert points based on the following criteria:

• If a .csv/gpx filename contains a valid speed number or if all records in a file have speed encoded in the name, then all records in the file will be POIs with speed and proximity alerts.  For example, a .csv/gpx file with the filename "Speed_30" would generate speed alerts of 30 mph (or kph, depending on the type of units selected in POI Loader) for each POI in the file.
• If the filename contains "redlight" or similar localized terms, POI Loader will assume all records in the file will have proximity alerts with a distance of 100 m.
• If a file contains "GATSO," "mobile," "SPECS," "safety," "speed," or "camera," but does not have a speed, POI Loader uses a default alert speed of 0, which means you will always be alerted.  You can override this default value by entering the speed in Manual mode.

You can also enter speeds for each point individually by adding the @ symbol and a number after the name of the point.  For example, a POI listed as -94.79731,38.81099,Ridgeview@25 would create a POI named "Ridgeview" with a 25 mph speed alert.   Alert speeds listed in this manner take precedence over speeds contained within the .csv filename. POI Loader calculates proximity alert distance based on speed.  You can manually enter proximity alert distance for a .csv file using Manual mode.

Custom Bitmaps

POI Loader can associate customized bitmaps (.bmp) with the points in a .csv/gpx file if they have the same filename.  For example, a customized bitmap named "Speed_30.bmp" would be associated with all the the points in the file named "Speed_30.csv."  Bitmaps must be saved in the same directory as the associated .csv/gpx files. You can find some custom icons on my Custom POI icons page.

Loading a POI collection to your Quest 2

	You start by loading POILoader (which can be downloaded and installed from the  Garmin Quest 2 Software Update Collection). You then press Next > on the welcome screen.
	POILoader finds all attached devices, here the Quest 2 we intend to download the POI's to. If neccessary select the right device and press Next >.
	Now browse to the directory you have collected all CSV/GPX files and the BMP files for the icons. Select the right units for the distance and speed and use Express Mode (which uses the filenames to see wether CSV/GPX file contain speed POI's, proximity POI's or other POI's). Then press Next >.
	POILoader now transfers all POI collections to the Quest 2 and reports how many it has loaded. If you get an error in this stage, the resulting collection takes up too much memory in the Quest. Remove some POI's or complete CSV files and start again. The same applies to a transfer that takes more than about 10 seconds, since then the Quest 2 is no longe responding.

	Now you can navigate like you always do and get warned if you drive faster than the limit of a POI. In the screenshot on the left you see a 30km/h POI which we approach at 32km/h. First the Quest 2 plays a chime 3 times to catch your attention, then it displays the icon associated with the POI, in this case a (30) speed limit sign. If you slow down you will hear three little beeps to acknowledge that you are now below the speed limit.
	You can also search for specific POI's to navigate to. Press  to get to the Find screen and scroll down until you see the Custom POI icon.
	you can then browse all POI's and seach for a specific one using the <Containing> field.
	When you select a specific POI and press , you will see information about this POI. In this case it is a speed-sensitive POI, which alerts you if you are above 120km/h and within 1200m from the POI. You can also Route To this POI by pressing  .