Making POI Files (FAQ)

MaFt · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:00 am Post subject: Making POI Files (FAQ)

Q: How can I make my own POI files?
A: To make your own POI file you need at least 3 things: longitude, latitude and a name.
If you can find it on a map then things are quite easy! Go to http://www.streetmap.co.uk and find it on a map. Zoom in as much as possible and click the actual location (entrance to car park probably the best bet) and it will show an arrow on the map. Now, near the bottom of the page there is a link to 'click here to convert/measure coordinates' - click the link and in the list it will show you the latitude and longitude.

UPDATE: you can also use this site: http://ukpostcodes.boldlygoingnowhere.org/ and fill out a form with names and postcodes to be emailed the lat/long of all the points you enter (thanks for the link Almahadeus). User Ash10 has also created a program that automates conversion of postcodes to lat/long and will be sharing this in the future.

You can also extract 'Favourites' from your Garmin unit using software from http://www.easygps.com.

Create a new file in Excel (or similar) and make 4 columns: longitude, latitude, name, details.
Insert the long/lat in the relevent columns, put the name in the name column (eg 'Boots, Bradford') and any other details in the 4th column (eg 'Darley Street, 01274 888555').
Save the file as a comma separated value (.csv) file - e.g boots.csv.
Then create a 22x22 pixel icon and save it as an 8-bit .bmp file - name it exactly the same as the associated csv file but with .bmp at the end instead.
Upload to the unit using Garmin's POI Loader (http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=927)

milleniumedition · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:00 am Post subject:

Hi MaFt
Thanks for the info on making poi's. I work for a leading tyre fast fit company and have postcodes for all the fast fit centres across the uk which is in the hundreds. Is there any quicker way than going on streetmap and looking up the lat and long? As I would really like to submit this info as many people may find it useful. Cheers Andy

MaFt · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:31 am Post subject:

Ash10 · Pocket GPS Verifier Joined: Feb 19, 2005 Posts: 478

PM me the list of postcodes - with addresses if they're to hand.

I've written a few tools to do this automatically, then I can pass them over to MaFt to host... 8)

Almahadeus · Frequent Visitor Joined: Aug 06, 2005 Posts: 346

You can also try this site:
http://ukpostcodes.boldlygoingnowhere.org/

I think that it would also be very useful for you MaFt.

MaFt · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:56 am Post subject:

MaFt · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:57 am Post subject:

Anita · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject: Re: Making POI Files (FAQ)

Thanks for these instructions, MaFt. I visit a lot of nature reserves in Sussex and Kent. They don't usually have postcodes and very few of them are included in the POIs, but I have got grid references that I can enter into Streetmap, so this will be a great help!

MaFt · Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:12 pm Post subject:

just save it as a bitmap - chances are it'll work. just early on there were some problems with some higher depth bitmaps.

MaFt

GPSBear · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 15, 2006 Posts: 137

MaFt · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 10:11 am Post subject:

the lat/long need to be in decimal degrees. eg 43.1122312
south and west need to be negative

MaFt

mugwump · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 54

In the recent hot weather some of our systems were running close to their operational limit and non-critical systems had to be shut down. Sadly this includes the postcode converter!

Some new kit is on the way so the site should be back up again soon. I'll post again when its back online. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this info but as the thread includes several references to the converter website it seemed appropriate......
_________________
Apologies to all my supporting users, the http://ukpostcodes.boldlygoingnowhere.org/ postcode converter has now been retired.
The ubiquity of full postcode lookups has made it somewhat redundant. I still have the code if anyone needs it.

MaFt · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:57 pm Post subject:

cheers for the info mugwump! i've got the fans on full whack for my pc... serves meright for running it 24/7 i suppose!

MaFt

mugwump · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 54

Same here! 24x7 is tough for a non-profit site!

Things are back up for now but service may well suffer for a bit whilst some rework takes place.....

Its just soooooo hot! 8)

Also, our checks are showing that it might not be the heat directly, it may have been due to the extreme lightning activity we have had as a result!

Wind, rain, snow, sun, we British are never prepared! Laughing

_________________
Apologies to all my supporting users, the http://ukpostcodes.boldlygoingnowhere.org/ postcode converter has now been retired.
The ubiquity of full postcode lookups has made it somewhat redundant. I still have the code if anyone needs it.

capsecum · Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject: Just a quick tip re POIs

If all your UK POIs are appearing off the coast of West Africa, you have mixed up Longitude and Latitude in your CSV.

Yep been there done that. Embarassed

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