Some odds and ends I have noticed about the I3 mainly concer

gcb · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 151

1)If you create your own bit maps, best size is 21x21 pixels or smaller.
I think you may be able to go slightly bigger say 23x23 but not much.
Colours: Always save bitmaps as 8 bit 256 colours. If you save .bmps as 24bit colour then try browsing an area with a lot of POIs the Garmin I3 will just turn its self off.

Looking at some of the shipped Icons some are not square so if you have a bit map editor that does transparent you may be able to do round bitmaps etc, for someone else to try.

2)Upload POIs Using POI loader: If the a speed camera file name does not contain any of the following words (mobile,specs,gatso,redlight) it does not default to proximity alerts. Eg pocket_gps_uk_temp.csv, congestion-zones.csv neither of these would default proximity alerts unless you chose manual mode and ticked the box. There may be other words except the 3 I noted but I haven’t found them.

3)Manual override of proximity alert distance. The default distances are quite high eg over 1/2 a mile at for @70 mph alert. That could be some distance down a road ahead which you were not planning on turning down anyway, the camera so far away it probably would not show on your screen at the time of the first alert. You can override these alert distances but there are minimum values, if a record in a file has @{speed} tagged on the end the minimum alert distance is 1312ft irrespective of the alert speed. Override a file and set alert distance 1000ft and this will set for those records with no @speed alert 1001ft, for those with speed alert 1312ft. eg pocketgps_uk_redlight.csv. (I use manual and override all distances to lower values.
I find 1312ft is ample warning distance for a camera.) That’s 1000ft more than the generous stopping distance from 70 to 0 given in the highway code.

4) Display of POIs whilst driving. By default POIs are not displayed with exception of Speed triggered alert POIs. These however are only displayed if your speed is above approx 95% of the speed at which you defined the alert. If you really really want to see them. Edit all your pocketgps_**.csv files and change all instances of @20 to @02, @30 to @03 …@70 to @07. This changes the trigger speeds to
2,3,4,5,6,7 mph, OK the message will say 3mph speed alert instead of 30 but its easy to understand. Snag with this however is that approaching the speed camera your garmin will ding-a-ling constantly which is I personally find more annoying. Turning off the audible alerts in setting does not seem to stop the alarm tones all you can do it seems is turn your Garmin volume down to 0 or 1. My own theory on why Garmin did not write the software to display the cameras as would seem sensible is this:
Refer to point 1) If you load true colour icons to the I3 and it tries to show too many at once it will crash and switch off. They probably have a problem with the unit crashing when processing navigation, maps and displaying several POIs simultaneously. Shame when using POI loader it does not convert no of colours and bmp size before they got on to the I3. It seems the I3 will store the larger files and attempt to convert them as it displays them. Not the best way.

Oh theres more but I forget or its been said before elsewhere on this forum, please feel free to add more

gcb · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 151

Placement of I3 in Car.

I have a PUG 307. THe screen seems to block reception.
I notice another 307 owner sugesed putting i3 up high just to left of the rear view mirror. It was pointed out that this works because there is a hole oi the barrier there for other devices. However put it there and it is almost impossible to see, and you have a wire dangling down somewhat anoyingly.

I put my I3 on the drivers door quarterlight, its the best place to reach and see it and reception seems to be obtained though the quarterlight.
Also the sucker works better on the quarterlight glass because it is flatter than the windscreen. The wire does not impare visibility and in 2 months I think it has only fallen off once. I did try using the mounting plate on the corner of the dash just beside the door. THis worked too, but due to the elephant hide texture of the dash the mounting plate would not adhere and within a day lost its stick.

mitzyjim · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 23, 2005 Posts: 4

Hi gcb

Wonder if you could expand on your point regarding alert speed etc? I've posted a question on a seperate thread but you seem to be a bit of an expert!

Even if I change the alert speed and/or the distance in manual mode of POI loader when this is transfered to the i3 it seems to keep the original settings. I agree the distance is too far and I would also like to set the speed a couple of MPH higher to stop the thing bing binging all the time!

Any thoughts, am I doing something wrong or is it the system?

thanks

gcb · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 151

Seem to have got it slightly wrong.

I've tried so many damned combinations of things, arrrgghhhh

If there is an @nn against a record it seems the speed is always taken from the @nn number with a corresponding distance calculated. Irrespective of what you enter.

All speeds below 20 mph give 1312 ft warning. I know that from when I tried the 2,3,4,5,6,7 mph idea.

If you put @0 or no @ at all against a line you can specify the alert distance through POI loader, speed will then be set as unknown it seems even if you specify it manually in POI loader.

Im a bit unsure how the warning alarm sounds when you approach a speed camera or REDLIGHT you set a speed @0 or no speed for.

Some of the records in the pocketgps....var and _tmp files have no speed atached, maybe you pass some of them and they do the bip bip ing.

I'll try some other ideas.

LucyAkhurst · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 10, 2005 Posts: 8

Hi,

I have copied the user manual for the POI Loader here. There is a full description of the format required.

Advanced users can create their own .csv files that include Custom POI lists.

File Format

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

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 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 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 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 files.
Your Garmin GPS device may have image size requirements. Bitmaps that do not meet those requirements may appear distorted when viewed on the unit's screen. Consult your Garmin GPS owner's manual for more information.

HySeeker · Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 10:25 pm Post subject:

MELennium · Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 2:39 pm Post subject:

When installing MaFt's poi's who by the way is doing a brilliant job, the poi loader when set to manual mode a couple of things kept bugging me.
When it came to the q8 petrol stations, it would keep defaulting at 8 mph alert speed which i didn't want. So i renamed the saved name of the q8 petrol stations.csv file to q petrol stations.csv omitting the number 8 & now it doesn't warn me anymore.
The second one was the zRed Light Cam.csv file which would not warn me like all the other cameras did, so i again renamed this file zRedLight Cam.csv omitting the space between red & light & now it warns me automatically.

gcb · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 151

Even the detailed instruction guide is not quite detailed enough, there are some aditional quirks to the way the thing works

MaFt · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:10 pm Post subject:

Kennyh · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:07 pm Post subject:

Guys

I'm getting a problem that I get the "ALERT" banner and bing-bing for all my custom POI's.

Having the alert for the camera's is fine, but how do I switch it off for things like McDonalds and Car parks etc.

I've tried a few things, including editing a sample POI file (fish and chips) and made sure there was no mention of a reserved word (such as "speed" or "gatso" in the names).

Any ideas (I'm using a Garmin Nuvi 360).

Cheers
Kenny

Now this can be annoying after a while. I could remove them, but I'd like to keep

Lester_Burnham · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 618

Kennyh · Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:35 pm Post subject:

Lester_Burnham

wherethehellarewe · Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:03 pm Post subject:

This one dude http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=41517
_________________
Ignorance is no excuse !

Kennyh · Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject:

Got it! Thanks.

And now reverting back to the previous release of the POILoader.

Cheers
Kenny

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