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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:09 am Post subject: Can't see downloaded TomTom POI Categories
Real Newbie here... please be patient
I've downloaded several categories of POIs and copied them into the relevant map folder of my brother's TomTom XL (all new to me as I'm a Zumo user) but I cannot get said categories to show up either as icons or as categories when I search. He already has separate icons for caravan Club Sites and the more popular fast food establishments, but someone else did them for him. As I said, I'm a Garmin user and they work differently for loading third party POIs, but I want my brother to be able to choose NAVIGATE TO - POI - POI NEAR YOU - SUPERMARKETS... or CAMPING SHOPS (etc). Is this possible, and if so how, please?
Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:08 pm Post subject:
That should all be perfectly possible, so lets see if we can work out what's going wrong.
Firstly, where are you downloading the POIs from?
Secondly, are you downloading them in TomTom's ".ov2" format?
They can't be in the '.csv' format that you are used to on a Garmin (although you can convert between the two using other programs like POIEdit).
For each POI set you need TWO files - the .ov2 file which contains all the locations and a .bmp file (with the rest of the filename the same) which is the icon you see on screen.
Thirdly, the POIs will often get downloaded from a website as a "zip" archive, which needs to be "unzipped into the individual files before you can use them.
Fourthly, does your brother's TomTom have more than one map installed? It's possible to copy the POI files to the wrong one by mistake.
Finally (bit obvious this one...) you have switched them on in the "Show POIs on map" menu?
There must be more things to check that I've forgotten, too. _________________ "Settling in nicely" ;-)
This site's free download area. I originally downloaded them as individual items, but when that didn't work, I carefully removed them from the map folder and replaced them with files downloaded as complete categories.
Andy_P wrote:
Secondly, are you downloading them in TomTom's ".ov2" format?
Yes
Andy_P wrote:
For each POI set you need TWO files - the .ov2 file which contains all the locations and a .bmp file (with the rest of the filename the same) which is the icon you see on screen.
Yep, got both files for each category
Andy_P wrote:
Thirdly, the POIs will often get downloaded from a website as a "zip" archive, which needs to be "unzipped into the individual files before you can use them.
Yep, once again, files successfully unzipped and saved into a convenient location
Andy_P wrote:
Fourthly, does your brother's TomTom have more than one map installed?
No.
Andy_P wrote:
Finally (bit obvious this one...) you have switched them on in the "Show POIs on map" menu?
Yes.
The respective individual icons will show on a map page, and if I do a search for a specific POI I can find it - Morrisons, for example - but I can't get the categories to display as icons on the 'Front End' so to speak.
On my Zumo I can choose WHERE TO - EXTRAS - THIRD PARTY POIS and a list of categories pops up - SUPERMARKETS - BMW BIKE DEALERSHIPS - CALOR GAS SUPPLIERS etc etc. Once I choose a category I get everything inside it, displayed for my choice. This (or similar) is what I'd like to achieve with a TomTom.
Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:44 pm Post subject:
k11martin wrote:
The respective individual icons will show on a map page, and if I do a search for a specific POI I can find it - Morrisons, for example - but I can't get the categories to display as icons on the 'Front End' so to speak.
In that case, I'm scratching my head a bit as the files are obviously on there....
k11martin wrote:
On my Zumo I can choose WHERE TO - EXTRAS - THIRD PARTY POIS and a list of categories pops up - SUPERMARKETS - BMW BIKE DEALERSHIPS - CALOR GAS SUPPLIERS etc etc. Once I choose a category I get everything inside it, displayed for my choice. This (or similar) is what I'd like to achieve with a TomTom.
The equivalent on a TomTom is this...
(Assuming you had a POI category for "Tescos")
Navigate to...
Point of Interest
POI near Home (or 'near you'/ 'in city' / 'along route' / etc etc.)
Pick "Tescos" from the list - Ah! is this where you're going wrong? - The TomTom at this point shows you the six categories it thinks you might want to see most of all. The way it fills up the six slots is a bit esoteric, but ignore that for now)
You need to tap the "Forward arrow" to get to the next page, where the top of the list of ALL the categories is shown alphabetically.
In order to make room for the keyboard only the first two are shown straight away, but if you tap the down arrow at the top left it expands down to show a screen-full of six, and you can then use the up/down arrows to scroll through them all.
alternatively you could use the keyboard ("Find" brings it back if you sent it away) and start typing "T...E...S..C...
If your Tesco POI category is there it should be selectable and tapping on it should then bring up the first of 8 screens-full of the 48 Tesco stores nearest your home (or whatever else you chose).
That seems almost identical to your method on the Garmin.
Do you not get that far? If not, what DO you see?
--------------------------------------
A couple of other things to note, while we are on the subject...
1. If you download SEPARATE category files for Tescos, Sainsburies, Waitrose etc. then you will get the individual company logos as the icons. But if you download a combined "Supermarkets" file then you will only get a generic icon (I think it's a shopping trolley).
2. The system should be clever enough to make the names of each entry sensible... For example if you downloaded the "Sainsburys" category you wouldn't necessarily want every entry to have "Sainsbury" at the front - you'd just want the address.
But if you downloaded a combined set, then you WOULD want to know which brand was which when you listed them. Usually the download system works this out, but if it's not what you want, there are various convoluted ways to rename the individual entries - that's really only for the more fanatical amongst us though!
3. There are also handy programs like POIEdit which can merge different categories together for you if you want to do things differently. _________________ "Settling in nicely" ;-)
I think I've reached a satisfactory conclusion, ending up with what you've outlined. I stilll find it a little long winded, but I think my brother will be happy with it. Thanks for the help.
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