TomTom POI Limits

Tom59 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 8:29 am Post subject: TomTom POI Limits

Can anyone tell me the difference between :-
"Separate files per subcategory" and "Combine subcategories into category file" please?
Ideally, I would like to get as many POI's as possible on to my TomTom 720T, but I'm sure that I read somewhere that this model can only handle 100 categories.
If I combine the categories, is this the equivalent of zipping them?
_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

Oldboy · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:53 am Post subject:

To take Fuel as example.

Separate Files as Categories. This would give the following:
BP.ov2
Shell.ov2
Total.ov2, and so on.

Each ov2 file would have a matching icon (bmp File) of the company logo.

The text data displayed in the BP category would be Town and phone number. As in Aldershot+441234567890

Combine subcategories into category. This would give the following:
Fuel.ov2 with a matching icon of a Fuel Pump.

The text data displayed in the Fuel category would be Brand - Town and phone number. As in BP - Aldershot+441234567890 then Shell - Aldershot+441234098765

TomTom report that the x20 is capable of 300 Categories. Earlier Devices/Software could only manage 100. Some even less that that!

Combining categories does not compress the files, as in Zipping, but you are only limited by the amount of Free Memory you have on your Storage Device. You have to leave at least 2MB Free for the Device to be able to use it as Paging Memory.

A final word of warning. Don't Enable all the categories as this will slow down the Map Screen refresh rate. Use Warn When Near if you need to be aware of any while travelling.
_________________
Richard

TT 910 V7.903: Europe Map v1045
TT Via 135 App 12.075: Europe Map v1120

Andy_P · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:09 pm Post subject:

Hi Guys....
Having been told personally by TT support that the Go 720 with v7 software would support 300 user POI categories, I finally got round to re-doing my experiment I'd done on my old machine..

First, I made 351 new POI categories on the PC, named 001.ov2 to 351.ov2 (and matching .bmp icons).

Next I removed EVERY existing file with an .ov2 or a .bmp extension from my TomTom's map folders, so there were definitely no user-pois left.

Then I pasted all 351 new files onto my v715 W+C Europe map on the internal flash memory AND onto the both the old v710 W+C Europe and Canary Islands maps on an SD card.

Finally, I used "Browse map" / "Find" / "Point of Interest" / "POI near Home" / "forward arrow" / to see the entire list of available categories

The results were as follows:

On the internal memory W+CE, only 001.ov2 to 169.ov2 showed up = 169 categories available.

On the SD card W+CE, 001.ov2 to 158.ov2 AND 341.ov2 to 351.ov2 showed up = 169 categories available.

On the SD card Canary Islands, 001.ov2 to 160.ov2 AND 344.ov2 to 351.ov2 showed up = 168 categories available.

As the second results show the randomness of which POI files it chooses to show, I tried removing them and then adding them again on the Canary Islands map. This time it picked 174.ov2 to 341.ov2, a totally different mix, but again totalling 168 categories.

This matches up well with Oldboy's findings of 169 available categories on a Go910 back last year -see HERE.

Incidentally, when you re-boot, if you have an active subscription to TomTom's own safety camera data, you will find that a "reported safety cameras.ov2" (and .bmp) will automatically get generated in every map folder.

Now... a little mystery to finish...
You remember how the special add-on files for GB Doctors, Dentists etc add themselves to the main built-in POIs even though they are still .ov2 files?
Well, in my experiment, I deleted all those....
But on the two maps on SD card I STILL had "Doctors" available on the W+CE and "Hospitals" on the Canary Islands, but only on the "Browse map" / "Find" / "Point of Interest" / "POI near Home" / screen, not in the list of categories on the next screen.
Where on Earth was it seeing those from? Even another reset AND running the Clear_Flash tool, didn't lose them! Bizarre, but I'm not going to worry about it anyway!

So, even if you ignore all the above nerdiness, I think we need to stop saying "upto 300 categories available on Navcore 7" It looks like it's 169 at best!

Andy_P · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:11 pm Post subject:

Oh, forgot to say...
If anyone wants a copy of the 351 POI files so they can try it on their own machine, drop me a PM with an email address, and I'll zip them up and send them.

Andy_P · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:57 pm Post subject:

Looks like I scared Tom off! Embarassed

Oldboy · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject:

Tom59 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject:

Andy you haven't scared me YET! Been busy and stuff.
But oh dear, this is getting more complicated by the minute. Both you and Richard have given me plenty to think about.
If I download all of the PGPSW POI's, there are 37 categories or over 318,000 individual items. I can quite easily extract them all into my map folder, memory permitting.
If I download all of these as a combined category, they will all be available to me, however, if I download as individual categories, only 169 (or 300 depending on which version I prefer) will show up in my list. But will the remainder remain in the background and be available if I search for a specific name? Let's say that Boots does not appear on my screen, if I search for it will it appear or not?
BTW TomTom have said that they may allow me to download the latest map, I assume that there will be very little difference in size between the two versions.
I think I need to go to a darkened room for a little while! Confused

_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

Oldboy · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject:

Tom59 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks Richard, do you know if I can mix and match categories? For instance, I would be happy to have every ATM in my device, irrespective of brand name, the same could be said for fuel. Conversely I would prefer to have individually named supermarkets or restaurants etc.
_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

Andy_P · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:10 am Post subject:

Yes, you can mix and match as much as you like.
The limit is just of categories (or 'files' if you prefer).
Every category file can contain hundreds of individual entries.

So if your software limit is 169 categories, you could have(just as an example):
"Cash machines" (combined)
"Fuel" (combined)
"Tescos" (only)
"Sainsburys" (only)
plus another 165 more.

The only disadvantage of combining categories is that you will only get ONE icon for everything in that category. So for cash machines, you will just get something like a pound note symbol instead of the Barclays, Natwest etc. symbols you would get if you left them as separate categories.

Tom59 · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:05 am Post subject:

I have had a really great idea Idea

if it works.....
Can I remove some or all of the native TomTom categories to make space for the superior PGPSW ones? Jumping With Joy

_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

Oldboy · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:11 am Post subject:

You can remove all of the built-in categories, by deleting the file poi.dat. Older versions would still work OK, but I don't know if that has changed in recent software versions.

However this won't make any difference to the number of custom categories you can add.
_________________
Richard

TT 910 V7.903: Europe Map v1045
TT Via 135 App 12.075: Europe Map v1120

Tom59 · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:01 pm Post subject:

Because I am such a scaredy cat, I'll leave it alone then!
_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

Andy_P · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:40 pm Post subject:

By the way, if anyone comes across this old topic, the limit since then has been increased to 250 user POI categories (with v7.9 software I think).

But that includes the TomTom speed cameras and the Fuel prices which use up 18 of the available number if you use them, leaving you with 232 spaces to play with.

Tom59 · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks Andy, I'll stuff some more into it now :-)
_________________
TT Go 720 (T)
Firmware 9.430. Map: Western Europe V 875.3613

TT iPhone app
V 1.23 Map: Western and Central Europe 2 GB V 965.7286

TT iOS Go Mobile
V 1.1 Map: Western Europe 965.7248

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