POI's and a little help/info. please...

[bygdawg]

I know that several GPS units come preloaded with tons of Points of Interest, but I saw a program from Garmin that allows sharing between folks of POI's. Does anyone use this? I think the new unit I'm getting has like 6 million on it, but I'm betting it doesn't point out scenic routes and things like that. If I'm understanding this correctly, someone could send me a local favorite route and I could add it to my GPS. Is that right? If so, I'm wondering how many of you share this information, how difficult it is to load, and if I'm even on the right track. I'm sort of new to this whole GPS thing so you'll have to excuse the ignorance if this comes off as bit of a stupid question. I'm hoping to use this on my trip out West in June, and I'd like to take full advantage of it.

[Mellow]

This page on Garmin has a lot of info and a selection to see if your unit supports POI loading.

http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

This is a way to get 'custom' POIs grouped in files, not just the ones that are part of your units base map.

POI's are simply locations. Routes are the entire route and are typically .gdb files which you'll see when you get your unit and mapsource software. Those gdb files you download to your unit.

All of this will make more sense as you get used to it... and you'll wonder how you ever lived without one,..

[bygdawg]

Cool. It sounds a little confusing, but I hope to make sense of it all as I start to play with the unit more and more. So, if I want to put in a particular "route," I have to use this .gdb you speak of? Wouldn't it be neat if it had some type of record option where I could just hit it, run the route, and it'd save it for me? I guess that'd be too easy. Then again, maybe that's possible.

[Mellow]

It has that... you can set it to 'track' you.. then when you get home, you can upload those tracks to your pc and you'll see the route on the mapsource software... then you can save it with a name and run it later if you like.

[LDMike]

I know that several GPS units come preloaded with tons of Points of Interest, but I saw a program from Garmin that allows sharing between folks of POI's. Does anyone use this? I think the new unit I'm getting has like 6 million on it, but I'm betting it doesn't point out scenic routes and things like that. If I'm understanding this correctly, someone could send me a local favorite route and I could add it to my GPS. Is that right? If so, I'm wondering how many of you share this information, how difficult it is to load, and if I'm even on the right track. I'm sort of new to this whole GPS thing so you'll have to excuse the ignorance if this comes off as bit of a stupid question. I'm hoping to use this on my trip out West in June, and I'd like to take full advantage of it.

You might try here: http://www.sundaymorningrides.com/

Some of the routes are generated by their staff, but others have been sent in by other riders. There are all kinds of views, too: map, satellite, topo, hybrid, etc. You can also downlod a route you might like in .gdb format, so it's a simple matter to load it into you GPS. I'm guessing that you could even load it into Google Earth and "Fly" the route as well, but I haven't tried that yet.

[Mellow]

ditto.. and, one thing to remember especially with GPS units is to try and ignore or get over the 'wow' factor fast... When you first get one you have a tendency to want to watch it and take your eyes off the road... we all deal with distractions all the time whether it's feeling for your wallet after the last gas stop or checking if your chin strap is connected... but, the GPS can be a real eye-catcher... just be aware of that... and get over it fast...

[bygdawg]

Good pts. I'm thinking I'll set the voice prompts as long as they don't talk continuously to interrupt my MP3 tunes. It sounds like someone could spend an eternity just importing cool way points. :eek:

[Mellow]

Yeah, the voice prompts are great... they can be annoying if you go off your route intentionally but, you can mute it until you either get back on your orig route or allow it to reroute you..

[Killtimer]

Just an FYI. After you download any route, make sure that you run "Recalculate Route" from the routes sub-menu in Mapsource before you save it or upload it to your GPS. This will make sure that the route works, and is accurate on your unit/software. Another thing that I do, and it's just a personal thing, is to save any route I plan to share in .gpx format. That way the route is not limited to Garmin users.

[Mellow]

Another thing that I do, and it's just a personal thing, is to save any route I plan to share in .gpx format. That way the route is not limited to Garmin users.

I did not know that.. so the GPS Exchange format (.gpx) means just that.. cool...

[bygdawg]

Cool. We're all learning new stuff today. :-)