ChillyCat

Had great luck loading list of Truck Stops POI's into my Axim X50. [using TomTom v.6]

Began by going to: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=56474

Pilot,Petro and FlyingJ were all there and complete.

Used PoiEdit to instantly transfer those files directly to the Axim. Activated the POI function in TomTom user GUI and all the POI's appear.



THE PROBLEM:

There was no current Travel America pre-made POI file.

So, I go to T/A's site [http://www.tatravelcenters.com/taweb...x?page_id=568] and download the .xls file which contains all their locations information.

NOW I NEED TO CONVERT THIS .XLS > .OV2

I've attempted to use PoiEdit, GPSBabel and POIconverter. None of these apps seem to work with the conversion.

Anyone know how I go about converting this .xls file ?

{A}

Originally Posted by ChillyCat

Had great luck loading list of Truck Stops POI's into my Axim X50. [using TomTom v.6] Began by going to: http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/t...TOPIC_ID=56474 Pilot,Petro and FlyingJ were all there and complete. Used PoiEdit to instantly transfer those files directly to the Axim. Activated the POI function in TomTom user GUI and all the POI's appear. THE PROBLEM: There was no current Travel America pre-made POI file. So, I go to T/A's site [http://www.tatravelcenters.com/taweb...x?page_id=568] and download the .xls file which contains all their locations information. NOW I NEED TO CONVERT THIS .XLS > .OV2 I've attempted to use PoiEdit, GPSBabel and POIconverter. None of these apps seem to work with the conversion. Anyone know how I go about converting this .xls file ?

You may need to save your Excel file in a .csv (comma separated values) format - it's one of the 'save as' options in Excel. The .csv is text file can be read with any text editor and you may have to edit it to remove any spurious quotation marks.

Then see the link below which may help

http://www.tomtom.com/support/ce/support/nav_poi.php

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ChillyCat

{A} I tried exactly what you suggested. And, read the link you provided.

I keep getting errors once i import the .csv into PoiEdit. I stumped at this point -but- will continue on.....

{A}

Originally Posted by ChillyCat

{A} I tried exactly what you suggested. And, read the link you provided. I keep getting errors once i import the .csv into PoiEdit. I stumped at this point -but- will continue on.....

I see what you mean....

Try this - this is my first attempt at using PIOEdit and I haven't tried the resultant
OV2 on my UK/European version of TT - for obvious reasons.

On your downloaded XLS file

In Excel delete the first 5 rows (all the titles)
In Excel delete all the columns except location, latitude and longitude
Rearrange the columns (by cut and paste) to give an order of longitude, latitude, location
In Excel 'save as' a CSV file


Open in any text editor (Notepad for instance)
The first two lines should look like:

-88.3283,30.4983,"Mobile Travel Center I-10, Exit 4"
-86.3105,32.3257,"Montgomery Travel Center I-65, Exit 168"

Tidy up the bit between the two quotation marks _INCLUDING_ deleting the comma (after I-10, and
similar in the other lines)

-88.3283,30.4983,"Mobile Travel Center I-10 Exit 4"
-86.3105,32.3257,"Montgomery Travel Center I-65 Exit 168"

While you are testing it may be worth only having one or two entries in the file. When you do the
whole database be careful that you check all the lines.

Save the file

In PIOEdit menu:

File
Open
Select a file type of Garmin comma separated(*.csv) and open the .csv you have just edited
There are some options for other *.csv files which don't appear to work and the garmin version doesn't seem to work with a comma anywhere in the location/description.

You should get a window with columns headed description, latitude and longitude. Check that the information is correct for each entry.

In POIEdit menu:
Tools
Batch convert

In the 'source file mode' box select the location of your *.csv file
Source Format = Garmin comma separated(*.csv)

In the 'destination mode' box select a folder (directory) for the final file
Destination format = Tomtom binary (*.ov2)

Now hit the convert button.

I'm sure that you may need to tweak something (a bmp or gif picture associated with the OV2 file for instance) but with the above I seem to have made a OV2 file.

To check I started up PIOEdit again and opened the OV2 file just created and it opened up with the correct information.

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ChillyCat

Originally Posted by {A}

I see what you mean.... Try this - this is my first attempt at using PIOEdit and I haven't tried the resultant OV2 on my UK/European version of TT - for obvious reasons.

Good work Mate.....worked like a charm.

You obviously took alot of time puttin' all that together for me. I'm greatly thankfull for the time you took "holding my hand".

Thank you !!

ddavtian

I'm glad you have a solution. for future POI take a look at http://www.poi2go.com/poi2go/. It has a good search and can save in few formats k.

ChillyCat

Originally Posted by ddavtian

I'm glad you have a solution. for future POI take a look at http://www.poi2go.com/poi2go/. It has a good search and can save in few formats k.

That is an AMAZING site / POI search engine !!!!

Added a couple southern obscure fueling centers, and poi2go had um all.

BTW: is there a particcular .BMP size allowable ? I just make mine via a screen shot of the companys logo and edit them with acdsee. [.bmp extension]

I've managed to make most successfully.....but some I just can't get to work.


WOKE UP: 22 X 22 seems to be the acceptable icon size and fixed "the bad ones"