Looking for Beta testers of custom fuel prices POI's generator

[perlabsrat]

Hello everyone,

I am working on a project to generate a custom POI file based on a given zip code(s) which will contain gas stations with the current daily price of regular (sorry at this time its only regular) gas within a 100 mile radius of that zipcode.

The user of the file could then search the custom POI and navigate to the cheapest one near them. Each POI will contain the Price, Name, Address, and Phone number of the gas station so you could call to verify the price should the need arise.

I have a 730 and I have been testing this in my area, and now would like to see if any TomTom owners out there would be willing to help me test the output of my application.

If anyone is interested, please reply to this post with your
Zipcode:
City/State:
TomTom model:

I will post a custom made poi file for you to copy onto your TomTom that I would like your feedback on.

Attached is a sample of Orlando FL as of today 10-20-08.

Thanks

 

[sageuvagony]

Hello everyone,

I am working on a project to generate a custom POI file based on a given zip code(s) which will contain gas stations with the current daily price of regular (sorry at this time its only regular) gas within a 100 mile radius of that zipcode.

The user of the file could then search the custom POI and navigate to the cheapest one near them. Each POI will contain the Price, Name, Address, and Phone number of the gas station so you could call to verify the price should the need arise.

I have a 730 and I have been testing this in my area, and now would like to see if any TomTom owners out there would be willing to help me test the output of my application.

If anyone is interested, please reply to this post with your
Zipcode:
City/State:
TomTom model:

I will post a custom made poi file for you to copy onto your TomTom that I would like your feedback on.

Attached is a sample of Orlando FL as of today 10-20-08.

Thanks

33624
Tampa, FL
ONE XL

 

[perlabsrat]

33624
Tampa, FL
ONE XL

Here you go. Let me know how well it worked.
As for the format of the file- I advise you keep the filenames the same as i have created - by starting the file with a Zero, it will force your tomtom to sort that category to the top of the list.
The 10_20 is today's date.


Note - for any gas station that I did not have a phone number for - the default phone number is Google-411 a Free service that will connect you to the number after you do a look up via your voice commands.

 

[sageuvagony]

Here you go. Let me know how well it worked.
As for the format of the file- I advise you keep the filenames the same as i have created - by starting the file with a Zero, it will force your tomtom to sort that category to the top of the list.
The 10_20 is today's date.


Note - for any gas station that I did not have a phone number for - the default phone number is Google-411 a Free service that will connect you to the number after you do a look up via your voice commands.

Nice. I didn't think the addresses would be included as well. Now the thing is, how would updates occur? With the gas prices dropping insanely fast, these would become outdated daily So you're using an application you created to generate these POI's?

 

[perlabsrat]

33624
Tampa, FL
ONE XL

Nice. I didn't think the addresses would be included as well. Now the thing is, how would updates occur? With the gas prices dropping insanely fast, these would become outdated daily So you're using an application you created to generate these POI's?

Correct - it would get out of date very fast.

At the moment I am just trying out the proof of concept. In actual use, the user would run my app to generate the POI file on the fly as they needed updates.

So for a given day that you plan to take a trip or just need to go out and get gas, you would run the app, generate a newly updated file then import that into the tomtom then go fill up while making "cha-ching" noises..

The idea is that the only inputs the user needs to provide are zipcode(s) and a search radius on where they will be going and the app does the rest as far as the creation of the POI file. By including the phone numbers, even if the data was out of date, you could in theory call a station that you know is historically low to do a sanity check. My 730 has bluetooth so I can pull up a station then hit the call button should I wish to perform a "price check"

Also at the moment I am looking for feedback as to what to call the app - At the moment I have thought of calling it GasSlasher.

 

[Skramblr]

Zipcode: 97113
City/State: Cornelius, OR
TomTom model: 720

 

[perlabsrat]

Zipcode: 97113
City/State: Cornelius, OR
TomTom model: 720

Here you go.. 97113CorneliusOR-Diesel_10_21_08.zip

I have made some updates, there are now separate files for Regular, Mid, Premium, and Diesel.

Copy all of these to your tomtom then simply choose which grade of fuel grade type you are looking for via it's category name. Happy navigating.

 

[Skramblr]

That works really slick. Breaking out the Diesel also helps a lot (not all stations around here have diesel). I figured out that when searching the POIs I can type '2.' and it show the stations that are under $3 a gallon.

I'm fairly new to TomToms - but is there a way to make is show the POIs numerically (to see cheapest gas), instead of them being sorted by distance?

 

[perlabsrat]

That works really slick. Breaking out the Diesel also helps a lot (not all stations around here have diesel). I figured out that when searching the POIs I can type '2.' and it show the stations that are under $3 a gallon.

I'm fairly new to TomToms - but is there a way to make is show the POIs numerically (to see cheapest gas), instead of them being sorted by distance?

Sorry, there is no way I know of other than what you mentioned. From what I can tell Tomtom only sorts by distance and not by the name of a POI.

What you are doing seems to be the only way I found to do that.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

Zip: 07728
City/State: Freehold, NJ
Model: Go 920

 

[perlabsrat]

Zip: 07728
City/State: Freehold, NJ
Model: Go 920

Here you go 07728_Freehold_NJ_10_23.rar

 

[dhn]

Perlabsrat......

I moved the entire thread to Third Party Software, a more logical location considering you have a separate application that works with TomTom.

Now, when are you going to be able to deal with Canadian postal codes?

(In truth, around my area, ALL gas companies have exactly the same price to the tenth of a cent per litre. Can you say 'price fixing'? )

Looks like a nice piece of work you've done. Good job!

 

[perlabsrat]

Perlabsrat......

I moved the entire thread to Third Party Software, a more logical location considering you have a separate application that works with TomTom.

Now, when are you going to be able to deal with Canadian postal codes?

(In truth, around my area, ALL gas companies have exactly the same price to the tenth of a cent per litre. Can you say 'price fixing'? )

Looks like a nice piece of work you've done. Good job!

Thanks, I appreciate the praise.

I looked into it and it appears that my data source does not directly support anything other than addresses in the US.

Can you send me some example Canadian postal codes and I will see if I can make it work?

 

[dhn]

M2h 2g6
V1y 8k5
T6e 5g9
L3r 8g5

-- For some reason, this board's software is converting some letters in each postal code to lower case. Correctly, the postal code format for Canadian addresses is; ANA NAN

 

[perlabsrat]

M2h 2g6
V1y 8k5
T6e 5g9
L3r 8g5

So I am going to show my ignorance here . (Guess I should have taken that job in the post office )

In the US a zipcode is a single string of 5 digits (eg 77058 = Houston Texas)

I am trying to understand the formatting for Canada.
You are showing me 6 Alpha Numeric characters and they have a space between them.

Does the 1s three indicate something different from the 2nd three or are they separated by a space just to make it more readable?

 

[dhn]

The Canadian post office standard is to provide a space between the first and last 3 characters.

I know that letters sent to Canadian addresses without the space will get delivered but, as mentioned, the proper format is to have the space.

 

[cputrdoc]

Zip: 95134
City/State: San Jose, CA
Model: GO 920T

What source are you using for the gas prices? GasBuddy? (which I would applaud, by the way, since I submit gas prices to them all the time)

 

[perlabsrat]

The Canadian post office standard is to provide a space between the first and last 3 characters.

I know that letters sent to Canadian addresses without the space will get delivered but, as mentioned, the proper format is to have the space.

I looked into it but it appears that the data source I am using does not support addresses outside of the USA. I will keep an eye out for the future.

 

[perlabsrat]

Zip: 95134
City/State: San Jose, CA
Model: GO 920T

What source are you using for the gas prices? GasBuddy? (which I would applaud, by the way, since I submit gas prices to them all the time)

Here you go - 0-95134_San_Jose_CA_10_24.zip

No GasBuddy is not my source but I would like to use it however I do not have the programming skills to consume their data in its current format which is image based.
(eg: http://www.corpuschristigasprices.com/images/p/g/A6FDD8F.gif = 2.00)

I need to find a way to convert an image into its numerical value. So if there are any Vb6 programmers out there who could offer some tips I would love to hear from you.

 

[cputrdoc]

Google Gadget GasBuddy

Here you go - 0-95134_San_Jose_CA_10_24.zip

No GasBuddy is not my source but I would like to use it however I do not have the programming skills to consume their data in its current format which is image based.
(eg: http://www.corpuschristigasprices.com/images/p/g/A6FDD8F.gif = 2.00)

I need to find a way to convert an image into its numerical value. So if there are any Vb6 programmers out there who could offer some tips I would love to hear from you.

"Screen scraping" (as gasbuddy calls it) is brute force. This is far more elegant:
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?hl=en&type=gadgets&url=www.GasBuddy.com/Google_USA_Price.xml