Looked Everywhere - how to add custom icon/sound to POI?

Hello Everyone. I am new to the world of TomToms and GPS in general. I have done a ton of research before Black Friday to learn about the models/options and have spent countless hours AFTER I purchased a TomTom ONE LE learning about the customizations that can be done on a TomTom ONE.

Things I have learned how to customize:
>>> The startup and shutdown screens
- In the root directory of the TomTom there are two *.bmp files (splash.bmp for the startup screen and antitheft.bmp for the shutdown screen).
- All you need to do is create two *.bmp files of dimension 320x240 pixels, rename them to splash.bmp and antitheft.bmp and replace the files in the root directory of your TomTom.
- When you reboot your device, the TomTom will use the new images.

>>> The default sound selections for warnings
- Using THIS PROGRAM you can reassign the given warning selections in your TomTom (NOTE: the program download is at the bottom of that page). I haven't figured out how to change the default labels that TomTom gives to each of these sounds (i.e. Bell 1, Boing 1, Cow, etc.) so those name selections will still show in the TomTom, only with the new *.ogg sound file of your choice assigned.
- You will need *.ogg sound files to perform this reassignment. I use THIS PROGRAM as a simple drag-n-drop *.WAV to *.OGG converter.

>>> The sound assigned to your own custom added POI CATEGORY
- If you create a POI category on your TomTom, you can force an *.ogg sound file to be associated with the category by using the same filename as the *.ov2 filename given to the category.
For example: If you add a POI category with the name "Friends". A file will be created in the map directory you are using (in my case it is in the USA_and_Canada directorry).
- The filename created for this category will be Friends.ov2
- All you need to do is find an audio sound of your choosing and convert it to an *.ogg file (you can use the program I described above for this conversion)
- Rename this file to the same name as the ov2 file, only with the *.ogg extension. In this case: Friends.ogg
- Copy that file into the same directory as the Friends.ov2 file and the TomTom automatically uses that sound for that category and any POI within that category that shows up on your maps as an audible warning

NOTE: You need to go into the CHANGE PREFERENCES --> MANAGE POIS --> WARN WHEN NEAR POI and select the category you want the warning sound to alert you (in this case the Friends category) and turn ON the warning. Normally, it will have you select a sound from the default audio selections...when you have an *.ogg file, it won't show you these selections, it will automatically jump to a screen that says "Is This The Sound You Want To Select?". You simply click YES

>>> The image assigned to your own custom added POI CATEGORY
- If you create a POI category on your TomTom, you can force an *.bmp image file to be associated with the category by using the same filename as the *.ov2 filename given to the category.
For example: If you add a POI category with the name "Friends". A file will be created in the map directory you are using (in my case it is in the USA_and_Canada directorry).
- The filename created for this category will be Friends.ov2
- All you need to do is find an image of your choosing and convert it to a 22x22 pixel *.bmp.
- Rename this file to the same name as the ov2 file, only with the *.bmp extension. In this case: Friends.bmp
- Copy that file into the same directory as the Friends.ov2 file and the TomTom automatically uses that image for that category and any POI within that category that shows up on your maps.

I have only been able to perform this simple audio and image customization on user-created POI categories which have the *.ov2 extension. The TomTom provided POIs and categories reside in an *.dat file that is encoded. I tried using THIS PROGRAM but it didn't work to completion..it kep hanging in the middle, so there must be some incompatibility with Navcore7 and this program.

I also noticed a /Brand directory under the /USA_and_Canada maps directory that contains a ton of icons that TomTom now provides for stores such as BestBuy, CircuitCity, WalMart, etc. I did find, however, that if you edit the location of TomTom's build in POIs that they appear to lose this image assignment. For example, the BestBuy POI that TomTom provided wasn't exactly where BestBuy resides. Therefore, I corrected the location. The original POI had the yellow BestBuy sales tag icon....the new one just has the STORE category icon.

Things I'm hoping someone can help me customize:
>>> Each individual POI in my custom category has its own icon
- As I've shown above, I can change the icon for an entire category so that any icon under that category will use the category icon. However, just like TomTom did for specific brands, I want to customize the icon PER POI so that when that ONE POI shows up it has its own unique icon.
- Anyone know how to do this???

>>> Each individual POI in my custom category has it's own audio
- Just like the icon, I want a unique sound per POI as well
- Anyone know how to do this???


I have already attempted to create *.bmp and *.ogg with the same name I typed for the POI in the TomTom. For example, in the Friends category, I have a POI that I typed into the TomTom called Frank. I put a Frank.ogg and a Frank.bmp into the map directory. The TomTom did not pick these files for that POI, it used the one from the Friends category.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Scott

^ Bump ^ .... nobody has any idea?

^ Bump ^ .... nobody has any idea?......I won't bump again.

You can't change an icon for an individual POI only for the categories.

Thank you very much for the reply. I suspected as much since I can't seem to find that information anywhere. TomTom must have done something special for the coding of the BRAND icons because places like Duncan Donuts and McDonalds have their own unique icon but are in the same "Restaurants" category.

This begs the next question - how many customer categories of POI are allowed on the TomTom ONE LE" Is it limited by the size of the SD card you have installed or in there a limit coded in their firmware that won't let you add more than a certain number?

I have a ONE XL... but in my instance...
If you want to create a custom alert for a category (let's take RedLights for instance)...
You go into your TomTom from explorer... Add your custom .ogg (POI Alert file) to the 'sounds' directory off the main directory.

Go into TomTom and do manage POI and select Alerts. At the bottom you will see your new alert. THIS WILL ONLY WORK FOR POI CATEGORIES THOUGH...
For the image.. You go to your map directory (in my case it's US_and_Canada) and name it the same as the POI file that contains your category.

For instance if you download the BurgerKing POIs...
You need to name your .bmp as the same as your .ov2 file.

Sorry I came across this thread late.
cgcater1 is correct. It's not possible or no one has figured out how to do it.

Hmmm, having some issues with the BMP images loading up in my One XL.

I checked the sizes, even made sure the pixels per inch were the same (300), as well as staying close to the file size, but when I load up the old TomTom it just gives me a grayscreen. Any ideas?

File names in the XL are splashw.bmp

ansionnach said:

Hmmm, having some issues with the BMP images loading up in my One XL.

I checked the sizes, even made sure the pixels per inch were the same (300), as well as staying close to the file size, but when I load up the old TomTom it just gives me a grayscreen. Any ideas?

File names in the XL are splashw.bmp

Click to expand...

Unless you are saving the file in a strange type of BMP format I don't know why you are having a problem. From your comment above, it sounds like you checked everything you need to:
* Physical image dimension (320x240 pixels on an LE....sure XL is a tad larger)
* Pixels/inch parameter (300)
* Filename - in your case splashw.bmp --> be sure the case of the letters matches exact because the O/S is Linux and it is case-sensitive
* File is in root directory of TomTom


That's all I did and it worked great.

I actually can't get it to load a custom splash for me either.
It will load a grey screen and then go into the GPS operation so I know its the splash. Will have to look into it later.

Also when I add custom sounds for a POI. It will play a alert for it, but it is one of the original 'BONG' or 'RING' sounds and not the sound of the alert I picked.

Adding POIs to Category with MS Excel

I have found lots of POI CSV files (and other file types), that I want to download to the TomTom, but, I want each set to go to a different Category (Volcaono's, Geyesers, etc.). How can I do that? What should the columns be, in what order, do I have to create a matching Category in the TomTom first (and add a dummy POI)? Anyone done this? How many POI Categories can you have? Is there a limit on the number of POIs in each one?

Is there any way to pull out a list of the POIs in the Categories that come with the TomTom?

I want to have all the POIs from these POI CSVs (comma Separated Values) in my Microsoft Streets & Trips, and the TomTom. I want to plan Trips using MS S&T and export (through 3rd party SW) the trip and import the Itinerary to my TomTom. Using Google Maps is better than trying to plan an itinerary on the TomTom, but MS S&T is familiar and quick.