POI Primer?

[Pilaar39]

Where can I get a tutorial or primer on how to work with POI's, specifically with the Go-510?

I have lots of questions.. like I notice that there is a POI file on the TT site for a slew of retail stores in the US.. but the OV2 file is a whopping 400K!

Now, my 510 came with only 1 GB, and it was almost full. I upgraded to a 2GB card, but now I am wondering if I should have installed a 4 GB card instead.. or even if the unit will support a 4 GB card.

So, my question about this US Retail Stores POI file is this: can it be edited to remove the stored I am not interested in? I am sure this will cut down the file size considerably, but the OV2 file appears to be a binary file, not ASCII, so it cannot be readily edited. Is there a reverse-engineering program to convert this back to plain text?

On the same subject, I think I saw a program to convert ascii files or csv files to ov2. True? I did find some non TT sites with POI files in CSV format.. I am assuming that I can convert them to OV2 for the GO-510?

Also, I find there are very few POI files for Canada. Or perhaps I am not looking in the right places?

I think I also read something somewhere about a limitation (100?) to the number of POIs that we can have on the unit.. but I am not sure what that limit refers to.. OV2 files, or specific POIs. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Thanks

 

[ghoticov]

Where can I get a tutorial or primer on how to work with POI's, specifically with the Go-510?

I have lots of questions.. like I notice that there is a POI file on the TT site for a slew of retail stores in the US.. but the OV2 file is a whopping 400K!

Now, my 510 came with only 1 GB, and it was almost full. I upgraded to a 2GB card, but now I am wondering if I should have installed a 4 GB card instead.. or even if the unit will support a 4 GB card.

So, my question about this US Retail Stores POI file is this: can it be edited to remove the stored I am not interested in? I am sure this will cut down the file size considerably, but the OV2 file appears to be a binary file, not ASCII, so it cannot be readily edited. Is there a reverse-engineering program to convert this back to plain text?

On the same subject, I think I saw a program to convert ascii files or csv files to ov2. True? I did find some non TT sites with POI files in CSV format.. I am assuming that I can convert them to OV2 for the GO-510?

Also, I find there are very few POI files for Canada. Or perhaps I am not looking in the right places?

I think I also read something somewhere about a limitation (100?) to the number of POIs that we can have on the unit.. but I am not sure what that limit refers to.. OV2 files, or specific POIs. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Thanks

As far as I know, you cannot edit the POI files that come on the TomTom.

Yes, you can convert .csv files to .ov2 using POIEdit.

There is a limit (I think it actually closer to 90) of POI catagories you can have. I am pretty sure you can have more than 100 ov2 files, as long as there isn't more that 100 catagories.

 

[digital-flex]

Where can I get a tutorial or primer on how to work with POI's, specifically with the Go-510?

What specifically do you need help on in regard to workings with POI? POI's are not specific to a TomTom device, they work on all models.

I have lots of questions.. like I notice that there is a POI file on the TT site for a slew of retail stores in the US.. but the OV2 file is a whopping 400K!

Now, my 510 came with only 1 GB, and it was almost full. I upgraded to a 2GB card, but now I am wondering if I should have installed a 4 GB card instead.. or even if the unit will support a 4 GB card.

I have a 2GB card and I think that is plenty of space. I don't know if you installed the NA Maps but the POI data file is 175MB and that is filled with thousands of places. I have the NA maps with another 30+ POI installed, a couple of voices, some 3rd party apps and I have roughly over 300MB left.

Now for me that is little because I do have media software, but for other poeple 300MB is a lot to play with. You can install voices, schemes, POI's and a single file rarely (if ever) hit 1MB.

So, my question about this US Retail Stores POI file is this: can it be edited to remove the stored I am not interested in? I am sure this will cut down the file size considerably, but the OV2 file appears to be a binary file, not ASCII, so it cannot be readily edited. Is there a reverse-engineering program to convert this back to plain text?

At the current momment, there are no tools that can be used to edit the TomTom binary files. The program POIEdit2007 associates with it but it's not able to open it.

On the same subject, I think I saw a program to convert ascii files or csv files to ov2. True? I did find some non TT sites with POI files in CSV format.. I am assuming that I can convert them to OV2 for the GO-510?

Yes, you can yes POIEdit2007 to open the *.csv file and save it to a *.ov2 file, however, the *.csv file has to be in a specific format:

First Column - Longitude
Second Column - Latitude
Third Column - Description

Also, I find there are very few POI files for Canada. Or perhaps I am not looking in the right places?

If you don't find a POI here, you can always request one and someone will try and help you out. There are other places you can download POI's and here is a list TT sugests - Link.

I think I also read something somewhere about a limitation (100?) to the number of POIs that we can have on the unit.. but I am not sure what that limit refers to.. OV2 files, or specific POIs. Anyone care to enlighten me?

The 100 limit refers to POI categories and this number includes the stock POI. You can have more than 100 categories, you just won't be able to see them.

 

[Pilaar39]

At the current momment, there are no tools that can be used to edit the TomTom binary files. The program POIEdit2007 associates with it but it's not able to open it.

Thanks for the reply..

Well, I downloaded OV2TOOLS from http://www.tomtom.com/support/ce/support/nav_poi.php

It contains two tools: MAKEOV2 and DUMPOV2. Supposedly, the latter dumps the binary ov2 file into an ascii text file, however, it does not seem to work for me. I was hoping to edit out the shops I was not interested in, and rebuild the file with MAKEOV2. However, I get the following error:

DumpOV2 - Version 1.22 - visit www.tomtom.com for the latest version.
Usage:
DumpOV2 [filename.OVx] [output-file]
Converting retail_stores.ov2 -> retail_stores.asc
Record type unknown in this version of DumpOV2​

Anyone familiar with this program?

 

[digital-flex]

Yes, I've come across those tools but never used them myself. I'll get my hands wet and see if I can try.

 

[digital-flex]

Ok, so just did some testing. When I try to dump the retail_store POI I get the same error as you. However, if I use the same tool on a custom POI it works.

It just confirms that the POI provided by TT is protected.

This is the ouput I get with the Retail Store POI:

; Readable locations in retail.ov2
;
; Longitude, Latitude, "Name"
; ========== ============ ==================================================

But with the Custom Red Light Camera I get this:

; Readable locations in redlight.ov2
;
; Longitude, Latitude, "Name"
; ========== ============ ==================================================

-123.35321 , 48.42596 , "Cook St & Johnson St"
-123.35780 , 48.43527 , "Bay St & Quadra St"
-123.36308 , 48.43891 , "Blanshard St & Hillside Ave"
-123.37049 , 48.44503 , "Douglas St & Finlayson St"
etc. etc.

 

[The Spook]

The 100 limit refers to POI categories and this number includes the stock POI.

AFAIK, that is not correct. The limit (99) is for custom POI's only.

That is why it is possible to get round this limit by creating your own poi.dat in which you can have as many categories as you like.

 

[digital-flex]

AFAIK, that is not correct. The limit (99) is for custom POI's only.

That is why it is possible to get round this limit by creating your own poi.dat in which you can have as many categories as you like.

This is straight from the horses mouth:

Your TomTom device can have up to 100 categories of POIs. This includes POIs categories which are included with your TomTom device, any POI categories you download, and any POI categories you create yourself. Note: this information only applies to version 6.x of the application. Visit the download pages to get the latest version of the application available for your product. To receive notifications about the release of new versions of the application, sign up for the TomTom newsletter for your product.

Link

 

[The Spook]

Digital,

I don't dispute that is written on the support page, but I'm sorry it is just plain wrong!

The limit of ov2's is 99, and that definitely does not include those pre-installed on the device (those in poi.dat).

Hey, check it out if you don't believe me. Count up those pre-installed on the device and the ov2's on your TT, you are probably already exceeding 100, right?

Don't you trust your friendly neighborhood Spook?

 

[The Spook]

.. but I am not sure what that limit refers to.. OV2 files, or specific POIs. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Sorry, it doesn't look like anyone fully answered your original question. The limit (99) only refers to the number of custom categories. Any category can have an unlimited number of POI locations in it (though be warned, very large files will cause your device to run slow and/or spoken instructions to become out of sync with the screen).

 

[Pilaar39]

Sorry, it doesn't look like anyone fully answered your original question. The limit (99) only refers to the number of custom categories. Any category can have an unlimited number of POI locations in it (though be warned, very large files will cause your device to run slow and/or spoken instructions to become out of sync with the screen).

ok, thanks!

 

[digital-flex]

Don't you trust your friendly neighborhood Spook?

I initially had about 80 POI categories, so I just installed 21 more POI's and low and behold they all show up.

You have 100% trust my friend.

TT should be certainly paying you because the documentation is soo wrong! But then again, why am I not surprised

 

[The Spook]

Hey, no problem. I have messed around a lot with ov2's. I share what I know...

You have 100% trust my friend.

Great, so point me!!

 

[digital-flex]

Hey, no problem. I have messed around a lot with ov2's. I share what I know...

Great, so point me!!

You got it.