AngryJames
"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kic
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2014
- Messages
- 28
Not sure if this is useful to anyone here, but I travel with my own SatNav (an old 3rd gen TomTom One).
All of this is only really applicable if you travel in your own hire car, stay off-property and explore lots of destinations. For me that includes Busch, Kennedy, Cocoa Beach, Old Town, Airboat tours, Jetskis, Malls, National Parks, and all the obvious parks and attractions.
I've seen a few downloadable POIs for Sat Navs, but they are all lacking, so I prefer to tailor my own.
Creating Favourites is a pain, and you are often limited in the number, whereas POIs are not so restricted. One caveat, all key destinations will need to be Favourites as well sadly, as POI ranges are often too restrictive to plan a route to them. In other words you will only see POIs in range, and this can be irritating. For instance if I'm at my Villa, Universal does not show up as a POI. I'd have to POI from a different point and that's a pain in the backside, so I mark Universal as a Favourite as well.
- I installed a US map set, that I have never upgraded. I think it was about £35 a couple of years back.
- I plan all the POIs in Google Maps (not Classic), as pins. I also make sure all car park entrances are the pins and NOT the park entrances themselves. A good thing about using Google Maps is you can easily share the maps with others online, or send out the maps in emails. You can also get sat. views, which makes finding certain things very easy, and you can save them for future trips and updates.
- I export all the map pins (I use different maps for different types, e.g. restaurants) into KML format (Keyhole Markup Language). That's a feature of the new Google Maps btw.
- Use a free tool (for Windows) to convert KML to, in the case of TomTom an OV2 file. I use PoiEdit 2007. Not sure about Garmin, I think they use CSVs.
- Follow the instructions (Google it) for putting the POI file onto your Sat Nav. For TomTom that means USB into the PC, and simply dragging and dropping the OV2s to the US map folder.
- Configure your Sat Nav to show POIs you are interested in and optionally to alert you when in range (either on route or in the area).
I love this approach because I can POI all the restaurants and snack places, and then set the TomTom to auto alert me when I pass within range. I don't have to pay TomTom to upgrade my POIs, and even if I did, they rarely have what I want on them.
I also POI all the cheap gas stations. Why pay $5 a gallon when you can get it for $3.50.
Anyway, probably not useful for most people, but thought I'd share.
All the best,
James
All of this is only really applicable if you travel in your own hire car, stay off-property and explore lots of destinations. For me that includes Busch, Kennedy, Cocoa Beach, Old Town, Airboat tours, Jetskis, Malls, National Parks, and all the obvious parks and attractions.
I've seen a few downloadable POIs for Sat Navs, but they are all lacking, so I prefer to tailor my own.
Creating Favourites is a pain, and you are often limited in the number, whereas POIs are not so restricted. One caveat, all key destinations will need to be Favourites as well sadly, as POI ranges are often too restrictive to plan a route to them. In other words you will only see POIs in range, and this can be irritating. For instance if I'm at my Villa, Universal does not show up as a POI. I'd have to POI from a different point and that's a pain in the backside, so I mark Universal as a Favourite as well.
- I installed a US map set, that I have never upgraded. I think it was about £35 a couple of years back.
- I plan all the POIs in Google Maps (not Classic), as pins. I also make sure all car park entrances are the pins and NOT the park entrances themselves. A good thing about using Google Maps is you can easily share the maps with others online, or send out the maps in emails. You can also get sat. views, which makes finding certain things very easy, and you can save them for future trips and updates.
- I export all the map pins (I use different maps for different types, e.g. restaurants) into KML format (Keyhole Markup Language). That's a feature of the new Google Maps btw.
- Use a free tool (for Windows) to convert KML to, in the case of TomTom an OV2 file. I use PoiEdit 2007. Not sure about Garmin, I think they use CSVs.
- Follow the instructions (Google it) for putting the POI file onto your Sat Nav. For TomTom that means USB into the PC, and simply dragging and dropping the OV2s to the US map folder.
- Configure your Sat Nav to show POIs you are interested in and optionally to alert you when in range (either on route or in the area).
I love this approach because I can POI all the restaurants and snack places, and then set the TomTom to auto alert me when I pass within range. I don't have to pay TomTom to upgrade my POIs, and even if I did, they rarely have what I want on them.
I also POI all the cheap gas stations. Why pay $5 a gallon when you can get it for $3.50.
Anyway, probably not useful for most people, but thought I'd share.
All the best,
James
