WDW GPS POI's

[Duane]

Title translation: "Walt Disney World Global Positioning System Points of Interest"

For those of you that either have a GPS or got one for Christmas, I thought I would share something that I found the other day that may be helpful for some, and just plain cool for others. I found on the Mousesavers website a section that provides POI's for WDW.

They have POI's for the TomTom and the Garmin units.

I just finished loading them on my Garmin Nuvi, and its pretty cool. There are POI's for restaurants, shopping, hotels, airport stuff, etc.

Now I'm sure that most of us on here can navigate the streets of WDW better than we can our own home towns, but I thought this was pretty cool.

You can get the info here

Let me know how it turns out....

 

[mamaloya]

Wow Duane, thanks. I got a TomTom for Christmas. Mine already has FW in it. I will have to check it out. I will have ds16 put them in for me.

 

[clkelley]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Mine is over a year old, so of course it has no idea about the Western Beltway and Western Way yet, so it really gets confused there.

I keep checking for updates, but nada.

 

[Duane]

From what I understand, this guy came up with these on his own. For instance, say you want to go to Citrico's, but didn't know which resort it was in... there is a POI for that.
Basically he set up the POI's for things that "Disney People" like us would use. He had the POI's broke down in categories like, shopping, drug stores, etc. Like for shopping, he has all of the Disney outlet stores listed. For groceries, he has all of the stores listed that are closest to Disney.

I guess what I'm saying, the POI's are specifically useful for things that most folks ask directions for while at Disney. They are not like the "canned" POI's that come with the units.

 

[TheGreatGonzo]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Mine is over a year old, so of course it has no idea about the Western Beltway and Western Way yet, so it really gets confused there.

I keep checking for updates, but nada.

I found the same thing with my Navigon.
It placed the FW address at the "T" intersection up by the Outpost cart path. Every time I reached that intersection it would say "You have reached your destination", at least my destination was deep within FW.
Also every time I left FW it kept wanting me to turn down the cast member road on the left just before the check in station bus stop.

 

[Minnie's Mate]

I bought my wife a new Expedition in March and it has a navigation system built in. Since her Expedition is gold and has a female voice, I named it "Goldie". In December, I bought a new F-250 with a navigation system built in. It has the same female voice, but my truck is black and really big so I name it Ursula after the sea witch in "The Little Mermaid". Sometimes I get into an argument with Goldie and sometimes with Ursula about which way to go when I know part or all of the way!

The first time we used my wife's navigation system, it was set to avoid freeways and Goldie kept telling me to make a legal u-turn until I got to the interstate headed to WDW. After I got to the interstate, she told me to get off the interstate every time I approached an exit. This continued from Atlanta to Valdosta. When we stopped in Valdosta for gas, we checked the settings and discovered the problem. What originally was estimated to take 15.5 hours to drive from Atlanta to WDW now took 3 hours 15 minutes from Valdosta to Saratoga Springs. Roughly the half way point from our home in Atlanta to WDW.

When I got my new truck, I made sure Ursula wasn't "afraid" to go on the interstate!!

 

[dmunsil]

I have found that GPSs work a little weird at Disney. For example on my Magellan, the preprogrammed address for Ft. Wilderness must be at Pioneer Hall, cause it said I still had a mile to go once I arrived at the check-in booth.

Also, when going to points off property, it wants to take me down Cast Member only roads. So I just basically ignore it on property and follow the purple signs, and it readjusts until we are in agreement on where to go.

Hi, I'm the guy who created these. I'm Don Munsil; Mary Waring (the creator of MouseSavers) is my sister. It's exactly the issues you mention that made me want to create these POIs. The points for Disney World that come with GPS units are way off from where you'd want to go, in many cases. They're not perfect anywhere else either, but the ones in Disney World are really bad. I think it's because a lot of the places in Disney World either have no address or a kind of fanciful address that isn't necessarily clearly marked.

The POIs in the file I made are set on the entrance driveway to the attraction, hotel, strip mall, etc., because generally beyond that you'll need to find parking and so forth. In the case of Fort Wilderness, the main point is right on the road leading to checkin, just off Vista Rd. But there are also points for Hoop-De-Doo and Mickey's Backyard BBQ, which lead to the parking lot just down the road. These points are for someone staying at a different hotel who is just driving to Fort Wilderness for the show.

I hope folks will get some value out of them; they're completely free. I just did them because I'm a Disney fan (and GPS nerd). Or is it GPS fan and Disney nerd? I did use them in WDW when I was there last month, and I can attest that they work, at least with my Garmin Nuvi 360 and TomTom Go 510.

I don't have Magellan files ready to post yet, but I do have a beta-testable Magellan file you can email me to get. The email address is at the bottom of the MouseSavers GPS page (it's a bitmap to avoid spambots).

Best,
Don

 

[Duane]

Thanks for the effort Don. I have the POI's loaded on my Nuvi 260, and the installation was seamless. I'm looking forward to trying them out in a couple of weeks when we fly down and stay in our DVC resort.

We usually camp, and my truck has the built in Ford navigation system from the factory. I got the Nuvi to use in rental cars when I travel for business, but was excited to find these while surfing the other night. We wiil be flying in and renting a car. I will let you know how things work out....

Thanks again.

Duane

 

[DznyRulz]

Woo Hoo, post #100!!! (change "pounds" to "posts")

Don,
Have you thought of posting your POI file at poi-factory.com? Your custom file would make a great addition. I made two Disney POI icons that are posted there.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Wow I didn't realize so many people use nav systems in their cars we like the good old paoer navigation system called a map LOL. We even turned the NAV system off in our rental car last Dec.

 

[incoo50]

Really appreciated the effort,installed them on my Garmin 660 and it works really well,having gps experience now for 7 years I can appreciate some problems but usually I found it gets you to eyeball closeness and from there its close enough.Looking at the POI provide they are very accurate on my mapping system,so again THANK YOU for the info and the trouble of making the list.

 

[dmunsil]

Have you thought of posting your POI file at poi-factory.com? Your custom file would make a great addition.

I like POI-Factory.com a lot - it's clearly the best POI site out there. But I think we want to keep this file MouseSavers exclusive. It's pretty MouseSavers-centric. I put in all the on-property stuff you might want to drive to, but the only off-property locations are the ones that Mary recommends or mentions on the MouseSavers site. (Which is a fairly large number, as it turns out, between the grocery stores, drugstores, some restaurants, non-Disney entertainment, etc. - I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this!)

There is actually a WDW file on POI-Factory which is pretty darn good. I looked at it before I started mine, to see if there was any need to make a new one. I think mine is a teensy bit more complete for the on-property, and has more off-property and Universal locations, but really that one on POI-Factory is good as well.

There are some other POI files out there for WDW, but most are either only useful for walking, because they put the POI location on the building and not on the driveway, or completely inaccurate, or incomplete.

If anyone using the file has suggestions, comments, or questions, I'm always happy to get feedback. I especially want to know if you feel like there's a point that could be in a better place. About 95% of them were checked in person by me, driving around Orlando with two GPS units suction-cupped to the windshield and another GPS on the passenger seat. But a few I couldn't get to before I had to leave, or added after my last trip, so they're positioned using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Windows Live Search (yes, all of them - I'm a little crazy).

Don

 

[LONE-STAR]

I like POI-Factory.com a lot - it's clearly the best POI site out there. But I think we want to keep this file MouseSavers exclusive. It's pretty MouseSavers-centric. I put in all the on-property stuff you might want to drive to, but the only off-property locations are the ones that Mary recommends or mentions on the MouseSavers site. (Which is a fairly large number, as it turns out, between the grocery stores, drugstores, some restaurants, non-Disney entertainment, etc. - I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this!)

There is actually a WDW file on POI-Factory which is pretty darn good. I looked at it before I started mine, to see if there was any need to make a new one. I think mine is a teensy bit more complete for the on-property, and has more off-property and Universal locations, but really that one on POI-Factory is good as well.

There are some other POI files out there for WDW, but most are either only useful for walking, because they put the POI location on the building and not on the driveway, or completely inaccurate, or incomplete.

If anyone using the file has suggestions, comments, or questions, I'm always happy to get feedback. I especially want to know if you feel like there's a point that could be in a better place. About 95% of them were checked in person by me, driving around Orlando with two GPS units suction-cupped to the windshield and another GPS on the passenger seat. But a few I couldn't get to before I had to leave, or added after my last trip, so they're positioned using Google Earth, Google Maps, and Windows Live Search (yes, all of them - I'm a little crazy).

Don

You dont live near disney

 

[dmunsil]

Thanks for the effort Don. I have the POI's loaded on my Nuvi 260, and the installation was seamless. I'm looking forward to trying them out in a couple of weeks when we fly down and stay in our DVC resort.

Really appreciated the effort,installed them on my Garmin 660 and it works really well

That's great to hear! Thanks for the kind words.

You dont live near disney

Nope, I live in Kirkland, Washington (near Seattle). I went down to WDW in early December with Mary on a part-vacation/part-business trip. She needed to do some hotel inspections and stuff and I did my GPS checks.

I kinda wish I lived near WDW. The distance is definitely a hardship. But I think I'm more suited to the Pacific Northwest. It adds contrast when I go down to Orlando in the middle of winter and it's 70 degrees outside.

Don

 

[DznyRulz]

Don,

I downloaded the zip file. You've put together an excellent package. It took me a little time to find it. I'd ask your sister to give you more prominent placement so it would be easier to find. The page you've put together should have its own link under More Information.

 

[JPG]

Great work, Don! I was thrilled to find them on the Mousesaver's website. I loaded them onto my Garmin StreetPilot c330 without a problem. They seem to be working fine. I look forward to using them on our upcoming trip to WDW this summer. Again, great work, and thanks alot!

 

[dmunsil]

You're welcome, and thanks for the compliments.

If you're going this summer, you might want to check the GPS page before you leave and re-download the files. I plan to incorporate feedback from users into the files as needed. I have a few tiny tweaks already, just minor name and address issues, that I'll be merging in sometime this week. And I'm going to try to keep up with Mary, so when she recommends a new place I can get it into the GPS file right away.

Have a great trip!

Don

 

[MrJimmyDale]

Heading to MouseSavers now........

 

[JCJRSmith]

Thank you Don. The files incorporated nicely into my TomTom One XL.

 

[Duane]

We tried out Don's POI file when we went back in February, and they worked like a champ. We pretty much know our way around WDW, but it was fun to see how the GPS routed us.