Merging Your Own Poi Files With The Built In Categories? Options

[Andy_P]

Edit: For simplicity, here are the results of what gets discussed at length in the rest of the topic.


If you have POIs that you have added yourself or POIs from sites like this, you can now add them to the BUILT-IN ones if you are using v7 software and maps.

You need to make a file in a text editor, consisting of:3 empty lines (just press return 3 times) followed by an asterix and then the four digit number from my list HERE of the category you want to add to.

Save the file as myPOIfile.inf where "myPOIfile" is the name of YOUR POI file, and put it in the same place as the POI file itself (i.e. your map folder).
Done.

The POIs from YOUR file will now show up in the list of TomTom's POI. Please note that your ones will retain their original icon, so if you want them to be the same as TomTom's ones, you'll have to make that icon or find it somewhere.

Here is a worked example:
Say you wanted to add some UK vets to the woeful TomTom-supplied POIs (no UK Vets at all)

1. Download a list from somewhere on the internet (I used POI Place which generates a list from Yellow Pages or similar). 2. Convert it to .ov2 format if necessary (I use POI Edit to do that).
3. Name it whatever you like. I called mine "UK_Vets_POI_Place.ov2"
4. Create a text file in Notepad and call it "UK_Vets_POI_Place.inf" or whatever matches the name you used. Make sure you have Windows set to show extensions of all filenames otherwise you will end up calling this "UK_Vets_POI_Place.inf.txt" WITHOUT KNOWING IT!
5. Edit the text file so it only contains the following:

(3 blank lines)



*9375

Obviously replacing the "9375" with the correct number for your chosen POI category (see link to list above).

Fuller chat and details in the following posts...


Original post:
OK - playtime....

Do this at your own risk....

If you have v7 software and have downloaded Mapshare corrections for POIs you will see they come as CAxxxx.ov2 files where xxxx is the number corresponding to the categories (I've done a list of all the codes HERE (as I never found where I'd put them before!). These manage to "link in" with the built in POIs in poi.dat.

If you have downloaded the add-on UK POI files for Doctors/Dentists/Police Stations and Pharmacies (from HERE) you will have noticed that they come as ov2 files with "ordinary" names like "gbr_doctors.ov2", BUT they also link into the original categories just like the mapshare ones.
I've discovered that this is done by a "linking file with an .inf extension and the same name as the add-on POI file (e.g. "gbr_doctors.inf").

Now, if you open that .inf file with Notepad, there SEEM to be just a few empty lines and then a line such as "*9373" which just so happens to be the same category number!

So far, all I have tried is renaming one of these .inf files to have the same name as one of my OTHER POI files, and it worked - my POIs merged into the main "Doctors" category.

What I haven't tried yet is:
1. Make an inf file from scratch
2. See what happens if you have TWO inf files for a category (for example MY doctors file AND the TT add-on file)

You can't just merge them because TomTom's ones are encrypted and can't be opened in POIEdit and the like.

Have a go people and report your findings... (but make sure you're backups are full and up-to-date first!!)

[Andy_P]

Come on slowcoaches!

I've just tried #1

I have successfully made a brand new POI category called "Test" and written an inf file so it merges with the built-in Petrol stations POIs.

EDIT: And I've just tried #2 and it works! You can have MULTIPLE files all merging into the main built-in POI category.
So you can have (for example) the main "Doctors" category PLUS the Mapshare corrections, PLUS TomTom's GB add-on file, PLUS your own file, all listed under "Doctor"

SOMEONE tell me I'm clever....

[lucifer the dark]

Excellent find Andy

Right now I've set up 9 extra poi for cinemas, 1 extra for doctors, 1 for Zoos & 1 for Libraries.

So far the only problem I've seen is misnaming of entries in the poi I've put in, this means there's 2 entries for some of them, nothing I can't fix with PoiEdit & a few minutes. When I say 2 entries I'm meaning 2 entries for a certain cinema not 2 categories called cinema.

ps the inf file for Libraries was created by me, not copied from an existing one, press enter 3 times add a * & type in the number from your list. Works perfectly!! Thanks Andy

This post has been edited by lucifer the dark: Nov 13 2007, 18:24

[lucifer the dark]

Something else I've just noticed, the poi added by me don't seem to be counted as Mapshare corrections & don't get uploaded for everyone else to enjoy.



Oh yeah, before I forget again, Andy you're clever

[Andy_P]

Thank you!

No, you'd have to add them one by one as Mapshare corrections, but then you'd get them appearing AGAIN on yours. Mighty confusing.
Shame that TT's ov2 files are encrypted or something, so you can't read them like ordinary ones. If you could do that, it would all be easy!

[lucifer the dark]

Well there's always the Ray way of doing it, extract the poi files from the poi.dat, add your poi data into them & then reinsert them back in. I did that with an older version & didn't have any problems.

[Andy_P]

You tried Ray's site recently? It's gone!

[DarrenUK]

"Shame that TT's ov2 files are encrypted or something, so you can't read them like ordinary ones. If you could do that, it would all be easy!"

I wish they weren't either. I've found that some of their pois have additional information such as a website address and a fax number. They appear to look like how a plain text file looks when you read it on the tomtom. There must be a way of adding or linking that type of infomation to a poi, but of course we can't open one up tp see how they did it. If you could do that, you could add opening times for a doctors etc.

This post has been edited by DarrenUK: Nov 14 2007, 11:23

[lucifer the dark]

You tried Ray's site recently? It's gone!

Where & why? has anyone heard from ray recently?

[Andy_P]

I last contacted him when I wanted permission to use the voices from his site for the PGPSW camera "ogg files" collection. He basically said "do what you like with them, I've not got time for TomTom stuff any more". So I thought the site wouldn't get much maintenance, but didn't think it would disappear completely. All those useful things gone...

[lucifer the dark]

Shame I'm pretty sure I've got most of the goodies he had available but not the info that goes with them, the most important part imho.

[lucifer the dark]

I've just noticed something else important for your merging technique, If you don't add the icon file for your ov2 the merged poi entries will use the built in TomTom icon instead & they don't show up in the categories list as extras.

I'm not sure how this affects the poi limit yet but I've got 110 ov2 files installed & only 35 of mine have the icons installed. Maybe they only count towards the limit if the icon is included?

[Andy_P]

TomTom told me last week that they had increased the POI limit to 300, but I wasn't sure if this was on ALL versions of Navcore 7. Looks like it is...

[lucifer the dark]

One of my extra ov2 files is for Showcase cinemas (linked to cinemas in poi.dat) & adding an extra icon for that file doesn't seem to add Showcase cinemas to the category list but does give it a different icon to the rest of the cinemas. Hopefully the limit has been changed already, if not this might be a very useful way round it.

Did I tell you you're clever?

[Bruce]

Works on my Classic now we owners with the vintage models have v7.161

I can put both the British and French doctor files, ov2 and inf, in the map directory and they get merged (in effect, not literally) into one POI category.

Well done Andy (and TomTom)

[Andy_P]

Are you still on v6 maps Bruce?

TT say the add-on files for GB Doctors/Dentists etc will ONLY work with v7.05 maps, but I don't believe them....

[Bruce]

Yes Andy,
I'm on version 660 UK&EI
Home didn't like me downloading the missed out POIs so I put them in manually and they work OK

[Bruce]

I thought it might also be worth adding that if you merge your own POI file with a TomTom POI category you can no longer edit those POIs of your own on the TomTom. To edit the name or delete or add one etc you'd have to do it with an external programme such as POIedit. So adjustments, for example to the positioning of a POI, will be more time consuming and in most cases will have to be done once you're home.

Perhaps you could do it by using TTExplorer to edit the appropriate info file to another name. Then reboot the TomTom, edit the POI normally and then rename the info file back to its original name and reboot again.

Complicated...sigh

[Andy_P]

I thought it might also be worth adding that if you merge your own POI file with a TomTom POI category you can no longer edit those POIs of your own on the TomTom.

Yes you can... (sort of)
If you have v7 software and compatible maps (v6.75 or above), you have access to MapShare.

So if you want to add a POI to a category that you have combined with a built-in one, you just mark it with the cursor on the map then tap the cursor button and select "Correct location" / "Add missing POI" (instead of the normal "add as POI")
It then gets added to your machine in one of the PAxxxx.ov2 files and can be shared or not, depending on your settings.

Hope that makes sense.

[Bruce]

Aah! I understand Andy.
I can't because I'm on 660 maps.

Edit Just a thought. So if you combine your own POIs with a TT category and then edit one of your own POIs will it be transferred to everyone else who has this feature of Mapshare selected? Could be interesting..

This post has been edited by Bruce: Dec 2 2007, 00:19