Garmin GPS - nuvi 650 [6xx?] issue

Author

nuvi 650 [6xx?] issue

SamSez

2007-06-19, 10:33 pm

Sorry to vent, but:

I am very disappointed to learn that there is no way I can use mapsource
to create nuvi waypoints [favorites] with any useful information
[address, phone number, etc] other than the name. Nothing I include in
the waypoint in mapsource ends up in the transferred favorite other than
the name. I knew before I bought that I couldn't transfer routes down,
or tracks up, but I surely expected that I could at least create poi's
with as much information as the built-in poi's using garmin's own PC
mapping software.

Well, I was wrong.

Trading emails with garmin, it appears the only way I can get even a
phone number from the PC to the nuvi is using the unsupported [yes,
according to that same email, unsupported] POI loader. But the POI
loader needs a csv file, and mapsource doesn't write csv's. Sure, I
suppose I could play with gpsbable to do format transformations combined
with sed/awk edits, but if I have to resort to doing that, I may as well
get a cheap no-name GPS in the first place!

What happened to the good old days when garmin products played nice with
each other? I mean, it's one thing when products from different
companies have compatibility issues, but geeze, this is all under the
same roof! I really don't think it was out of line for me to have had a
reasonable expectation of interoperability -- at least at the waypoint
level.

And if I do edit-in a phone number [on the gps itself], when I upload it
to mapsource, all is lost but the name. So much for saving, merging,
trading of waypoints...

This is not a step forward. [Though please, correct me if the garmin
email was wrong.]

Sigh...

Phil Hornby

2007-06-20, 4:33 am

"SamSez" <samtheman@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9954E696DF82
Dsamthemanverizonnet
@127.0.0.1...
>
> Sorry to vent, but:
>
> I am very disappointed to learn that there is no way I can use mapsource
> to create nuvi waypoints [favorites] with any useful information
> [address, phone number, etc] other than the name. Nothing I include in
> the waypoint in mapsource ends up in the transferred favorite other than
> the name. I knew before I bought that I couldn't transfer routes down,
> or tracks up, but I surely expected that I could at least create poi's
> with as much information as the built-in poi's using garmin's own PC
> mapping software.
>
> Well, I was wrong.
>
> Trading emails with garmin, it appears the only way I can get even a
> phone number from the PC to the nuvi is using the unsupported [yes,
> according to that same email, unsupported] POI loader. But the POI
> loader needs a csv file, and mapsource doesn't write csv's. Sure, I
> suppose I could play with gpsbable to do format transformations combined
> with sed/awk edits, but if I have to resort to doing that, I may as well
> get a cheap no-name GPS in the first place!
>
> What happened to the good old days when garmin products played nice with
> each other? I mean, it's one thing when products from different
> companies have compatibility issues, but geeze, this is all under the
> same roof! I really don't think it was out of line for me to have had a
> reasonable expectation of interoperability -- at least at the waypoint
> level.
>
> And if I do edit-in a phone number [on the gps itself], when I upload it
> to mapsource, all is lost but the name. So much for saving, merging,
> trading of waypoints...
>
> This is not a step forward. [Though please, correct me if the garmin
> email was wrong.]
>
> Sigh...

I don't think you'll need to resort to 'sed' ;-)

POI Loader reads .gpx files as well as .csv's - and it's gpx files that let
you specify that extra information...

Have a look at:

--
http://GeePeeEx.googlepages.com

GPX Editor for Garmin Automotive Units

Jack Erbes

2007-06-20, 3:33 pm

SamSez wrote:
> Sorry to vent, but:
<snip>

You have my sympathy about the continued dumbing down of Garmin products.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried saving the waypoints from
MapSource as a *.gpx file and copying that file to the SD card?

Some of the newer models will read that *.gpx file (it only does it
during power up I think) and offer to import things from it. It could
be that going that route might import more of the data.

Jack

Phil Hornby

2007-06-20, 3:33 pm

"Jack Erbes" <jacker@midmaine.com> wrote in message
news:467979b2$0$2056
5$4c368faf@roadrunne
r.com...
> SamSez wrote:
> <snip>
>
> You have my sympathy about the continued dumbing down of Garmin products.
>
> Just out of curiosity, have you tried saving the waypoints from MapSource
> as a *.gpx file and copying that file to the SD card?
>
> Some of the newer models will read that *.gpx file (it only does it during
> power up I think) and offer to import things from it. It could be that
> going that route might import more of the data.

That's the sort of mechanism that Mapsource uses with these units - any data
found in such a file gets incorporated into the "Favourites" - but a lot of
the potentially interesting stuff gets stripped off (such as proximity
alerts, attached Jpegs etc). The way to get access to these features, is to
let POI Loader 'compile' the gpx file into a .GPI file.

--
http://GeePeeEx.googlepages.com

GPX Editor for Garmin Automotive Units

SamSez

2007-06-20, 10:33 pm

Jack Erbes <jacker@midmaine.com> wrote in news:467979b2$0$2056
5
$4c368faf@roadrunner
.com:

> SamSez wrote:
> <snip>
>
> You have my sympathy about the continued dumbing down of Garmin
products.
>
> Just out of curiosity, have you tried saving the waypoints from
> MapSource as a *.gpx file and copying that file to the SD card?
>
> Some of the newer models will read that *.gpx file (it only does it
> during power up I think) and offer to import things from it. It could
> be that going that route might import more of the data.
>
> Jack
>

Doesn't appear to make a difference. Either a direct 'download' or a
transfer via .gpx looses everything except the name. Towards the end of
the help file for the poi-loader, there is an ugly description of the
file edits that need to be made to even get a simple phone number
transfered. If microsoft ever sold hardware quite as incompatible with
their own software as the nuvi and mapsource are, I expect it would make
the new york times.

Bruce.

2007-06-20, 10:33 pm

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