POI Maker
 

Make POI IDX and URL files for the Mk4 nav easily with POI Maker

An Excell spreadsheet that generates the IDX and URL files at a click of a button

POI Maker Website

Kiwi, that was really a very nice present for everybody that wishes to understand something more about how to create POIs. I really appreciated this and and believe others will, as well. :thumbup: :rofl:

nice! how can i make it to display POI_POLICE.PNG icon for my added locations?

1 typo in the file "5-series E38"

This has nothing to do with POI maker.
You have to put your icon into the appropriate folder and update the reference into the xxx.lsc file.

question for Kiwi:
as the POI list is really long (more than a thousand items) is there any "easy" way to import data form .asc/.csv. or any other format into your excel column?
I tried several ways but it is not possible to cut-and-paste just a single column. Typing manually would require agesssssssssss :rolleyes:

Hello. Good job Kiwi. I tested yesterday, looks OK. Before, I opened asc/csv with excel to edit than saved and converted with asc2url. Now similiar I can opened asc/csv with excel but I used copy/paste of each column to your spreadsheet than one clik and the IDX and URL files are generated. What I see is difference with IDX file size using this 2 methods, yours is much smaller because consists only POI names. Is it OK? Do you have also macro for reverse operation from IDX/URL to excel?

Just a question, how did you copy a single column (let's say longitude) from the asc/csv file into the Kiwi spredasheet column? :dunno:

Exactly what I said, using excel to open asc/csv, edit what I need, than copy/paste columns to Kiwi's spreadsheet one by one. I will try to make macro to do it automatically later today, this shouldn't be difficult.

Of course you can copy/paste a column

Mark the cells you want to copy
Copy them
Go to POI Maker, highlight the top cell
Paste

PS: There are plenty of "How to use Excel" instructions on the Internet :D

Smaller than what?
If you think something is not right, send me (email) your IDX files for analysis

Of course :-)

Fixed in v1.0.1, now available

...my dear friend...:confused:...fact is that if I open the asc or csv file with excel I get single rows that include all data...when I need data to be separated in single cells. Do I make myself clear?
I mean I have the whole POI's string (long, lat,name and so on) in one single cell..while I would like to have them in separate cells, that makes separate colums....

I have to post a pic...

Excel Lesson #105:
You need to set the separator character in the ASC / CSV file to the same as what your PC is using (refer to your regional settings)

Very Nice Work Jochen...

Hopefully people will make avail some of their created/modified files ;) ;)

Maybe someone will make a POIson-like patch.exe appliction, next... that we can use for enabling our own customized sounds, instead of ONLY patching for Military_POIs as sound alerts :) (since the author wont release the source code to the original, i guess a Diff before and after might help... hmmm so much to do..)

Anybody can change any sounds they want using PoiSon, so I don't understand what you are wanted re customised sounds.

And there is only ONE unused POI category that can be hacked, and that is Military Bases.

Right.. there is only one, because the Military Bases is the only ONE that the PATCH changes... The same logic can be applied to other POI's or even new categories..

Go for it then, patch navboot for multiple POIs and tell us how well it works

see what the problem is?

I tried sevaral ways. Succedeed in dividing data form one column in three separate columns, but now I have the problem with the lat and long digits


http://i49.tinypic.com/zy8r3m.jpg

Looks fine to me. Just correct the formatting of the lat / long from text to decimal notation

Well, taking advantage from the bad weather in Roma I did not go sailing but stayed in front of the fireplace...messing up with the excel POI maker.
Great work by Kiwi. I studied the macro and learned a lot.
I only have one question so far. The heading of the file is always "Gphi" even if I select HIGH. Nevertheless I modified the macro to have "Glambda". I guess it is not a critical item, but it is just to understand why it does not work...soon I will test the output files and post the results. :D

Because I do not understand the difference between phi and lambda

I believe there is no real difference, they are actually two letters from greek alphabet, maybe just different identification.
BTW I made my own POI files with your excel wsheet and I will try them as soon as possible. If everything is ok I will post a step-by-step guide to explain how to easily (I hope) get lat,long and name to put into wsheet.

That I can do
Lat,Long:
1. Copy lat/long from Google Earth
2. Paste into worksheet

Name:
1. Write name in worksheet

Done!
:-)

My friend. I didn't mean this. I mean take data (for more than 12.000 POIs) from .asc file and put them in the correct value into worskheet...

Just as easy:

1. Copy latitude column
2. Paste into POI Maker latitude column

Repeat for Longitude and for Name
Add any other desired data

Very easy.

hmm. can´t get it working (2010 Europe HIGH map). i replaced original 0081.idx and 0082.url with my POI_Maker files (81 and 82 are police department tables, no changes in eng.lsc needed). i get empty menu under police departments. excel file contains lat, long and name fields, rest are "No".

what is this excel sheet for? i mean, you can download several speedcam lists in the web, why do them yourself?

Because POIs are more than just speed cameras

AND the speed camera lists on the web are very simple with very little data (really they are quite incomplete)

With POI Maker, you can
- add all POI data to the POI. Eg street name, house number, speed limit data for speed cameras, direction of camera (for speed cameras), and whatever other data you want
- add ANY POI data, eg McDonalds Restaurants, Family and Friends, Company Locations, etc etc etc

If you enter no data in the Sheet, then the menu will be empty!
Remember, the search results show the data in the URL file. If you only have NAME and no other data, there will be nothing to show.

As for the IDX file, of course, you must check that the IDX field names you use are the same field names that are used in the Search Results HTM file.

I see that you have called the name field POLICE, so you must edit your SF_xxxx.HTM file to reflect the changed name.

Anyway, send me by email the original IDX and URL files, and your Excel file
I will compare for you. Maybe there is a small bug...

PS: I am also working on POI_Extractor, so that you can extract the data from any existing IDX and URL file, then you can insert the data into the Excel sheet and edit it, and then re-save new IDX and URL files.

i´ve just sent you the files. i didn´t edit the SF_xxx.HTM file (didn´t know that i had to). i´ll give it another try. one thing i saw is that if no data under ENTP1 formulas need to be deleted or it will include the 166666666 values in .url file.

Well, your index IDX file has these fields in it

ID:I:3|POS:P:8|POLICE:S:16

As you said you did not edit the SF_xxxx.HTM, the SF file will still be looking for the original name (like NAME, SELNAME, etc)

You changed the name to POLICE and that is why the data cannot be displayed.

Please read and follow the instructions:
"Enter the title of the NAME field as per your SF_XXXX.HTM file. The NAME field varies: SELNAME, NAME_sco, or just NAME are examples of what you might see."

ok. i need to enter SELNAME to excel (all .idx files on 2010 DVD have SELNAME:S:) and generate new files. then it should work.

print out the lsc.file and you will realize why. Anyway there is a good english documents that explains very well how and where modify files. What Kiwi is trying to tell you is that it is not just a copy and paste procedure, but you have to replace the reference in all the files. I did by myself form the scratch and it works perfectly and I did my own display menu.

it very easy indeed, but when you open the .asc file it is not yet divided in column and you have to do it; then you have to convert numbers or the format does not work. My intent is to create a macro that:
- takes the full string from the single row;
- divides string into column (at least lat, long and names)
- converts lat and long in the appropriate format (divide by 1000000 and put 6 decimals)
- moves the column in the appropriate column of POI maker

Email me the ASC file so i can see the format

Actually it is a simple .asc file generated by POIedit - nothing more nothing less - then I just open the file with excel but I got only single rows, this is way.
BTW I modified your excel wsheet to have the .idx and .url heading as required (I know it is not a critical item) but it was to understand a little bit more about VBA.
Now I have added other sheets in the POI maker from where I can pick up the data already converted in columns.
My goal is now to "push a button" to convert one row data into three columns. I'm studying VBA... :yawn:

i still haven´t managed to get this thing working. 2010 HIGH has different field names (original .url files contain POSWGS:S:19|NAME:S:35|STREET:S:44|HOUSENUMBER:S:4| CITY:S:52|ZIP:S:8|PHONE:S:17|FNM:S:0|NT:S:1|FACPAG E:S:67|_:S:3 but POI_Maker .url files contain POSWGS:S:19|NAME:S:16|VILLAGE:S:0|CITY:S:3|STREET: S:3|HOUSENUMBER:S:3|PHONE:S:11|COUNTRY:S:5|BRANDNA ME:S:3|NSW1:S:1|IMPORTANCE:S:1|ENTP1:S:19|ENTP2:S: 0|ENTP3:S:0|ENTP4:S:0|_:S:1)

so what? :rolleyes: you only need to fill the one that you need. For POI basic infos are lat,long and name tha is it. :D

But in POI Maker you have the full flexibility to use any names you want.

Note that the names in the 2010 HIGH map vary according to what URL category you are looking at - some categories have more names than others.

When making your own category, you decide what data you want in the URL file, and then set the names to what you want.

Remember, the names in the URL file drive what information can be displayed on the Search Results screen.
If you want lots of detail, and click-able phone numbers, add them to your URL file!
If you want nothing more than NAME, then delete the other names.

It's that simple!

so i should modify this line in the .url POSWGS:S:19|NAME:S:16|STREET:S:0|HOUSENUMBER:S:0|C ITY:S:0|ZIP:S:0|PHONE:S:0|FNM:S:0|NT:S:0|FACPAGE:S :0

to look like this POSWGS:S:19|NAME:S:16 ? or i just leave them be with the 0 value?

The length of the data is calculated automatically by Excel (as long as you leave the formulas intact).

The names that you use are governed by the HTM Search Result file that you use.

I do not know what category POIs you are adding (Flower Shops?) and how much detail you want to show (just Name? Or Name, Photos, Address, and Owners's Name?).

What you enter in the URL file depends purely on what YOU want to do with the data !!

flower shops:D it´s getting frustrating. i can´t get it to display these damn POI´s, empty menu and no POI´s whatever i do. i´ve wasted like 10 DVD´s. has anyone managed get it to working with 2010 DVD?

Kiwy, as promised I start playing around.
I did POIs with your asc2mk4_high and your POImaker.
BTW if you look at the pics I have a problem with your files.
In the first pic (POIs with asc2mk4_high) you can see that I have on the left hand side the icons where I can click and get infos for the POI.
I do not have these on the other pic where POIs were made with your POI maker.
Any idea why this happens? :dunno:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2463ous.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/jjyd5j.jpg

This means the IDX file is working properly: you can see the names and the locations

But the link to the URL file is not working.

Send me both working POI IDX and URL files, and non-working files, and I will compare.

Do you have an email address please?

Yes, I was thinking the same..what If I use asc2mk4_high .idx and poimaker .url??? :stickpoke

My email address is shown in POI Maker (I will not post it here because I don't want spam)

correct. No problem my apologize. I will send immediately. BTW I made a mixed DVD too. .IDX file made with POImaker and .URL made with asc2mk4_high ...see what happens later today. :rolleyes: when I test the DVD

Kiwj,

good news. The mixed DVD - .idx made with excelPOImaker, and .url made with asc2mk4_high - works perfectly, assuming that the databse is the same.
This means that the .url produced by excelPOImaker has something wrong.
I compared the files, but besides the capital letters I wa not able to see differencies.:dunno:
I look forward for your testing.

Kiwj...you got mail..I replied :popcorn:

i can see my POI´s from the search list with all the info but they are more than 6000 km away from where they should be (i think they were there many tries ago but i didn´t use "ANY" for search before). so i tried to move longitude data to latitude and vice versa but POI´s remained 6000+km away from the right place... ideas?

I believe you made mistakes with lat and long coordinates. I made some changes and today I will check again the results :p:

lat and long coordinates are correct. i think it doesn´t work cos all POI´s have the same name. i´ll try with different names.

edit: this didn´t help... maybe i should create new menu instead of using police departments. wasted a lot of DVDs.

Actually I did several dvd using POI Maker but they are not working properly. The bug is that I see the POIs with appropriate coordinates and distance but I do not see the details. Probably there is a problem with .url file. I thougt it was because I actually made some changes to the Kiwj excel sheet, so I made another dvd with the orginal POImaker without any change. Unfortunately the result did not change. Then I also made another dvd with .idx files orginated by POImaker and .url files originated by asc2mk4_hig..well, it worked!!! :wow:
I want to resolve the issue of the url but so far I donot know where to look..:dunno:

it´s not working. i am done with this. last thing i tried is to enter missing _´s at the first line of .idx and .url, but still nothing. it´s strange that some original .idx/.url files have 1 _ some have 2 or 4 _ and some have none. last DVD i burned had 310 POI´s, names were numbered xxx1-310 and it could only find POI´s with numbers 220 and 22. from total 310 it found 18 and they were all 220 or 22.... (and 6000km away). i am sure i did everything correct.

usually I use asc2mk4_high or asc2idxurl_mk4 and I never had any problem. Fast and easy. But I want to have PI maker working :D

well...I have been trying many many times and burned several DVDs. the last one without any changes to POI Maker except - of course - of POIs data.
Result: same :dunno:: I see POIs but I do not have the "link"...
THis does not happen with other software...:confused:
What is the fuc...ing problem the damn POI maker has???:rolleyes:

i got my POI´s working under separate menu i made. did idx with asc2idxurl and url with POI Maker (idx files were different with POI Maker and asc2idxurl). all info and links are working. only thing what didn´t work was POI icons cos i had it changed (used ms paint to add some colour, what program to use if i want to change the look of original POI? or is it possible?)

As already said I did the same. At this point I am sorry to say that POI maker is not working. It is a pity as it was a big effort from kiwj.
It is a non sense using two programs to have the dvd working. But I woould like to understand where the problem is....
To change icon you have to replace the image file under icons folder. Easy and simple...:thumbup:

this is what i did, i took the POLICE.PNG renamed it to needed name and modified it with ms paint (added a little blue and red colour) but i didn´t see them on my nav this way...

you have to append the xxx.lsc file of the language you are using.
BTW I am not using any more POI maker. It does not work. :dunno:
I stay with asc2mk4_high. :thumbup:

i know it, i have these lines in ENG.lsc

ICONDSC 104 G508-G524-S028/ICONS/NAVI0X/POI_POLK.PNG+G539-I1+G523-I2+G522-I1+G521-I2!
ICONDSC 104 G508-G524-S024/ICONS/RR/POI_POLK.PNG+G539-I0+G523-I2+G522-I1+G521-I2!

and i have POI_POLK.PNG (copy and rename of original POI_POLICE.PNG) in both of these folders. it still doesn´t show me POI´s on screen... i wonder what those S028/S024 mean? these values are not the same for all ICONDSC lines.

those are the characters lenght of the string and must be appropriate. Count the letters of the string...:D.
Did you mangae to have idx ad url from POImaker working?? :rolleyes:

good info tnx! no i didn´t get POI Maker working. i gave up with that. it generates a faulty idx file.

Yes, I hope Kiwj will take care of his excel sheet. Or it would be good tohave his advice. So far asc2.... is the best and fastest option

now it´s fully working! finally:p:

That's fine. I did the same and my menu if fully personalized, so far I am using only asc2mk4_high and asc2idxurl_mk4