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Okay, so we all know that POILoader sucks in one or more GPX/CSV files, munches and crunches the data, and spits out a file called poi.gpi into the \Garmin\Poi\ subdirectory on your microSD card, right?
...Ever wonder why they created a whole subdirectory to store one file...?
...Ever wonder if you could put more than one file in that folder...?
...Ever actually tried putting more than one file in that folder...?
For tonight's edition of "Silly Garmin POI Tricks", I'll use the POILoader program and the GPSr's USB Mass Storage interface to create multiple Custom POI files on a 76CSx, and along the way perhaps manage to justify this as something more than an effective treatment for chronic insomnia.
I'm not sure about everyone else, but I've got several sources of Custom POIs - benchmarks, places I want to find easily on business trips, well-reviewed restaurants I want to try .... oh yes, and caches - musn't forget those caches! Previously, I'd been tossing an assortment of GPX and CSV files into a folder, firing up POILoader, and letting it munch and crunch its way through all the files. It worked fine, but it was also kind of sad knowing that poor little POILoader was digesting 7000+ benchmarks - which I'll only update every month or two - just so I could get my much smaller geocaching POIs updated after the morning's PQ arrived.
If only there was some way to separate infrequently-changing POIs (like benchmarks) from frequently-changing POIs (like caches)...
For tonight's experiment, let's start by taking my benchmark file (since it's benchmarks for Massachusetts, I've been super-original and named it "MA Benchmarks.gpx"), tossing it into its own folder, and having POILoader chew it up and spit it out to the GPSr. Firing up the USB Mass Storage option afterwards, I see the expected file in the expected location on the microSD card (which shows up as Drive E on my Windows box):
So, I wonder what would happen if I simply renamed the 'poi.gpi' file that POILoader created, and called it something else...?
Well, let's tell Windows to unmount the drive, hop over to the GPSr, and see what's listed under Find -> Custom POI ... will the POIs still show up, or will they not show up at all, or will my GPSr perhaps explode into flames...?
Hey, those actually look like benchmark PIDs! (If you haven't benchmarked, just trust me on this - benchmark PIDs are kind of like the GCxxxx waypoint IDs for geocaches.) I guess I can put the fire extinguisher down now...
With only one POI database loaded, there's no Select Database option available, so I can't yet tell what the GPSr thinks my database is named - I'll check this a few steps further down.Okay, now let's fire POILoader up again, and this time point it to a small group of POIs that I use on trips to Virginia - this one called (with my usual originality) "VA Trips.gpx". Now when I use the GPSr's USB Mass Storage option, I see two files in the Garmin\Poi folder:
So let's once again try renaming the "poi.gpi" file that POILoader created - since it contains VA-related info, I'll keep it simple:
Unmounting the USB drive and heading to the GPSr's Find -> Custom POI section again, I find that I can now bring up the Select Database option, where I see both of my POI files listed:
Note that the filenames I used when renaming the "poi.gpi" file are irrelevant - Select Database names the entries the same as the source files, not the filenames on the actual microSD card. (Which is expected, since POILoader works that way even when it's combining everything into a single file.)
And let's do one more, just for good measure. I'll toss all my caching-related POI sources into another Windows directory, which will then contain the results of a "My Finds" PQ along with a bunch of other PQs that have been glued together by GPSBabel into a master "Unfound Caches" file. Fire up ye olde POILoader again, mount the GPSr as a USB drive again, and see what I've got:
Looks good - still have my previous renamed files, and the most recent 'poi.gpi' that POILoader created from my caching files. In this case I'm not going to bother renaming the 'poi.gpi' file, since this is the data that I'd expect to overwrite every few days anyways. Taking a quick peek over at the GPSr's Find -> Custom POIs section, I now see a mix of benchmarkd PIDs and cache waypoint IDs in the list, and Select Database shows the names of all the different source files I used:
In reality, this could all be done a lot quicker - either pop the microSD card into a USB drive, or hook up the GPSr with the USB cable and use the USB Mass Storage option, so that Windows and POILoader see the microSD card as a removable drive, run POILoader on the benchmark file, rename it, run POILoader on my VA business trip file, rename, run POILoader on the caching files, unmount drive, and voila. All the malarky with unmounting the drive between each transfer to check the GPSr was only done to see if each step was working like I'd expected. And now, as updated PQs arrive, I can just toss them into my caching POI directory, rerun POILoader (which only has to digest several hundred cache entries, instead of all that plus thousands of benchmarks and dozens of other non-caching points), and - voila - seconds later there's a new "poi.gpi" file with the latest/greates caching info inside, and I've still got the separate "*.gpi" files sitting on the card for those infrequently-changing databases.
So, as Joel and the 'bots would say to the mad scientists after an invention exchange: "What do you think, sirs?"
This will be useful in the future!
I just came across some good info on POI filename conventions on gpsinformation.org's 
