Guide to VW POI Collections loader site

[Yearofthegoat]

I used the VW POI Collections webpage to make a .db3 file, which can then be imported into the RNS510 using an SD card. As the webpage is in German, I thought I'd put up a guide in English so others can use it without having to learn German.

The page can be found at : http://www.volkswage...n-sammlung.html

On the first page is some info about the page itself - the most important part is that your RNS510 needs to have been manufactured in Week 22 of 2011 or later (i.e. newer).

1 Click on 'Neue POI-Sammlung erstellen' (create new POI collection) to start:

Next page lets you load your POI file. This can be one you've made yourself, or downloaded, but it has to be in one of three formats - ASC, CSV or GPX.

2 Click 'Browse' to browse to the file on your PC.

3 Give your collection a name e.g. 'MyPOIcollection' or 'PersonalPOI'

4 Choose an icon for your POIs - click 'Browse' to browse to the file you want to have displayed in the map on the RNS510. Only GIF, JPEG, PNG and BMP files are allowed:

5 Click 'Jetzt laden' (Load now) to continue:

The program does its thing with your files and then you get the next screen.

In this screen you can:

6 Edit your POI collection, if needed,

7 Add more POI categories if needed and finally,

8 Save your collection to a .db3 file

In the next screen there's a disclaimer saying VW doesn't guarantee the accuracy of your POIs(!). Also in this screen you

9 give the .db3 file a name. The name has to be longer than 9 characters and with no punctuation or spaces.

10 Click 'Jetzt sichern' (Save now) to save your .db3 file. You can save it directly to an attached SD card, or to another location on your PC for transfer to SD card later on.

Edited 4 September, 2012 by Yearofthegoat

[Yearofthegoat]

The next screen is a warning telling you that your .db3 file must go into a folder called 'PersonalPOI', which must be located in the root directory of the SD card. You can click 'Diesen Hinweis nicht mehr anzeigen' to stop this message appearing in future.

11 Click 'Weiter' (Continue) to continue:

The next screen is a standard Windows dialogue box asking you to choose where to save your file. Select the 'Save File' radio button, and 12 click 'OK' to choose a location. If this isn't directly to an SD card, remember where you saved it or you might not find it easily later when you want to put it on the SD card for transfer to your RNS510:

To transfer the POIs to your RNS510, insert the SD card into the unit and follow the instructions. There is more information elsewhere about the transfer process itself. I'm not sure (as I write) whether Transferring a new POI collection will overwrite your existing personal POIs or not, so please be sure you want to do it before you go ahead.

Finally, I tried it with a POI list I had of Tesco branches and it went in fine, along with a list of National Trust sites (which was too long for the free version of POInspect0r).

Anyway, hope this helps somebody!

Edited 28 August, 2012 by Yearofthegoat

[dcj99b]

Hi

This seems just what I need, but the link on the first post does not work.

Please can you tell me the proper address?

Thanks

Derek

[Dank top]

Here you go: http://www.volkswagen.de/de/navigation/rns-510/poi-listen-sammlung.html

[dcj99b]

Cheers, That look promising, Just need to translate the German.

Thanks Derek

[Yearofthegoat]

Sorry, the address has changed to that supplied above and I can't edit the post any more. I think the guide itself is still okay though.

[dcj99b]

Hi

I found the site and got it to work.

But it is donkey work, takes around 5 minutes per entry to create.

I don't like the Google Maps way of doing things.

I've found it quicker to export a .gpx file from Microsoft Autoroute or download .csv files

then edit each entry into a master template I've created.

One day soon I'll write up how I've done his.

One day I'll write an import routine.

For hose unterested in Churches or Bellringing a database of Churches can be downloaded from

http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/satNav/pois.php

ttfn Derek

[Yearofthegoat]

?Google maps?

I just shoved in my own .gpx files, some from my Garmin and some downloaded straight from the Internet.

I'll check out the site, sounds like it's changed.

[Yearofthegoat]

Just checked, all the same as before, just point the thing at your GPX file, give it a name (and an icon if you want) and it kicks out the .db3 at the end.

If you have multiple POI files to merge into the db3 file I guess it might take a while, but no longer than a few minutes if those files are all set up.

Oh and the whole point of the post was that the German is translated for you already.

Edited 3 February, 2013 by Yearofthegoat

[dcj99b]

Hi

I must be doing something wrong.

The site from your link comes up in German.

I'll look into that when I 've got time to play.

I don't like the .db3 file as it seems as though it overwrites my already existing Personal Poi File on the HDD, rather than merge into it, so I would need to built a big .gpx file to convert.

I am using .vcf files off the SD card, it seems to work OK for me, but each location has to be individually created, hence the need for a Master to load and edit.

We do "Towergrabbing" and might need 30 waypoints in a day, then never need them again. I need to have a word with Dovemaster ( from above) to see if they would add a .vcf export facility.

Must go now, wife say "Out the door You !!!"

[Yearofthegoat]

The site is German. The translations into English (i.e. how to use the site) are in posts #1 and #2 above and in the screenshots.

Yes, the db3 overwrites, so you're correct, you'd need everything in the one file.

[Hozz]

I tried using this system via the VW website and it all worked fine until I came to import them into the Columbus system. I then found that when I selected SETUP followed by Navigation the Personal POI box was greyed out so I am not sure how to import the POI's.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Only took delivery of my car today so am a bit of a newbie!

[Yearofthegoat]

I don't know why it's greyed out.

I put my db3 file onto an SD card - an empty one with just one folder called "PersonalPOI" (without the quotes) with the file in it. The folder must be on the card in the root directory (i.e. not in another folder, so the file path looked like this H:\PersonalPOI\PersonalPOI.db3) - and then when I put the card into the Columbus it read it, and I followed the menus from there.

Edit: On reflection, I think that's what I did - memory's going, must be early alzheimer's - if I get a minute tonight I'll try it all out again.

(Mods: can something be added to the top of this thread with the new URL for the VW site please, folks don't seem to read down the page! The new URL is http://www.volkswage...html Cheers)

Edited 17 April, 2013 by Yearofthegoat

[MacFadyin]

Still getting mine greyed out. In order to get all the European and UK files in I had to create several files

Also, where can I find the production date?

[MacFadyin]

Did some work on it last night and finally got it working.

Called the file "PersonalPOI" . Giveeach folder a name with 9 -20 characters, no spaces. I used something like "eurgatso050" and kept them all the same length in each category. Also, I loaded them into the car after creating each category. It's a bit more work but if it fails then it's obvious where the fault lies. Much easier than having to trawl through the entire folder.

[MacFadyin]

well that was no good. I rapidly ran out of space as it won't let me save multiple groups in one file.

[MacFadyin]

I still can't get this loaded. The website saves every category as a separate file . The Columbus will only import a limited number. Ideally I want all the European and UK Gatsos and redlight cameras but I can't even get all the European ones in.

Help!!!!

[Yearofthegoat]

Hmmm, don't know why it's greyed out. What's the source of your speed camera location data? If I can get it over the internet I'll give it a try.

For info, the .gpx file format (for example) is pretty simple, here's a file which contains 2 NT points:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<gpx

version="1.0"

creator="GPSBabel - http://www.gpsbabel.org"

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"'>http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0"

xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/0/gpx.xsd">

<time>2012-08-11T23:24:51Z</time>

<bounds minlat="-7.717300000" minlon="0.000000000" maxlat="5.441400000" maxlon="55.671300000"/>

<wpt lat="0.000000000" lon="0.000000000">

<name>Name</name>

<cmt>Name</cmt>

<desc>Name</desc>

</wpt>

<wpt lat="-7.717300000" lon="54.262800000">

<name>NatTrust Florencecourt</name>

<cmt>NatTrust Florencecourt</cmt>

<desc>NatTrust Florencecourt</desc>

</wpt>

</gpx>

So you can see that it's pretty straightforward, just need to strip out the lat/lon from your source into the same format as .gpx and I'd expect you could build a list long enough for all the speed cameras. There are plenty of freeware that will build you a .gpx or export to .csv (so you can edit it in Excel), maybe that could help.

[bobbie009]

I have tried using the VW site but when I try to load the data I get a message in German telling me my session has timed out. Any ideas?

[MacFadyin]

If you leave it inactive for more than about 5 minutes it will time out

[bobbie009]

I am using it straight after opening it and still it times out.

[MacFadyin]

Sorry ,can't help you further. It functions OK for me.

[bobbie009]

I have been using IE9 but tried the VW site using Chrome and it worked fine. Thanks for trying to help, much appreciated.

[Guest ProfesorDeBuceo]

Firstly, acknowledgements to Yearofthegoat. I found the VW site, and his explanation, extremely useful.

Guess I had a bit too much time on my hands when I put his explanation / translation into hard copy format. I found it useful to print out & refer to while on the POI site.

It's here if anyone wants it...

[MacFadyin]

Thanks,

That's the same as came up with. I'm still unable o get it to work though. Skoddy was built at the end of 2011,the software Is v. 3984 and hardware H61 sopresumeably afte wek 22?