Destination Entry From Memory Card

[JAB]

P25 of the Columbus manual say that you can import destinations from an SD card. I notice that the title has an asterisk by it denoting this is optional. I have tried importing destinations saved using the VW Labs navcompanion but the option to import is greyed out on the edit destinations menu. Can anyone advise if this is because I am trying to import the wrong format of destinations or if it is a feature not enable on the Columbus at the moment. (I have an mp3 track on the card and the system plays this)

[fisher-diaz]

by creating a folder called destinations the option is not grayed out anymore. Although using vfc filesin the VW labs tool gave me errors. Maybe someone to help here?

[mannyo]

The file format needed is I believe VCF as used by MS outlook, I have read of problems getting entries read and someone had success by copying a single mp3 to the top folder on the sd card and it seemed to work after that for some reason.

[chough]

Hi,

Bit confused cos I cant find this reference in my Columbus Sat Nav manual (11/08), and i would dearly like to import my customer locations to the sat nav.

Any Help most appreciated

Thanks

[JAB]

The information given on p 25 only refers to the possibility of entering destinations from an SD card. I have worked out what to do with help from several members on this forum, including fisher-diaz who has given me the last piece of the puzzle.

• First you need an SD card (no bigger than 2GB)
  
• Connect the card to your pc and copy an mp3 track to it(this is needed to allow the Columbus unit to recognise there is an SD card inserted)
  
• Use your PC to create a folder called “destinations”
  
• Go to http://vwlabs.com/ and create an account (they don’t list Skoda cars so I said I had a 2009 Passat)
  
• You will get an email to activate your account.
  
• Once you are logged on chose NavCompanion and follow the instructions on the site.
  
• Before you can sync the destinations you have found using NavCompanion you have to install the sync software.
  
• Once the software has installed you can sync the destinations to your PC. (The first time I tried this I thought that nothing had happened but the destinations had been saved to the SD card.)
  
• The second time I tried it (after a software update) the destinations were synced to a folder called “destinations” in My Documents and all subsequent syncs have ended up there. (You just need to copy them to the “destinations” folder you created on your SD card.)
  

• Now remove the SD card from your PC and put it in the Columbus unit. The mp3 you copied to the SD card should start playing.
  
• Press the Nav button
  
• Press memory on the screen
  
• Then press edit memory
  
• Press Import Destinations
  
• Tick the destinations you want to import and press OK
  
• The imported destinations are now stored in the destinations memory of the Columbus system
  

I hope this is of some help

[Departed]

Am I missing something here? After following the above instructions, I seem to be able to only browse for destinations from Google Maps. Can I use the destinations in my Outlook Address Book, please?

Ray.

[mannyo]

Am I missing something here? After following the above instructions, I seem to be able to only browse for destinations from Google Maps. Can I use the destinations in my Outlook Address Book, please?

Ray.

you should be able to, as long as the address is valid and the nav system can locate it. Export the contact as a VCF file and copy it to the destinations folder and see what happens.

[Departed]

OK - I've got it now. I was (foolishly) expecting to be able to do a one-off, single action export from Outlook, instead of having to open each contact, select "Save As.." etc. Thanks for the help!

Edit: Having saved the files to an SD card, I followed the instructions. The Columbus wouldn't import any of the selected destinations, giving an "Input/output error" message. :(

Ray.

Edited 4 June, 2009 by Argee

[JAB]

I remember reading somewhere that Outlook doesn’t save the correct information for the Columbus to read. There are two examples of vCards below. The first is a contact exported from Outlook the second is from NavCompanion. As you can see the two are quite different. I think that the line starting GEO gives the GPS coordinates for the location and this is what is used by the navigation system. The address is only used as the name for the memory entry.

BEGIN:VCARD

VERSION:2.1

N:Blogs;Fred

FN:Fred Blogs

TEL;WORK;VOICE:0111234567

TEL;HOME;VOICE:01301234567

TEL;CELL;VOICE:0781412345

TEL;WORK;FAX:01142634200

ADR;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;11 Queens Buildings=0D=0ASavillStreen East;Sheffield;;S11UD;United King=

dom

LABEL;WORK;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:11 Queens Buildings=0D=0ASavillStreen East=0D=0ASheffield S11UD=0D=0AUnit=

ed Kingdom

BDAY:20090110

EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:[email protected]

REV:20090604T171747Z

END:VCARD

BEGIN:VCARD

VERSION:3.0

CATEGORIES:VIP

X-VIPCategory:Misc

ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;;;;;United Kingdom

X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;

GEO:53.74378;-0.27382

X-Flag:

REV:20070614T125300z

FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Hull Ferry - Hull Ferry Terminal, , , , , United Kingdom

UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3

END:VCARD

[Departed]

That's fairly conclusive, JAB - thanks!

Edit:

I got back in, then selected three destinations - Tower of London, The Dome and the London Eye. All were synced, but the Columbus rejected them with a "Can't verify data" error. When I looked at the files with Notepad, no co-ordinates!

Ray.

Edited 4 June, 2009 by Argee

[JAB]

Hi Ray

I have just tried importing the Tower Of London and got the following vCard

BEGIN:VCARD

VERSION:3.0

CATEGORIES:VIP

X-VIPCategory:Private

ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;Tower Hill;London;London;;United Kingdom

X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;

GEO:51.508598;-0.07633

X-Flag:

REV:20070614T125300z

FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Tower of London, Tower Hill, London, London, , United Kingdom

UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3

END:VCARD

Before I could sync I had to install v3.04 of the software. I uninstalled adobe air and NavCompanion before installing the new software. This time I was able to specify a destination folder on my SD card during installation, so I can now sync straight to my SD card.

The destination imported onto my Columbus with no problems and I was able to select it and calculate a route to it, I am not sure why your vcard did not contain all the correct information. Not sure what you can try next.:(

John

[Departed]

Mine simply shows:

BEGIN:VCARD

VERSION:3.0

N;CHARSET=UTF-8:;Tower Bridge;;;

ADR;CHARSET=UTF-8;TYPE=Work:;;Tower Hill;London;London;;United Kingdom

END:VCARD

I've got version 3.0.4., running on Vista Ultimate, service pack 2. Changing browser doesn't affect the outcome. I'm now at a loss, but not because I'm desparate to do it, more because I hate it when things don't work! Perhaps the character set used is responsible - how might I change that?

Ray

[chough]

Hi

Has anybody got any news on getting destinations into the Columbus from Microsoft Outlook?

I need to import about 60 or so and I really don't want to do it manually!

Many thanks

Chough

[Lobivia]

yop

hello everybody.

After 2 days of hard thinking, I found he reason why I can't get the GEO tag in the VCF files.

The reason is .... stupidly...if you don't have the good profile on the VW labs, they don't send you the correct information...

my precedent profile said that i should drive a banal audi A4 (with or without navigation system...i don't remember).

As no skoda are available, I mention that I have a tiguan and a navigation system that allow SD import....

Suddenly,i had the correct information in my VCF files... And last but not least, my columbus nav system allow me to sort destination by categories....Yesss. Every adresse imported are displayed with the good Icon...

Fantastic.

Edited 28 September, 2009 by Lobivia

[Departed]

With the help of both JAB and Lobivia I can now transfer destinations via SD Card to my Columbus - brilliant!

Ray

[hashi]

yop

hello everybody.

After 2 days of hard thinking, I found he reason why I can't get the GEO tag in the VCF files.

The reason is .... stupidly...if you don't have the good profile on the VW labs, they don't send you the correct information...

my precedent profile said that i should drive a banal audi A4 (with or without navigation system...i don't remember).

As no skoda are available, I mention that I have a tiguan and a navigation system that allow SD import....

Suddenly,i had the correct information in my VCF files... And last but not least, my columbus nav system allow me to sort destination by categories....Yesss. Every adresse imported are displayed with the good Icon...

Fantastic.

Lobivia,

You are an absolute genius! I had the exact same issue - I had inadvertantly downloaded the wrong s/w version. I had chosen a car model at random first time - I went back and chose 'Tiguan' and all has gone smoothly.

I dont know how you worked this problem out, but Im very glad you did!

Thanks mate!

Ian

[thepuss]

Folks,

some help appreciated.

I have access to vwlabs for the NavCompanion...

I have Adobe Air and the syncing is working fine

My profile on vwlabs says I have a 2010 VW Tiguan (I have a Superb II 2010, actually)

But...

none of my VCF files ever contain the all important GEO tag with the destination co-ordinates!

Any ideas? I've tried resetting my preferences to all sort of different (US) models.... no luck!

If necessary I will edit all the VCFs by hand and add the co-ords... but I don't really want to.

Without this GEO tag, the Columbus unit says "validation error" on each VCF file when loaded.

Puss

[spencem]

My profile on vwlabs says I have a 2010 VW Tiguan (I have a Superb II 2010, actually)

Puss

I have mine set to a 2009 Passat and it gives me the GEO tags fine. That is the only thing I can see is different...

[thepuss]

@spencem: Thanks for the advice. I changed my vehicle but same result.

However, since that worked for you, I deleted my VWLabs account and recreated it..

Now it works fine! I guess it just doesn't register a change of vehicle after account set up....?

Thanks!

Puss

[philpix]

I take it that all this is for Windoze and not Mac?

Phil

[thepuss]

All you need is an SD card, a SatNav unit capable of using it eg: Columbus, and access to

www.vwlabs.com which has free registration.

Make sure you pick a suitable model car in your profile *when you first set up the account*

(that was my problem... I picked a car that didn't use a system compatible with the Columbus unit so it didn't generate the vcf files with the GEO tag in them. Then I found that no matter waht I change the "my car" to, it still didn't work, so I had to delete the account and start again.)

I use a "2009 VW Passat" setting and it works fine.

Then as long as your Mac can download "Adobe Air" (and I understand Air v2.6 runs on OS X) which is needed for the Sync from website to computer, you should be fine. You don't "have" to sync to the SD card. you can sync to a hard disk directory, then copy to the SD card later.

Make sure the vcf files are all in a directory on the SD card called "destinations", and make sure you have at least 1 MP3 file in the root of the SD card, otherwise the Columbus unit will assume it is empty!

(but to answer your direct question, I am running from Windoze, so NOT I'm 100% sure it works on Mac, but its the Adobe Air bit you'd need to check)

Puss.

Edited 22 May, 2011 by thepuss

[philpix]

All you need is an SD card, a SatNav unit capable of using it eg: Columbus, and access to

www.vwlabs.com which has free registration.

Make sure you pick a suitable model car in your profile *when you first set up the account*

(that was my problem... I picked a car that didn't use a system compatible with the Columbus unit so it didn't generate the vcf files with the GEO tag in them. Then I found that no matter waht I change the "my car" to, it still didn't work, so I had to delete the account and start again.)

I use a "2009 VW Passat" setting and it works fine.

Then as long as your Mac can download "Adobe Air" (and I understand Air v2.6 runs on OS X) which is needed for the Sync from website to computer, you should be fine. You don't "have" to sync to the SD card. you can sync to a hard disk directory, then copy to the SD card later.

Make sure the vcf files are all in a directory on the SD card called "destinations", and make sure you have at least 1 MP3 file in the root of the SD card, otherwise the Columbus unit will assume it is empty!

(but to answer your direct question, I am running from Windoze, so NOT I'm 100% sure it works on Mac, but its the Adobe Air bit you'd need to check)

Puss.

Cheers for that, I'll give it a shot.

Best Phil

[Guest]

Cheers for that, I'll give it a shot.

Best Phil

Works fine Phil, used it for about 3 years.

Ian

[philpix]

Tried everything but no joy.

Phil

[thepuss]

Tried everything but no joy.

Phil

Well throw us a bone at least!

How much and what bits of "everything" did you try?

Puss.