I am trying to enter via an SD card a lot of destinations to my wife's Amundsen+ on her new Skoda Rapid, I will also want to enter them on my Octy when it arrives.

 

I have found a thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/268803-amundsen-sat-nav-sd-destinations/?p=3497407 on the MkII forum that would appear to do what I need but something I am doing is not working.

The last post on the above thread by pmillson says to:

 

 

- go to http://www.volkswage...navigation.html and follow the instructions. Just enter a postcode in the box marked 'Ort', hit 'Suche starten', then select one of the places in the list and hit 'Speichern'. This will download a vCard of the chosen destination with the extension .vcf.

 

- Create a folder 'Destinations' in the root directory of a standard SD card.

 

- Copy the vCard you have downloaded to that 'Desinations' folder.

 

- Insert the SD card into the Amundsen, select 'Nav', then select any of the symbols for choosing a desination - Address, Destination Memory or Last Destinations.

 

- Machine should say 'Preparing vCards', then the bottom left button will change to 'SD Destinations'

 

- Select 'SD destinations', and the destination you downloaded will be displayed. You can import it to the machine's main memory or just select it and start navigation.

 

Now you can create your own vCards to navigate to any lat/long co-ordinates. The following is the minimum code required:

 

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:55.726302;-1.952211
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Cocklawburn
END:VCARD

 

The co-ordinates must be in the form above, i.e. decimal, not minutes and seconds.You can get co-ordinates from Google Maps by right-clicking on a point and choosing 'What's here?', or you can convert from OS grid using a host of web pages and apps. The FN; line is the name of the destination. So simply copy and paste the above into a text editor (e.g Textedit (Mac) or Notebook (Windows)), substitute your own co-ordinates and place name, save in a PLAIN TEXT document with any filename you like (Amundsen will just read the FN name) and the extension .vcf, , and save to your SD card. One card per destination.

 

Works very well and a lot cheaper than scrapping the machine and buying a Columbus, which is what I was facing.

 

I have saved the  suggested:

 

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:55.726302;-1.952211
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Cocklawburn
END:VCARD

 

with a .vcf file ext and that opens a vcard in outlook, however clicking 'Map it' (Bing Maps) does nothing. There is no address shown on the vcard and the card only shows 'Cocklawburn'

 

I have also tried the above with one of my destinations, changing the GEO and renaming the FN and then saving with .vcf ext, still no luck. If I enter the c-ordinates directly into Bing Maps it goes straight to it.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong, I have struggled for a couple of days trying to get something to work without success!

Many of my destinations are what you might call out of town and postcodes  can be a distance away from where I need to be. I may need the 6th field along a country road. I can find the decimal lat' and lon' using Google Earth and need to find a way of entering that into a vcard to use with the Skoda Amundsen+ satnav.

 

Using the VW link does generate a card however this only seems to work with post codes not co-ordinates.

 

I hope someone can come up with some advice.

 

 

  Err, might have this sussed, I really blame the dodgy SD card, yip that was it, no question. But it's just possible that there may have been a tiny, miniscule amount of user error

 

I had a typo in my notepad text, which did not help must have missed it dozens of times but still didn't spot it. Loaded up one vcard which the car seemed to like as it went in fine. I've now entered into notepad all the other co-ordinates and just need to convert them all to .vcf

 

Should only take another couple of hours.....

 

Is there a way to back up the Amundsen+

Back to the drawing board.

 

Using the VW link and a post code does download a vcf card but this is named as the postcode. changing the name and or file name using Save As does not change anything. Okay you can now put the card on an SD and put in the car, select destination from SD card which then shows the post code. Import the destination then select edit, then delete the post code and enter in the destination name.

 

There just has to be an easier way!

 

I have all my destinations on an Excel spreadsheet with both Post Codes and Lat - Lon references but do not know how to convert them to  vcf so the car can read them. I have tried using the Lon and Lat like above (55.726302;-1.952211) using notepad - save as -(Name) in Destinations on the SD. Put SD in car and 'No destinations found'.

 

One post code using the VW site resulted in the message " destination is not on a digitized road'.

 

All in All a rather frustrating task!

 

Okay Plan B.

 

Is there a way to enter by SD card all my destinations - as individual Vcards - in one go? Converting from my Excel file to vcard. Vcards generated by Toyota do not work so there would seem to be a specific way of entering the details or mapping maybe, hell, I don't know I'm an OAP trying to be Bill Gates!

 

Anybody found a program to do this from Excel to Amundsen+???

Edited 18 November, 201411 yr by ajw1100

If you change the 'FN' (Formatted Name) property in the vCard the title should change from the Postcode which would save you a step (in-car).

Hi Mort.

The Vcard generated from the VW site is just that, a finished Vcard, I have tried to 'rename' it and used 'Save As' and 'File as' with a new 'name' but it seems impossible to change the post code to a 'name'. Seems you can only do this in the car.

 

If I could alter the format of:

 

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:55.726302;-1.952211
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Cocklawburn
END:VCARD

 

To:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0

POSTCODE:XX236ZZ
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Cocklawburn
END:VCARD

 

Or whatever, at least that would be a start!

Edited 18 November, 201411 yr by ajw1100

Open the .vcf in notepad and you'll get the code:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:55.726302;-1.952211
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Cocklawburn
END:VCARD

Then you can edit it and just save with the .vcf extension instead of txt. VCARDs are just text files with a different extension.
 
If that works then you can 'create' a .vcf file using the data in your Excel sheet for each destination yourself. The correct format for adding addresses (postcode) is:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:52.938255;-1.496378
ADR:;;Kedleston Road;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;United Kingdom
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:University of Derby
END:VCARD

Not sure if the unit will accept that though, depends what it uses to get the location.
 

Edit:
 
Looks like the VW vcf has a blank 'X-NAVADDR' property. So might be worth duplicating the ADR line with that too - just to make sure

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
GEO:52.938255;-1.496378
ADR:;;Kedleston Road;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;United Kingdom
X-NAVADDR:;;Kedleston Road;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;United Kingdom
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:University of Derby
END:VCARD

Edited 18 November, 201411 yr by Mort

Thank you Mort.

I have copied both Derby Uni cards as above into Notepad then saved them as Derby Uni.vcf for top card and Long Derby Uni.vcf for the lower card which includes the X-NAVADDR entry. then copied the vcards to 'destinations' on the SD card.

 

Amundsen+ loaded both versions and showed the names not postcode on screen as below and apologies for rubbish mobile phone pics. Don't think it could focus that close but should show enough.

 

 

When navigation started the message was 'Destination is not on a digitized road'

 

A great improvement but somehow the destination is wrong.

 

Again thanks for your help, it was/is driving me up the wall!

Sounds like it's trying to use the GEO coordinates, but they're too precise and pointing outside the actual 'road' space (the Uni comes up as 'unnamed road' when I use my TomTom).

 

Would be interesting to try a vcard without the GEO property in, and see if it can find the destination just by address/postcode.

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
ADR:;;Kedleston Road;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;United Kingdom
X-NAVADDR:;;Kedleston Road;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;United Kingdom
FN:University of Derby
END:VCARD 

If so, then there may be no way of doing what you want via the GEO lat/long as it doesn't understand "find the closest to this point you can get"?

I will have to try this tomorrow as its pitch black & raining, neither good for testing.

 

A large thank you for helping with this, it really is appreciated. Personally I would rather use Tom Tom which is far more user friendly, but the in-car is more convenient. Or will be once it works!!

Edited 18 November, 201411 yr by ajw1100

These are the kind of things that bug me. Spent hours trying to get album art working consistently on my Bolero. And desperate to figure out a way to get contact pictures up even though I have an iPhone (just the speed dial ones) - but think that's impossible.

If I had sat nav in the car I'd be in and out like a yo-yo with the SD card trying to figure this out.

"If I had sat nav in the car I'd be in and out like a yo-yo with the SD card trying to figure this out."

 

Yip, that's me, PC in the loft conversion, car on the drive 3 flights of stairs away. Oh well, I suppose it's a way of keeping fit!

 

Wife's gone out in the car so will resume my battle later......

 

There is a bit of the first paragraph from the original thread in my first post above, which I don't understand:

 

"if you use the VW 'Nav-Companion' web application, which is only on the VW website, not the Skoda website,

to generate a vCard, it places an id tag on your SD card,

and you can then create your own cards and navigate where you like.

In case anyone is wondering 'Why bother?',

this is the only way with the Amundsen that you can navigate to co-ordinates rather than postcodes,

which is essential for someone like me who lives in a very rural area. So here, in case anyone else is interested"

 

Does the placing of an id tag have any relevance?

 

The above would suggest that the original downloaded destination is some kind of master from which you could then create your own cards and navigate where you like.

The .vcf is copied to the card by you, so there's no way the site/file can add anything else to the card. Unless the HU puts it on, but then it should do it anyway, so I don't think that's relevant.

 

I think it's either that the HU doesn't support GEO coordinates at all (all the examples I've seen are for the RNS510 and you have the RNS315 by the look of the photos) or that the coordinates for the destination need to be on the actual roadspace as it can't find the 'nearest point on a road to these coordinates'. Or that there's just something that's missing in the vCard that will fix it all.

Try both of these, I have a hunch that one might work

 

This one is the one we want to work:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;Kedleston Rd;Derby;Derbyshire;DE22 1GB;GB
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:52.938061;-1.496437
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T103421z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Uni of Derby
F:University of Derby
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

And this one might actually work:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;Kedleston Road ;Derby;;DE1;United Kingdom
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:52.929749;-1.48326
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T105102z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:University Of Derby SKODA
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

Hi Mort.

Sorry I've not got back sooner, been one of those days!

 

The one I wanted to work, did not.

 

 

The one you thought might actually work - DID

 

 

As you will see the route ended where it was intended. :clap:

 

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;Kedleston Road ;Derby;;DE1;United Kingdom
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:52.929749;-1.48326
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T105102z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:University Of Derby SKODA
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

 

However, I do not have a clue as to how to enter most of the above or what it means, and it would be too much to ask you to explain it all, is there an easy (ish) way of inputting either a postcode and or GEO into the above?

Would X-FLAG or REV: or UID or VIP need to be modified or would there be left as they are?

 

I am really sorry to make more work for you, but this is the closest I have been in around 5 days of frustration. If I had a cat it would have run out of lives days ago.....

 

This is what I need to enter:

 

Name to save as: Welwyn & District BC

the address is: Ottway Walk, Welwyn, AL69AS

Geo: 51.826349,-0.218379 (Close as I can get it)

 

The above postcode is much nearer than the one they actually have of AL69AT

 

Using the VW destination link only allows the postcode input and the vcard is saved with the postcode as the 'name' which I cannot change on this PC, I can only change the name in the car under 'edit-rename'.

 

Using postcodes as a name is daft, I have 8 destinations with AL**** post codes and 16 with WD****. loads more with HA/LU/EN/HP etc. Who would say we're going to AL69AS for the game today instead of; We're going to Welwyn & District for the game today!

Edited 19 November, 201411 yr by ajw1100

This card should get you to AL69AS:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;;Ottway Walk;Welwyn;AL6 9AT;United Kingdom
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:51.82751;-0.21582
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T231533z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Welwyn & District BC
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

However - the bad news is that the 'proper' Uni card I made doesn't work as the GEO location isn't a road on Skoda's maps. If I search for the postcode using the Skoda Map data it takes you about half a mile down the road (5 Lamps, in case anyone's local ). So it looks like there's no easy way to get the locations you're after onto the Amundsen unless you can get the GEO coordinates of an actual road tile from the maps.
 
Looking up AL69AS took me to Ottway Walk on the data, so I pulled the GEO location from that. But all I can do is get the default location for that postcode (I've added the 'real' postcode in the vCard address though, so it'll show up as the right address, but still take you to 9AS)
 
I'm using http://mydestination.skoda-auto.com/POIs to search Skodas map data, which seems to work better than the VW page. Neither are in English, but strangely I can read the Czech better? Unfortunately, unlike Google Maps, you can't ask for the coords of a certain point on the map, so the best you may be able to do is 'nearby postcode' if you're after destinations that are not near their actual postcode?
 
As for the card format, there's only 3 things you really need to change if you want to make your own:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;;Ottway Walk;Welwyn;AL6 9AT;United Kingdom <- Change this to the address you want show
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:51.82751;-0.21582 <- Change this to the coords (valid roads only)
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T231533z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Welwyn & District BC <- Change this to the name you want the destination to be called
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

The address line is the hardest as I'm not sure if it has a set number of semicolons, or if you can just use what you need. I've always kept 6 just in case.
 
The filename you save it as doesn't matter at all, as long as it ends .vcf. The HU will take the 'FN' property from inside the card and use that name to display. So save them as whatever makes it easy for you to keep track of.

Edited 19 November, 201411 yr by Mort

Hi Mort.

 

Good Lord, you have been busy :clap: :clap: .

 

I tried to find the Skoda map site but did not, well done to you.

 

I think I am up a gum tree with this one, The road on Skoda maps on the above example do not go far enough and although shown on the 'satellite' are not part of the road mapping, as if they thought 'why go any further.... '

 

The Tom Tom can take your present position and save that as a destination which is far more useful.

 

The Skoda website seems to do the same job as the VW site, only the Skoda downloads the card in a zip file which is another layer to add. However the phrase "to record a collection of his favorite destinations" may bear fruits, have to play a bit.

 

I will persevere with this, but have a feeling that I will not be able to do what I need with this system; due to the inability to enter co-ordinates and navigate to them as it seems, as you found, "that the 'proper' Uni card I made doesn't work as the GEO location isn't a road on Skoda's maps" So even if i found the co-ordinates from Google then the Skoda mapping may well not find them as I have already experienced.

 

Using your example;

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CATEGORIES:VIP
X-VIPCategory:Private
ADR;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:;;;Ottway Walk;Welwyn;AL6 9AT;United Kingdom <- Change this to the address you want show
X-NAVADDR:;;;;;;;;;
GEO:51.82751;-0.21582 <- Change this to the coords (valid roads only)
X-FLAG:
REV:20141119T231533z
FN;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Welwyn & District BC <- Change this to the name you want the destination to be called
UID:AddresBookPersistentProvider3
END:VCARD

 

If I deleted the line: GEO:51.82751;-0.21582 or left the 'GEO:'  blank would the system just look for the postcode?

 

As said in another thread 99% of members are very helpful and I really appreciate the time and trouble you have put in on my behalf, I am only disappointed that the results have not been as we would have liked, this I feel is down to the inadequacy of the cars satnav/mapping.

 

 

 

If any one is interested below is the Google translation of the Skoda text:

 

Nástroj pro správu vašeho navigačního systému Amundsen a Columbus.
Využijte všechny vlastnosti svého přístroje naplno. Možnosti jsou široké,
od importu vizitek jako vlastních cílů, až po nahrání kolekce svých oblíbených destinací.

 

IS;

Tool for managing your navigation system Amundsen and Columbus.

Take advantage of all the features of your device to the fullest. Options are wide,

from import business cards as own goals , to record a collection of his favorite destinations.

 

 

Uložit seznam vlastních cílů

Upozornění: na SD kartě nesmí být uloženy současně Moje zvláštní cíle (Personal POI) spolu s vlastními cíli.

 

IS;

Save a list of your goals

Please note: the SD card must be deposited simultaneously My specific objectives (Personal POIs) along with its own objectives . (Make of that as you wish!!)

 

 

Vyhledávání cílů

 

IS;

Search Targets

 

Seznam mých cílů

 

IS;

List of my targets

If I deleted the line: GEO:51.82751;-0.21582 or left the 'GEO:'  blank would the system just look for the postcode?

 

You could try taking the whole line out and seeing if it would navigate to the address (postcode). But that will depend on how the Amundsen works, and I've not got one to try out. It's certainly a valid vCard file without it - but that doesn't mean much if the Amundsen will only navigate to GEO coordinates.

 

Either way, you would get the same destination as if you typed the postcode into the Skoda maps page and used the GEO coordinates from that (which can be a bit off from what I've tried so far).

 

All I can suggest, which is a massive pain, is to use Google Maps to select a point on a road next to where you want to go, and use those coordinates in the vCard file and hope that the road exists on Skodas map. But thats a lot of running back and forth to check. Plus you'll have to manually create the vCard (or change the GEO points). And even that won't work in a case like the Bowls Club where the destination road physically doesn't exist on the Skoda Map.

__

 

The Skoda map site lets you 'save' multiple destinations, and then the zip file you download will have a vCard for each of them - so might save you time in the long run if you can find the destinations on it. It also makes the image folder in case you want to have photos of the places you're going too (not sure if the Amundsen supports that).

 

I think the bottom line is that the maps Skoda use aren't as comprehensive as they should/need to be and the system can't do what TomTom and other dedicated navs can, which is 'calculate how to get as close as you can to this map point', it only does 'calculate how to get to this road'.

"The Skoda map site lets you 'save' multiple destinations, and then the zip file you download will have a vCard for each of them - so might save you time in the long run if you can find the destinations on it"

 

Thanks, I will have a look later, it's taken me all afternoon to sort out my email, could not send or receive, passwords not correct (When they were) fine direct via BT website but failed in outlook, my phone also failed which has nothing to do with Outlook so not sure what is going on! Got it sort of working now, but will have to do a malware run.

 

I will report back on my success or failure as soon as I can.

 

Once again thank you for your help.

Hi Mort.

 

I found this website:

 

http://www.doogal.co.uk/UKPostcodes.php

 

You can choose your area and main code like 'AL' or 'WD' then a Google map shows with all post code extensions shown as a mass of green tags, you can then enlarge the map which shows the real postcode nearest to your destination. Enter that into the Skoda website

 

http://www.mydestination.skoda-auto.com/POIs

 

And name it as you need then save it as a POI.

 

Seems to do what I need......

Sounds like a good workaround. Pity Skoda can't just use a decent map supplier and have slightly more comprehensive map data really.

That or allow you to select a point on their map and create a POI/vCard for that spot.

I'll stick to TomTom on my phone

Glad you found a solution that seems to work for you!

Been using the Skoda Destinations website and recently;- http://mydestination.skoda-auto.com/POIs -has been in English. Whether this is due to the site recognizing my location or not I've no idea but it certainly helps. You are able to search for locations or enter destinations but I have found that if you are looking for a particular place that does not have a house number (I need to find sports venues) I open up Bing Maps and left click on a house as close as possible, left click brings up the location and often as not also displays the house number. Enter that into Skoda Destinations and see if it gets closer. I also found leaving off the last two post code references can, in some cases, help get closer to your destination when using details from Bing Maps, for AB1 2CD leave off the CD. With a bit of playing it does seem to work.

I also found that if you need to find an intersection, you can enter both street names which sometimes works. I separate all my entries with a comma , sometimes it helps but not always.

 

Using this site you can enter multiple destinations at one sitting and download as a zip file which you can then open with all your destinations as individual vcards, then copy them to you SD card or as I have done to a folder on my desktop so that I can add to it when needed or copy individual cards to my SD card. Should you lose all you destinations you will have a complete backup.

 

Still no luck in entering co-ordinates :'(

Spotted this on the Skoda Map Update Portal:

 

"What for can application MyDestinations be used and where can I find it?

MyDestinations Web aplication allows you to generate specific objectives (vCard) from maps, Image with GPS coordinates (by which you can start navigating) and further enable to prepare collection of points of interest (POI Personal) for uploading to navigation Amundsen and Columbus".

 

I guess you'd need a mobile phone with camera that can locate itself using GPS co-ordinates..............

 

That means you first have to find the destination you want, drive there - using your Skoda Satnav? - to take a photo so you can then upload it to your Skoda Satnav so you can then drive to it again using the Skoda Satnav. Have I missed something?

Edited 28 November, 201411 yr by ajw1100