Hello,

 

I’m trying to load my favorite POIs from my old Garmin GPS device to Columbus on Superb 3.

File in Garmin is in GPX format, and files which can be loaded to Columbus should be in VCF format.

 

So I’m trying to convert GPX to VCF but no luck. I tried some online converter, and GPSBabel software version 1.5.2.

 

Is there any other way to do it? I don’t want to enter locations manually because there are a lot of them.

 

Thanks..

 

This is a it of a long shot and working of an ancient memory, but I seem to recall that Mapsource would load POI and save in GPX and VCF formats.

 

Unfortunately I cannot check at the moment as the software isn't installed and my daughter has stolen the Satnav.  If you have no luck elsewhere I will recover the aforementioned Satnav and have a play with it after Christmas.

This is a it of a long shot and working of an ancient memory, but I seem to recall that Mapsource would load POI and save in GPX and VCF formats.

 

Unfortunately I cannot check at the moment as the software isn't installed and my daughter has stolen the Satnav.  If you have no luck elsewhere I will recover the aforementioned Satnav and have a play with it after Christmas.

I think I have some version of Mapsource on my PC at workplace. I will check it tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

Have you tried Škoda's own My Destinations portal that includes the facility to upload and convert various POI files to the format used by Columbus? http://mydestination.skoda-auto.com/POIs

I tried that method Alex but the system in the car would not recognise the file and it did not update.

Finally managed to download the database from PocketGPSworld nad get it converted using POIbase and the car upoaded this with no problem whatsoever.

Still cannot get the sound alerts to work though, any ideas on that?

Still cannot get the sound alerts to work though, any ideas on that?

 

Phil,

 

AFAIK...

Sound alerts are quite limited. You cannot use file-embedded audio, nor can you seemingly choose to apply it to individual PPOI categories.

Once you've selected which PPOI categories you want to display (My POIs) in addition to the default petrol stations and car parks, you need to go to to Settings in the Nav screen and select Nav. Announcements. At the bottom should be a check-box for Note:"My POIs".

Selecting this will enable an audible "bong" tone being played whenever within the vicinity of one of your Personal POIs.

It soon became a PITA on the continent, where I had selected PPOI categories to be displayed for cameras, shops (Aldi, Lidl, Kaufland), free public toilets, and a few others selected. The almost constant "bongs" were infuriating.

 

The AFAIK is because this is the first time I used PPOI in anger. It may be that I wrongly set some of the PPOI categories to give warnings (though I doubt it). I won't know if that's the case until I get back home after Xmas and check the file settings.

 

Alex.

Yes I had that selected and I drove to my nearest camera but there was no sound, the radio was muted, I think, but not sure if this is the reason

Am going out today and will pass a couple of cameras so will make sure the sound is turned up!

 

Also  uploaded a full set of icons for each limit and camera type but the screen would only show everyhting as a 'gatso 30' so put it back to the normal single camera icon for now.

I guess as people experiment with this they will find ways of displaying the sounds and icons so will wait till then and not waste anymore time on it, it has the camera poi's displayed and if it bongs when I get to one that'l do for now.

I can always put my roadpilot in but cannot find anywhere on this car where I can put, don't like stuff in the windscreen!

Has anyone tried the Skoda My Destinations POI website to convert Google Earth KML files?

 

I keep all my places in Google Earth and when I saved a set from it and tried to import the KML file I get the following error in the website:

 

Server Error in '/' Application.
<kml xmlns='http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2'> was not expected.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.InvalidOperationException: <kml xmlns='http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2'> was not expected.

 

Anyone know how I can get this working? I have a work around by loading the KML file into POIEdit (DNote Software) and then saving as a GPX file. It's a long winded process - I'd rather just get the KML file working!

 

A few more tips I had to work out to get things working. I was using a custom picture and they were not showing in the columbus until I used a default icon to work out what format they are in. If you want to use your own icons the best format is a PNG file with dimensions 44x39.

 

Lastly I wish they would include instructions that you have to unzip the file you save from the website. I was just putting the zip file onto the SD card and Columbus was saying there were no updates. Use a blank SD card and the zip file saved from the web site must be unzipped to the root of the SD card. Then you can pop that into a free slot on the car, goto Nav, Setup and select manage memory. Then select update my pois and it should find them on the card.