TomTom offers a tool to convert locations held in a database or Excel spreadsheet into a POI set. This tool needs the location information in a comma separated text file in a specific order so you will need to export certain fields from your database or export your Excel spreadsheet as a .csv file.
Geo-coding
Before you can create your POI set from your list of locations, you need the GPS coordinates (longitude, latitude) for each one. There are companies that can geo-code your addresses and provide you with GPS coordinates and there are also free online tools that you can use to geo-code a list of addresses.
Simply unzip all files into any folder you want, and execute the editor directly. Open and save various POI files (ov2, kml, gpx, csv, asc, poi and txt) for TomTom,. Geocaching related downloads (TomTom POI, Amap OVL). Geocache Point of Interest (POI) files for TomTom (OV2). Filename: atgc.zip. Creator: HowC.
Some of the companies that supply Geo coding services are Geodan, TeleAtlas, Multimap, Google Maps enterprise, Yahoo maps, Microsoft MapPointMap24, Geonames.org, Bridgis BV, GeoAge, BRIGHTi Solutions and Globe Assistant.
Create the POI set
Once your locations have been geo-coded, export a text file containing your locations in the following format:
[Longitude],[Latitude] , “[Name POI][>][Phone number POI]”
For example:
4.92660 , 52.39160 , 'Camping Vliegenbos>0123456789'
4.96000 , 52.37010 , 'Camping Zeeburg>0123456789'
4.99270 , 52.31340 , 'Camping Gaaspercamping>0123456789'
Notes: Any line starting with a semi-colon will be ignored, as well as empty lines. For phone numbers, use the international dialing syntax without hyphens or spaces eg. for the Netherlands: 31208500800.
If you have POIs with no phone number, the format is
[Longitude], [Latitude] , “[Name POI]”
Otherwise, it will be interpreted wrongly as an zero-length number, and not as no number.
Note: The character ' is not allowed in name or phone number.
This text file can then be converted into a POI file using the makeov2.exe tool.The Tool will ask you for the location of the comma separated input file and prompt you for the location and name of your POI file. You will then get a file called poi_set_name.ov2 as the output. See Naming your POI set before carrying on.
To put your new POI set file onto your TomTom device, connect your device to your computer and open Windows Explorer. Drag and drop your new POI set into the map folder of your device; this folder may be called eg. United_Kingdom_and_Republic_of_Ireland, depending on which region of map you have installed.
Note: You can convert multiple files simultaneously by zipping them up (without paths) and then uploading the one zip file. You will then be given a zip file back containing all the converted .ov2 files.
Next step:Create an icon or sound for your POI set.
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December 2022
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