An increasing number of sources publish collections of POI's, Points Of Interest, in different formats. A number of so called 'POI converters' have become available that allow users of navigational equipment to convert the different formats to a format that can be used by their specific navigator. Among the formats that are generated by these converters is the .csv format, an ASCII file with comma separated values. It is this format that allows for easy conversion to a Loadstone GPS database.
A POI conversion program that works well in conjunction with the POI 2 Loadstone GPS converter can be found at:
On a Windows machine a .csv file automatically opens in Excel, the Windows spreadsheet. Once opened, you can easily define if the file qualifies for conversion to the Loadstone GPS format. The three first columns, A, B and C should contain the name, latitude and longitude of a POI in any given order and the latitude and longitude should be in decimal notation (33.5432,-123.4567).
On the POI 2 Loadstone GPS conversion form page you are asked to enter the path to a local .csv file (or use the 'browse' button to search for such a file on your harddisk). The file should not be larger than 1.5 MB.
The 'include header' checkbox is checked by default. Uncheck it if you plan to insert the conversion into an existing database or leave it checked to generate a stand alone database. When inserting the resulting file in an existing database never use MS Word. This program corrupts the data. Use Notepad or Textpad instead.
Next you are asked for your UserID. This is the number that is calculated from the e-mail address that you have entered in the Options/Settings/General dialog box in the Loadstone GPS program. To obtain this number, you first have to export the 'default' database to your computer (see chapter 3 of the Getting Started manual). Each data line in this ASCII file ends with two numbers: userid and id. The last number, id, is a so called 'time stamp' and a database with one userid should contain only unique id numbers. The userid number is always the same if you have not mixed the default database with imported POI's.
When your .csv file contains a large number of POI's, you may want to restrict the output to a specific area. To do this, enter the latitude and longitude that make up the center of the area you want to output and select the size of the radius. 'Unrestricted' generates a database with all points in the .csv file.
Next, determine the order in which the data appears in the .csv file and select the appropriate option in the Input Format combobox. If your source file contains identical names, check the 'Add leading number' checkbox to insert a sequential number in front of the name of a point. You can add a custom name in front of the generated number, the standard prepended name is 'Point'. By checking the 'Replace name' checkbox the original name from the input file is replaced by the custom pointname and number. Hit 'submit' to start the conversion. If you are converting a large .csv file, it may take a while, before the results page appears.
On the results page you can read the number of POI's that were converted and the number of entries that needed conversion to the Loadstone GPS UTF-8 format. As stated, a line in a Loadstone GPS database ends with a timestamp. The converter takes the current time on the server, deducts 10 years and assigns it to the first line in the converted data. In each successive line the number is increased by 1. This means, that a large number of 'virtual seconds' are generated to ensure unique id numbers are assigned to each line. However, the server takes a few seconds to generate maybe thousands of 'virtual seconds'. Still there is room for over 315 million points to be converted before we run out of space. Don't be surprised to find the generated timestamp to be significantly lower than the timestamps in recently exported databases. The POI Converter assigns numbers that start 10 years ago.
A link is provided to download the generated Loadstone GPS database file. You don't need to right-click this link although the file is a .txt file.
Finally, transfer the newly generated database to your phone and import the file into the Loadstone GPS program.
The name field in a Loadstone GPS database is restricted to 75 characters. The converter therefor cuts off any characters that exceed this limit. Many freely offered POI's are distributed under the restrictions that the POI's may be used only for personal use. Therefor the 'priority' field in the generated database is set to 2, implying a 'restricted' point. If you are convinced that the POI's you are converting are not restricted to personal use, you may use the 'Database Reprocessor' tool to change the status to 'Public'. To make the converter available on a regular basis the input file is restricted to 1.5 MB. This prevents the unwanted effect of a user submitting a mega file that would keep the converter busy for prolonged periods. By opening a .csv file in Notepad and using the 'Go to line' option, you can easily chop the file in usable chunks of 1.5 MB or less. A 30 thousand points .csv file will take something between 2 and 5 seconds to convert. Please be patient while the conversion is in progress.
The converter can be found at:
Although Loadstone-GPS is free to use, it has used up thousands of development and testing hours since February 2004. In order for us to continue funding this project, adding features, improving functionality, and strengthening the support and documentation we need your help.
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