Creating new POI lists in MS Streets and Trips

I am confused. I have been using Microsoft Streets and Trips as well as other GPS devices for a few years. I know I can enter POIs one at a time. I know about downloading and using the POI lists from Discovery Group, and have a few in our computer. But I can't figure out how to create my own list like the Discovery lists so I can just load the whole list into the computer.

I have searched this website, and other websites, for tips about all of this. I have read some explanations that only seem to confuse me more. They say to do something, but when I try to figure out where the thing I am supposed to do in S&T is, I just can't find where I need to be.

Maybe it is a language problem. Some computer speak words or program specific words are not in my vocabulary, so I don't understand what is being said. I am sure others have this problem too.

I know they say to use either Excel which is apparently what the Discovery lists are - or to use a text file. Then what? I do not have Excel.

Here's what I am trying to do. I have a list of Latitude and Longitude numbers for campgrounds in Mexico. None of the Discovery lists I have seen apply to anything in Mexico. The list I have is in decimal format. It contains somewhere around 400 campgrounds all over Mexico that I got from a number of sources. I could probably enter these one at a time into one of our computers and save it somehow - not sure how or where. But we have a couple of computers - one built in to the dash - and one laptop to take in the car - both with Streets & Trips. I would also like to be able to give my list to others who might need it just like the Discovery people give theirs away.

I DO NOT have Excel. I have MS Works with Word etc. I already have all the numbers in a Word document. But I do not know what I have to do to get them into S&T. I can't figure out from what I have found how I would do this. They talk about columns and fields and records like a data base but also talk about text with commas.

So say I have the name of a campground along with Latitude and Longitude - what would the entry have to look like to make it so Streets and Trips understands it and does what I want it to do? If I had an example of what I need to do then I could just do that with all of my entries.

Then I do not know how to get the list from Word or wherever to go into S&T and become a whole new POI list. I know it has been explained, but again - there is a language problem - I do not understand the code words being used as I am not that good at computer speak.

Here would be an example......

Now what? Thanks for any help.

Dear Confused,

First, I hope you will change your name if this gets clarified for you.

I think you need some sort of spreadsheet program. You will need to convert your data to the sort of table that Streets and Trips Data Import routine can work with. I do not know if MSFT's Works has a rudimentary spreadsheet program. Nonetheless, you can download a free program from www.OpenOffice.org that will do that. Or, if you like, you can send me your text file and I'll convert it to spreadsheet format. If you don't want it all 'public', you can send it to me as a Private Message.

I hope youi are talking about S&T 2010. It has a good data import routine which will then give you a population of Pushpins.

To summarize, your missing link is a spreadsheet program like Excel but there are work-arounds.

Works probably saves your document with a doc extension. If you are able to save it with a txt extension from Works, S&T can import it directly as a comma separated values text file with only a bit of modification. You would need to put a comma between the 2 sets of numbers. e.g. Estero Beach Resort, 31.77887, -116.60372
Can you get that far?

Terry

Hi Confused,

:welcome: to Laptop GPS World.

While there may be some benefits in creating POI lists in Excel (easier to manage, search, etc), this can be easily done also in a Notepad (Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad), or any other text editor.

The first line "Name, latitude, longitude, etc..." will make it easier to import your list to Streets and Trips.

Make sure you place a coma between each item in every line.


Among other file types, S&T can import text documents (.txt file extension). Notepad by default saves files as .txt.

To import your POI list, on S&T menu bar click:

* Data
* Import Data Wizard
" "Files of type" select from the dropdown list "Text files"
* Select your POI list file
* follow the remaining steps of the data import wizard

In S&T start the Import Data Wizard (CTRL+I) and change the 'Files of type:' dropdown to Text files. Find your file and click Open.
The main choice for separators is a comma so the next screen should show your values already in the right configuration. Choose Next.

Change the Country to Mexico and the headers to Name,Latitude,Longitude using the drop downs below the F1 (F2 F3)
column headings. Click Finish and your pushpins should appear on the map.

Note: This was done with S&T 2010. I tried S&T 2005 but it doesn't have addresses for Mexico so wouldn't work.

Terry

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Thanks for all the tips - I have been confused all my life - though somedays more than others.

I have create a sort of tutorial of your tips by doing a Copy & Paste to Word so I can print it out to follow step by step. I think I can figure it out. I will try a small list first and then try to add to it if that works.

Thanks for the offer of converting - this would be at least 400 entries of names and Lat Lon so I would not want to burden anyone with that kind of project - unless you are planning a camping trip to Mexico and want to have the POIs for yourself. I will figure it out and try to create a list that others can use to put into their Streets & Trips if they want to go to Mexico. We usually put these in one at a time as we travel when we know where we want to go so it is really no big deal to do that. But I thought being able to do this like the Discovery people do could make things easier in the long run and might be useful to others.

Thanks again for all the help. I will try to find time to work on this over the next couple of days. Hopefully I will get it figured out OK. Thanks

Oops forgot. Yes, we do have Streets and Trips 2010 - we had 2006 -then 2007 - then 2009 and now 2010. They made a huge improvement in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 is even better. We can now see local streets in even some small towns all over Mexico. Mexico is building a lot of new roads at a somewhat rapid pace (for Mexico) and Streets and Trips is not far behind. They must get their info from the Mexican Gov't or someone who gets if from them as they are very close behind when the official maps are issued. S&T is an amazing tool for all our travels. We are fulltime RVers traveling all over North America and S&T is there for us almost 100% (though not quite 100%). Thanks again for the help and for this website - we continue to try to learn.

Confused, thanks for the feedback on the 2009 vs 2010 Mexico coverage. I just quoted a couple of your sentences in the Streets & Trips 2010 review.

Marvin's comment about making the first line of your text document name, latitude, longitude is a good time saver as it means the columns in my third screen grab will already have the right headers. All you need to do is check the 'First row contains column headings' box.

Terry

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Another couple of questions.

I got the whole list into .txt and did the Data Wizard and it worked. Great. But I now cannot figure out how to use the pushpin of my choice - all the points show up as the default pushpin.

I know the Discovery lists use all kinds of special logo pushpins but have not idea how they do it.

Also, at least one of my entries does not show up. I did not save the map yet so nothing is set in stone. I go back to the .txt to check what does not seem right on the map and make sure everything is entered corrrectly but at least one still does not show up. It is very close to another point some possibly very close points cannot be done - like the next door property?

Otherwise - this is great - works as far as I can tell. Thanks for the help again.

Nevermind. I figured it out. The ones that were wrong were because of slight typos - everything has to be exact - which I knew but after doing over 400 of them there has to be a couple of errors.

Also - figured out the pushpins - went in Legend and Overview and right clicked on the pushpin list and got to where you can choose the pushpin you want.

Making progress. Will keep working on it.