How to Import POIs into Your TomTom 910?

Free GPS Software | GPS Software Hub | April 1, 2008 at 4:41 pm

The TomTom comes with Points of Interest (POIs) built in. But it is possible to supplement the original POIs with third-party POI databases – or with POI databases you build yourself.

Typical third-party POIs consist of a pair of files: an *.ov2 file (a database of POIs) and a *.bmp file (an optional icon you can use when the POI appears on a TomTom map). If you don’t care for the third-party *.bmp icon, you can select a different POI icon from those built into the TomTom. See the first bullet, below.

Often the POI files come zipped. So the first thing you usually have to do is unzip the file and extract the *.ov2 and *.bmp files. Copy them anywhere on your computer, so you can get to them later.

****Before you can import POIs into the TomTom, you have to create at least one user-defined POI category on your TomTom.****Create a POI category via TomTom’s Main Menu > Change preferences > Manage POIs > Add POI category. Name the category. The next screen that comes up is a list of TomTom’s standard icons. If you prefer one of those to the one in the *.bmp file, pick the one you want. If you prefer instead to use the icon in the *.bmp file, pick one of the standard icons anyway; later you’ll replace it with the *.bmp file. Details below.To keep things orderly, I like to give categories the same name as the *.ov2 file. For example, if I’m importing a POI database named waypoints.ov2, I will name its category Waypoints.
Be sure your *.ov2 file has the same name as the category you just created. Eg, if you just created a category called Libraries, name its accompanying POI database libraries.ov2. (Note that you can change an *.ov2 file name, just as you can any other file name in Windows.) If you want to use the *.bmp file’s icon, name it the same as the category name. To continue the above example, name it libraries.bmp.
Connect the TomTom to your computer, and turn on the TomTom. Three things will happen:o You’ll be asked if you want to connect the TomTom to your computer. Say yes.
o TomTom HOME should open on your computer.
o The TomTom will appear as a removable drive under My Computer and Windows Explorer.
Find the TomTom drive in Windows Explorer (or under My Computer), and expand it until you see the name of the map you are installing the POIs to. Eg, you’ll see a folder called North_America. Note that, if the POIs’ longitude/latitude coordinates are not on the map, you can’t see the POIs on your TomTom.
Using Windows Explorer, go to wherever you placed the new *.ov2 and *.bmp files on your computer.
Drag the new *.ov2 file to the folder containing the map where your POIs will reside (eg, North_America). That installs the *.ov2 file onto your TomTom. First, though, you’ll be warned that a file with that name already exists in the folder. You’ll be asked if you want to replace it. Say yes; the (small) file that’s already there is just a “placeholder” that was created when you named the category. You need to replace it with the real *.ov2 file.
What you do with the *.bmp file depends on what you want to use as an icon with the list of POIs you just installed. That is, do you want to use the icon you picked when you created the POI category on your TomTom? Or do you want to use the icon that came paired with the *.ov2 file.o If you want to use the icon you identified when you created the POI category, do nothing. The TomTom installed the icon when you created the category.
o If instead you want to use the icon that came paired with the *.ov2 file, drag its *.bmp file to the same map folder to which you just copied the *.ov2 file. That will replace the icon that was there previously.