Creating POI lists with MRA

[Martin Wilcke]

When I plan a motorbike trip, I first make a list of POIs that I (probably) want to visit.
In the second step, I plan individual routes in which I add the corresponding POIs as Viapoints. In the process, of course, I sometimes discover more POIs that I want to add to my list.

However, I cannot create a POI list within MRA Route Planner.

The only way I can think of is to plan a dummy route in which I collect the various POIs together. If a certain point is already included in an existing POI collection (either the lists included in MRA or one of my own uploaded list), I can add it as a POI to the route. I can then split or copy the dummy route into individual routes to plan my day trips.
If I want to add POIs that are not already in a collection, I have to create favourites instead - which I don't want to do because I use favourites for a different purpose.
All in all, it's not really a smooth way.

Alternatively, I could create my POI list with another app and then load it into MRA. That works fine - but of course I would like to do everything with MRA

Any ideas for a better workflow?

[Marinus van Deudekom]

@Martin-W or add the poi after you created a route

[Martin Wilcke]

@Marinus-van-Deudekom
I would like to create a POI list and have these POIs displayed on the map so that I can plan my routes along the POIs and set Viapoints (as close as possible to a POI but always on the road).
To be able to transfer the POIs together with the route as waypoints to my Garmin Zumo XT would be a nice add-on, but not my main goal.

[Jack van Tilburg]

@Martin-W
You can create your own POI list. It is laborious.
Open a new route - go to <Points of interest> in the left column and choose the middle tab <Manage> - Click "Add" and place your POI, name it. Repeat with all the POIs you want to create.
Then go to the menu at the top of the screen and choose <Save as>. There you will find the option for POI.
Then go to <Routlab> and choose <Upload> and in the next window "POI". Follow the clue.
Your POI list is now listed under the "Library" tab

[Martin Wilcke]

@Jack-van-Tilburg
wow - all thumbs up!

choose the middle tab <Manage> - Click "Add" and place your POI, name it.

I hadn't discovered that yet - a good way to define your own POIs. Thanks for the tip!

The option to save the result as POIs and upload works well, but is indeed complicated.
In the meantime, I like the way via a "dummy route" as a copy template a bit. One advantage is that POIs contained in a route (tab <manage>) are always visible on the map, regardless of the zoom level. This is different for POIs from an existing collection (<Search>, <Library>).

[Don Stauffer]

@Jack-van-Tilburg @Jack-van-Tilburg I have been following this with interest. I opened a route that had POI's that I created. I followed the procedure as described.

I then created a new route, and I was able to upload my POI file (CSV), and see the POI group listed in POI Library.

However, I do not see the saved POIs on my new, empty route. I set the check mark in the Library tab, but I see nothing on the map, and the Manage tab is empty.

I was expecting a reusable library of user POIs that could be used on any route.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding the use of the POI library, or perhaps I am missing a step.

I would appreciate clarification on the POI Library feature.

Thank You!

[Martin Wilcke]

@Don-Stauffer
My understanding so far:

1. POI collections in <Search> are available for all users in all new (and existing) routes.

2. POIs in <Library> are also available in all routes, but only for the user who added the collection with upload.

3. POIs in <Manage>, on the other hand, are bound to exactly this route.

So when you create a new route, you can access the POIs in 1. and 2. but not in 3. (from other routes)

Therefore my idea: I create a route as a template for a trip and add all POIs there that I want to visit and that are not included in 1. or 2. When I then plan individual routes, I do not create new routes but always copy the template.

The way you described should work and the POIs in <Library> should be visible. Maybe you have to zoom in a bit more.

[Jack van Tilburg]

@Martin-W
In general you are right.
Additional information can be found in this support article.
Manual POI's
I don't think my description to make your own POI list is included

[Drabslab]

@Martin-W

I think that the whole POI/Favorites aspect in the routeplanner could use a serious update. And now that we have Next, the limitations of other GPS devices are less important.

In myview, POI and Favorites are largely the same.

Maybe I write a "suggestion" on this topic

[Martin Wilcke]

@Drabslab said in Creating POI lists with MRA:

In myview, POI and Favorites are largely the same.

This can lead to long and endless discussions

But I agree. If I had a way to manage "my own POIs" well, I would not need "favorites".

After all, the topic is already on the MRA Routeplanner roadmap. I am a new user, so my question is: Is there typically information available in advance about a planned new or changed feature, so that users can contribute their ideas?

[Jack van Tilburg]

@Martin-W said in Creating POI lists with MRA:

my question is: Is there typically information available in advance about a planned new or changed feature, so that users can contribute their ideas?

You can take a look at the The road to MRA Routeplanner point 1.9

[Nigel Ralphson]

@Jack-van-Tilburg said in Creating POI lists with MRA:

Open a new route - go to <Points of interest> in the left column and choose the middle tab <Manage> - Click "Add" and place your POI, name it. Repeat with all the POIs you want to create.

Hi, this may sound stupid but I cant find <Points of interest> in the left column. In fact, I cant see a left column on my screen.

[Con Hennekens]

@Nigel-Ralphson, click this arrow:

[Nigel Ralphson]

@Con-Hennekens Aaahhhh thank you!! Told you I was stupid!!

[Nick Carthew]

@Nigel-Ralphson said in Creating POI lists with MRA:

@Con-Hennekens Aaahhhh thank you!! Told you I was stupid!!

No, you’re not stupid, a stupid person wouldn’t ask for help

[Con Hennekens]

@Nick-Carthew said in Creating POI lists with MRA:

a stupid person wouldn’t ask for help

Exactly!

@Nigel-Ralphson, I wish all questions were this easy to answer

[Ruud den Blanken]

@Martin-Wilcke I browsed the forum to see if others already suggested enabling a more natural way in MRA for planning multiday trips. You suggestion comes close to my wish:

I create a new folder and would like it to contain the POI's and routes for a series of days. I first want to enter all overnight stays as POI's, so I can use them as endpoint for a day trip and use it again as a starting point the next day.
A workaround is to define all trip POI's as Favourites but this means various multiday trips share alle POI's, unless you remove them from the list again afterwards.

I read here that new POI functionality is coming. My suggestion is enable POI's for a series of routes to be put in a folder just like the routes itself.