POI Library Question

[Brett Bartick]

If I import a GPX file that has an unknown number of POIs into the "Library"
Points of Interest --> Library --> add
How would I know the names or the number of POIs that were added? Consider each POI was separated by 100's of miles.

Also somewhat related. What is the method one can use to add a POI to an existing library file?

[Guzzist]

@Brett-Bartick ...uhh - as far as I know: if you have imported a file with POIs into the library, you will only see the new name in the library list.
If you activate it, you will see the symbols in the map. If you hoover or click on a symbol, you will see the name of that single POI.
It is not possible to open the imported POI list to see the names of all the POIs – nor their amount of.

[Brett Bartick]

@Guzzist said in POI Library Question:

@Brett-Bartick ...uhh - as far as I know: if you have imported a file with POIs into the library, you will only see the new name in the library list.
If you activate it, you will see the symbols in the map. If you hoover or click on a symbol, you will see the name of that single POI.
It is not possible to open the imported POI list to see the names of all the POIs – nor their amount of.

I see this as a huge issue.
So, what you are saying is that if I activate a library for a particular route, I can see the symbols for that library on the route, BUT only if I zoom out to 5 miles (10 km) or zoom in.
Basically, if I have symbols in my library separated by 100's of miles I will never see them or even know they exist. And I have no idea how many symbols or their names are in the library. And, if I know all these things, I can't easily add another POI to the library. From an end-user perspective, this doesn't seem very user friendly.

[Brett Bartick]

A somewhat of a fix (at least for me) would be the addition of an option within the Points of Interest --> Library, so I can actually export the library as a POI (.ov2 or .csv) file. There's the option of exporting a route as a POI, why isn't' there an option to export a POI library as a POI file?

[Brett Bartick]

I've noticed another strange (to me) behavior of POIs and maybe someone can explain if this is to be expected.

1. If I create a Route and add some POIs to the route (Points of Interest --> Manage --> add), and then "Save as", as a POI (.ov2, .csv), the POIs are listed in the file as expected.

2. If I create a Route and add some POIs to the route (Points of Interest --> Library --> Click "Show in route", and then "Save as", as a POI (.ov2, .csv), the POIs are NOT listed in the file. Why wouldn't the POIs from the library be included in the saved POI file?

[Con Hennekens]

@Brett-Bartick, that's because at 1. you are ADDING them to a route, while at 2. you just SHOW them on the map. When you click on a POI that is shown on the map, you can place it in your route. Then it will show up in your export.

If you want to be sort of flexible with POI just upload them into your own library and manage them in excel or any other program. before uploading them. Like I said earlier, MRA is no Basecamp clone, and many things will be revisited in the upcoming web planner overhaul. In the old planner nothing will be changed anymore. If handling POI is an urgent matter for you, it might be better to stick with basecamp until the new planner is released. You can still use MRA for planning and manage your POI from basecamp if you upload those basecamp POI to MRA after changes have been made.

[Brett Bartick]

I appreciate your feedback and commenting in this thread. I want to move away from Basecamp. I hope you understand I'm just trying to point out issues that seem unusual to me and hopefully these comments will influence the features that will go into the next version of the software.
I would expect the software to be a "one stop shop" when it comes to certain features. With respect to the "POI Library", it appears to me that some basic functionality hasn't been implemented.
The MRA software has the ability to add POIs to a library, BUT we can't:

1. Actually see the POIs added to the library, unless you peruse the global map at a zoom level of (5) miles.
2. We can't change/modify the icons
3. We can't add/modify/delete the POIs in the library
4. We can't export the POI library

To manage the POIs, I need to use an external program.

I've actually implemented a POI paradigm that seems to work for me. I created a folder called "POI". Under the POI folder I have a number of sub-folders, i.e.
Campgrounds
Events
FOGS
Places
Restaurants
Then under these sub-folders I have lots of "empty" routes
For instance under the Campground folder, I have
0Free Campgrounds
0Motorcycle Campgrounds
0Motorcycle Lodges
0Rest Areas
AK
FL
...
WY
^^^^ these are empty route files for various states in the USA

Under the sub-folder places, I have something like
Bath, NY
Bennington, VT
Woodstock, NH
etc

Under the sub-folder restaurants, I have it broken out into different areas, types, etc

1. The "0" before the names above is so when the column is sorted, those items appear at the top.

Each of the "empty routes" in these subfolders only contain managed POIs.

Having an environment like this allows me to easily:

1. Add/delete POIs
2. I can now export the POIs from the route and add them to the Library.
3. If I need to modify a POI Library, I delete the POI Library, modify the POI route file, export the route as a POI and import into the POI Library.

The other interesting thing that I can do is when I need to create a new route, I first make a copy of the POI route file I have and modify that with my waypoints and shaping points. Now, this route that I am working on, has lots of managed POIs in it, that I can see at ANY zoom level! POIs that I don't need or are cluttering up the map, I can quickly and easily delete them from the route. Hopefully, this short writeup makes some sense.