HGVSOLUTIONS.COM – QUICK START GUIDE DOWNLOAD

 

Version 1.3 - May 2007

 

 

CONTENTS

GARMIN COMPATABILITY LIST. 1

Step 1:  QUICK OVERVIEW OF USING LOW BRIDGE DATA. 1

Step 2:  Checklist of software and equipment needed. 3

Step 3: Using Garmin POI LOADER and choosing the Low Bridge POI Files. 3

Step 4:  INSTALL THE OTHER 2 LOW BRIDGE POI FILES. 5

Step 5: CONNECT & INSTALL THE POIs. 7

Step 6: TESTING & READY TO USE. 11

OTHER TRANSPORT DATA ON DOWNLOAD. 11

FINAL NOTES & GETTING HELP. 11

 

GARMIN COMPATABILITY LIST

This document describes the initial installation and subsequent updating of a POI set on the Garmin series of Personal Navigation Devices. These instructions are for the Garmin;

  • Quest 2
  • GPSMAP 60CSx, 76Cx, 76CSx, 496
  • eTrex Venture Cx, eTrex Legend Cx, eTrex Vista Cx
  • iQue M3, M4
  • Nui 200, 250, 260, 270, 310, 350, 360, 660
  • StreetPilot c310, c320, c330, c340, c510
  • StreetPilot i2, i3, i5
  • StreetPilot 2720, 2730, 7200, 7500
  • zumo                          

USER TIP: Most recent Garmin devices are supported, and the list above may be superseded as new devices are added. If you are unsure if the device is supported then please email us and we will verify. We suspect that all Garmin’s made after July 2007 will support additional POI’s. If you are unsure as to which version you have on your device then please check in the ABOUT screen.

 

Step 1:  QUICK OVERVIEW OF USING LOW BRIDGE DATA

 

Quick Overview

 

There are 6 easy steps to using this Landis Media Ltd – Fleet and Low Bridge Data with your Garmin. If you get stuck then refer to the TROUBLESHOOTING section on the website.

 

This first step introduces you to using Low Bridge POI data and an overview of the system in use. Make sure you read this step because the background given will help you decide which POI files you will need later. We give two EXAMPLES to demonstrate how in practice Low Bridge POI warnings work.

 

NOTE: The maps below are just for illustration purposes and not taken from a Garmin unit. You can see similar style maps on your Garmin device and this is demonstrated later.

 

Example 1: You have a 15ft 4inch cab height and your vehicle can’t fit under the 14ft 7inch Low Bridge that’s on the planned route ahead.

 

 

 

 

Please follow step by step what happens on the picture above:

 

*      You follow the route that the Garmin has planned (shown by the BLUE arrows)

*      You are 2km from the Bridge at Point 1 – you hear and see the POI alert for the All_Low_Bridges_Data POI

*      This warning tells you that a bridge is coming up and that you need to listen out carefully for further warnings over the next 2 KM. You continue to drive

*      You are 1.5km from the Bridge at Point 2 – you hear and see 15ft 4inch Low Bridge POI warning (for your cab height). You know your vehicle won’t fit under the Bridge ahead and that you will need to choose a new route.

*      You choose an alternative route using the Garmin (shown by the RED arrows) and divert off the old route at Nut Hill roundabout. This takes you down Nut Lane and avoids the Low Bridge on the B3301 by the railway tunnel.

*      You rejoin the planned main route (BLUE arrows) at Griggs Hill and continue your journey as planned.

 

Example 2: You are now in a truck with a 13ft 2inch cab height. You can easily fit under the 14ft 7inch Low Bridge that’s on the planned route.

 

 

Please follow step by step what happens on the picture above:

 

*            You are 2km from the Bridge at Point 1 – you hear and see the POI alert for the All_Low_Bridges_Data POI

*            This warning tells you that a bridge is coming up and that you need to listen out carefully for further warnings over the next 2 KM. You continue to drive

*            You are now 1.5km from the Bridge at Point 2 – this time you don’t hear or see any warning, why not ? Your cab height in this example is 13ft 2inches and so will fit easily under the 14ft 7inch railway bridge ahead. Since you don’t hear any warning you can keep driving confidently following the planned route (Blue arrows)

*            You are now 100m from the Bridge at Point 3 – you then hear and see the Alert_Low_Bridge_Close POI warning. This tells you that you are 100m away from the Bridge and should reduce speed

*            This warning is used as a safety feature in case of fog, bad road conditions, corners or temporary bridge height reductions (local council put scaffolding up)

*            You drive under the bridge and continue on your planned route

 

 

USER TIP: These examples show that just 3 POI files contain all the information needed to avoid every Low Bridge in the UK. A further total of 85 different CAB HEIGHTS are provided from which each driver will choose just the one that corresponds to their Cab Height.  BY having all these files we can cover every vehicle on the road, trucks, HGV, commercial, caravans, leisure vehicle etc. Remember you need just 3 POI files; your Cab Height, the All Low Bridges and Alert Low Bridge Close this will be important later when you are installing files.

 

Step 2:  Checklist of software and equipment needed

 

CHECKLIST

 

Before you can load the POI Data Set onto the Garmin device you will need the following:

 

*      A PC laptop or desktop running Windows XP with spare USB port

*      Garmin device (whichever model you use) charged up

*      The Garmin POI Loader installed

*      USB cable to connect the Garmin device to the PC

*      The LANDIS MEDIA Ltd – Fleet & Low Bridge DOWNLOAD

*      A note of your UNLOADED cab height

 

You have a set of POI on the DOWNLOAD, these are divided into directories to make them easy to locate. Before you load them onto the Garmin you will need to place the POIs you want to install into ONE single directory. That is you need to move them from the DOWNLOAD directory into your “buffer” pre-install directory.

This is because the Garmin POI loader does not load things incrementally (i.e. one at a time) it loads all the POI from one place at the same time, replacing any previously loaded POIs. So be careful that any POI you use will be in this directory store or BUFFER and remain there for as long as required.

We suggest you create on the desktop an easy to locate directory called “Garmin_Store”  and you place the growing number of POIs you will install inside this folder. For this manual (an example) we will just be Low Bridges, in real life there will in all likelihood be some other POI files there as well, perhaps speed cameras, other transport data and so on. All the POI in fact that you find useful and need to load should be in that directory (wherever they cam from DISK, DOWNLOAD, WEBSITES etc). By POI we in fact mean the .CSV and .BMP files that together make up a POI “unit”.

Please be careful and don’t overload the number of POIs – one user we spoke to tried to load over 400 POIs, this crashed his Garmin. We suggest that you do not exceed the recommended POI number and sizes described in the Garmin manual on the POI loader.

 

The POIs that you load here will not in any way alter the factory loaded POI that came with your Garmin, its only the user loaded POI that are “cleaned” out each time and have to be re-loaded. You need the latest copy of Garmin SmartST Desktop software installed on your PC. Garmin SmartST Desktop makes sure that you can load the POIs onto your Garmin device.

 

Even if you already have Garmin SmartST Desktop installed, make sure that it’s the latest version.

 

Finally please ensure you make a BACKUP – should anything go wrong then you can always restore it. Landis Media Ltd cannot be responsible if you make a mistake whilst installing POIs.

 

Step 3: Using Garmin POI LOADER and choosing the Low Bridge POI Files

Connect your Garmin device using the USB cable to your PC and then turn it on.

 

Make sure that the LANDIS MEDIA Ltd - Fleet & Low Bridge DOWNLOAD has been SAVED (perhaps to your DESKTOP) and then UNZIPPED. Whilst UNZIPPING you will EXTRACT the contents “Fleet & Low Bridge” to your C: drive and then when it’s been extracted (make sure the WINZIP folders option has been enabled) you can open the MENU.HTM file and read these manuals.

 

It’s important that you EXTRACT not just look inside the ZIP file you downloaded and also that you keep the same folder structure of our DOWNLOAD.

 

Here you can see that the DOWNLOAD was SAVED to DESKTOP and UNZIPPED (EXTRACTED with FOLDERS option enabled) to the C: DRIVE. Here in the C: drive we can see the directory called “Fleet & Low Bridge” and inside that the three folders SYS, LOW_BRIDGES_DATA and TRANSPORT_DATA

 

 

There’s also the MENU webpage that will help locate the manuals etc. You can save the EXTRACTED folder “Fleet & Low Bridge” anywhere you like – but we would advise that it’s an easy to locate place. Later on you will be copying the POI you need from it to the DESKTOP BUFFER directory “Garmin_Store”

 

 

 

 

 

INSTALL GARMIN POI LOADER

 

The Garmin POI Loader application is available for free from the Garmin Website.

To get the latest version of this software you will need to download it from the Garmin Website at: http://www.garmin.com/products/poiloader/

The screen is shown below, make sure you select the correct licence terms and accept the conditions;

 

 

This box will appear (below) – click save as and find a place to save the installer to – perhaps the desktop for easy access ?

 

 

 

The download is about 8Mb in size and will take a while to download on a modem connection or a few minutes on a broadband connection. Now make sure you save the downloaded file to somewhere where you can locate it again. Perhaps the desktop for easy access as we suggested above ?

 

Now simply follow the onscreen instructions to install the application and in a few moments you will have the Garmin POI Loader installed and ready to use to install the Low Bridge and Other Transport POIs.

 

Step 4:  INSTALL THE OTHER 2 LOW BRIDGE POI FILES

As explained in Step 1: you have to install 3 Low Bridge POI sets in total for this solution, these are;

 

*    All Low Bridge POI File (you need to copy this to your GARMIN_STORE folder)

*    Alert Low Bridge POI File (you need to copy this to your GARMIN_STORE folder)

*    The final file is one of a total of 85 CAB HEIGHT POI files – but which one ?

 

The two files above; All Low Bridge POI – is in the All_ft directory and he

 Alert Low Bridge POI - is in the Low_Bridge_alert folder

 

these two POI files are easy to locate (as they are always the same) and copy over (remember to copy the .CSV and the .BMP file for one POI “set”)

 

Now for the CAB HEIGHT POI – this is a variable file and depends on how high the vehicle you drive is. From the 85 individual CAB HEIGHT files (in the 11 directories from 16ft to 6ft you need ONLY ONE FILE).

 

It’s simple – just select the file that is the same height as your cab when unloaded. In our example the CAB HEIGHT is 13ft 8inches and so you will copy over the 13ft_8inches_truck_cab_height file (.CSV and .BMP).

 

 

Above you can see there are directories all the way from 16ft to 6ft and each one contains multiple files. You need to locate a height that corresponds to your UNLOADED Cab Height. Included are the 85 separate height files to cover every HGV, truck, caravan, lorry, motor-home and vans in the UK. You will only need now to select JUST ONE of these – which matches your CAB HEIGHT.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: You only need your cab height from the list of 85 different heights. The Alert and All Low Bridge POIs contain every Low Bridge in the UK anyway. The Cab Height file has all the Low Bridges that your vehicle will need to avoid, starting from your Cab Height downwards to 6 feet. Some people install ALL 85 DIFFERENT CAB HEIGHTS thinking that they need them all or will get “better” data. In fact doing this would SLOW DOWN your Garmin down and even STOP the Low Bridge warnings working properly. All the data for the entire UK is already inside the 3 files you will install.

 

HOW TO CHOOSE ?

 

If for instance you drive a 13ft 8 inch cab – you would look in the 13ft directory on the DOWNLOAD and select the 13ft-8_truck_cab_height.csv file. This file is the one that closely corresponds to your cab height and so this is the final POI file to use. In your case just pick the one that closely relates to your Cab Height. You will also of course copy over the .BMP file as well.

 

So now you will have all 3 POI files (6 files 3 .BMP and 3 CSV) in your “Garmin_Store” on your desktop,  already to be installed onto the Garmin device. In the next stage we will setup warning distances for these file its time to install these other two files – once you have selected your Cab Height.  The warning distances that are recommended (setup whilst loading the POI) for all the POI heights are as follows;

 

ALERT LOW BRIDGE                                     WARN AT 100m

                       

ALL LOW BRIDGE                                    WARN AT 2000m

 

YOUR CAB HEIGHT e.g. 13ft 2inch WARN AT 1500m

 

 

You can see the files below have now been COPIED into the folder “GARMIN-STORE” on the desktop, an easy place to find them later on.

 

 

USER NOTE: The example above for simplicity only shows the LOW BRIDGE POI files that are needed, as mentioned in real life you would not just have the Low Bridge POI files here but all other POIs you use, petrol stations, service etc.