stubax
Active Member
Has anybody installed speed camera warnings to their W205 standard Garmin satnav? Thanks
w205 Garmin satnav camera installation?
stubax
Active Member
Go on then, howd ya do it?
SG94
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2015
- Messages
- 185
- Car
- 2020 C300DE AMG Line Premium Night Edition.
Download a database.
Run Garmin POILaoder.
Done.
Note though.
Mercedes have stripped the software back some, and the icons don't always appear.
You do though get an audio warning when you approach a camera site.
I have done lots of fiddling and have a long thread about this on Pocket GPS world.
Later today I will cut and paste it across if that's ok with the mods?
Run Garmin POILaoder.
Done.
Note though.
Mercedes have stripped the software back some, and the icons don't always appear.
You do though get an audio warning when you approach a camera site.
I have done lots of fiddling and have a long thread about this on Pocket GPS world.
Later today I will cut and paste it across if that's ok with the mods?
SG94
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2015
- Messages
- 185
- Car
- 2020 C300DE AMG Line Premium Night Edition.
Right.
A full summary.
Just to point out, Mercedes don't want you to load camera POI so this is not a full solution, it's a work around I have found and it's a lot on poncing around. But, it does work, you will get 100% audio alerts with the text box appearing on the screen, but only 50% (if your lucky) of the camera icons will appear.
You need Garmins POILloader (free download)
On your card is a file called POI, there will already be a POI file in it, leave this alone, on this unit you can load multiple POI.GPI files. I suspect the one present is the dealer database you see popping up in screen. All the blue icons you see for petrol and food etc are coded into the map data itself and are not part of the POI file present on the card.
To get the cameras to work you have 2 options. If you are happy just to get the proximity alerts and no icons, just download a camera database and create the .GPI file using POILloader. You don't need any audio files, the sat nav does this itself and just beeps at you. Use the express install. What you will get is an alert ONLY when you are coming up to a camera and are near or over the speed. If you are over the speed the text alert will go red.
If you want the same but with some icons you have to fiddle. The Garmin recognises that a file is cameras by the use of code words in the file name, or the location name in the file. So a .csv file called 'GATSO' means it knows it has to alert you when you approach one. Other code words include 'safety' 'mobile' 'redlight' 'SPECS' - you get the idea. If there is no speed data in the file name or the location comments field, all alerts default to .25 of a mile proximity.
It determines speed but the being any number in the file name preceded by an underscore, eg: 'GASTSO_30' or, by speed info in the individual location comments preceded by the '@' sign eg: lat/long 'GATSO_Main_Road_Manchester@30'
These trigger alerts depending on your speed of approach. If the speed info in the file name differs from the speed info in the location comments, the speed in the comments take priority.
If no speed information or code word is found in the file name or location comments, it treats them as bog standard, non alert POI, but this is good for us ;-)
You can have upto 127 POI in the exact same location, so this is what I have done.
Create a folder on your PC called POI (or whatever) put the DB files in it as follows.
I have 3 copies of the camera database.
One called 'Speed' which I have left as is. I use the consolidated by type versions, we don't need the speed zoned as our sat nav does this anyway. You get a file for Gatso, Mobile, Specs and redlight. All these files go in a folder called speed in my POI folder.
Another copy is in a folder called 'Distance', the same files are in this folder but I have opened each one and deleted all the location names/comments so that it alerts on distance. You must have a name for each location, so I just type a few random letters and get Excel to copy them into every line, the name isn't important.
DO NOT CHANGE THE FILE NAMES OF EITHER OF THESE 2 SETS OF FILES.
A third folder, with another set of files is called 'All'
I have again removed all the names and comments from each file, and populated them with random letters (no numbers) I have also renamed all the file names so they do not contain the Garmin code words; remember to rename your .BMP files to match, they must be the same.
I know it's a lot of fiddling, but it only takes 10 minutes, and what you get is as good as we can get owing to the restrictions Mercedes have put on the sat nav.
What happens is the first file ensures you alerted speed wise, the second file alerts you distance wise, and the third file it thinks are just normal POI so you at least get some icons.
Create a separate .GPI file for each folder, I have found this increases the success rate of the icons appearing.
Follow the POILoader instructions and it will create the .GPI file and put it on your card.
Sorry for long post, any questions please ask. I am still playing about with this so if I find anything else I will update this thread.
A full summary.
Just to point out, Mercedes don't want you to load camera POI so this is not a full solution, it's a work around I have found and it's a lot on poncing around. But, it does work, you will get 100% audio alerts with the text box appearing on the screen, but only 50% (if your lucky) of the camera icons will appear.
You need Garmins POILloader (free download)
On your card is a file called POI, there will already be a POI file in it, leave this alone, on this unit you can load multiple POI.GPI files. I suspect the one present is the dealer database you see popping up in screen. All the blue icons you see for petrol and food etc are coded into the map data itself and are not part of the POI file present on the card.
To get the cameras to work you have 2 options. If you are happy just to get the proximity alerts and no icons, just download a camera database and create the .GPI file using POILloader. You don't need any audio files, the sat nav does this itself and just beeps at you. Use the express install. What you will get is an alert ONLY when you are coming up to a camera and are near or over the speed. If you are over the speed the text alert will go red.
If you want the same but with some icons you have to fiddle. The Garmin recognises that a file is cameras by the use of code words in the file name, or the location name in the file. So a .csv file called 'GATSO' means it knows it has to alert you when you approach one. Other code words include 'safety' 'mobile' 'redlight' 'SPECS' - you get the idea. If there is no speed data in the file name or the location comments field, all alerts default to .25 of a mile proximity.
It determines speed but the being any number in the file name preceded by an underscore, eg: 'GASTSO_30' or, by speed info in the individual location comments preceded by the '@' sign eg: lat/long 'GATSO_Main_Road_Manchester@30'
These trigger alerts depending on your speed of approach. If the speed info in the file name differs from the speed info in the location comments, the speed in the comments take priority.
If no speed information or code word is found in the file name or location comments, it treats them as bog standard, non alert POI, but this is good for us ;-)
You can have upto 127 POI in the exact same location, so this is what I have done.
Create a folder on your PC called POI (or whatever) put the DB files in it as follows.
I have 3 copies of the camera database.
One called 'Speed' which I have left as is. I use the consolidated by type versions, we don't need the speed zoned as our sat nav does this anyway. You get a file for Gatso, Mobile, Specs and redlight. All these files go in a folder called speed in my POI folder.
Another copy is in a folder called 'Distance', the same files are in this folder but I have opened each one and deleted all the location names/comments so that it alerts on distance. You must have a name for each location, so I just type a few random letters and get Excel to copy them into every line, the name isn't important.
DO NOT CHANGE THE FILE NAMES OF EITHER OF THESE 2 SETS OF FILES.
A third folder, with another set of files is called 'All'
I have again removed all the names and comments from each file, and populated them with random letters (no numbers) I have also renamed all the file names so they do not contain the Garmin code words; remember to rename your .BMP files to match, they must be the same.
I know it's a lot of fiddling, but it only takes 10 minutes, and what you get is as good as we can get owing to the restrictions Mercedes have put on the sat nav.
What happens is the first file ensures you alerted speed wise, the second file alerts you distance wise, and the third file it thinks are just normal POI so you at least get some icons.
Create a separate .GPI file for each folder, I have found this increases the success rate of the icons appearing.
Follow the POILoader instructions and it will create the .GPI file and put it on your card.
Sorry for long post, any questions please ask. I am still playing about with this so if I find anything else I will update this thread.
