# New Member and confused



## Dougbobbill (Jan 10, 2016)

Good day to all

For many years my wife, dog and I have travelled about UK and Europe in our ancient but trusty Merc 306 (1971) from home in Devon, and hopefully we all have a few more miles left in us! Part of the pleasure of the travelling is of course the people that we meet, and we now have some good friends from these chance meetings, and hopefully through Wildcamping we may make many more.

Another reason for signing up to Wildcamping after quite a long time as a guest is that the POI (no idea what it stands for) looked very useful. I have tried to download it to my Windows laptop but it and the Instructions are just so complicated that I am left with various files with headings like France, Pub Stop, Toilets etc all of which don't open, and there is nothing POI related when I open Google Earth. I can keep an old Merc on the road and just about find my way around most towns in Europe but the POI Download has got me beaten! Any help gratefully received!


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## Jimhunterj4 (Jan 10, 2016)

Poi points of interest


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## maingate (Jan 10, 2016)

There are members from your neck of the Woods who might volunteer to help you.


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## Jimhunterj4 (Jan 10, 2016)

Sorry, welcome and I'm very sure someone will be along to help you with your tech problem very soon.
Ps there is a dedicated thread to take you step by step for the poi downloads


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## Steve121 (Jan 10, 2016)

See if this thread makes sense.


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## rockape (Jan 10, 2016)

Dougbobbill said:


> Good day to all
> 
> For many years my wife, dog and I have travelled about UK and Europe in our ancient but trusty Merc 306 (1971) from home in Devon, and hopefully we all have a few more miles left in us! Part of the pleasure of the travelling is of course the people that we meet, and we now have some good friends from these chance meetings, and hopefully through Wildcamping we may make many more.
> 
> Another reason for signing up to Wildcamping after quite a long time as a guest is that the POI (no idea what it stands for) looked very useful. I have tried to download it to my Windows laptop but it and the Instructions are just so complicated that I am left with various files with headings like France, Pub Stop, Toilets etc all of which don't open, and there is nothing POI related when I open Google Earth. I can keep an old Merc on the road and just about find my way around most towns in Europe but the POI Download has got me beaten! Any help gratefully received!


 You may need to pm fairytooth, he,s the savvy one.


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## Canalsman (Jan 10, 2016)

Please have a thorough read through the User Guide which can be found here:

http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/POI-FILES/User%20Guide%20-%20England%20Wales%20Scotland.pdf


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## TJBi (Jan 10, 2016)

Dougbobbill said:


> Good day to all
> 
> <snip>Another reason for signing up to Wildcamping after quite a long time as a guest is that the POI (no idea what it stands for) looked very useful. I have tried to download it to my Windows laptop but it and the Instructions are just so complicated that I am left with various files with headings like France, Pub Stop, Toilets etc all of which don't open, and there is nothing POI related when I open Google Earth. I can keep an old Merc on the road and just about find my way around most towns in Europe but the POI Download has got me beaten! Any help gratefully received!



It sounds as though you have installed Google Earth on your PC and have successfully downloaded the POIs.  You should find that in "My Documents" you have a "Wildcamping POIs" folder, within which there is a "Google Earth" folder.  The latter should contain 4 .kml files.

If this is so, open Google Earth, click on "File", then click on "Open in the dropdown menu.  When the "Open" dialogue box opens, navigate to the aforementioned Wildcamping POIs>Google Earth folder and double-click on the France.kml file.  This should then load into Google Earth.

You can check that this has worked by entering "saint-suliac" into the Google Earth Search box and clicking on "Search".  The map should zoom so that you see the commune of Saint-Suliac with two green tent symbols (labelled "CU Saint-Suiliac 1" and "CU Saint-Suiliac 2" - POI Admin has promised to correct the spelling ).  If this has worked successfully, you can repeat the File>Open operation for other .kml files.

Google Earth initially stores these files as "Temporary Places", but when you quit will ask whether you wish to save them.

Let us know how you get on.

Tom


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 11, 2016)

*Plea for POI help*

Many thanks to all who have responded - I didn't think I'd hear a thing!

I have now found my way, with all the triangular sites shown on my Google Earth. The problem was that the User Guide simply says to go to Google Earth and click File, Open and then the KML files, but actually those files are not shown. Instead are 13 files, none of which are KML. However, one of them is Google Earth, and when I clicked on that, hey presto! the missing 4 KML files appeared! The thread replies were enough to help me sort this out. 
The next problem I have is that the triangles on the map show me a location, but is there a way to find a bit more info on the location? The User Guide tells me that each location (presumably each triangle) is marked with a CR, CU,LR, LU but all I see is the triangle......

With thanks


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 11, 2016)

*Thanks*

Thanks for this help. I've posted a reply separately marked Newbie as not sure what the correct reply procedure is!



TJBi said:


> It sounds as though you have installed Google Earth on your PC and have successfully downloaded the POIs.  You should find that in "My Documents" you have a "Wildcamping POIs" folder, within which there is a "Google Earth" folder.  The latter should contain 4 .kml files.
> 
> If this is so, open Google Earth, click on "File", then click on "Open in the dropdown menu.  When the "Open" dialogue box opens, navigate to the aforementioned Wildcamping POIs>Google Earth folder and double-click on tas not surehe France.kml file.  This should then load into Google Earth.
> 
> ...


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## Canalsman (Jan 11, 2016)

Dougbobbill said:


> Many thanks to all who have responded - I didn't think I'd hear a thing!
> 
> I have now found my way, with all the triangular sites shown on my Google Earth. The problem was that the User Guide simply says to go to Google Earth and click File, Open and then the KML files, but actually those files are not shown. Instead are 13 files, none of which are KML. However, one of them is Google Earth, and when I clicked on that, hey presto! the missing 4 KML files appeared! The thread replies were enough to help me sort this out.
> The next problem I have is that the triangles on the map show me a location, but is there a way to find a bit more info on the location? The User Guide tells me that each location (presumably each triangle) is marked with a CR, CU,LR, LU but all I see is the triangle......
> ...



Glad you've succeeded in displaying the POIs in Google Earth.

It sounds like you may have altered one of Google Earth's settings so that the POI labels are not being displayed.

I don't have access to a PC at the moment so I can't provide specific advice ...


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## TJBi (Jan 11, 2016)

Dougbobbill said:


> Many thanks to all who have responded - I didn't think I'd hear a thing!
> 
> I have now found my way, with all the triangular sites shown on my Google Earth. The problem was that the User Guide simply says to go to Google Earth and click File, Open and then the KML files, but actually those files are not shown. Instead are 13 files, none of which are KML. However, one of them is Google Earth, and when I clicked on that, hey presto! the missing 4 KML files appeared! The thread replies were enough to help me sort this out.
> The next problem I have is that the triangles on the map show me a location, but is there a way to find a bit more info on the location? The User Guide tells me that each location (presumably each triangle) is marked with a CR, CU,LR, LU but all I see is the triangle......
> ...



In Google Earth, have a look at Edit>Properties>Style. Color.  Under that tab,  Label should have a Color of White (just looks like an empty white tickbox), a Scale value of 1.0 and an Opacity value of 100%.
If those values are already there, just click on "Cancel" and report back.  If different values are there, change hem to the ones that I have indicated and click on "OK" and check whether labels are then displayed.
Thanks for asking about this (and to POI Admin for his reply) - I've always found the labels rather too large and I've now found 2 different settings that enable me to reduce them in size!

If labels still aren't displayed, (or even if they are!), clicking on the icon should bring up a box with the POI name and other info, very likely including a link that will open a Google Street View of the POI if the Street View camera car has been there.

Tom


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## antiquesam (Jan 11, 2016)

You could of course just click on"poi map" at the top of this page.and view them from there


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## Deleted member 13543 (Jan 11, 2016)

Hello,  Dougbobbill, 

I'm one of the members down your way! Been a bit busy trying to win the 5000th post thread (I didn't!!) so didn't see your post until now.  Welcome to the site; there are several members down this way apart from me.   Grumpy2 and Witzend, to name two of them.  We three are in the Camborne - Truro area. Hope you get on with the POIs OK now! I have mine on Autoroute13, and spend ages checking them out on Streetview to see if they will be OK for us. I also have them on MapsMe for actually navigating to them. (MAPS.ME (MapsWithMe), detailed offline maps of the World for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire and BlackBerry)

:welcome::fun::cheers::cheers:


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## Deleted member 19733 (Jan 12, 2016)

Hi and welcome to the forum, have fun


:welcome::camper::have fun::cheers::scooter::dog::drive::goodluck:


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## campervanannie (Jan 12, 2016)

swiftcamper said:


> You will fit in well most of them on here are confused, we have a few window lickers too
> Someone who has an interest in technology will soon be along to point you in the right direction.
> Welcome



That's not a very PC way to describe me Charlie I am hurt.
Oh and welcome Doug Bob or bill


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 15, 2016)

*to Kernowprickles*

Thanks for your message. Our van is at the moment resting up in St Ives. We'll be going to get her next month or so and perhaps could meet up, as I'd really like to copy your use of poi. I've got it on the phone, but haven't managed to link it for streetview which seems quite important. Cheers



kernowprickles said:


> Hello,  Dougbobbill,
> 
> I'm one of the members down your way! Been a bit busy trying to win the 5000th post thread (I didn't!!) so didn't see your post until now.  Welcome to the site; there are several members down this way apart from me.   Grumpy2 and Witzend, to name two of them.  We three are in the Camborne - Truro area. Hope you get on with the POIs OK now! I have mine on Autoroute13, and spend ages checking them out on Streetview to see if they will be OK for us. I also have them on MapsMe for actually navigating to them. (MAPS.ME (MapsWithMe), detailed offline maps of the World for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire and BlackBerry)
> 
> :welcome::fun::cheers::cheers:


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 15, 2016)

antiquesam said:


> You could of course just click on"poi map" at the top of this page.and view them from there



That's ok but no help if I can't get online


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 15, 2016)

TJBi said:


> In Google Earth, have a look at Edit>Properties>Style. Color.  Under that tab,  Label should have a Color of White (just looks like an empty white tickbox), a Scale value of 1.0 and an Opacity value of 100%.
> If those values are already there, just click on "Cancel" and report back.  If different values are there, change hem to the ones that I have indicated and click on "OK" and check whether labels are then displayed.
> Thanks for asking about this (and to POI Admin for his reply) - I've always found the labels rather too large and I've now found 2 different settings that enable me to reduce them in size!
> 
> ...



Hi Tom

Thanks for this. The settings are as you say, but I haven't dared to click Cancel! I am getting the triangular icon, but when clicked a small window appears with a web link and a link for Directions, nothing else. On the other hand, if I am online and simply click 'POI Maps' on Wildcamp website, the triangles reveal a lot more info when clicked. Something is wrong!


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## Canalsman (Jan 15, 2016)

I am puzzled by what you're trying to do ...

You say that you can't access the POI map from this site when offline, which of course is true.

But neither can you use Google Earth offline!


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## Dougbobbill (Jan 16, 2016)

POI Admin said:


> I am puzzled by what you're trying to do ...
> 
> You say that you can't access the POI map from this site when offline, which of course is true.
> 
> But neither can you use Google Earth offline!



No one told me that!!


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## Canalsman (Jan 16, 2016)

Dougbobbill said:


> No one told me that!!



Which begs the question - have you tried Google Earth online, and does this solve your problem?


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