Address search Ho Chi Minh City

[schouten_tjeerd]

I am new to Garmin Mobile XT (have been using TomTom) so maybe I am missing something but any help is appreciated.

Before I go to Vietnam, I want to add some favorites like the hotel, etc. However:

-The Address search does not work in the R5 vietnam map as Ho Chi Minh City is not in the list of cities.
-There is a lot of detail in the maps but most of the streets are not navigable right? When I press Ctrl-G in Mapsource (base chart only) it displays much less roads. Is this right? [Edit] Never mind, it seems it is navigable in Mapsource so it should work on the Garmin.

Less relevant to this forum:
-GMTX does not seem to have a "from-to" routing feature. Any workaround?

I am going to be an expat in Vietnam for quite some time and I plan to add lots of tracklogs *if I find out how it works* so I have some more questions like:

-How do I add a street name, how do I make a street navigable, etc.

[Edit]
Ok, the logging function of GMXT apparently does not support 1 sec logging. But luckily I have an Adept AD-850 GPS with data logging. The native format is undocumented but the app contains a feature which converts it to google earth KML format. I then use GPSbabel to convert KML to GDB. That should work.

-How do I add a point of interest? Just a text file with coordinates and descriptions?

Regards,
Tj

[lurkin]

Hello Tj and welcome to the forum.

I think Alan - our Garmin XT expert - will reply to your post providing some hints regarding the use of Garmin XT.
I would recommend to read this thread: You can see links before reply which explains how to get a 1 second tracklog on Garmin XT.

The Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam map is routable; since you figured out it works in Mapsource it should also work on your unit. More details to follow from Alan.

[schouten_tjeerd]

Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I have some problems running that program, but I will post it there.

How does the address search work anyway? Does the map need to have specific address information so it can be searched by XT or is it XT which is playing up and not showing any address information in Ho Chi Minh?

Tj

[lurkin]

Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I have some problems running that program, but I will post it there.

How does the address search work anyway? Does the map need to have specific address information so it can be searched by XT or is it XT which is playing up and not showing any address information in Ho Chi Minh?

Tj

The first thing is that Garmin (but not 100% sure if this also applies for Garmin XT, probably yes) searches near to your current location.
So - to start a search in HCM you first have to transfer your location to HCM on your unit. Your C-L-V map has to be installed on your unit and set as active map.
Zoom out the map and position the cursor on Vietnam, from there do some fine tuning and try to set the pointer to HCM.
Select this as your location and now you can start the search.

Without that - i.e. being in Europe and searching in Vietnam - Garmin won't find anything.
Hope that helps in the first step.

[Ryo]

Hi Tj,

Sorry for the inconvinience. My name is Ryo. I am managing Vietnam map from source level. The address search may not work as you expected in Garmin genuine map. Most of the street on the big city has indexed but no street address has added. That means you can probably search the intersection of the two street but, you can not searh such as "143 De Tam Street, Ho Chi Minh".

When you trying to search address, you may see some street with addersses but, it is only a spot information which comes with POI address.

thank you,

Ryo

[Alan]

You're correct Ryo, Garmin XT searches from a Valid Satellite Fix,
Alan

[schouten_tjeerd]

Thanks. This is what I have done so far regarding experimenting with routing in Vietnam while not being there yet:

-Installed the map
-Made map active (already was)
-In GMXT go to:

Where To->Addresses->Spell Country->Cancel->Vietnam->Search All Cities->House number = 1->Next->Cancel->12b->Map

You will then end up somewhere north of Vietnam. Zoom out, scroll to Ho Chi Minh down south. Then zoom in again and click the middle button (enter), so:

Enter->Enter again->Options->Save to my locations

The location is now saved as "Point". Now go to the start menu again:

Tools->Manage my data->My locations->Point->Enter->Change name

Change the name to something sensible and you now have a shortcut to your city. Next time you want to browse your city, go to the main menu and then:

Where to->My locations->Ho Chi Minh->Map

But I still can't do any routings other then from my real GPS location or last known real GPS location. I tried changing my location like Lurkin suggested but all I can do is change the waypoint "my location" but that doesn't make a difference. So I need to find a way to trick XT into thinking I am somewhere else. I really like that from-to routing feature of TomTom. You can use it to calculate how long a hypothetical journey will be. Too bad we have to find a workaround for this with Garmin.

Ryo, can I help making the address feature work? I am good with C++, maybe I can make some sort of indexing program. I am not sure if that address search feature of Garmin is documented though...

Tj

[Ryo]

Hi Tj,

I don't have any experience to use Mobile XT but on the older mapping GPS, routing works just fine even from one minor street in Hanoi to the other minor street in HCMC. When you copy the map on the map source, after the area selection, did you click on a little check box at the left down corner of the mapsource? It should appear like "□Include Routu calculation data". Without it, topology information of the vector data will not be transferred to GPS.

It is very nice to know you can help me to do indexing. But, it is very difficult to do it by personal level. How it probably work is get a address data of each intersection and interpolate address in the map. For example, one place had "23 Le Loi street" and the if the other 100m away place is "55 Le Loi street", the mapsoruce will generate "24,25...54,55 Le Loi" in linear interpolation. So, calculation is not a big effort but, putting those address along with each streets on the map will be huge effort. As Alan mentioned in the other section in this forum, there are so many roads with "no name". I wonder how the postal system working in Vietnam but, it sounds like similar to the streets in Japan. We don't have name or number along with street in Japan.

Alan, do you have any idea why Tj's Mobile XT doesn't work?

best regards,

Ryo

[schouten_tjeerd]

On the "Send to device" dialog there are 4 options:
-Maps
-Waypoints
-Routes
-Tracks

-Maps is selected, the rest is grayed out. If I de-select Maps, the Send button is disabled. Is that the feature you meant? But the map should be routable because it is routable in Mapsource. It is just that I can't check it because I am not physically there and I can't fool the GPS either. Not on the Nokia at least.

But about the address search, I can search street cities and street names in mapsource, but not in XT. Searching for intersections would be good enough. I realize that adding house numbers to the search system is a lot of work. The thing is, XT can't find Ho Chi Minh City, let alone a street in it. It is not in the city list. Only a few cities are there. These are the cities listed:

Dong Hoi, Quang B
Hoi An, Quang Nan
Mai Chau, Hoa Binl
My Tho, Binh Dinh
Nghe An, An Giang

So I am sure some data is missing one the chart. Any thoughts?

[Alan]

Hi Tj,
You can create a route in Mapsource and send it to your phone, in Mapsource select TOOLS, there is an option there to create a route. In Ho Chi Minh City very often you will notice that the numbers on a street are not sequential, this is a pain, you travel along eg, 22, 24,26, then all of a sudden number 18 would appear. It might be easier to send me a message through this site when you get here and I can go through XT and how to send/create POI's etc with you.
Alan

[lurkin]

Where To->Addresses->Spell Country->Cancel->Vietnam->Search All Cities->House number = 1->Next->Cancel->12b->Map

Exactly here is the problem as Ryo described; house numbering system only partially implemented (very difficult in Asia).
Addresses in Asia can't be compared in any way with the European address system.
Major intersection or search via known POI's is far more helpful.


Enter->Enter again->Options->Save to my locations

The location is now saved as "Point". Now go to the start menu again:

Tools->Manage my data->My locations->Point->Enter->Change name

Change the name to something sensible and you now have a shortcut to your city. Next time you want to browse your city, go to the main menu and then:

Where to->My locations->Ho Chi Minh->Map

But I still can't do any routings other then from my real GPS location or last known real GPS location. I tried changing my location like Lurkin suggested but all I can do is change the waypoint "my location" but that doesn't make a difference. So I need to find a way to trick XT into thinking I am somewhere else. I really like that from-to routing feature of TomTom. You can use it to calculate how long a hypothetical journey will be. Too bad we have to find a workaround for this with Garmin.

I am not an expert with the Garmin XT, I got it on my 2 phones more or less as a backup.
What I described as a possible solution is taken from my Garmin Nuvi where one is able to set the unit into a simulation mode (GPS signal disabled) to perform the search or to simulate routing.
I have to try if this is possible with Garmin XT; never tried that before.

Many users have reported the user friendliness of the Tom Tom units, however the major disadvantage is their map coverage and no way to implement 3rd party maps.
Thanks

[lurkin]

On the "Send to device" dialog there are 4 options:
-Maps
-Waypoints
-Routes
-Tracks

-Maps is selected, the rest is grayed out. If I de-select Maps, the Send button is disabled. Is that the feature you meant? But the map should be routable because it is routable in Mapsource. It is just that I can't check it because I am not physically there and I can't fool the GPS either. Not on the Nokia at least.

Detailed description how to upload maps from Mapsource onto the GPS unit is here: You can see links before reply

The map is routable in Mapsource and given you managed to upload all 8 map tiles onto your GPSr it will also be routable on the unit itself.

It is still questionable if Garmin XT can be set into the "simulation mode" as I described in the other post with my Nuvi experience which will allow you to perform an "offline" search.

Thanks

[schouten_tjeerd]

Yeah, that gps simulation mode would be really handy. Bud I don't think it is supported in XT. I found a reference in the Nokia API section which you can use to implement this. I'll look into this.

Thanks Alan, I'll let you know when I get there.

Tj

[lurkin]

Yeah, that gps simulation mode would be really handy. Bud I don't think it is supported in XT. I found a reference in the Nokia API section which you can use to implement this. I'll look into this.

Thanks Alan, I'll let you know when I get there.

Tj

Some news about the search option.....



Start Garmin XT
On the main screen tap "Where to?"
In the lower bar select "Near"
On the next screen, lower bar again, select "Near other"
Now you will be offered 2 options
- Spell city
- Browse map

But I still haven't figured out how to turn off the GPS necessary to reposition the pointer to another country.

You might try to "Spell city" and punch in Ho Chi Minh City assumed your Vietnam map is set to active.

Hope that helps
Thanks

Additional information:
Just came across this website: You can see links before reply
which offers a pretty comprehensive manual for the Garmin XT use on Nokia phones.

[schouten_tjeerd]

Thanks. The "Near other" function does indeed work. I am in HCMC now and the map is perfectly routable. The 3d mode is very slow though on my Nokia E65. But it will suffice as an anti-getting-lost machine. It probably won't work on a motorbike anyway because of the low luminescence of the screen. And I already used it to show the taxi driver where to go :cool:
Thanks for your help.

Tj

[yamapi]

I just got a Gamin nuvi 1390T ... and i'm trying to find out how to search for an intersection in ho chi minh city.

i enable gps simulation

select ho chi minh city, vreg as my location

where to?

address

"select city in vietnam" -> search all

"enter house number" -> leave blank

"enter street" -> if i enter the first letter of the street and it will give me a list of street names beginning with that letter ... some list are very long, like "h" and takes a long time to browse through all the entries to find the street i want

if i enter more than one letter for the street name, it doesn't find any matches


if I search POIs then I can enter something like "tan" and will get a list "tan dinh (church), metropolitan, tan son nh int departure .... etc "


Is this the best i can do? or is there a way to search for street names more specifically, like when i search for POIs?


thanks

[Ryo]

Hi yamapi,

Thanks for the feedback. The operation you are doing seems to be correct. I don't have NUVI but on my little ETrex Vista HCx, I can enter the second or third letter for street name to narrow it down. I don't know if it is nuvi 1390T issue or not. Does anybody else has same issue on nuvi?

Ryo

[lurkin]

I just got a Gamin nuvi 1390T ... and i'm trying to find out how to search for an intersection in ho chi minh city.

i enable gps simulation

select ho chi minh city, vreg as my location

where to?

address

"select city in vietnam" -> search all

"enter house number" -> leave blank

"enter street" -> if i enter the first letter of the street and it will give me a list of street names beginning with that letter ... some list are very long, like "h" and takes a long time to browse through all the entries to find the street i want

if i enter more than one letter for the street name, it doesn't find any matches


if I search POIs then I can enter something like "tan" and will get a list "tan dinh (church), metropolitan, tan son nh int departure .... etc "


Is this the best i can do? or is there a way to search for street names more specifically, like when i search for POIs?


thanks

I got a Nuvi 1490 which is more or less the same as yours.
Mine does show the selection of roads as per your example.

Do you run the latest firmware? Read here: You can see links before reply

[yamapi]

thanks for the feedback. I guess the problem is with the nuvi ... atleast it's better than going through the whole list of street names from the begenning ... :wink:

thanks