9. Finding A Restaurant (Searching for POIs)

Figure 57: Searching for a Point of Interest

In GPS speak, a "Point of Interest" is a business address saved on the GPS. You can think of the POI database as a pre-loaded yellow pages. Most modern GPS devices come pre-loaded with a Points of Interest database, allowing you to find nearby businesses, such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and more.

The nüvi 500 ships with around 6 million POIs pre-loaded onto the unit.

To search for a "Point of Interest", tap Where to? from the Main Menu.

Figure 58: Points of Interest

Tap Points of Interest as the destination type.

Figure 59: Selecting the Search Category and Proximity

In this example we'll be searching for a restaurant, so I'll tap on Food from this menu. I could have also chosen any of the following other Points of Interest (POI) categories:

• Fuel
• Transit
• Lodging
• Shopping
• Bank/ATM
• Parking
• Entertainment
• Recreation
• Attractions
• Hospitals
• Community
• Auto Services

If you're not sure what category a given business would be found under, but know the name of the place you're searching for, tapping on "Spell Name" allows you to search all POI categories at once for a specific name. However, in my testing I found searching all POI categories extremely slow. In some cases I gave up after a few minutes, assuming the search would never finish. You're better off searching within a particular POI category rather than searching all categories. Hopefully Garmin will address this issue in subsequent software updates

Figure 60: Telling the nüvi Where to Search

By default, the nüvi 500 searches for Points of Interest (POIs) close to your current location. If you want to search for a business near a specific address, along your planned route, or near your destination address, tap "Near..." (shown in figure 52) to access the "Search Near..." screen, shown above:

• Where I Am Now - Searches for businesses close to your current location
• A Different City - Searches for businesses in a city (you will be prompted to enter the city name)
• My Current Route - Searches for businesses along your current planned route (you must be navigating to a destination for this option to be selectable)
• My Destination - Searches for businesses near your destination address (you must be navigating to a destination for this option to be selectable)

For example, if you wanted to find a restaurant near your destination, you would tap on Where to? -> Near... ->My Destination ->Points of Interest ->Food and so on.

Figure 61: Setting the POI Sub-Category

Some POI categories have sub-categories. For example, if you choose "Food" as the main category, the nüvi 500 asks if you also want to enter a sub-category (in this case, a food cuisine type). If we wanted to find the closest Mexican restaurant, for example, we could choose Mexican as the sub-category, and the nüvi would limit the results to just Mexican restaurants.

If you don't want to narrow the results by cuisine, choose "All Food" to list all restaurants.

Figure 62: Viewing the POI Search Results

The POI search results list displays each restaurant in order of closeness to our current location, along with the exact street address, distance, and direction indicator.

Figure 63: POI Detail Page

Tapping on a POI in the search results list displays the details page for that particular POI. This screen displays the POI's street address and phone number. The Route Info box appears after 3 seconds, displaying the distance and estimated drive time to the destination.

This screen also lets you view the POI on the map before navigating to the address (Show Map), save the POI to the address book (Save), or begin routing to the business by tapping on the large green "Go!" button.

10. Canceling the Route

Figure 64: Canceling A Route

Tapping on the Menu button while navigating to an address brings up the Main Menu, shown above. From here, you can stop routing to the destination by tapping on Stop, or detour around a problem area by (such as a traffic jam or closed road) by tapping on Detour.

Including the Stop button right on the Main Menu is a nice feature. I've tested a lot of GPS devices and have found that canceling a route can be a surprisingly difficult task. For example, TomTom's GPS units hide this option 3 menu levels deep.

In my testing I found the detour function worked adequately, although there are no options for how far you want to avoid the current problem, nor is it possible to exclude specific roads from the trip. But it does provide a quick and easy way to get off the current road if you run into a problem.

11. Setting the Home Address

Figure 65: Setting the Home Address

The Home address is a special saved address on the nüvi that provides quick, one-touch access to the address you'll use most often: home.

The first time you tap on Go Home from the Where to? menu, the nüvi 500 will prompt you to input your home address.

Figure 66: Go Home

Tap Go Home from the Where to? menu to set the Home address.

Figure 67: Entering a Home Address

The nüvi 500 allows you to enter a street address for the saved "Home" address, store your current location as the Home address (especially handy if your street address isn't located exactly where the map thinks), or pick a recently used address as the Home address.

Once the Home address has been set, it can be changed anytime by tapping on Where to > Favorites > Home > Edit