7. Finding a Restaurant (Searching for POIs)

Figure 59: Searching for a Point of Interest

In GPS speak, a "Point of Interest", or POI, is a business address saved on the GPS. You can think of the POI database as a pre-loaded yellow pages on the GPS. 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 nuvi 785T ships with relatively large POI database of around 6 million entries. During my testing, the nuvi 785T was able to find every restaurant or nearby business I could think to throw at it.

To search for a "Point of Interest", tap on Where to? -> Points of Interest.

Figure 60: Selecting the Search Category and Proximity

In this example I'll be searching for a restaurant, so I'll tap on Food from the Points of Interest page. I could have also chosen any of the following other available 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 the entire POI database for a specific name.

Figure 61: Telling the nuvi Where to Search

By default, the nuvi 885T 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..." 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)

Figure 62: Setting the POI Sub-Category

Some POI categories have sub-categories. For example, if you choose "Food" as the main category, the nuvi then asks if you also want to enter a sub-category (in this case, a cuisine type). If we wanted to find the closest Mexican restaurant, for example, we could choose Mexican as the sub-category, and the nuvi 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 in the search area you specified.

Figure 63: 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 relative to your current position.

Figure 64: POI Details Page

Tapping on a POI in the search results list displays the details page for that particular POI. This screen displays the street address and phone number of the business (which can be dialed via the hands-free speakerphone once a Bluetooth enabled cell phone is paired with the nuvi 885T).

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

8. Setting the Home Address

Figure 65: Setting the Home Address

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

The first time you tap on Go Home from the Where to? menu, the nuvi 885T will prompt you to enter your home address.

Figure 66: Entering a Home Address

The nuvi 885T 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.

9. Favorites

Figure 67: Favorites

Saved locations are stored in Favorites, the nuvi 885T's personal address book. The list of saved addresses, or favorites, is accessed by tapping on Where to? > Favorites.

Figure 68: Address Confirmation Screen

Destinations can be added to the Favorites list by tapping Save on the address confirmation screen.

Figure 69: Viewing Favorites

Favorites are always sorted by distance to your current location.

The nuvi 885T allows you to associate a photo with each saved address. JPG or JPEG files are supported. Once a photo is copied to the nuvi, it can be attached to a saved address. When navigating to a saved address that has a photo attached to it, the photo is displayed upon arrival.

Notice the "Last Position" entry in the Favorites list. Whenever the nuvi 885T is removed from the windshield mount, it automatically creates an entry in Favorites called "Last Position", and remembers the position of the GPS when it was separated from the mount. The "Last Position" entry can then be used to navigate back to the last location where the nuvi was removed from the mount.

For example, if you drive to a crowded parking lot, or park at the base of a trail and take the nuvi with you, you can use the "Last Position" entry in the Recently Found destinations to get back to your car. Depending where you parked, you could also put the nuvi into pedestrian or off-road mode.

Figure 70: Editing A Favorite

Favorites can be edited (or deleted) by tapping Edit from the Favorites detail page, shown above.

Figure 71: Editing Saved Places

Touching Edit on the details page of a saved entry allows you to change the name, photo, map symbol, phone number, and category of a given entry. You can also delete the saved address by touching Delete.

Figure 72: Change Categories

Categories allow you to organize Favorites into groups. To setup a Category, tap Edit on a favorite, then scroll down and tap Change Categories.

Figure 73: Enter Name of Category

Categories can be named anything you like (i.e. "Fletch's Favorites Restaurants", or "Client Locations", etc.).

Figure 74: Assigning A Category To A Favorite

Once a category name has been created, Favorites can be moved into the category.

Figure 75: Favorites, With Categories

As soon as the first category is defined, the Favorites list no longer shows all favorites on the main screen. Instead, you now have the option of viewing all favorites, or a specific category of favorites.