Customise your TomTom GO
Disclaimer: We assume no responsibility or liability for the information provided on the external websites or pages linked to this page. All modifications you do to the content of the standard SD card or HD provided by the manufacturer are done at your own risk.
BACK UP YOUR SD CARD OR HARD DRIVE BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY CHANGES! MAKE A FULL BACKUP OF ALL YOUR FILES!
WE STILL THINK THAT THE MOST RELIABLE METHOD IS TO SIMPLY COPY ALL THE FILES FROM AN SD CARD OR A HARD DRIVE TO YOUR COMPUTERE WITHOUT USING TOMTOM HOME AND/OR OTHER BACKUP UTILIES (MAKE SURE THAT THE "SHOW HIDDEN FILES" OPTION IS ON).
AVOID BUYING AND INSTALLING THE SO-CALLED TOMTOM UPGRADE CDs, SDs, CELEBRITY VOICES, POSTCODES, SAFETY CAMERA DATABASES, etc. FROM EBAY - THIS "SOFTWARE" CAN WRECK YOUR TOMTOM. SEE OUR EBAY WATCH PAGE. HALF OF OUR CUSTOMERS WHO HAD SOFTWARE PROBLEMS INSTALLED ADD-ONS (POIs, VOICEs, SPEED CAMERAS) BOUGHT ON E-BAY. OUR ADVICE IS TO BUY OR DOWNLOAD YOUR SOFTWARE FROM THE LEGITIMATE SOURCES ONLY- UNLIKE E-BAY THEY PROVIDE CUSTOMER SUPPORT.
You can customise your TomTom GO in many different ways. Below is general overview followed by the links to various sites.
- Change the splash screen (the screen which appears when you turn your GO on or off). It is very easy to do. There is a file in the root (top level) directory of the GO called splash.bmp. The dimensions of this file is 240 by 320 pixels and the size is 226KB. All you need to do is to create your own image with the same dimensions and replace the original file.
- Change map colours. Your GO comes with several day and night colour schemes for the maps which you can change by tapping Change Preferences->Two taps on right arrow->Change Map Colours. You can also create or download and add the so-called Plug-in schemes (see the links below) with, for instance, matching the colours of you car instruments.
- Add voices. Again, there is a selection of standard voices in different languages on you GO and you can add more voices by either buying celebrity voices from TomTom or from third-party providers. Some people created their own voices (and so can you) and are distributing them free of charge.
- Change sound alerts. You can the TTG to sound alert when you approach a Point of Interest (POI, more on POIS later). The standard sound scheme can be replaced with a customised scheme.
- Change the menus. You can rearrange all the menus on your TTG. Owners of the Classic model can get rid of the greyed-out icons dealing with Bluetooth and Plus Services, you can move the functions you use most to the first Main Manu screens.
- Points of Interest. TomTom GO is preloaded with a number of POIs, such as airports, garages, car parks, etc. You cannot change or add to this list, although you can delete it altogether. The great thing is that you can add more POI databases (castles, churches, shops, car dealers, English heritage and National trust properties - the list is huge), the most popular in the UK is the Cash Cameras.... err ... got it wrong .... Speed ..no....ah got it ! Safety Cameras POIs. As with most of other enchancements for TomTom GO there are free and premium databases. Safety Cameras POIs exist in both forms.
- Add third party software to your TomTom GO. TomTom have finally released their Software Development Kit (SDK) which makes it possible to write additional applications for your GO.
- Other Add-ons: Use Google Earth to see and plan your itineraries for TomTom
Change your splash screen
Visit a most amusing depository of splash screens for your TomTom GO at MeinTomTomGo.de. Do try to use this responsibly.
Making screen dumps
If you want to make a sceen dump of your GO/ONE/Rider, create a folder called "screen" on the SD card or the hard drive and then create a file called "capture" (no extension) inside this directory. Touching the screen in the top left corner will create a bmp image of the screen in the "screen" directory (if the unit is set for the right handed operation).
Map Colour Styles/Schemes (Change the way the maps look)
Customise your map colours with Color Scheme Editor by Johan & Fokke or download custom colour styles
A popular colour styles by johnboy - day and night map schemes, Audi colour scheme.
Voices (Add new voices) and Sound Alert Schemes (Custom POI alerts/warnings)
Visit SatNavVoices - prices from £0.99 to £4.99 for a variety of voices - sexy, rude and comic voices will lighten up your journey, amuse you mates and horrify your mother-in-law.
Add free voices of Yoda and Darth Vader by Cpt_Berns - unfortunately these voices have been withdrawn from the public domain by the author because of other people selling them on eBay.
Ever wanted to switch off the voice, but have POI warnings working? Visit Ray's TomTom Website. Ray's website offers many FREE adds-on for your GO - custom POI warnings, voices and much more. Definitely worth a visit.
Dismantle or assemble a voice with ScaredyCat's TomTomGo POI Sound Patcher. The same piece of software by ScaredyCat can be also used to change the standard sound alert scheme.
There is an easier (and in our opinion less risky) way to create your own custom POI alerts (inlcuding Speed Cameras) - if you put an audio file (in OGG format) with the same name as the poi file in the map folder, then that sound will be used instead of the built-in sounds. This mens that no custom data.chk files are required, but you would need multiple ogg files for multiple POI's, even if you want to use the same sound for them. Thanks to "Deep Throat" Arthur :-) of TomTom for providing this information.
Menus (Change the way the GO interface is organised)
Customise your menus (and more) by following instructions from ScaredyCat or use on-line skuX's menubuilder (it works for both TT Navigator 5 and GO).
If you fancy doing it on your PC, then an excellent bit of software by Greg Duncan can help - TomTom Menu Designer (Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP only)
Speed Cameras and other Points of Interest (POI)
Download the most complete UK Speed Cameras database from Pocket GPS World. (commercial, updated monthly, £2/month, registration required)
Apparently German, Austrian, Swiss, Dutch, Italian and French Speed Cameras: RADARFALLE (registration required)
French speed cameras from ALERTEGPS
More French speed cameras from GPSPASSION (see download instructions HERE)
Italian POI site - POIGPS (registration required)
More POIs than you can shake a stick at: POI Handler
Some more British POIs at POI City
Australian POI website: Oz POI
Third Party Software and Other Add-ons
Use Google Earth to see and plan your itineraries for TomTom - From Jan Boersma's website "Google Earth is a nice program. You can view any place on earth you like. A TomTom is a very nice tool. You can go any place on earth you like. But why don't these two work together? " Visit Jan Boersma's website
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