I've started this thread, because a few members have asked me about modifying their own Nav DVD, by adding their own POIs (points of interest), in addition to SpeedCams.
The likes of TomTom allow you to download POIs from various sources & use the data as-it-is (.ov2 format), without having to convert it.
Unfortunately, the BMW Siemens VDO (SatNavPro) system needs the data to be converted (into .idx & .url files) using software, before it can be displayed as POIs in the iDrive.
The credit for modifying your DVD goes to mathmos & the others at bmwnavaddpoi.co.uk- they've done a great job! 
They are currently developing an online version of the POI converter, which makes use of a Perl script to produce data which your nav DVD needs to show the POIs.
This will mean you won't need to install some software on your PC to do the conversion.
The instructions, below, will show how to produce your own POI data, which you can then stick straight into your TomTom, or convert & use to modify your nav DVD.
Once you have your final POI .asc file from my instructions, you will then need to follow the instructions on bmwnavaddpoi.co.uk, to produce the working disc.
If there are problems doing this, then I may edit this post sometime in the future to go through those steps, but NO promises!
So, if you want to make your own customised POIs, then you will need the following:
A Some POI data
B Some nice POI file format conversion / concatenation (it means 'joining', Carlos!) software
C If you want to use Google maps to make your own POIs, then you will also need the GMapToGPX browser plugin.
So,
A You can download POI files, in various different formats, from various sources on the net, such as Garmin POIs & PoiDownload.
B Download PoiEdit. This software lets you download POIs, convert them & display them.
It'll be easier to show an example of using PoiEdit, so here's how you can produce a POI file of KFC, McD, & PizzaHut (there's an error in the BK file, so I won't use that, ok)!
1 Download the Food.zip file from Garmin POIs & extract it, using WinZip etc
2 Open PoiEdit -> Tools -> Batch convert
3 You should see the above window, so browse to the directory to which you unzipped 'Food.zip' & choose 'Garmin Comma Separated (*.csv)' as the source format.
4 Choose whichever files you want (hold down 'Ctrl' to choose multiple files, Carlos!), choose 'Append' as the destination mode, choose 'Generic Ascii (*.asc)' as the destination format & browse to a folder & choose a name for your output file.
5 Click convert & you should now have a single .asc file in your destination folder.
You can open this with Notepad & you should see a list of co-ordinates & named locations.
This is your finished .asc file. You will ned a single gif icon to represent these POIs in your iDrive. You can find individual ones in your extracted 'Food' folder, or just download a suitable one.
You will now need to follow the instruction at bmwnavaddpoi.co.uk & change the 'SpeedCam' references to 'Fast Food', or whatever you want to call this group of POIs. You will also need to follow the directions & place your chosen gif icon in the appropriate folder.
C If you want to make your own POIs using Google maps, then you can do this:
1 Go to this GMapToGPX browser plugin page & follow the instructions to save the link.
2 Using the example of finding local Indian restaurants around Bakewell, go to Google Maps here.
3 If you have Firefox, just click on the GMapToGPX bookmark which you've saved. With IE, you'll need to go to your saved Favourite.
You should see the likes of this:
4 The painful part is having to produce a single text file with all the POI information you need, which may mean going through several Google pages, before you have all of the info you need.
If anyone knows how to list all business info on a single page, then it would be a help?! 
So, copy the text from the window & paste it into a new text doument- call it 'curry.txt'.
Now, close the text window & you should see the previous google map page. Just click on the next page, to bring the next lot of restaurants & do the same again- ie click on your GMapToGPX bookmark, but this time, just copy from here...
to here...
So, you are only copying all of the <wpt... ....</wpt> info & ignoring the lines before & after.
Now, go to your 'curry.txt' document, find the very last '</wpt>', insert a carriage return & paste your text.
You should still have a '</gpx>' as the last line of text.
Carry on doing this, until you've got all of the POIs you want & now save your file as 'curry.gpx' - not 'curry.txt'
5 You now need to convert the document to a generic .asc file, using PoiEdit, so..
6 Open PoiEdit -> Tools -> Batch convert
7 You should see the above window, so browse to the directory to which you saved 'curry.gpx' & choose 'GPS eXchange Format (*.gpx)' as the source format.
8 Choose 'curry.gpx', choose 'Multiple' as the destination mode, choose 'Generic Ascii (*.asc)' as the destination format & browse to a folder & choose a name for your output file.
9 Click convert & you should now have a new .asc file in your destination folder.
As before, once you have your final POI .asc file from my instructions, you will then need to follow the instructions on bmwnavaddpoi.co.uk, to produce the working disc.
Each time you produce an output file, you can use this in your own satnav system, just by setting the appropriate file destination format
eg .ov2 for the TomToms
For those who have BMW Assist / BMW ConnectedDrive, you should now be able to send any business address location to your car's Nav system, straight from your PC!
With an Online subscription, you can also search Google maps whilst you're in the car!
More info below:
All the best.
Viv
