bluedepth

In the giant bucket of "Wish List Enhancements" I'd like to submit an idea for expanding the search capabilities for finding caches. Currently I'm helping Darrylw4 write shownotes for his podcast and when the cachers he interviews comment on a memorable cache it can be a downright bear to find a reference to that cache without a GC number to go along with it. My request has two possible paths, the first one would be a partial text search, such as "*top*cliff*" so that the search would return every cache with the word 'top' and 'cliff' in the title. Along with this particular path, having multidimensional searching would also be very helpful, instead of having to wade through 2000 caches with a common name (woods, for example) if I could tie a keyword search term to say a state, county, zip code, or cacher hider/finder name that would go really far for me. The alternate path would be to provide a link so a user could list every cache another user has found in one page, so they could possibly use the browsers search system to help find what they are after. Thanks for the consideration!

When you first construct the Mobibook in the Creator program it asks you the name of the publication you want to build. I name mine "Kzoo caches" or "Kzoo Travelbugs", et al... If you don't give it a name I think it elects the first file it sees which if you follow my instructions closely will be index.html, so it inherits that name and gives you a headache.

Nobody can hide on the Internet... inetnum: 84.14.135.240 - 84.14.135.247 netname: FR-COLT-MOBIPOCKET-COM descr: MOBIPOCKET COM country: FR admin-c: MG10158-RIPE tech-c: MG10158-RIPE status: ASSIGNED PA mnt-by: COLT-FR-MNT source: RIPE # Filtered person: MARTIN GORNER address: MOBIPOCKET COM phone: +33 155198726 nic-hdl: MG10158-RIPE mnt-by: COLT-FR-MNT source: RIPE # Filtered % Information related to '84.14.0.0/16AS8220' route: 84.14.0.0/16 descr: FR-COLT-INTERNET-84-14 origin: AS8220 remarks: For any complaint, please mail to "abuse@fr.colt.net" mnt-by: IMAGINET-NOC-MNT mnt-by: COLT-FR-MNT source: RIPE # Filtered Mr. Gordner might have an answer.

If it quacks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, it's a Pocket Query. There aren't any divisions once you get a premium membership for $30/yr with Groundspeak, at least in regards to Pocket Queries that I am aware of. So for ease of use, a premium PQ=PQ.

I've since found a slight revision in my procedure to make your own Mobibooks for your Blackberry. 1) Download and Install the MobiPocket Creator from http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/...amp;Language=EN 2) Download GPX2HTML (thanks to FizzyMagic) at http://www.fizzymagic.net/Geocaching/gpx2html/gpx2html.exe 3) Obtain your ######.GPX file from gc.com from your email 4) Create a folder on your desktop, name it "Caching" (or anything you like at this point) and copy the ######.GPX file and gpx2html.exe into the folder. Double-click on the folder and then double-click on gpx2html.exe. A DOS box will appear with your caches being displayed as it processes. When it's done, the DOS CMD window will automatically close itself. Takes seconds for a GPX file of say 100 caches. 5) Open Mobipocket Creator Home Edition, create a new Blank Publication, give it a name, double-click on the "Caching" folder, then double-click on the "HTML" folder, highlight all the index.html related files (they are all near each other) and drag them into the Mobipocket Creator programs "Publication Files" window and drop them there. Then back in the Windows Explorer window, click on Edit, then click "Invert Selection" and then drag and drop the rest of the files into Mobipocket Creator. 6) Click Build, your ebook will be built for you and placed in your Mobipocket Reader program. 7) Delete the "Caching" folder, or at least empty out caches.loc and HTML folder, and the original gc.com GPX file in there if you have another GPX file to process. 8) Start Blackberry Desktop Manager, plug in your Blackberry, and Mobi will copy your new publication to your Blackberry. 9) Go outside and cache your heart out. HTH, it's a better solution than GPXSpinner and doesn't require you to hunt-and-peck for tidy.exe.

I've since found a slight revision in my procedure to make your own Mobibooks for your Blackberry. You and I share the same fate, Blackberry geocachers. 1) Download and Install the MobiPocket Creator from http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/...amp;Language=EN 2) Download GPX2HTML (thanks to FizzyMagic) at http://www.fizzymagic.net/Geocaching/gpx2html/gpx2html.exe 3) Obtain your ######.GPX file from gc.com from your email 4) Create a folder on your desktop, name it "Caching" (or anything you like at this point) and copy the ######.GPX file and gpx2html.exe into the folder. Double-click on the folder and then double-click on gpx2html.exe. A DOS box will appear with your caches being displayed as it processes. When it's done, the DOS CMD window will automatically close itself. Takes seconds for a GPX file of say 100 caches. 5) Open Mobipocket Creator Home Edition, create a new Blank Publication, give it a name, double-click on the "Caching" folder, then double-click on the "HTML" folder, highlight all the index.html related files (they are all near each other) and drag them into the Mobipocket Creator programs "Publication Files" window and drop them there. Then back in the Windows Explorer window, click on Edit, then click "Invert Selection" and then drag and drop the rest of the files into Mobipocket Creator. 6) Click Build, your ebook will be built for you and placed in your Mobipocket Reader program. 7) Delete the "Caching" folder, or at least empty out caches.loc and HTML folder, and the original gc.com GPX file in there if you have another GPX file to process. 8) Start Blackberry Desktop Manager, plug in your Blackberry, and Mobi will copy your new publication to your Blackberry. 9) Go outside and cache your heart out. HTH, it's a better solution than GPXSpinner and doesn't require you to hunt-and-peck for tidy.exe.

I have a Blackberry 8703e and I've been able for the longest time to add the PQ prc files to the device to use it for paperless geocaching. Since Groundspeak has lost the ability to make prc files for MobiPocket Reader I've had to adopt some more tools to replace the lost functionality that Groundspeak no longer provides. Here is a short procedure, expanded for how I load files on my Blackberry 8703e. (PIN: 32B22275 if anyone wants to chat) Procedure: Create Mobipocket Document Manually 1) Download PQ ZIP file from your email, unzip it, place all GPX files someplace handy. 2) Download and install GPXSpinner 3) Download and install Mobipocket Creator (Home Edition) 4) Download Tidy-Win32 5) Copy GPX files from GC.COM to c:\program files\Spinner 6) Run GPXSpinner 7) Toss away useless extra GPX files that Spinner makes, you are after a subdirectory called "cache" in c:\program files\Spinner. Move that folder to your desktop. 8) Copy tidy.exe into the cache folder 9) Start, Run, CMD. CD to the cache folder on your desktop, then run tidy -utf8 -m *.htm 10) Delete tidy.exe from the cache folder 11) Open up Mobi Creator, create a new publication, give it a name, highlight all the files in the cache folder, add them to your publication. 12) For the cover art, there are a lot of geocaching images in the cache folder, select one, click update. 13) Build - the end product ends up in your Mobipocket Reader. 14) With the Mobipocket Reader running with your newly minted eBook in the Mobi Library start the Blackberry Desktop Manager, then plug your Blackberry into your computer. The Blackberry Desktop Manager should detect your device and then Mobipocket Reader will notice the device as well, if the software isn't on your Blackberry Mobi will offer to install it, if it is on your device, Mobi should ask if you want it to copy your library onto your Blackberry. Click yes, and Mobi will copy the PRC file to your Blackberry. After it's done copying, you can go into the Mobipocket reader on your Blackberry and you should see your document. As I've done this on my Blackberry I wrote these instructions down. If you would like a copy of some of the files I mention above you have a choice of either using Google or emailing me. Everything is either GPL or very light shareware so there isn't any real cost if you don't want to pay to make it work. It does require some manual typing but I now have little faith that Groundspeak will actively provide resources for paperless geocaching and it's up to the end users to hack together solutions for ourselves. Feel free to PIN or email me, I welcome the chance to help other Blackberry users enjoy geocaching.

Rather than throw Groundspeak under the bus for not fixing an old machine, why not ask Mobi why they won't release the software or won't assist those that want to use their software. It seems pretty obvious that Mobi is the problem here. Legacy software that is no longer published only is a requirement if you've based a part of your business model off of it. For years I had to shoehorn a very old dBase IV-based database to run on Windows 3.1, then Windows 95, then Windows ME, and then Windows 2000. Often times you have to deal with what you have and not with what you want. Groundspeak offered a service based on what they had and accepted cash as part of a customer/provider agreement - if they had doubts on their legacy systems that should have been made clear before we engaged in commerce, but they elected not to. In this case, they had a machine that worked well, they also had the software. If they took proper backups there should be no reason why they cannot provide the functionality once again. Of course, I say this under the assumption that their PQ machine was not an IBM AS/400 or something equvalently proprietary or ancient. If the PQ server was using MFM or RLL hard drives, an old ISA-type motherboard, or processors from Motoroloa or IBM I could cut them some slack, but if it's EIDE, PCI, or Intel I hate to say it but without some type of really extenuating circumstances any hardware like this can be kept alive - it's just a matter of willpower and finding spare parts. If Groundspeak has backups then they have the software, by claiming they don't have the software now either means their backups were invalid or they weren't making any in the first place. I simply cannot accept that Groundspeak doesn't make backups, but since nobody from Groundspeak has mentioned anything beyond the first post, who's to know? Eventually all those people bellyaching about it not working on device A, B, or C will grow tired and give up barking for something to happen and we'll roll over and accept it. I certainly hope that the next value-added perk they trot out to get us all to pony up for the next $30 membership doesn't just fade away like this one did. But if that does happen, at least we can't be surprised anymore.

I corrected that for you. Remember, Mobi changed things, not Groundspeak. Eh, I don't really care one way or the other to be truthful about it, all I know is that the primary reason why I purchased a premium membership evaporated before my eyes without a single advisory email from Groundspeak about the loss of functionality, about what their plans were to restore function, or even just a wee note of apology. The only thing I noticed was a lack of the usual ebook files in my weekly PQ's, I went to the site, edited a PQ and noticed that the ebook feature wasn't a part of the website PQ submission form anymore. When I went and searched the forums I discovered that first post from Groundspeak. What irks me most is the lack of communication - if I were a hum-drum non-paying member I would expect a cold-shoulder treatment, but for one that paid, a small one-off email is not difficult to write or send. In the end it's just a lesson as to what one can expect from Groundspeak, and I'm sorry for my earlier erroneous assumption that when you advertise a particular something, and when that something stops working, that you inform your customers so they don't become upset. All any of us have to go on is that a hardware failure led to the machine that made PQ's to stop working. It is far too absurd to think that nobody at Groundspeak was actively backing up said systems regularly and that replacement hardware and a restore from backups would have led to a short interruption in service, not the outright cancellation of service. And it's cancellation because Groundspeak hasn't made one single peep as to what their plans might be to return functionality that we paid for. So because we don't know what is going on behind the scenes we do what we have to, to do manually what we paid $30 a year to have done for us automatically. Did Mobi fail or did Groundspeak? Who had the failed hardware and no backups?

Can you automate your way of doing it? GC.com would have to do this by hand for each Mobi query if they don't have the software to automate the process. Now if you were a platinum member, someone at Groundspeak would be happy to do this for you whenever you call the service desk. No automation, it's all manual, but dammit, it's an at-most-7-minute task for the weekly joy of having everything back in Mobi, including stuff you can't get via WAP, like cache size. =twitch=

Procedure: Create Mobipocket Document Manually 1) Download PQ ZIP file from your email, unzip it, place all GPX files someplace handy. 2) Download and install GPXSpinner 3) Download and install Mobipocket Creator (Home Edition) 4) Download Tidy-Win32 5) Copy GPX files from GC.COM to c:\program files\Spinner 6) Run GPXSpinner 7) Toss away useless extra GPX files that Spinner makes, you are after a subdirectory called "cache" in c:\program files\Spinner. Move that folder to your desktop. 8) Copy tidy.exe into the cache folder 9) Start, Run, CMD. CD to the cache folder on your desktop, then run tidy -utf8 -m *.htm 10) Delete tidy.exe from the cache folder 11) Open up Mobi Creator, create a new publication, give it a name, highlight all the files in the cache folder, add them to your publication. 12) For the cover art, there are a lot of geocaching images in the cache folder, select one, click update. 13) Build - the end product ends up in your Mobipocket Reader.

I've got a Blackberry as well, and I have downloaded the Mobipocket Creator, which is free to use and doesn't cost anything. I would be fine with a link accompanying my Pocket Queries that led me to an HTML page where I could just import the HTML into my copy of Mobipocket creator and create my own Mobi files. GC.com already can do this otherwise how did you guys create Mobipocket files? If you won't do it, let your users do it on their own. Thanks!

Crap! I've been really enjoying the Mobi docs on my Blackberry, they really have made caching quite more enjoyable than lugging around paper. When I got my latest PQ's I wondered why I wasn't getting the Mobi bits too, and then I noticed that the PQ web page no longer has the Mobi's as an option. Is there any way I could look up a cache on geocaching.com from my Blackberry without having to wade through the huge search page? I would love a simple little page with a text field for the GC waypoint name, and a submit button... is there any way to do that? Thanks, and bummer, both. EDIT: I found wap.geocaching.com, that will do me fine. The only thing missing is the size of the cache, but pfff, split hairs why don't I! Thanks

I've added the friends I wish to get email alerts in regards to, but no emails come when they log finds. Since I don't see any options in regards to email processing, such as "Email me when this friend finds a cache" I have only to assume that you can't do this.

Would it be possible to add to the watchlist actual friends or other users so you can be email-alerted when they log finds? I've got a new friend who lives in the next city over and when he hits the local caches I get alerted, but when he hits caches elsewhere, I don't. It would be nice to know in order to 'keep up with the Jones's' Thanks!