geos715

The Android as a GPS GeoCaching gaming platform has one major short coming. Frequently waypoints are set and when the game is played, the apparent point may be exactly on target or the apparent point can be 10 or 20 feet off or more in some direction. Every geocacher knows this and accepts this as just part of the game. Recently, a solution to this was suggested by an Android game feature I was developing. I wanted the user to be able to play anywhere. This was accomplished by having the user being able to go somewhere in the world and play the game there and the waypoints in the game would be played in relation to there. Here's a link to the article: http://tombtalk.net/?page_id=424 The Portals game can be downloaded from Android market and you can read about it on Geocaching.com Portals Game GC348FP Perhaps this Improving Local GPS Accuracy technique could be programmed into the Android and IPhone apps from geocaching. The technique was added so that a multicache could be played anywhere in the world.

I've just released a new geocaching android app "Portals" and find there is not any convenient way of listing Android geocaches. Perhaps a search term for IPhone, Android, and other smart phones could be implemented? Portals is a play anywhere geo-cache and accordingly people elsewhere than Needham, Ma can play as well. It's free on Android Market and you can read a little about it at http://tombtalk.net/?p=366 The geo-cache page is listed as cache GC348FP. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC348FP Best Tom Birchmire

I went out with my Android G1 this afternoon and tested my Wherigo cartridge "HighLand_Fling" it was compiled as a PC Wherigo. Overall, the Android pretty much followed the script but I was at an advantage because I knew what was going to happen. As usual it had trouble finding the Zone. Regards, Tom Birchmire

I downloaded the Android apk, recompiled my Wherigo "Highland_Fling" as a PC cartridge, and loaded it onto the Android's SD card. Much to my surprise it worked well but a little differently than than the Garmin Colorado version. My wife and I will next take the Android (G1) and the Colorado and see where they differ in field operation. Being able to run Wherigo games on the Android via the the "WhereYouGo" apk has the potential to change the entire geocaching gaming experience as it changes the market from a closed machine in a limited environment to a open machine in a mass market. Up to now I've been writing Android/server based geocaching games that have been run on laptops, netbooks, and now Androids. Regards, Tom Birchmire

Hi Guys, I wrote a Wherigo "highland_fling" a bit ago. It's a cute walk through a cemetery near my home in Needham Ma which asks a question when you get near a particular location. A correct answer enables the next location. Eventually the regular cache is reached which you can sign the log book and then upload the secret code to the internet. It runs fine on a Colorado. A day or so ago a geocaching friend called to ask if my Wherigo would work on the Android as he was having trouble making the version he had work. A little investigation revealed he had the Colorado verison which isn't too surprising as that's all I had ever compiled. I went back to the emulator/compiler and created the PC version which I loaded onto my sd card. Much to my surprise, the PC version worked on the Android for the most part. An Android is not a Colorado, nor is it a PC anything, but it mostly works. I don't what this means for the big picture, but it means I could write my small geocaching and other adventure games with the expectation of a very large market. Just my $0.02 worth. Regards, Tom Birchmire

Hi Guys, I've been off in the Android world (T-Mobile G1) making a small geocaching app work. I been developing various geocaching/Wherigo type applications for a while and have looked at a number of platforms and have ported some of my code to a few with goal of running a Wherigo type on them. Recently, I noticed that the Android supports LUA and Google's version of java. Is it possible someone has looked at Wherigo for the Android? Regards, Tom Birchmire

I have another posting on this forum concerning the app posted on Googlemarket fly-with-me-A.apk which is a work in progress. It's in field trials now and all sorts of improvements are in the works. I put it together to test a few geocaching concepts. Tom B

I don't consider an Android as part of the tech forum as it's soon going to be very active in the geocaching general community.

Who did the what now? Actually, if there is an app out there that has not paid their royalties (or gotten permission otherwise) to use the API, then posts about them might get censored for that reason. However, I'm just speculating. Actually I was referring to a previous post about a signed and valid app on GoogleMarket that concerned geocaching fly-with-me-A.apk

Yes Android postings about geocaching are a valid topic so stop hiding them

Hi, One of my variations stores stuff on a database that allows you to add waypoints while working a cache. I have all these odds and ends of geocaching programs that eventually will be in one or two programs To see the waypoint processor on a cellphone/laptop/netbook try http://thomasofneedham.com/laptopGPS/ and click on Fly-with-me You can add waypoints as you go. Remember you have to have an internet connection. This version was written in mind for a laptop or a netbook before I got interested in Cellphone development so you have to enter the location manually. I have a version that works on netbooks complete with a GPS receiver but so far there has been very little interest in those platforms for Geocaching. One day when I get comfortable with the Android I'll put the pieces together.

Take a look at the "Geocaching for iPhone" group for a Android phone entry.

I have been developing on various platforms a few geocaching apps. My latest variation on this is an Android app fly-with-me-A.apk on the Android Market and on on my website http://gpsmancer.com/ . This little app was put together to test the Android's GPS accuracy (It turned out to be good) The app connects to a server that does the heavy lifting such as distance and bearing calculations and provides a database for some game applications. Next version will be out after I field test a bit. You have to be connected to the internet via a sim datacard or by Wi-Fi. I put it on-line in a signed .apk so that anybody with an Android could play around with it. Yes, I know "The buttons are too small" and "It should be stand alone". The ultimate intention is to provide a "Wherigo" type experience but having the logic on-line and not downloaded into any device except for a simple interface such as Fly-with-me. I've written a few "Wherigo" games and I like the game logic possibilities, but I don't like the semi-closed platform aspect. Regards, Tom Birchmire tbirchmire@usa.net

I wrote a Wherigo or two before I decided I wanted similar platform and gametype that was open hardware and software and could be played on IPhones, netbooks, etc. My buddy is working on an IPhone app to play the game and I'll continue with netbook and Andriod developement. I would much rather write geocaching games than program them. Should there be any interest, I'll let geocaching.com host web sites and I'll write games. Until there is interest from other quarters, I'll host any games people decide to develop using the Marco/Polo design on one of my servers. Tom B

Hi: The laptopGPS project has been going on for a while. One of it's objectives was to develop a GPS game that can be played on a small laptop (netbook from ASUS EEE). The first version is GC1M6T5 which does not support an attached GPS. The latest interation called "ourtownMP" plays on the netbook and allows the geocacher to use the internet to play the game via a wireless USB modem from Verizon. The game has two components - one is the part that is on the netbook. This part reads lat/lon location from a USB GPS and sends the location and browser response to the server at http://gpsmancer.com. The server does the heavy lifting doing distance/bearing calculations and storing the players step in the multi-stage cache. One nice feature is the ability to recover should the game be interrupted. On the laptop, the entire game is played from a USB flash drive so that the laptop does not have to have the game loaded onto the hard drive. When the game is over, just use the USB flash drive for something else. (Technically, you do have to have a very small driver on the laptop and you have to have serial to USB software for the GPS) In any case the the game has completed its tests and it is time to work on a different game theme for the next installment. I would like to do something along the lines of a ghost story/puzzle in which the geocacher has to solve the mystery of the haunting before the final cache location is given. Technical details about the latest game can be read at http://thomasofneedham.com under LaptopGPS project or at http://gpsmancer.com Regards, Tom Birchmire

can you recall a time when internet access hadn't been present in the geocaching world? are there many geocachers who don't have internet access? My thoughts exactly. I also reject any notion that Geocaching would be better if somehow morphed into a demi-WoW experience. EDIT: Okay, maybe it would be "better" for some people, but it wouldn't be geocaching in my view. It would be something else. Maybe you should start an open-sourced Wherigo revolution? There is an opensource Wherigo webpage, but it's not mine. Mentioning Geocaching and WOW in the same sentence is a mistake. I should have said possible multi-player geocaching game. The vast majority of Geeocachers do not have in-the-field wireless internet access, but I can see how the wireless internet will be universal, inexpensive, and available almost everywhere. In any case, I first developed a Wherigo application (Highland Fling) and then I developed a Wherigo like game platform that doesn't need anything but a netbook with GPS reception. It works nicely. I then took the same logic and moved it to one of my servers where anyone with a cellphone/Iphone?Backberry/laptop and a GPS can play. The version under development (Marco/Polo) is targeted at the cellphone/IPhone/Blackberry/PSP/netbook market where the devices have wireless internet access, and and a GPS . My netbook version works nicely in the field using a wireless verizon modem and a Navibe GPS that plugs into the USB. If anyone is around Nedham, MA, I can give a field demo. The internet versions don't care where the internet comes from (wireless verizon, AT&T modem or a wireless hotspot around town) so someone could write a geocache that went from wireless hotspot to hotspot around town, finding clues, answer questions and enabling the next waypoint in the multi on the way to that plastic box with a logbook hidden under the park bench.

Thanks for your humor, I and my wife frequently post a container location on the internet and then we obsess about it and other stuff. Actually I have written a Wherigo and there are several reasons why I didn't care for the process. It required an expensive device to play, it was closed source, and it is only sort of LUA based from my viewpoint. Because I do PHP programming, it was an easy matter for me to port my Wherigo " Highland Fling" to a php based application that ran on a laptop. I then moved the application to a server which them made it web based and real time and interactive. This reply has far too much verbiage but if you want to read more about the process you can access http://gpsmancer.com . Tom B

I thought Geocaching was already about as multi-player as you can get. What beats 'everyone on Earth'? I should ask the question a little differently. Perhaps "What kind of a game would a team play, now that they have the ability to play in real time. Is it the "World of Warcarft" coming to geocaching ? java script:emoticon('',%20'smid_3') In any case, being connected to the internet and being able to determine location will change things. Tom B

Now that internet access is slowly coming into the geocaching world, my question is what might a multiplayer geocaching game look like? Up to now, the sport has been essentially a single player or small team game. The ability for location based GPS games connected via the internet also allows players to interact with one another as well.

Hi Guys: I've been working on the laptopGPS project over the last year of so. One of the versions is a geocache in Needham, Ma called Our Town . In this version the geocacher uses an Internet enabled cellphone, Iphone, Blackberry, laptop, etc and a GPS to play. In my laptop version, the gps lat/lon along with the form response is communicated to the server for processing. Little Marco on the laptop talks to Polo on the server. The server has lots of computing power and storage to remember where the player is at each stage. This allows a recovery in case the game is interrupted. Read more at gpsmancer.com . There is a small section about creating your own game. I have some friends developing an IPhone app and I will work on an Android version. I'll let the cellphone and Blackberry developers do their thing. If any are interested, I'll send them some specifications on how to talk to the server. Regards, Tom Birchmire [bugsy of BluEyz and Bugsy]

It would be even nicer if the specifications for the emulator were open source. It would be niceer if the .lua file would be translated into .xml a format I could use. At some point should there be interest I'll make my emulator open source. I'm working on two versions - the first is stand alone with everthing dowloaded into a laptop device. My current is ASUS EEE runing WinXP. The second version is webbased where the game is played online with the laptop device supplying GPS location and the server returning web pages as the game proceeds. In any case if the Wherigo were to be defined in .XML I could process that just fine. Regards, Tom Birchmire http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/style_ima...icons/icon1.gif alright... sorry to be so crude but WHAT THE HELL are you talking about. Lua is open-source BSD-like licensed embedded programming language which is dozens of times more pleasant to work with than XML. Why don't you just embed Lua interpreter/VM into your emulator and be done with it? And anyway, Lua is a programming language, it can't be easily translated into XML and still make that much sense. also you might want to check out my OpenWIG project that runs Wherigo on Java cellphones ;e) to see that it's possible without problems Hi: I think the difference is that I'm writing a type of game engine in .php with objective of being to play a Wherigo game on any platform that supports a server and php. Accordingly, the game must have a standardized input. If I can use a .lua file or the compiled cartfridge I will. An online version for an IPhone or any other portable browser can be played at http://gpsmance.com The version that runs on my ASUS EEE works fine in the field as its self contained with it's own GPS receiver. I'm going to revisit OpenWIG again as I haven't been there in a few months. Tom B

It would be even nicer if the specifications for the emulator were open source. It would be niceer if the .lua file would be translated into .xml a format I could use. At some point should there be interest I'll make my emulator open source. I'm working on two versions - the first is stand alone with everthing dowloaded into a laptop device. My current is ASUS EEE runing WinXP. The second version is webbased where the game is played online with the laptop device supplying GPS location and the server returning web pages as the game proceeds. In any case if the Wherigo were to be defined in .XML I could process that just fine. Regards, Tom Birchmire http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/style_ima...icons/icon1.gif

Hi: Part of my investigation into a Wherigo emulator for laptops in general was the the LUA base format was possible to translate as was decoding the cartridge format, I didn't want to spend the time on either. Some other people are working on that. My development work has been to put GPS function into a laptop. In my case the firsrt was a old Toshiba followed by a large screen Gateway. My wife took pity on me after she saw me wanderin in the woods with that hardware and she bought me an Asus EEE which is far more portable. The GPS functions work perfectly on all WinXP platforms. View the development process at http://thomasofneedham.com and the IPhone variation at http://gpsmancer.com I like the Wherigo process as it has a logical framework which produces working programs. I can then take the design and put in PHP code which will run on any platform. Regards, Tom Birchmire

Hi: I rewrote my "Highland Fling" Wherigo to a IPhone web enabled cache. Just point your IPhone or web enabled portable to http://gpsmancer.com and you and your GPS can work the cache. For more info on the development process than you might want try http://thomasofneedham.com Regards, Tom Birchmire