Rubbertoe

*original post deleted* nevermind... I misread the post above this and replied with something that would be confusing to everyone. *laugh*

A few of my RoboGeo created galleries. RoboGeo Track & Image Galleries "two thumbs up" and all that

I registered my copy of RoboGeo a couple of weeks ago, and since then I've made a few different map/gallery pages on my site with it. One of them is simply a saved track, another is the beginnings of a QTVR movie gallery, and the third (and newest) page is a collection of vacation photos and QuicktimeVR panorama movies from Atlantic City NJ. Rubbertoe's RoboGeo Generated Pages All of the location data for the Atlantic City gallery was manually added. And luckily, having already destroyed the EXIF info in many of those pictures - the current version of RoboGeo will happily accept new info and create working EXIF data for you. (The program I use to stitch panoramas out of several photos... it doesn't supply EXIF data for the resulting image, so the addition of this feature was greatly appreciated.) Man, that's a nice app. (Just a happy customer... Toe.)

Yeah, I played around with the demo a bit and registered the program a couple of days ago. I like the google maps aspect of it, compared to similar programs - and it's relatively cheap for an app that does what it does. My PC is crap, so I can't run Google Earth, but I know that will probably end up being the feature that it is best known for in the long run. I bet this geocoded image crap is really gonna catch fire in the next few years. Hopefully RoboGeo will be at the front of the field... okay... gonna go upgrade mine now.

Very nice... and lucky you, having high-rez photos for that area.

Thanks for the options folks... looks like this is something is really going to catch on in the not-so-distant future. I really like the way the RoboGeo pages are displayed, so I think I'm gonna go with that. It'll be fun driving around town this winter, taking pictures of the pretty houses with the nicest Christmas...er.. holiday lights... and then display them all via the map. The only downside I see is that the result maps rely on the google map API - but it ain't like they're gonna be goin' anywhere.

http://www.wwmx.org/ looks interesting too, but appears to be vaporware for the most part.

I've been thinking about creating some image galleries on my site, using the Google Maps API - and I think RoboGeo looks like the best inexpensive option. The generated files don't allow for linking to off-site photos, but that can be fixed with a bit of .xml editing. I was just wondering if anyone uses this app, or if there are others that are considered better. Here's a temporary test gallery I created to show basically what I'm thinking about doing: RoboGeo Test Map - Lancaster Ohio

I was reading on another board that CC has the Cobra 1000DLX mapping GPS for $79 after rebates... I have no more information than that to offer. I don't know if it works good, I don't know if most software supports it, etc... I just know that it is hella-cheap compared to what it used to cost. And dang - for a MAPPING GPS? If I didn't already have my Vista, I'd be all over that sucker. LINKY Crud... as I preview this post, I can't recall if we're allowed to make posts like this... heh... well... just trying to help out - if I made a booboo, delete this post. l8r t8rs

And when folks like me aren't around for a while, it comes as a surprise to us when we see "new" users with similar names. I've only been browsing the forums for a few minutes now, and I've already come across a Rubberhead and a Rubbertoes. Okay, you can beat me for bumping this dead thread now.

USA PhotoMaps Page I've been using this program for what seems like forever, and it just keeps getting better. A recent upgrade has been added so you can download a 2 meg "states" file that will allow you to look up any populated place by clicking on a state, then city name. Good stuff. Oh, and not to mention the track / speed data that I'd been hoping for for a long time. Tnx again, Doug

Rubbertoe has shown up a few times lately. Doc Dean and Seneca seem to have gone missing. Unfortunately, more often than not, I'm too busy with work or other "stuff I need to do" that keeps me from getting online in the forums here - or more importantly, out geocaching. I've got a pretty goofy schedule that has me coming and going at all sorts of odd hours. Maybe once I settle in to a normal human-type work schedule, I'll be able to make my presence felt a little more in here. ( although, I have been searching for this evil microcache quite a bit lately... )

I still use USA PhotoMaps for all of my day-to-day stuff, but when I want to make people go "gee whiz" when they are watching me on the PC, I run a saved track through TopoFusion and let them gawk as my little track moves around the map. (However, I'm not sure TopoFusion is worth the $40, for me.)

Here's the cache I commented on.

Actually, I posted a note on the page of a local geocache when I'd seen (on two different news channels) that there were several arrests in that particular park for male-on-male public booty calls. I even included a link to the news articles in the cache log, however I'm not sure if the person that placed the cache left the logs on the page or not. I'll have to see if I can remember which one it was and post here... But, if there were no incidents of inappropriate behavior, I don't see any harm in placing or seeking a cache in an area where gay folks gather. *shrug* If I mind my business while I seek the cache, and they mind their business while they are seeking ... whatever... well, so be it.

The only time I'd take a bottle of water from a cache was if it was crazy hot and I wanted to dump it on myself. I don't trust any of you people enough to drink or eat anything left in a cache.

I just stumbled across another interactive mapping website, perhaps some of you might not have tried before. The name of the place is Maporama, and while it appears to be based in France - it has remarkably detailed maps of the US. I was just wondering if anyone knows of an interactive mapping website that can give any "better" results than what you get at Maporama. I don't expect that there could/would be much better online... amazing that you can get that much detail for free, and from another country at that. Anyway - feel free to followup with your favorite interactive map site, if it is one you think we might not have heard of before or might enjoy using better than the regular Yahoo Maps / Mapquest / Mapblast / etc.

Well said. I'm not particularly good at explaining myself without unintentionally stepping on people's toes sometimes. Nice job.

I usually babble on quite a bit when I make a post, so I figured it'd be considerate of me to use the smallest font possible. However, when clicking to reply or start a new topic - I have to manually set the font size to small. Is there a way to automagically have this set to small by default? From the snooping around that I've done so far, it doesn't look like I can... any tips would be appreciated. ( Man, I'm gonna have to do that extra click MANUALLY every time I post... I'm gonna be so tired... )

I'd like to apologize in advance to the people that hid the caches I found today. I don't mean any disrespect... I'm just noticing how once you have a little more time behind you, you look at things differently. Hopefully the caches you've placed will last a while and you'll hang around the hobby... I just worry when they are in such visible areas, under such little cover. Once you have a few of your easier caches vandalized or stolen, you'll instinctively start hiding them in more creative and less accessable places, too. I hated having my caches looted. *sigh* That actually contributed to my semi-retirment there for a while. But anyway... glad to have you in the hobby. The more the merrier.

While I don't have have hundreds of finds under my belt like many of the folks here, I consider myself to be a somewhat "seasoned" geocacher. I've gone out over the past couple of days and snagged a few more caches that have recently been added in my area, and while I appreciate anyone that takes an interest in the hobby - I found myself judging the quality of the caches. Not their content, but their general location as well as their specific hiding spot. Two caches that I got today were incredibly easy to find, with one of them not even being camouflaged at all - it was just sitting there in the "butt" of a tree, exposed to the world. The other was in a very busy park, right next to several houses, and only a few feet away from the road. Again, I appreciate anyone that comes into the hobby and shows some interest... but to me these caches seemed a little too easy, not very well hidden, and a bit amateurish. And so... my long introduction brings me to the point of my post. In subconciously judging these other folks' caches, I decided it would only be fair to look back and judge my own caches that I placed when I was n00b-i-er than I am now. MY LAME GEOCACHES: Utica Trinket Micro - While not lame in the purest sense of the word, this cache was hidden in a location where I should have assumed it would be quickly looted. The location has proved tempting enough that another cacher has chosen that spot to hide a cache as well. Foot Level - This one is lame because I should have researched the location (and the rules for being there) a little better. I assumed that people were allowed in a location where they weren't, and this cache had to be archived soon after placement. The Monster Cache - While I still like the theme of this cache, the placement was less than ideal. Busy park, lots of kids exploring the area, and a hiding spot only a few feet out of view of the muggles. It was begging to be stolen. The Golden Pineapple - I got a little carried away with this one. A grand idea that was quickly poo'd on due to regulations. I had originally placed this cache in a nature preserve, which is against the rules. The whole situation kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and I never ended up relocating this one. Foxy Trailroad - This cache was located in the same park as another couple of current caches, but my location was probably not ideal. When I hid it, it was concealed on the edge of the bank of a small lake - but with the foot traffic in the area, it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the path to the cache, or the cache itself. CITY U CAN C Y - Probably the lamest of all my caches, and also my very first one that I hid. Located right behind a store I used to work at, hidden in the bushes behind a little strip mall. Not only could you find my cache hidden there, but you could often find beer bottles, used syringes, and even homeless people! Yikes. I apologize to all of those that I led behind that building. I'd be interested in hearing any stories about the lame caches you've placed in your days, now that you can look back on them and wonder wtf you were thinking. EDIT: After seeing some of the replies to this post, I realize my use of the word "lame" may have seemed a little inflamatory. I don't intend to flame anyone either, and I just used that word when I found the caches to be too easy, not very well hidden, and susceptible to discovery/theft. If you have a better word, feel free to post a followup.

"We're asking people to open the cans and not bring it in if there's a GPS in it," said Master Sgt. Jerry Meredith, a Fort Knox spokesman. LMAO Crazy stuff...

Yeah, all the tag numbers have been edited out... but that's what I was talking about, towards the bottom of the thread there - someone posted about the confusion of the jeep serno and the "jeep number" on the site not matching, and they also posted the actual tracking number along with it. So many numbers...

Often, unfortunately... so, what do you think... could it have been discovered by regular folk, or perhaps someone watched you hide it? Another possibility is that someone came to the site here, saw all the goodies you had enclosed in that cache, and went and swiped it. Fwiw, I clicked your profile so I could see the cache listing that you are talking about - but it doesn't show you as having hidden any caches. And, you made it yesterday, hid it, submitted it, had it approved, had someone seek it out, and had it already vanish by today?

Well, after having many of my caches vandalized or stolen, I've learned that you can't always trust those around you. It is especially annoying when you know that someone couldn't have just accidently found your cache... someone came to the site, got the coordinates, and then set out to steal it. Burns me up. But yeah... people can (and would) do what I was warning about. People suck, generally.