cfxcreative

Wow! Cool! There's a way to do what I want to do! lol I have Google Earth installed on one of my machines, so no problem there. When I run a pocket query, would I request the information in GPX or LOC format? I have GPX info that I loaded into my iPAQ, but not sure if I need all that information for Google Earth. Thanks for such quick replies! cfxcreative

Hi, everyone... Only my second "new topic" post, so forgive me if I'm asking a "lame" question. :-) I have an iPAQ 6955 Mobile Messenger that has built-in GPS and I'm currently running a trial version of GeoScout (excellent all-in-one program thus far!). I have downloaded all the caches in my local area, so I have coordinates, cache details, logs and downloaded map tiles, but on such a small screen (smaller square-ish screen since it's a phone, too with small QWERTY keyboard at the bottom) it's hard to see an overview of caches in a given area. I generally like to have a printout of a map with the little balloons showing where the caches are and what their names are when I go out, particularly if I want to find several caches in a couple of mile radius. This helps give me an idea of what order I should look for the caches to keep my route efficient. When you view caches on the Geocaching.com web site by using Google Maps, there's a numbered listed on the right-hand side that corresponds to the cache "balloons" on the map. I can easily zoom in to street level and see a certainy section with a list of its caches. And, I can click the + sign on the top right of the map to get a taller section. However, what I'd like to know if there's a better way to see a larger area of the map at that zoom level without having to print-screen it, drop into Photoshop and piece together the map and then relabel all the cache balloons and create my own list at the bottom. This is time-consuming and frustrating and certainly doesn't make heading out for a quick caching trip very efficient. I'm still pretty new at caching (34 finds to date), so I'd certainly appreciate any tips or advice veteran cachers may be able to offer to make my "workflow" more efficient. Thanks in advance! cfxcreative

I was looking at Backcountry Navigator but it said something about only having US maps available. I'd be thrilled to have another option to test out if I knew where/how to get Canadian maps into the device/program so it will show me where caches are in a Map view. Any ideas?

I know this is an old thread, but I just had a similar issue with GeoScout and re-read the documentation and figured out what was causing the log viewing issues. I am not sure about earlier versions, but in the newest version, the logs screen, as well as the Description tab both have a split-screen layout. There's a list of logs at the top and when you select one, the full text is shown in the bottom part of the screen. This is sort of like frames on a web page where you can click, hold and drag the frame's edge to make it larger or smaller. In my case, the list part of the screen was dragged all the way down to the bottom of the screen. Once I adjusted the size, each log's full text comes up when it's selected. If you can only see part of a log's text, look on the screen for an area towards the bottom that looks like a horizontal line going across the screen. Use your stylus to press down on that area and try dragging it up. When a log entry is selected, the full text of that entry should come up in the bottom part of the screen. A tell-tale sign that this is what's causing your problem is when the list of log entries fills up pretty much the entire height of the screen. Hope that helps!

I had my first in-the-field experience trying out GeoScout today and, overall, I was pretty pleased. It was nice to have cache details, coordinates, hints, etc. in one place and to be able to just select the next tab over to flip to the navigation screen. It was also very helpful that the GPS readout includes your current position at the top and the cache's position at the bottom for easy comparison while you're moving towards your target. The one thing I found a little annoying was the layout of the logs screen. With GPX Sonar, as on the Geocaching web site, the logs were listed vertically so you could read the entire entry from a cacher without having to worry about running out of horizontal screen space. In GeoScout, each log has a few columns - date, type of log (found, not found, etc.), user and, at the far right, the details of the log entry. The problem is, particularly with handheld devices, the screen isn't very wide, so you only typically get the first few words of a log entry which is super frustrating if you're looking for other hints to aid in finding a cache while in the field. I thought that if you selected a log entry there would be some way to view it in its entirety, but I didn't manage to be able to do so, so I'm not sure if it's a design flaw or user error. If there's someone out there wiser than I, please feel free to educate me! Log formatting is a bit messy as well with line breaks showing up as squares in the log entry details. [EDIT: I just re-read the documentation that comes with GeoScout to find out that the logs screen, as well as the Description tab both have a split-screen layout. There's a list of logs at the top and when you select one, the full text is shown in the bottom part of the screen. This is sort of like frames on a web page where you can click, hold and drag the frame's edge to make it larger or smaller. In my case, the list part of the screen was dragged all the way down to the bottom of the screen. Once I adjusted the size, each log's full text comes up when it's selected. EXCELLENT!) I'm still getting used to viewing the coordinates in the default format rather than decimal degrees, but it's not terribly different, so I'm sure I'll adapt!

Not sure if you're on a Mac or Linux machine, but I have an .exe file that I downloaded which, once you start the install from the desktop machine (I'm on PC) will ask to install the .cab file to your handheld, presuming you have something like ActiveSync running. If that's not an option, could you not copy the executable file to your handheld and initiate the install from there? I'm still somewhat of a newbie with handheld OS quirks, so not sure what sorts of workarounds there are for various situations. I can send you the .exe file if that would be helpful.

I've used GPX Sonar as well for viewing cache information and it's pretty good if you know the waypoint name of the cache whose information you want to view. You can download the GPX files for your caches and then the program will give you a list by waypoint name. The only problem I had with it was that my navigation software (Pocket Streets and iGuidance) would only show me the coordinates in decimal degrees so I couldn't just use GPX Sonar for navigation reference. Also, it doesn't seem to handle navigating through several levels of folders well, so I had to just put them directly on my storage card under a folder called Geocaching Waypoints so the program could find them. At the suggestion of some of the posts in the thread, I've downloaded trials of CacheMate and GeoScout and so far GeoScout seems pretty good though I haven't figure out the mapping features yet. After a quick look at CacheMate, it doesn't seem to do a whole lot else than show the cache details, which GPX Sonar does anyway. Perhaps CacheMate is more intended for those who have a separate GPSr unit? GeoScout seems to be a better all-in-one for those of us who have the GPSr built into the PDA. Thanks for the replies so far - if anyone else has other suggestions, please feel free to share!

Hi, everyone.... This is my first post in the forums, so if I happen to break protocol at all, please be gentle! :-) With 31 finds under my belt, I'm still pretty new to caching and am interested in getting a better "workflow" in place. Currently, I've been determining an area that I'd like to visit and creating a map/details template in Photoshop and printing it out before I leave. Problem with this is that it's quite time-consuming and also not flexible. I have to know where I want to search and if I happen to be in another area, I'm out of luck if I want to look for any caches in that other area. Also, the two programs that I'm running on my iPAQ are PocketStreets and iGuidance, both of which only show the coordinates in Decimal Degrees format, rather than the standard that shows on listing page. This means even if I download the GPX file (which I can open in GPX Sonar), the coordinates are in a format I can't use with the programs I'm running. ARGH! I have an HP iPAQ Mobile Messenger 6955 (specs can be found here for anyone who's interested: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/sm/WF...-12446158.html) that has a built-in GPS receiver. I bought this model knowing it had the GPS built in after I met a lady a year ago in a park near my house who told me about geocaching when I saw her walking around looking lost! I've looked at several programs on Handango and a couple of other software sites for PDAs, but the issue I'm having is knowing which programs will work well on the more square-sized screen on my device and have the all-in-one features I'm looking for. Other iPAQ models without the thumb keyboard have a more vertical rectangle-shaped screen which gives considerably more screen real estate. So, what I need is something that takes the smaller screen size into account so I don't have to constantly scroll up and down to view key information in the program. Also, I'd like something that shows coordinates in various formats in case I need to switch formats on the fly. Ideally, I'd like something that does everything in one - mapping, GPS and reading the GPX files on each cache. I met someone recently who had a Garmin GPS and he said they downloaded all caches within a certain distance from their home coordinates and they can check for caches nearby anywhere they are. It would be really nice to be able to do that, too, so if I feel like looking for a couple in a nearby area, it doesn't always have to be so premeditated. I looked at something called BackCountry which sounds good and includes free topo maps of the US, but I'm in Canada, so I'm not sure if those maps are available in a format I can use with the program for my area. Honestly, I'm not even sure what format I'd need to use for Geocaching. Any resources I should check out? Any help veteran cachers can offer would be super appreciated! Thanks in advance and hope to meet some of you out in the field! Carly aka cfxcreative :-P