"8) County Downloads
Once you are hooked on this hobby, you will want to do a "Pocket Query" like for caching. We're sorry but that is not available from GC.com at this time. There is an alternative that we use and it involves using a couple of other helpful programs and going to the NGS site to retrieve their latest county archive.
If you click here, NGS - it will take you to the NGS site. Just select the state, click Get County Archives, select the county and choose the file format (zipped if you are on dial-up internet) then click Download. Save this file to your hard drive.
You will need to download BMGPX to convert the downloaded file into a GPX format for use with other programs. You can get BMGPX here. BMGPX
Once you have installed BMGPX on your computer all you need to do is drag and drop the county file (unzipped) onto the BMGPX "icon" and it will spit out a gpx file ready to use.
We just drag and drop the newly created file onto GSAK and it will open the database and show the available benchmarks in the selected county. You can then manipulate that info as needed. You can get GSAK here GSAK . It is free for several weeks then you will get a nag screen after the trial period. The cost is only about $25 US.
There are a couple of threads that explain how to use some of the features for benchmark hunting. Sorting with GSAK Thread
AN early thread when GSAK was just getting set up for benchmarks."
I downloaded BMGPX and GSAK. No Problems.
I downloaded an unzipped ia196.dat file (story county, ia) from NGS database. No Problems.
Dropped .dat file on bmgpx and got a gsak file. No Problems.
Dropped ia169 gsak file on gsak icon and gsak opened up. Problem!
i got a bunch of caches from western austrailia from 2002-2004 on my screen?! where did i go wrong?
Thanks for any help!