as77

You don't need the founds from anyone. Just request the unfounds from everyone and then merge them. Absolutely. Maybe TPTB doesn't want it because this would be a way for non-premium members to get some benefits of PQs.

One solution is that all participants run their own PQs to retrieve their unfound caches, then everyone sends their GPX files to someone who then combines all those GPX files in GSAK. This could be a bit cumbersome if a large group goes caching together...

GSAK is not a real solution because the GPX files only contain the last 5 logs (and some of those could be notes or DNFs). Any cachers who found a cache earlier than the last 5 logs will not be included. Only a PQ could have all that information.

This has come up earlier. It would be very useful.

They use reillustrated versions. So what? Doesn't make any difference. The point is that they use an equivalent set of icons. The Garmin Legend C, Vista C, 60c, 60cs, 76c, 76cs and Quest can accept custom waypoint icons. Especially the 60c/cs are extremely popular among cachers, loads of people use them. Someone already designed a Groundspeak-equivalent waypoint icon set, I saw it in some thread here.

Now what is it that you don't understand again? doh...

Try to start from www.mapquest.co.uk. It contains the US maps as well and it has the big map option there (517x574). Plus, you can customize the map style/colors.

I checked a local Target (Western NY). Nothing but the yellow Etrex, and that for $100...

Kinda makes sense, don't you think? Why would anyone want to donate to a for-profit company? Do you donate to Ford, Dell, IBM, Wal-Mart, etc.? Not necessarily. People might donate more if they know that it's a nonprofit organization. Just like people's incomes.

That's my point. If the website did the same thing then what you see on the website and what you see in your software could be consistent with each other. And, as you probably noticed, the third-party programs use the same set icons as the website. If the website used more icons, the third-party programs would be updated and would show the same icons, without additional tweaking. The fact that you are doing it indicates that it could be done on the website as well and you would like it.

It also has a different feel to it. If I'm paying a fee for a service, I can make demands and I can expect value in return for my money. It places me in the role of a customer. On the other hand, if I donate, I don't expect anything for it and it places me in the role of a member of a community that raises money for the common good of all members. In fact some people feel this way but I definitely don't. Premium members pay for premium services and Groundspeak makes a profit. It's all about business. There is nothing nonprofit about it. Nonpaying members don't get a free lunch: first, they have to look at advertisements on the site, second, they are the ones who maintain most of the activity by placing and seeking caches. The site could not exist without them. Exactly. I think the law also distinguishes nonprofit organizations from commercial ones by this criterion or something along the same lines. A NP organization should never deny membership from someone who doesn't donate. It's not just semantics, there is a sharp legal distinction between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, even if some organizations find some loopholes and pose as nonprofit when in fact they are not. Of course, commercial enterprises can have a role in geocaching by providing various services, without determining the rules and the characteristics of the sport. Here's an analogy: the texts of laws are public, anyone can go to a public library any time and the full text of every law should be there, accessible freely to anyone. However, this is not the most convenient way to obtain those texts. Therefore, there are companies that provide more convenient ways, e.g. daily updated texts with detailed explanations, accessible online or on sets of CD-ROMs, etc. Those are value-added services for which you have to pay. But of course, these companies don't make laws and don't have a say in which laws are good and which ones are bad, etc. Similarly, the rules, etc. of geocaching could be set up by nonprofit organizations of geocachers and the cache databases could be essentially public and maintained by nonprofit organizations; for-profit companies could provide value added-services like instant notification of new caches/new logs, logging service, etc.

I am overcomplicating? No, I think that two sizes would be perfectly enough: regular and micro. Adding the large and mini sizes is not very important in my opinion. Large caches are very rare and the mini size is too ambiguous. If there are too many cache sizes then there will be much disagreement over how a cache should be classified. If you just create a regular-micro and a multi-micro icon in addition to the present set of icons, it's already a huge improvement and that is only two more icons than what we currently have. E.g. the regular-micro icon could show a pillbox and the multi-micro icon could show two pillboxes. This way one single icon would show the same information as two separate icons would show with the solution you guys are suggesting. I think this would be clearer and simpler than having to look at two different icons and it could also be reproduced in the GPS (remember that in the GPS you can only have one icon for each cache) and programs like GPXSonar and GSAK as well as mapping programs. These icons could be shown on the online maps as well and this way the maps would be more informative than they are now.

How big is this compass-flashlight thing anyway? It is impossible to tell the size from the picture? What type of battery does it need?

I would buy one if the light was a LED and the compass was a good-quality, liquid-filled one.

Yes but that doesn't have to be so. You could have a different icon for traditional-regular than for traditional-micro. And you could have a different icon for multi-regular than for multi-micro. I don't see any inherent difficulty with this.

The icon for the traditional type (and possibly for the multi type) could vary depending on the container size.

If you are considering the eXplorist 300, you should take a look at the Garmin Geko 301 as well. About the same capabilities for about the same price and the Geko has PC connectivity (but doesn't have a basemap).

To clarify the origin of this thread, it started from a reply to my post in another thread. My original post was this: I was asked why I think a nonprofit organization/website would be useful. My answer is simple: because geocachers should become a self-governing community. A commercial listing service can be very effective and useful but it is not healthy if geocachers depend on it too much and don't organize themselves. Currently the situation is that practically the owners of a commercial listing service largely determine the rules and characteristics of the entire sport. I'm not saying that the rules are bad or that the sport should be different; it's just a basic principle that it's the people who do the sport that should self-organize and self-regulate, instead of putting themselves at the mercy of a for-profit company. As far as money is concerned, I don't think that having a nonprofit listing site would be much cheaper than a commercial one. In fact, a nonprofit site could cost the same or even more than a commercial site. However, there is a fundamental difference: to commercial sites we pay fees for the services but to a nonprofit organization we give donations. As far as the U.S. is concerned, it is not only the home of capitalism but it is also the country where people love to organize themselves and they generously support nonprofit organizations, which contribute a great deal to a lot of good things.

That would be Ayn Rand.

why does my post say ringbone? I have no idea what that means.

Where are my posts?

I'm all for freedom of choice and I actually would love it if there was a nonprofit organization setting up the rules and having a great listing site that would be the central listing site for geocaching, instead of a commercial site. Hopefully geocachers will organize themselves so that one day this will become reality.

Oh, knock it off now, will you?

You are boring...

And why should he? He can be a member of both sites and use both. He can use this site for traditional caches and navicache for virtuals or whatever.