as77
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Posts posted by as77
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Unicode is a nightmare. I wrote a program that imported GPX files and I had a lot of problems with Unicode. In the end, I just reencoded the entire file into the windows-1252 code page. After that, everything was fine. However, reencoding may not be easy to do in a Pocket PC program...
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Thanks, GEO, what you wrote makes perfect sense.
I did try to fix GeoToad but I have been unable to access the development version. I'll make another try...
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I tried GPXSonar today and the improvement over the previous version is great.
I have a suggestion. The way how the program recognizes the cache types could be more flexible. Currently, if one uses a GPX files created by GeoToad, the cache types are not recognized and question marks are shown instead of the icons. This is because GeoToad has a little bug: it appends the word "Cache" to the cache type and therefore the full cache types are like this: "Traditional Cache Cache". This is not recognized by GPXSonar. Also, GeoToad does not use a hyphen in "Multi-Cache", it's just "Multi Cache" as far as I remember. Of course, this is GeoToad's problem (maybe it will be fixed some time) but still, GPXSonar could be more flexible, e.g. just search for the "Traditional", "Multi", etc. substrings instead of using the full descriptions. I believe GSAK is already adapted to using GeoToad-created GPX files.
Also, I have a few gpx files with very long names and in the file opening dialog, I cannot see the full names, they get truncated, which makes the selection a bit difficult.
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There is a dedicated utility to do this, named GPXtoMaplet. Google it.
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gpx files cannot be downloaded. There are two ways to get them: 1. become a premium member and get them in e-mail (Pocket Queries), 2. GeoToad.
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gpsbabel can do it but it actually doesn't make much sense because LOC files contain very limited information (name of the cache and coordinates, that's it). If you just look at a LOC file, you'll see it's extremely simple.
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PMN Cacher v1.3 has been released! New in this version:
An idiosyncrasy that prevented the previous version from running on Windows 95/98/Me has been removed. Version 1.3 should run on all Windows versions from Windows 95 upwards (i.e. 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP or later). Users who have v1.2 and run it on Windows NT/2000/XP do not need to download and install v1.3.
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News!!!
there is now a new version of PMN Cacher, version 1.2. It fixes a bug in the previous version that prevented the program from importing certain GPX files (those ones that contain invalid HTML code in the cache descriptions). The new version imports those files without any problems. It can be downloaded from the usual website, i.e. from here.
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I'm told by Pocketmap support that the bug I just described is not present in PMN 2004. However, I don't think they did extensive testing about it (in PMN 2003, the bug occurs relatively rarely and randomly, and since PMN 2004 has new maps with new coordinates, the bug may come up in connection with different locations than in PMN 2003). So, just to be on the safe side, I suggest following my above advice: instead of the cache locations themselves, set nearby road sections as destinations and/or check your route before getting on the road (that's never a bad idea anyway).
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Happy to hear you've had some success with the program. If you want, you can send me the gpx file that did not work, I can find out why.
Also, I found a bug in PMN (2003, but it could be present in PMN 2004, too): sometimes when you set an off-road location as destination and create a route to it, the route will end at a completely different place (it can be 20 miles away!). So, I would suggest that instead of setting the cache location directly as destination, just select a section on a nearby road and use that as destination. Also, make sure you check out the created route before you get on the road, to see if it really takes you where you want to go.
By the way, I'm planning a Pocket PC version. That's what I wanted to do originally but did not have the necessary tools at that time. Now I do, so maybe in a couple of weeks there will be a "Pocket PMN Cacher".
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There are several options for everything. Instead of writing a detailed review, I would just mention a few program names:
For road navigation: Pocketmap Navigator or Mapopolis
For hiking and geocaching: Vito Navigator II
For cache data management: GpxView or GpxSonar.
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PMN Cacher v1.1 is now out, with full support of PMN 2004. It can be downloaded from the usual website: PMN Cacher
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OK, you don't have to send me the file, I've got it figured out. PMN 2004 has a different file format than PMN 2003, I now have a sample. PMN Cacher only knows the PMN 2003 format because that's what I have. Sorry about that. Check back in a few days, I will try to add the capability of supporting PMN 2004 files, too. Unfortunately, it is not that easy because the 2004 files use a different coordinate system, but I think I can still handle them.
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Hmm... the fact of the matter is that I only have the 2003 version of PMN. The 2004 version might have a slightly different file format, although I was told that it was the same. I will look at the file and if the format is really different, I will adjust my program so that it recognizes the file format. Sorry for the problem.
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Well, although nobody has shown interest, a few people in other forums indicated that they would like to use my program, so I set up a website. It is here:
If someone tries it, please post here and let me know how it goes.
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Hi,
I use Pocketmap Navigator (PMN, a Pocket PC road navigation program) for in-car navigation and I rather like it but, being a geocacher, I have always been bothered by the fact that there is no easy way to import cache coordinates into the program. Although PMN can store "favorite points" and even latitudes and longitudes can be entered, it cannot import any of the known waypoint file formats, nor can any software I know of export to "PMN format". So I just sat down and wrote my own program to do that. What came out is a pretty nice Windows program that can import PMN's favorites file, plus GPX or LOC files containing cache locations and descriptions, combine the two into one list and and export it to PMN's native "favorite points" file format. Additionally, it can also manage the "favorite points" (edit, modify, delete points, add new point, etc.). Using the exported file with PMN, all cache locations appear on the map and PMN can navigate to them. I can also view the cache descriptions from within PMN.
I gave my program the name "PMN Cacher". Is anyone else interested in this utility? If yes, I could set up a web page with more info and the download.
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David has not posted here for more than 2 months, despite repeated requests. From what I hear, he does not even reply e-mails. I don't think we can expect an upgrade anytime soon, if ever. David has most likely abandoned the CacheDragon project. That's a pity because the software was promising. Too bad a major bug remained in the last version which severely limits the functionality of the program, and David did not bother fixing it. He left his users with a buggy piece of software. I'm truly disappointed. Looking back, I decided wisely when I did not pay for CacheDragon.
An alternative to CacheDragon would be VITO Navigator plus GPXSonar.
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Bringing up the topic...
Would love to hear from David.
Some people wrote here that they were going to e-mail David. Has anyone gotten a reply?
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So, no news?
I really think David should release a v1.11. bugfix version, with the "caches not selectable on the map" bug fixed. That bug limits the usefulness of the program tremendously. I'm not going to buy the program until this bug is fixed.
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You can use the SD card to store data, e.g. audio and video files, images, e-books, maps, documents, databases, etc. The Axim user manual says: "Use SD memory cards to save or back up data". Which does not mean that you cannot install programs on it, but the SD card is not meant for that. The programs will run slower and they might not work properly. However, if you find that a program performs well when you install it on the SD card and run it from there, then of course you can use it that way, although it is not a supported mode of operation.
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Running programs from a memory card is a nonstandard way of using the PDA and it is not supported by Dell. Some programs may misbehave.
A soft reset sometimes also helps free memory from the junk some programs leave after them.
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The Mapopolis maps should be moved to the CF card. As to the programs, you only mentioned two of them that you have installed. Do you have a lot of other programs installed?
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The topic title should be such that people can decide if they are interested in the topic without reading the first post.
For example, I am not interested in this topic
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hikemeister, it would have been really helpful if you had written "off-topic" instead of just "OT" in the topic title. Why should people solve puzzles in order to understand what the topic is about? Of course, IMHO YMMV
Pocket Pc And Gps
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
What do you mean by "the data I read in geocaching sites"?
If you download LOC files, you can import them into Vito Navigator directly. If you have GPX files, you can use GPXSonar or GSAK to convert them to LOC format. However, there is no automatic solution to add parking coordinates or individual cache coordinates for multi-caches. You have to enter those coordinates manually either in Vito directly or in advance in GSAK.