antonym

USA Photomaps is a nice "try before you buy" alternative. It does aerial photos, usgs topo, tigerstreets census street info, and elevation data.

Not to pile on or anything, but I'm piling on. I got my queries for the August 19th, but my query for the 20th never arrived. Is there still a problem/backlog?

The best current answer to this question is: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/marklent60544/myhomepage/Geocaching/markwellgcfaq.htm#route I know there are some other free software solutions, in development, that will help with this (using a route and your PQ's). Nothing yet though.

quote:Originally posted by BrownMule:As far as I know, there hasn't been any updates to the Map data. At least since 3.0 and there probably won't be for a while. That is according to what I was told by Garmin. I'm only familiar with MapSource TOPO but, from all that I can gather, Mapsource TOPO V5.0 (data version 2.00) is the most recent and up to date flavor available. The version 2.00 data dates clear back to 1999 when MapSource TOPO was in the v2.x (software) versions. The data hasn't been updated since then so if you are after MapSource topo, there shouldn't be a problem with nabbing an older version.

Another solution is to use GPSBabel http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net to batch process your .loc files into a single file of your choice (there are many many possibilities). You could put the following in a batch file or type from the command prompt: gpsbabel -i geo -f file1.loc -f file2.loc -f file3.loc -f file4.loc -o gpx -F out.gpx It's a little tedious but if you were in the habbit of naming your loc files the same thing each time, it would be simple enough. Hope that helps. Happy caching!

If only we could get Claudette to fill out the logs when she finds a cache. She, and her family, always seem to be getting caches and travel bugs mixed up. *shakes fist in the air and curses Claudette*

I don't see any reason you couldn't buy some Avery type labels (http://www.avery.com). These can be found at any old office supply place. They come in anything from 1" circles, to 1.5" x .5" squares, to 8.5" x 11" full sheets (and quite possibly more). Your standard Microsoft Word knows all about these labels or, if I remember right, Avery may have software at their web site that can help as well. Hope that helps. Have fun and good luck!

Thanks guys. I just tried out Spinner ealier today and was on my way to edit my post. Seems Sissy/CR, and Marky beat me to it. I had downloaded Spinner a while ago but had never bothered to try it. It seems to do exactly what I was looking for. I've run my PQ's through it and voila, all symboled and happy. I'm beginning to finally realize that in most situations here, if it seems like there ought to be a way to do something, there probably already is. Thanks again!

Uh oh, someone got me thinking again. You've been warned. Along the same lines of what has been already mentioned but expanding it a bit... For those of us with a mapping GPSr, simply using a different waypoint symbol could help a lot here. We need more geocaching related symbols aside from the already available "Geocache" and "Geocache Found" offerings. I know this is nothing that this web site can control but, honestly, how often do symbols like "Glider Area" or "Live Theatre" get used? Sometimes, when I'm driving about, I leave the GPSr on, in mapping mode, just to see what caches are around in the area that I'm driving. Maybe I need to be more prepared, but unless a person has a printout, PDA, or possibly laptop, they're not going to know what kind of cache it is. Being able to tell the cache type, by its symbol, would seem to be a useful thing. Anyway, I'm rambling now. Just my $0.02.

This is a wild shot in the dark, but you can try it if you like as I've had problems with the browsers cache goofing up stuff like this. Before logging the cache, try clicking SHIFT-REFRESH (could also be CTRL-REFRESH, I can't recall) on the cache description page. This forces your browser to go out and get the data for the page rather than pulling something out of its local cache on your hard drive. I know this sounds crazy, and may not solve a single thing. Give it a whirl if you feel up to it. It's helped me with similar problems in the past. Good luck!

What I would really like to know is, of the people out there that use digital cameras, how many of you subject them to punishment beyond a day hike or a easy going road trip? I own a low end Fuji FinePix 1300. It was a free throw in with a WindowsXP purchase. It's fine for what I want to be taking on hiking and packing trips (though extended backpacking concerns me). That said, I would really like to bring something along with me when out on the ATV or driving that 4WD road. While my camera isn't the nicest one around, it still would cost money to replace. I'm very hesitant to bring it along in those cases due to the VERY ROUGH RIDE and vibration associated with those activities. Has anyone had experience in these areas and, if so, what have you used and how has it held up?

Good job Bilder. You must have done something right. You'll have to let me know how it goes when you bring home that moose doot for your sig items. --- P.S. -- My petition to EBay, as to whether or not they will let me sell my wife, is still pending. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks. That was the ticket. Appreciate the help.

I'm wondering if I'm missing something or this is indeed a problem. Here's what's going on... I finally got around to registering and, as you might have guessed, decided to put together a few PQ's. Both queries are based on a ZIP code. Well, I received both PQ's with no problem. However, when looking at the PQ's, both through Watcher, and just pulling up the GPX/XML, I see no relative distance. I'm guessing there's supposed to be something like "1.8 NW"; similar to what one would see in the normal online query list view. No such luck however. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance! --- P.S. -- What should the XML tag be for distance? I'm guessing one would expect to see something like "<Groundspeak:distance></Groundspeak:distance>" but just wanted to check.

Sorry to threadjack, but I just couldn't resist. Anyone else notice that the state of Mississippi looks like Bart Simpson's head? Case in point "southdeltan"'s avatar or any map. http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/state/mississippi.html for example.

If you haven't already done so, I would highly recommend reading the geocaching.com FAQ. http://www.geocaching.com/faq.asp Also try searching Google with some terms like "geocaching etiquette", "geocaching rules". If that doesn't satisfy your hunger, do some searches and reading in these forums. There's a wealth of information here as well.

quote: A great pleasure We were one well oiled machine This was a lot more fun, tiring, wet, hot, longer, better, more satisfying than I could have imagined Even with all seven of my blisters and all the sore muscles, I am glad to say that this is still a great deal of fun I learned that no matter how sick I get of finding tupperware and film canisters, there are always other people out there that are just as addicted as I am. People that share my passion for the unknown, people that revel in the undiscovered--fellow explorers that truly enjoy searching out the uncharted territories of the romantic faraway. Enjoyed every minute Me and my two boys sure had a blast! This was one heck of an activity! Wow, wow, wow Ermm... Exactly what kind of activity is this again? Seriously though, sounds like a lot of fun. Wonder if anything like this happens in my neck of the woods...

Don't delete the log. What good are cache logs if we only keep the ones that are complimentary or those that we like? If someone chooses to be crude, offensive, or otherwise chooses to not follow the geocaching.com usage agreement, nuke away. I'm not sure that any of that was the case here. If it's a good cache, the majority of logs will bear that out. To me, cachers seem to be an intelligence lot. They'll figure it out. Even though there may have been borderline and unnecessary comments, there was good information. Pointing out seasonal road construction and avoiding a bad starting point were perfectly valid helps to others that may have wanted to hunt the cache. I would have appreciated that log entry. As always just my $0.02. --- (...patiently waiting for someone point out my non-uber caching stats... )

L&B, You should, now that you have a geocaching.com user account, be able to do a search (based on a zip code, coord, cache name etc.) and see a list of all caches starting with closest first. There will be a checkbox, in the list view, in the last column that you can check, then download all caches that you have checked off. One thing to keep in mind is that you have to agree to the Groundspeak Licence Agreement before the checkboxes will show up in the list view. If memory serves me, you can also get here by clicking the Read about waypoint downloads link at the bottom of the list view page. Anyway, hope this helps.

quote:Originally posted by John Goggan:Because, as I explained above, it doesn't appear to have a way to plot all the points at once. Unless I'm missing something. It opens up a GPX file and gives me a list of all of the points. I then have to pick one to plot it. This doesn't help me much with what I want to be able to do: open a GPX file with dozens or even hundreds of points and have them all plotted so that I can look for clusters and such... John, Are you talking about how once the map images download you can no longer see the waypoints (gree dots with text)? While yes, the downloaded image does overwrite the waypoint, simply zooming in/out (then back again if desired) will refresh the screen and allow you too see all of the waypoints that you have loaded. All I did to be able to see all of my waypoints was: 1) Create a GPX file with my waypoints 2) Load the GPX waypoints into USAPhotoMaps 3) Jump to a desired point 4) Adjust zoom to a desired level (note: I've had difficulty getting maps to download at certain zoom levels) 5) After map images have downloaded, refresh the waypoints by adjusting zoom Hope that helps. Worked great for me.

There are a ton of options for getting topo maps these days. Here are a few that I've used over the years: Your states U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Building or Federal Building (low tech -- love these places, used to visit and get topo's this way before all the nice electronic resources). DWR/DNR/Fish and Game/Ranger Stations -- (low tech -- can usually find one of these places in whatever area you happen to be in) Delorme Topo USA (has the entired U.S. on 6 CD's) Delorme State Topo Quad's (Very similar to NG State TOPO!) National Geographic TOPO! (Very similar to Delorem State Topo Quads) Garmin MapSource Topo USA (Great option for Garmin owners. Is akin to Delorme Topo USA 3.0/4.0 but with fewer features but nicer GPS integration). Topozone, Terraserver, etc -- (Free supplementary online data. Great resources) Hope that helps!

BullDogBob... Which ETrex model do you have? As Searching_ut mentioned, getting the scale correct will be very important. I can only speak for the eTrex Vista, but to deal with tracking, you get to the "Main Menu", either by clicking the "Page" button (top right hand corner), or selecting it from the drop-down menu. The main menu has six options (Mark, Find, Routes, Tracks, Setup, and Accessories). As Perrin mentioned ealier, you would select the "Tracks" guy. You'll next see a "Tracks" menu which will look something like: Tracks [=][X] ---------------------- Track Log [On] [Off] |----------3%--------] [save] [Clear] Saved Tracks --------------------- Be sure that the [On] button is selected. You may also want to check your track options to see how it is saving the breadcrumbs. By default it is set to automatic, which tends to drop quite a few points. You can also override this and have the breadcrumbs dropped based on time or distance. These options can be accessed from the "Tracks" options (see nice ascii art image above, denoted by the [=] dealie). When I go on longer hikes/rides I like to switch it over to distance. By default the distance setting is .06 mile. I did this because I got frustrated with the automatic setting dropping 100 breadcrumbs all in one spot while I left the GPS on while eating lunch. I hope I've helped and not made things worse. Good luck and, you are more than welcome to drop me an e-mail if you need me to confuse you further. [This message was edited by antonym on July 14, 2003 at 09:28 PM.]

I know your route doesn't necessarily take you there, but you do happen to make a complete circle around Utah so I thought I would mention it. I know you're only planning a 10-13 day trip, but, while I'm obviously partial, you'll see some of the most diverse scenery and geology anywhere. From high mountain forests, to dry desert, to red rock canyons, to natural sandstone formations. It's all really quite diverse and picturesque. Just my $0.02. Whatever you decide I have no doubt you'll have a great time! Take care, be safe, and most importantly have fun!

quote:Originally posted by Verboten:Placenames are not geocaches. They are, as the name implies, points of interest. They are added as a feature available to all. I'm a fool. Thank you for clarifying that. quote:Membership has its benefits. The main benefit of geocaching.com membership is convenience (pocket queries). You don't really miss out on much but convenience, and maybe a handful of members only caches by subscribing. Off topic, but I've wondered exactly what "pocket queries" were. The name summons images of handheld Palm/Pocket PC stuff. I've seen it referenced in the registration literature but nothing giving much detail about it. quote:You should subscribe because you want to. Not because you're missing out by not subscribing. I'm behind you 100% here.

OK, quick question. I couldn't find any answers in searching and F.A.Q. perusing. If I missed an answer to this, my apologies. I was noticing, while messing around with downloading waypoints, there are two distinct ways of getting additional waypoints near a cache or point of interest. They are: 1) Waypoint Downloads -- Perform a query based on various criteria (ZIP, Coord, Keyword, etc.) 2) Nearest Placenames -- Select a cache and download a waypoint file while marking the "also download nearest placenames" checkbox. When using option (1), all waypoints are properly labeled with their appropriate unique Geocaching waypoint ID (eg. GC123ABC). When using option (2), only the active cache is labeled properly and all subsequent nearby caches are labeled in a sequential manner (eg. GS1, GS2, GS3 etc.) I'm just wondering why this is this way. Is it a member/non-member thing? Is there a way to get method (2) waypoints labeled uniquely so that it is easier/quicker to pull up a found cache by it's unique ID? Any insights, speculations, derogatory, or inflamatory comments welcome! Thanks in advance!