Hynr

I travel a lot within US and on other continents and this site has been fantastic: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download In recent months I have used the maps from that site for Caribbean Islands, Chile, USA, Germany, New Zealand and all have been mostly excellent. I suspect there are some that could use a bit more user intervention but in general it continues to get better and better, especially in areas where geocachers are getting involved in the OpenStreetmap project.

You have some other options. Note that both the Oregon and you ASUS have a micro SD card slot. Take the SD card out of the Oregon and put it into the ASUS. Once the ASUS sees the card it will set it up as a drive on the ASUS. If you have an internet connection, go to Geocaching.com and at the bottom of the PQ page where it give you a choice to zip ("Compress files into *.zip format"), uncheck that so that the transmission is not compressed. It will take a few seconds longer to transmit this file, but that won't matter here. Once the PQ is ready, have the ASUS' browser save it directly to the SD card into the Garmin/gpx folder. The hardest part will be guessing when the total number of geocaches and waypoints in the various gpx files exceeds the capacity of the Oregon (it loads all gpx files from the garmin/gpx folders in the internal memory and sd card). My suggestion is to put some number in the file name that indicates approximately how many caches are in that file. That way if you have several gpx files in that folder you have a chance of estimating whether you have hit the capacity. If you don't have an internet connection in the ASUS then you will need to use gpx files that you have stored on the tablet and move them between the tablet and the SD card with the file manager that comes with the tablet. Your best bet in this particular use is to not put any gpx files into the memory of the Oregon because you won't be able to control those if you are using just the SD card to move the information.

One possible cause is that the website software simplifies the route if it has more than some specific number of nodes (50 ?). So if you use the website to create a route and you see a route with lots of zigs and zags, then there is a good chance that the actual trajectory that it uses is different. It shows this simplified route on the route page. Its a minor effect if the desired route is pretty smooth, but can cause quite a bit of disparity in mountainous areas. If you show us what the route is, then perhaps we can check to see if we see the same thing.

I would suggest that we can review some of the cachetypes that came along in the past (i.e. ones that were new at some point after geocaching started) and how that impacted geocaching. I have never seen a new cachetype impact geocaching negatively so I think in general it is a good thing. Let’s start with the cachetype "Event". For many years there was one Event type and there are now several types and sub-types. The most prominent of the new types was the CITO events. Clearly many users found it helpful. Some like the fact that they actually provide service on the part of the geocaching community to society as a whole. So CITOs are a source of pride. We do not need a cachetype to do that, but having it as a cachetype allows us to sort and find these readily and thus it improves participation. It was also somewhat imperative that mega events be treated somewhat differently. Again, it was not absolutely necessary, but having it that way is very useful to the clients (us). And some sub-types have followed, largely initiated by Groundspeak so they would find it hard to argue that cachetypes should not be subdivided. I think one place were subdivision would be very useful and helpful to many of us is in the area of the Multi caches. I find that it would greatly help me to have Multis separated into "offset caches" (ie. 2 stage with second stage within some small distance) and those which are more elaborate. In the decade that I have been geocaching this has always seemed like a good idea to me. In fact, I think Multis as a whole have declined in some areas because it is too difficult at a glace to figure out how elaborate they are. Another subdivision would be in the mystery cachetype. It almost seems like a catch-all category for anything that does not fall into the other categories. I recall discussions years ago where we discussed what was a Multi vs a Mystery; that lead to discussion and resulted in clearer definitions - a good thing. In fact, there seemed to always be some ambivalence as to what was a "Mystery" vs "Unknown" - so they are kept as one category. With clear difinitions these could be individual cachetypes. Since those days there have been a lot puzzles added as "Mystery/Unknown". In terms of my use, I would find it very useful to have a puzzle type which would explicitly be clear that you can go to the coordinates and solve the puzzle there without books or smartphone or prior research. I need this cachetype to have an icon that distinguishes it from puzzles where you first need to do some other activity before you can find the physical cache. I am absolutely certain that I would be looking for many more puzzles if I had the ability to sort these out during a cache run. I believe that it is also relatively clear which mystery caches are challenges and which are not. So that could easily be its own type and if it had its own icon, it would be relatively easy to distinguish from the rest. Perhaps if we can give Groundspeak some suggestions for new cachetypes along with neat looking (colorful) icons (own art only, please), along with a concise description to help users and the reviewers with making decisions, then that might resonate with the folks at HQ.

I have been using devices where I have GPSr combined with other functions (Calendar, email, phone,...) for many years. Early on I learned that when that multifunction device slips out of your hands into an abyss, creek, etc) it is toast and the replacement cost is more than even a top-of-the-line GPSr (take a look at what that "free" phone costs to replace if you break it). I then also had to cope with the cost of getting my work-life back on track adjusting to a new device. I have dropped my eTrex Legend, 60CSx, PN-40 many times and they never died because of it (plenty of scratches to prove it). A few years ago I upgraded my phone to a Droid X and have several goecaching app (even off-line maps) and those work reasonably well when they work. Many times when I don't have good cell coverage I cannot get it lock in on satellite signals. When I am abroad it is nearly useless. When I do have a good gpsr signal on my phone, it is never as accurate as my hand-held gpsr. I also do know that if I drop my Droid then it's replacement will cost much more than a new GPSr. So despite having a fully functioning cell phone optimized for geocaching, I bought a dedicated GPSr to keep my geocaching experience enjoyable and to keep my phone for my professional life.

It's pretty simple really: Put the unit outside with the screen facing up. If water droplets bead up on the screen, then it's raining. If snow flakes appear, then it snowing. If you see the reflection of clouds in the glare, then it cloudy. For more extended forecasts you simply assume that the current condition will continue for a bit. This system is nearly as accurate as the one they use on the local TV station but their forecast tends to be accurate a few hours further into the future since they invest much more in their equipment and services. Using such an expensive device for this is nearly as clever as using million dollar satellite instrumentation to find film canisters in the woods. And that, of course, is why we are here at this forum.

This wiki is very comprehensive with regard to OSM maps for Garmin GPSrs: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

I use this link: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download scroll down to Oceania for Australia and NZ. The maps are generally pretty good but can only be as good as the OSM data itself. In many areas they are more up-to-date than the Garmin maps. Last fall when I went to New Zealand I found two sources, each with a different img file to put on my Montana. Those were these links http://www.osmaustralia.org/NZ-garminroute.php http://www.aighes.de/OSM/index.php?lang=en I found it useful to have several versions of the same map. The Montana allows you disable all those that you don't want to use at a time, so since I had enough room on the SD card, I was able to carry them all and enable only the one I wanted at a time. That came in handy because one of the South Island maps of NZ had a defect that caused the GPS to have trouble routing between Picton and Christchurch. My Montana 650t came with a topo map that also has roads. That map set is quite pathetic as a road map. The USA roadmap that I have from one of the links at the above site has roads which I personally added a few weeks ago as OSM contributor. It will be years before you see that road correction on a Garmin map. This sort of editing is happening daily and in many parts of the world.

You should consider the offerings from Garmin that would meet your needs - ranging from eTrex to Montana (you should be able to get something for your price-point). Note that Garmin does have OS/X software to support its GPSrs. (Basecamp, Webupdater,... - I have 4 of their programs running on my MacBook Pro). I don't understand exactly what you intend to do with tracks and trails, but I bet you can do this with Basecamp. Also, in your particular situation (on a base in Europe, perhaps being moved around some in the years to come) could well take advantage of the free OSM maps that are available for you to use. Note that with OSM maps you have the advantage that other users are putting trails and tracks into the maps, so that those maps are already much better for walking and hiking. To see what I mean, look at some of your parks on the Open Street Maps.

When I got my Montana I was not aware of this, but I too am finding this to be true, although I cannot really compare to an actual Nuvi since I don't own one. I use these routeable OSM maps and that has worked well both in North America and elsewhere on the globe. When it is in a Garmin mount in the car, it voice prompts during navigation (the mount has speakers); without that it prompts with messages and beeps. By switching between the Geocaching and Nuvi dashboards, I can have either and both work quite well.

No, that won't work. GSAK is Windows software; so this only makes sense if you have the Windows XP,Vista, 7 or 8 operating system running on the tablet. There are Windows tablet computers like that, but I am not aware that Samsung makes one. However, GSAK uses SQLite database tables to hold its data and can also export to a variety of file formats (certainly gpx) which you can process on the tablet - but you need software on that tablet to handle this. I am aware that Samsung makes Android tablets (my wife has one). GDAK comes to mind as such an app for Android since it can actually use the GSAK sqlite database as-is. This is quite convenient since you can copy an entire GSAK database folder to the tablet and be out the door in a matter of seconds rather than having to spend considerable times exporting and importing to create workable subsets. There are other apps also, but GDAK works particularly well if you have large GSAK databases.

Since you have lots of extra memory on the SD card, you might also consider the following use: go to this page http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download and download a map for your favorite country and put it in the garmin folder on the sd card: The entire USA is under 4 gB and should fit. You can then use the map setup in the GPSr to enable/disable whichever maps you want it to use. These maps are not locked. Want topo maps? That too can be in the unit. Do a bit of searching. Be careful as you copy the img files to the unit that you do not clobber ones that are already there since many are named gmapsupp.img - in older Garmin units you could only have this one file; in newer units you can have many as long as they have the file extension .img. My Montana seems to let me put many img files on the unit so perhaps your unit allows that also. Note also that you can also use custom POIs - There seems to be no limit to how many you can load, but you don’t get all the descriptions and logs when you use that method. I have all my geocache waypoints in one or two gpx file. They get there through use of GSAK data manipulation.

I cannot access gsak.net either. Any aspects that require that server (e.g. GSAK forum, mapping, etc) are not working. Connection to geocaching.com API seems to be unaffected.

The concern nearly everyone posting has is that you showed us in your first post that you are converting latitude "41.3411802267" to "41 34 11.802267" (i.e by literally inserting spaces and consequently moving the waypoint - doing literally what your boss is asking you to do) instead of "N41 20 28.24882" (which converts to the format by making calculations, leaving the waypoint in the same spot - which is probably what you boss actually wants). You can see the needed formulas here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_degrees

OK. I think I am getting the picture, but I am still a bit unclear on what the labels are that you want displaying in Google Earth. It was mentioned rather subtly above, but your manual conversion is wrong (you cannot simply insert spaces to get other formats). So don't let anyone in your firm see this thread. The basic point is that you need not do latitude and longitude conversions at all, since they are already in a format that is preferred by Google Earth. If you do decide to code the kml directly, then note that GE wants to see longitude before latitude in coordinates and also wants a third number (elevation). If I were doing this project and wanted to avoid reinventing the process each time, then I would do it as follows: Open Excel and load the file with coordinates into Sheet1 and load the file with the labels into Sheet2. (Since you are not showing a header row, I am left to assume there are none). On Sheet3 I would code things as follows: Header row would be in A1 to E1 (to please GPSbabel): ID,Latitude,Longitude,alt,Name (alt stands for "altitude") Cell A2 holds the formula +Sheet1!A1 that is copied to B2, C2, and D2 with relative addressing Cell E2 holds this formula: =Sheet2!E1&"-Icon"&TEXT(Sheet1!E1,"##")&"-"&TEXT(VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet2!A:F,2,0),"####.#") generating this string of characters: WS-Icon10-5013.2 You will have to modify this formula to assemble your label as you want it (I have given you some functions that you can study the help on if you are not familiar with them). If it is too cryptic for you, then you should probably hire a consultant. Row 2 is copied down as far as needed Save this as an xls or xlsx file. Now with Sheet3 showing, save to csv format. This process subjects you some questions. During that inquisition you take stock in the fact that you have already saved the file as native Excel (for future use) so you will not loose anything by doing the CSV save of just Sheet3. Close Excel after this save. This file can be converted by GSPbabel as I showed in my earlier post. Every time you do this in the future, all you do is the importing of the two files into Sheet1 and Sheet2 and copy row 2 on Sheet3 down as far as needed; save to csv; convert with GPSbabel, drag and drop into GE. Since we are beyond the domain of anything relevant to geocaching, please contact me by email with further questions.

Just a guess on my part, but you may not have reloaded all the factory files when the computer was rebuilt. You may have an incompatible driver for devices. Find you original disks, call PC support for your brand or check on line for the correct original drivers. Good Luck. My suggestion would be to uninstall Topo and reinstall it. Then try to have it communicate with the PN. If you cannot get that to work, call DeLorme customer service. I believe that they have been pretty good in the past helping folks resolve technical issues. Also until my recent retirement of my PN-40 I occasionally visited the DeLorme forum and found the help there to be excellent. Once you get Topo talking to the PN you can then be assure you are not having a hardware problem. Then just be sure Topo is not running when you want other software to talk to the PN.

A few years ago I strayed from buying Garmin GPSrs because I got fed up with having to buy the same mapping package again and again. I bought a DeLorme PN-20; returned it before 30 days were up because I could not manage to find any geocaches with it and because the maps had too many errors in my town. But it taught me that this company had integrity and I could safely try another unit once they fixed their problems. A year later I did that with the PN-40 and it was a great unit. A few months ago I too start to have problems with cables and power management and various other little things that I felt should have been fixed through firmware improvements. But then it became clear that the PN-40 would no longer be supported. I figure if they are not loyal to me, then why should I be loyal to them? Hm? If we're talking specifically DeLorme v. Garmin, price check at REI shows Garmin eTrex 30 @ $280, DeLorme PN-60 @ $300. Is the price spread much different in Canada? Those are the two most comparable models (small screens, buttons, barometer, compass, etc). It's much harder to compare what "overpriced" means in relation to Garmin devices with other feature sets than what DeLorme offers. Regarding this I would point out that it is not a fair comparison to compare the eTrex with the DeLorme PN because the Delorme PN is sold as part of a mapping package (Topo); so a more even comparison is compare the Topo/PN package Versus eTrex (or 62) plus the Garmin Topo maps. When you do that, you will find that the DeLorme product is a much better price. I recently bought a Garmin GPSr. I now need not buy the expensive Garmin maps again and again because the free maps are good enough for what I need. I was also motivated because my eyesight is getting worse and I was squinting too much with the tiny display of the PN. So I bought the Montana and have not regretted that decision. But clearly price was not my most important consideration.

syphen6, you should be heeding Lil Devil's suggestion. Take a look at this page related to GPSbabel: http://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-development/fmt_unicsv.html Note also that Google Earth uses GPSbabel in the background to read in data. So you can be pretty sure that its conversion from your particular csv to kml will result in joy. It just not as simple as you might like (but neither is coding the conversion yourself with Excel). If you want more help here, (i.e. to give you the complete command line and supporting style files (if needed)), then post a complete test file and also tell us what all the fields mean. Just off the top of my head, if you have a file like this (test.csv) Then you command line might look like this (edit this in to a file that has extension .bat and run it): (xxxxx would be your windows user name) Enjoy!

You need the maps to have the unit route you along roads. Without maps it can only route you "directly" (as the crow flies). But not just any Garmin GPSr maps will do. The maps need to have autorouting information embedded in them. Without that, you can see the roads on the screen, but the unit won't have the information it needs to make calculations on how to get from one point to another. You can certainly buy maps from Garmin to achieve this. For many folks this is the simplest approach because Garmin has all the details worked out for your convenience. But there are other ways to get such maps for free. Take a look at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download Note that this will probably be a very large file in any place on earth where there are a lot of roads. There are various ways to make this work and if you are going to do it the "Free" way, then your price is to learn how to do this. In the end you will end up with a file with a name that ends in .img and my suggestion would be to put this file onto the SD card in the Montana into the folder named Garmin (in my Montana I have it named gmapsupp.img). If you do not have the dash mount that has the speaker, then you will just see the routing information on the screen and the unit will beep at you everytime you need to glance at the screen for instructions. I did this for years with my 60CSx and it can be done safely. But the Montana can also gives you human voice instructions, but you need the get the sound into a speaker to hear that. I bought the Garmin dash mount for this and it works fine.

Rob21, just to be sure we understand: when you ran the first test I suggested (having the 60CSx appear on your computer as a removable hard drive in Windows Explorer) are you finding that it is not doing that? Assuming that this is the case and that you have tested the cable and various USB ports on the computer, then it would appear that something is wrong at the GPSr. Take a close look at the connector; does the cable connector slide on snugly and smoothly? If it seems loose, then that could be the problem; if you have to force it hard, then that also could be the problem Let's try this: pull the SD card out, pull the batteries out. Get some fully charged batteries of the type that the unit thinks it has (Alkaline, NiMH,...) and now try the USB removable drive using the best USB cable you have (preferably one of the same type that you can verify with a camera, music player, etc. If that gets you no further, then it is time to try the "master reset" of the 60CSx. (This clears your entire GPSr). Turn the 60CSx off and then hold down both the Enter button and the Page button while turning the unit on. If it still is not showing as a removable drive when the screen of the unit says that this is what it is doing, then you probably have to conclude that the hardware is bad.

This is not true. Mapsource can detect the 60CSx without having the GPSr in removable drive mode. Since the 60CSx can be connected with USB or serial, I assume you are using the USB cable and have it plugged into the correct port on the computer. But do run this test: connect the 60csx and PC together put the 60CSx into removable drive mode (Setup, Interface, USB mass storage) - the GPSr will display an icon that suggests it is in that mode and your computer should respond by setting up a drive (you can see it with Windows Explorer). If this does not work then there is a defect in either the USB port on the 60CSx, the port on the computer, the cable or one of the connectors on either end of the cable. If that is working fine, and you can copy files back and forth, then the problem is elsewhere. On rare occasions something has gotten Windows confused so the USB ports stops functioning and restarting Windows might help. I have also seen situations where a device was plugged into one of the USB ports that was causing the whole bus to not function right; so you might want to run tests with all other USB devices removed and the comptuer restarted to see if that clears up the problem. If this test indicates that your hardware is OK, then try the following. Take the 60CSx out of USB mass storage mode (press the power button) and in Windows go to Control Panel, Device Manager - there should be a line for "Garmin Devices" and under that your 60CSx should be represented. If this is not present then something is wrong with the driver. Uninstall it, make sure you have the most up-to-date version and reinstall it. The best way to check to see if Mapsource is able to see the GPSr is to try Transfer, Receive and watch the dialog that comes up. After two or three seconds it should show the GPSr as the connected device.

Perhaps this thread, about his gps (Garmin etrex 30): http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=299951 Presumably. In that case, perhaps my answer in that thread also resolves the issue? Ayrbrain, let us know if the information in that thread resolves your question.

You need to provide more info (GPS make, model, load method etc). If you expect us to know which other post you are referring to, then we need a link for that.

Many of the Garmin units do the following: when you search in teh GPS by "nearest", they only show you the nearest 50 caches within some distance from the location where the GPSr thinks it is currently located. So if you were 100 miles away from home when you turned it off and are now at home loading it for caches near your home, then they will not show up because the unit thinks it is still 100 miles away and does not consider those to be "near" enough to qualify as being "nearest". Find the cache in the GPSr by Name. That Find mode is not restricted this way.

This product came along a few years ago and met the needs of a special niche of geocachers (e.g. the "very-junior" segment); then the company ceased operations; then someone else bought it and it appears from the web page that he is starting things back up. I suggest you go to website, click on "about Brand 44" in fine print at the very bottom, and on that page click on the name of the guy who now owns this product line and send him an email message. Come back here and tell us what you find out.