AndrewRJ
-
Posts
1232 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by AndrewRJ
-
-
I think the Open Street Maps are terrible. The cache pop up boxes on them look very poorly designed and in contrast to the nice rounded edges found elsewhere. OSM's satellite data is painfully slow and outdated in a good majority of my state, where Google Maps had 2011 USDA 1m data. At least you can copy the coordinates directly off a cache page and paste them in to a browser tab in Google Maps and have the better sat imagery. Does this also affect API usage in Google Earth? Not that it was very handy with the 100m skew anyway...
What is the price difference in real dollars if a realistic number of users were willing to pay for it?
Sigh, OSM does not have satellite data. You, like so very many others here are confusing the OSM map with the default setting which is MapQuest. Your post should say you think the MapQuest Maps are terrible.
-
The cost isn't "millions of dollars".
The little chart and numbers that everyone keeps throwing around are for low volume customers only.
High volume customers (gc is quoting 2 million hits a day) only pay pennies compared to low volume users.
correct, but since Google doesn't release those costs to us we will use what we have for a comparison, and obviously if GS is moving away they didn't have a Business API license to begin with.
-
Geocaching.com usage averages well over 2,000,000 hits per day.
That's a pretty big number. Now I wonder how well OSM is going to handle this. I would sure hope the GSP talked to OSM before unleashing this traffic on them.
Really??? I want to know if you honestly are unaware how what you are implying is wrong, or if you are just stirring the pot.
I am going to assume the former. Yes 2 million hits to Google Maps, that was the old Default Setting. The new default setting is MapQuest not OSM, so unless you honestly feel that every single person is switching from the default map every single time to the OSM map you have been mislead. I totally understand how, most people are mistaking the default map (MapQust) as the OSM map because if has a similar look that is so different from Google.
I do understand that there may be some increase as people try to find an alternative to the MapQuest map that they like better, but even the old google maps had an OSM option on the side.
-
Ouch. Just look at the differences:
Ouch? I see all the same information (if not more), with different colours and some labels not visible at that zoom level. Besides the lack of a scale, what would you wish was in the lower one that's in the upper one? All I see is a very well-mapped OSM area. Kudos to the Dutch OSM mappers.
I don't see any OSM mapping at all. That is the Mapquest layers. Everyone keeps saying OSM and that isn't correct. The default setting is MapQuest.
-
It'll be more challenging going backwards. US-95 is a divided highway in several spots, and stops 26 through 64 take these turn restrictions into account.I will have to look at it a bit closer to see if backwards is viable as well.Yeah, I found out some cache machines ago you don't do the route backwards, just doesn't work well. Always go forward. And some of the routing does take into account left and right turns and doing it backwards makes for a bunch of circling around.
A fair number of years ago Travis hadn't hit that level of optimization yet and the group I went with always did it backwards. We discovered when he started paying attention to that we suddenly had to flip around and start going the right way.
-
Sad to see the bottom end is more important than us paying members. I feel thats taking a step backward and it will upset alot of people.
I just did the math. Based on the numbers given in the map announcement, it would have cost almost $8,000 per day to continue using Google Maps!
I have no idea how many "paying members" there are, but let's use a very conservative estimate of 8,000. That would mean you'd have to pay an additional $30 per month to continue using Google Maps. I'm sure there are several times more than 8,000, but nevertheless the increased cost is probably not something that most geocachers would be willing to bear.
Did you notice the first word in the name "Open Street Maps"? They are "open" and very easy to add new streets and trails. I would think that with this educated user base, OSM should improve very quickly.
I did the exact same math and agree that is a lot of money... However Google does have a Google Maps API for Business that has different pricing structure. you have to contact sales to figure out what the rates are, but logically it should be a lot lower then the numbers that a lot of people are quoting here. (me included).
-
What were the costs involved of being part of the 0.35%?
rough back of the napkin calculations for the information Nate provided and the pricing plan that google has it works out to
$7,900 a day or 2.88 million a year!!!!
That said there is a Google Maps API for Business that has another set of rates, but you have to call them to find out what those rates are.
-
hmmm.. #1 and # 149 are the same. Looks like you made a total loop.
-
Here is what I see right off the bat. This looks good for everyone to start in different places. Nothing is too far away and the route basically keeps folding back in on itself. You could start at any lobe an work in from there. I like that. I will have to look at it a bit closer to see if backwards is viable as well.
-
I use it to load POI's into my nuvi. Mine is version 2.5.4 and works with no problems on my Win7. You can find it here. You have to poke around a bit since the file names are chopped.
Well that is just sad how easy that was to fix. Thanks so much Jim, that worked. I can't believe that they managed to break something like that. I loaded up 2.5.4 and it worked without hesitation.
Thanks so much! of course now I have all this work to get everything fully updated across all the challenges I am working on across the state.
-
Ever since I upgraded to windows 7 64 bit last year the POI loader has not been able to load the custom POI files onto my 60CX. I haven't changed my macros that generate them that I am aware of and at this point my POI file is woefully out of date. I am currently running the latest version of GSAK, and the POI loader (updated late January 2012)
I have a macro that splits each file type into its own file, one for traditionals, one for solved puzzles etc.. When I look at the files in excel everything looks correct, in this format
-121.9988 47.79425 FloatingSnoqua U M (3.5/5) Most likely coords.|
The POI Loader will recognize the files but locks in the same place each time. I tell it to load the file to the GPS and it goes to a screen that says "Reading Files" with a progress bar. It never gets off of 0%, but it does look like it is trying to process. I have even tried leaving it overnight. I can cancel out of the loader so it hasn't totally locked up.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Or does anyone know what I am doing wrong? I can directly convert it to a .gpi file and manually load it but that doesn't load them in under a custom icon like it had been doing. Unless anyone knows how to manually associate the .gpi file to display with a custom icon already on the gps when it loads.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
-
ok, thanks. I'll check it out. Do you know if the character limitation originates with POIloader?
No it is a limitation of the Garmin software. Its the same way on my 60CX. The screens only allow for a finite number of characters.
-
At least there were no serious injuries in the crash.
Could someone give me the coordinates for the derailment?
We want to drive over there and look for the hundreds of Moun10Bike coins that are scattered all over the place!
Yea totally in for that road trip. Looks like JustMike had something on that train as well.
-
Uh, I purposely was vague about the particulars of that cache because I was not trying to embarrass the reviewer. Thank you very little for providing the details.
Yeah, because it's a big state secret, isn't it? And here I thought I was defending that listing.
No, it's not a secret, but surely you can understand why some discretion would be desirable, especially when your specificity adds nothing to your argument.
Ok maybe I am having a stupid day, but I don't get it. The answer is no, I don't understand why some discretion is desireable, or why the CO/Reviewer has any reason to feel embarrassed.
There is a TC that was crosslisted, maybe this is what you feel they should be embarrassed about? It happens to be in an area where there is an access fee. The land owners are aware of our hobby and know that there are caches on their land.
Based on those last two sentences, how is this different then the caches in Rainier or at St Helens, or any other area you pay to access the land? Or if you feel that it is an unfair access issue, how is it much different then when a group of us went out and placed a cache at the end of the Middle Fork two days before they closed the last 8 miles to cars, knowing that the closure was going to happen?
I guess I don't get what the big stink is all about. I really don't like the fee, won't pay it, and therefore will stop using their land. As far as I am concerned they are now on my list of bad landowners.
How is asking a question a big stink? It is a simple question that I am curious about. I am not trying to make a statement and I was trying to avoid dragging third parties into it.
My question was about whether caches on Hancock land are violating the *commercial* guideline. Paying access fees to a government entity is non-commercial, so Discovery Passes, Forest Passes, NP etc, are unrelated to my question.
The Middle Fork road was only closed to vehicle traffic and there are no fee demanding trolls under the bridges, so I'm not sure how it would be related.
Well that really didn't get to my question as to why some discretion is desireable but I try to answer your questions.
The stink... poor wording on my part, however I have heard in person several cachers raising the commercial question and being generally irritated about this. I am one of those irritated people but it wasn't really your question, but a general tone both here and in person that caused me to use those words. Again you asking the question wasn't a big stink, the situation seems to be.
I guess I don't make a distinction between a private, public, or governmental organization. There is an entity requesting compensation (money) for a service (access). This to me is commercial in the relm that we are talking about, goods for services. To me it doesn't matter if the entity is a government or a private land owner. Maybe another example? The Event held at the Cougar Mountain zoo? had to pay to get in. Money for access by a non governmental organization.
Again these are my opinions and I am not trying to downplay your opinions. I realize that we could be construed at discussing shades of gray here.
-
Interesting Jeff, I had a conversation with Landrover about Loch Katrine Monster, and although it is outside of the Hancock area, the question was raised it you had to walk through the edge of Hancock to get there, LR indicated that there were several roads from the FS road into the area but thought that there wasn't a route that didn't make you enter Hancock.
-
Uh, I purposely was vague about the particulars of that cache because I was not trying to embarrass the reviewer. Thank you very little for providing the details.
Yeah, because it's a big state secret, isn't it? And here I thought I was defending that listing.
No, it's not a secret, but surely you can understand why some discretion would be desirable, especially when your specificity adds nothing to your argument.
Ok maybe I am having a stupid day, but I don't get it. The answer is no, I don't understand why some discretion is desireable, or why the CO/Reviewer has any reason to feel embarrassed.
There is a TC that was crosslisted, maybe this is what you feel they should be embarrassed about? It happens to be in an area where there is an access fee. The land owners are aware of our hobby and know that there are caches on their land.
Based on those last two sentences, how is this different then the caches in Rainier or at St Helens, or any other area you pay to access the land? Or if you feel that it is an unfair access issue, how is it much different then when a group of us went out and placed a cache at the end of the Middle Fork two days before they closed the last 8 miles to cars, knowing that the closure was going to happen?
I guess I don't get what the big stink is all about. I really don't like the fee, won't pay it, and therefore will stop using their land. As far as I am concerned they are now on my list of bad landowners.
-
I assume you mean the export=>POI in GSAK. The macro I used to use spits out each type of cache as its own file and then could load those files in my GPS with custom icons. like I said, hasn't worked in a while. I am thinking that an upgrade may have to happen to get a similar function back.
Two different things here I think.
The first part: the macro should still work to spit out the POI file.
The second part: the POI loader is no longer supported and does not work for many, so it's no longer an option for uploading the POI file or custom icons.
The good news is that the POI file be manually uploaded. In fact, multiple POI files can be uploaded and switched between. However, custom icons are no longer an option.
FWIW I believe the lack of support for the POI load has to do with pushing the newer GPSrs which support this directly rather then through a secondary software
Or are you saying that the macro can directly upload the POI file? And it doesn't use the POI Loader? If so, that would be great.
no you are correct, it loaded the POI loader program at the end of the process. It is the POI Loader that is failing.
-
That was my understanding as well, but a good look at a property map may be needed to prove it.Found out the hard way that they are also applying the fee to their land at Baldy Mt near Enumclaw. Fortunately the by the hard way I mean only driving a long way to then be blocked from the land and grabbing the old caches up there that I wanted to find.
I must assume then that they have other pieces land elsewhere where they are doing the same...
Looking at their website it only looks like they are only charging the non-motorized access fee on their Snoqualmie and White River farms. Eatonville & Kapowsin appear to be only selling the Motorized access permit but you need the Motorized access permit for any type of access on those two farms. Access Info
The White River runs through Enumclaw and near Baldy so that fits. Not sure if they have more property down that way.
Does that really read a separate fee for both properties! Wow, purely in it for the money
A subtle but important point came up in discussion with a friend while we hunted caches up the North Fork Snoqualmie River just before the fee went into place.
The road used for public access there seems to be a NF road and we determined that likely is such because it provides access to National Forest land at the road end. Also according to Google Maps there is an isolated pieced of NF land that can only be accessed via the road. I had always wondered about that fact that there is a parallel road accessing the valley (Tolt Reservoir Road) and it is the one primarily used by logging trucks and I see that it fits - NF road for public use, their own road for their logging trucks.
If true, then technically the fee is not necessary to be on or drive along the road and only necessary when stepping off the road and onto Hancock land.
Can anyone verify this?
-
Well I have my GSAK database of all my solved puzzles, then I will refresh about once a month PQs for almost all the other ones on your list. So a PQ for lookouts, PQ for history, EC's then dump them all into my POI database in GSAK. Then I filter out unfound but corrected coords from my main database and copy them to the POI database. Then I run a macro on the POI DB that spits out custom icons for each type of cache and a lot of the User data, I put the questions to EC in this field, and export the entire thing as one giant POI file. Then change the GPS to show POIs if less then a 20 mile zoom so I can see them all.
A bit convoluted, that's why I only update once a month.
Do you then load as a POI file to your GPSr? I've done this before. Not as easy to maintain as you noted but basically unlimited points + more info on each. Do you use a GSAK macro to create the POI? It's been a while since I did it and forgot how or if I used a macro or did it a different way. Plus the new v8 is out and not all macros work with it.
Use Garmin's POI Loader. It's free. You point it to a folder containing the GPX file(s) you want to upload as POI and it's done. You can use it to uninstall the POI in your GPS, as well. I export three GPX files from GSAK into my POI folder - finds, hides, and waypoints. They get uploaded together, but are separate databases in the GPS, so you can search just one if you want.
That said, I'm sure someone will suggest a GSAK macro that eliminates the need for POI Loader. But it works for my needs.
And to your original query - I use a combination of bookmark lists and GSAK databases to organize my To Do caches for challenges, etc.
Well I have my GSAK database of all my solved puzzles, then I will refresh about once a month PQs for almost all the other ones on your list. So a PQ for lookouts, PQ for history, EC's then dump them all into my POI database in GSAK. Then I filter out unfound but corrected coords from my main database and copy them to the POI database. Then I run a macro on the POI DB that spits out custom icons for each type of cache and a lot of the User data, I put the questions to EC in this field, and export the entire thing as one giant POI file. Then change the GPS to show POIs if less then a 20 mile zoom so I can see them all.
A bit convoluted, that's why I only update once a month.
Do you then load as a POI file to your GPSr? I've done this before. Not as easy to maintain as you noted but basically unlimited points + more info on each. Do you use a GSAK macro to create the POI? It's been a while since I did it and forgot how or if I used a macro or did it a different way. Plus the new v8 is out and not all macros work with it.
Yes, then I use the POI loader to get it into my GPS. That said, I upgraded to Windows 7 in the last year and have had something break. Haven't been able to get the POI loader to work for quite a while.
Unfortunately POI loader hasn't worked for me for a long time. I've contact Garmin about it but they are not supporting any more, and haven't in a long time, so basically if it works great but if not, too bad. I instead created the POI file (database) and loaded to the GPSr manually. A macro would be a great solution...
hydnsek: how do you then generate information for a trip so that you don't miss any caches that you've previously identified to grab? It's generally easy to pick a spot then determine the caches around the area, but much more difficult to recall special caches when needed.
I assume you mean the export=>POI in GSAK. The macro I used to use spits out each type of cache as its own file and then could load those files in my GPS with custom icons. like I said, hasn't worked in a while. I am thinking that an upgrade may have to happen to get a similar function back.
-
That photo is awesome!
-
Holy Mother of Pearl, I have no idea what you just said there even though I understand English very well. This issue has been an issue for me for quite some time, but I guess I'm just old school about how I keep track of my lists. I'd love to make it easier but I have a hard time understanding GSAK and feel that it is light years ahead of my basic understanding of computers and computer talk.
I have been using GSAK for close to the entire time I have been caching. Little baby steps turned into slightly bigger ones.
Took me a huge amount of time to figure out how the heck a macro works and I still couldn't write one if I had to. It literally took everything I have ever learned about C programing to understand the code well enough to modify the one I use to get it to do what I want.
The Jester used to do a GSAK 101 that was fantastically useful to get me from the most basic functions to something slightly more advanced. There might be a tutorial out there somewhere. Maybe its time for Craig to do another class.
Sorry for the tech speak, I knew that shaddow would understand what I was saying.
-
Well I have my GSAK database of all my solved puzzles, then I will refresh about once a month PQs for almost all the other ones on your list. So a PQ for lookouts, PQ for history, EC's then dump them all into my POI database in GSAK. Then I filter out unfound but corrected coords from my main database and copy them to the POI database. Then I run a macro on the POI DB that spits out custom icons for each type of cache and a lot of the User data, I put the questions to EC in this field, and export the entire thing as one giant POI file. Then change the GPS to show POIs if less then a 20 mile zoom so I can see them all.
A bit convoluted, that's why I only update once a month.
Do you then load as a POI file to your GPSr? I've done this before. Not as easy to maintain as you noted but basically unlimited points + more info on each. Do you use a GSAK macro to create the POI? It's been a while since I did it and forgot how or if I used a macro or did it a different way. Plus the new v8 is out and not all macros work with it.
Yes, then I use the POI loader to get it into my GPS. That said, I upgraded to Windows 7 in the last year and have had something break. Haven't been able to get the POI loader to work for quite a while.
-
I’m hoping for some feedback, tips and advice on an idea I’m working on.
I’m in the process of putting together a master file for travel that will included caches that I want to do including ones I’ve picked out for whatever reason and also to make sure I hit caches needed for a challenge while I’m in an area. The last thing I want to do is get home after a long trip to find I was right next to a cache that I really needed… it’s happened before.
Does anyone else keep a list like this and if so, what is on it and how do you go about maintaining and using it?
Here are the caches and items I’m including at this point:
- Ancient caches
- Cites
- Delorme Pages
- Earth caches
- Final locations for puzzles I’ve solved
- Fire Lookouts
- Hope to add islands at some point (no polys created yet that I know of)
- Rock hound caches
- Seattle Thomas Guide Pages
- Top favorited caches (top twenty right now)
- Washington History caches
- Web cams
- Am I missing something? I always miss something…
Right now I keep some separate GSAK databases and one master Garmin MapSource file. The idea with the latter is to be able to quickly zoom to an area and see on the map which caches I might like to grab when I’m there. There are probably better ways or at least alternate ideas
Any comments are welcome from all included those experienced and inexperienced with GSAK, challenge caches, PQs or this concept.
Well I have my GSAK database of all my solved puzzles, then I will refresh about once a month PQs for almost all the other ones on your list. So a PQ for lookouts, PQ for history, EC's then dump them all into my POI database in GSAK. Then I filter out unfound but corrected coords from my main database and copy them to the POI database. Then I run a macro on the POI DB that spits out custom icons for each type of cache and a lot of the User data, I put the questions to EC in this field, and export the entire thing as one giant POI file. Then change the GPS to show POIs if less then a 20 mile zoom so I can see them all.
A bit convoluted, that's why I only update once a month.
- Ancient caches
-
On call so I am out.
Geocaching.com site update Feb 14th, 2012
in Geocaching HQ communications
Posted
How have you "never heard of Geocaching until last week", but your forum post clearly indicates you first signed up in 2007??