Xitor

Ok, I'll go try filtering out mystery caches on my pocket query! Thanks for the tip.

Many times before I hike or bike I'll load up my GPS with all the geocaches around the area I'm in. If I'm riding along and see a Geocache come up on my GPS screen I'll detour to find it. Only to get there and find out its not at the coordinates listed. I know puzzle caches can be really fun some times, but I really wish that when we built pocket queries there was a filter for "not at listed coordinates". This could be a little checkbox that could be added to geocaches, and I think would be up-to-date on all caches in a month or two. I'm not sure if this type of cache should have their own name, like a "puzzle cache", or just an option that lists them as "not at coordinates listed", but this would be helpful for a lot of people I think. Thanks!

When I wanted to step up my searching and cut down on the paper prints for geocaching, I got my premium membership and started using the mobipocket reader. While that may be the best because it works on multiple PDAs, I must say that for the Palm OS users, cachemate is so much more convenient. After reading about it in a paperless cache post in the forums I bought it ($8) just based on the very strong recommendation there. After using it, I like it so much I bought a copy for the friend who introduced me to geocaching and uses his palm too. I think it may be a good idea to promote, or recommend, cachemate for those that go premium and have Palms. I think it is not only heads and tails above trying to use mobipocket to find, log, track, etc, but it would mean that many premium members that use it wouldn't be requesting mobipocket format files with the gpx file. This could save processing time, space, and bandwidth. Thanks, David

Sorry if this has been asked, but can I upload other items to a bookmarklist like you can a cache? I want to create a bike trail, using a bookmark. I was going upload the track, upload picture of the of the track, and then of course text about the bike trail, how long it is, etc. Finall add all the caches. Afterwards you'd have a nice bike trail for an morning of caches. One thing I can't figure out how to do is upload the track, or jpeg of my trail. Only idea I could come up with was to hide my own geocache along the trail, then upload the jpeg and track there. Then in the textbox for the bookmark list, include the HTML to link in the other items. Would this work? Is there a better way to do it? Thanks, David

That sounds like it may work, then all you need is a way to upload the track (path) and a way to search on it. How do I find shared lists? I looked but couldn't find a way to search on them. If I have a bookmark list and one of the caches is archived, is it automatically updated in my list? Thanks, David

I was just going to post a message wondering if there was any way we could support routes, or paths. My suggestion was specific for bikers (mountain, regular). Nothing quite as fun as taking your bike out, and then heading around a trail, path, route, etc and searching for geocaches at the same time. Perhaps finding all within 1000 feet of the trail. I was wondering if this was a feature where people would post the trail, and list the geocaches along the trail. Just a recommendation. But the hard part would be maintaining it, and dropping the caches that are archive and adding new ones that are added. However, this isn't much more work than maintaining some caches. Maybe if you have a trail owner, they take the responsibility to adding or removing caches from the list for that trail. In that case all you need is a way for geocaching.com to notify them when a cache they have in their trail list has been deactivated. For new caches along the trail, if you have the owners of the trail published, other cachers, the new cache owner, of even the trail owner could find it. For instance, if I was a trail owner, I would have a weekly pocket query that pulls all geocaches within a radius large enough to get my trail. The pocket query omits waypoints already listed on my trail. I pull this weekly query into the program I use to view my track, and see if any new caches pop up along my trail. If its a larger trail, or in an area with a lot of geocaches, the pocket query may not be feasible, so I would rely more on feedback from others that take the trail. For instance, if I was taking a bike trip on a posted trail to find geocaches, and a new cache showed up on my GPS that wasn't part of the trail list, I'd let the trail owner know. Makes it more fun for everyone. So with this model, you would have a new type of geocaching.com contribution - not just cache owners, but trail owners. They upload the track for their trail, a starting point and/or midpoint waypoint for finding the trail, provide name, trail distance, type (walking, biking, etc), format (out and back, or loop), and list the waypoints for that route. This only leaves how to add new caches to trail, which was discussed above, and how to remove archived caches. Since I entered all the waypoints into my trail list when populating the new trail form, much the way you fill out a new cache form today, Geocaching.com has a new record for my trail, an association (list) to all the geocaches along my trail. When I added the waypoint to my trail list, geocaching.com updated a "trail (y/n)" flag for that waypoint to yes. This does 2 things: 1. when someone archives a waypoint the system sees the trail association for, it automatically removes it from that list (or leaves it there and marks it inactive), and perhaps emails the trail owner; 2. If I'm geocaching in a new area and see the indicator that this cache is part of a trail, I'd may want to pull up trail so I can get a string of finds. It would be neat to see a user stat with 1872 finds, 120 hides, and 4 trails. I think that would even open up geocaching a lot more to mountain bikers and hikers. While there would be administrative part in this, web updates, new sets of rules / guidelines for trails (don't cross private property, hazards, when searching for the cache get completely OFF the trail, etc), so much of geocaching is about people take pride in the contributions and take ownership so I think the trail owner / poster would take a lot of the responsibility for doing what we can't with a program today. This doesn't solve the problem of "I'm driving from a to b this weekend and want to find all the waypoints along my route", but does provide a way for geocachers to share trails, or routes they really enjoy. Thanks, David

A couple people have suggested using waypoints, this seems like a good idea for a local restaurants, maybe even the state, but for road trips this doesn't seem like it would work. My unit supports 500 waypoints. Okay, to me, 500 user waypoints is a lot, but heck, if I go to the company site and download all the Cracker Barrel Restaurants in the US this would probably be at least a couple hundred. If vendors use this to share their information then if I simply add Cracker Barrell and Hooters I've used up all my waypoints. Seems like this would better be handled with layers, or maps that you can turn on or off. So if you want to display the hooters, or Cracker barrell, or what you favorite is, you turn on that layer or map? Does the Magellan map POI include these restaurants? Is this the same map I would use to view detailed street info? That's funny - robertlipe, I thought you meant other people were looking for this same functionality, not actually looking for Cracker Barrell restaurants, I guess my family isn't the only that good hooked. Still, seems like this should be something that individual companies could post at their sites. Guess I'll have to try the Map POI. From the other post reference here, sounds like that has some limitations, but is a good start.

I just got a Sportrack color and love it so far. Especially after the firmware upgrade. A friend at work got me hooked on Geocaching. Trying to justify this thing though, I'm wondering why their aren't any third party maps out there? For instance - I love Cracker Barrell - there are a lot of GPS users out there driving around - why couldn't companies such a Cracker Barrell provide a map in a format that we could use to always home in on the nearest restaurant. Imagine how popular this would be for your favorite Wingstop, Chilis, what ever your favorites are. Users would like it, the Companies would like it because it could increase their business. GPS manufacturers would like it because it would be another value add. However, from what I've seen GPS seems very limited in its proprietary maps from the vendors only. Thanks, David

I am looking at starting geocaching for myself and my son. I would also like a unit I can use for some activities with a few other parents at our Cubscout camp outs. Which is the best unit to buy in the $175 price range - not just based on the price of the GPS, but the total cost if you're going to then add software so you can then print out your trips or treks from your PC (on a mapquest style map). So far I have been looking at Magelln Gold, but I'm not sure by the time I add PC software if that would be better or something like a Garman Legend. Color isn't a biggie for me considering my price range, but I would like one that works good in shade if possible. Also, if anyone reading this is looking to upgrade and has one that is a good match for what I'm mentioning, please let me know. Thanks, David david.morgan@writeme.com