NomadVW

You can already just do.... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...vw&submit4=Find I mean.. it doesn't get you an email, but is getting an email any more of a "stalk" than doing that? And if you had a watchlist or "bookmarked" person - they could implement a feature that says you're being "watched" Anyway... seems silly to outright deny a feature when it's partially installed already for points which are moot.

I'll be honest. If I could find decent maps for my area of Japan, I'd probably be willing to be there with you. But they just simply aren't available for the english versions of Garmin to any level of detail necessary for me to minutewar, geodash, or geocache. Moving to a PDA/GPS will allow me to take calibrated JPGs with me without having to tote my laptop in the passenger seat as my "paperless" companion. And again, the other features of the TX are moving me there too (bluetooth and wireless, not to mention the extra 96mb of internal memory with an upgrade to the processor). And since I'm going that way anyway, I might as well have gotten the extra stuff to make it a GPS/PDA combo. I'm not prepared to put the TX on the front of the MTB and go downhilling with it, but it will definitely go in its case and get me within hiking distance of the cache.

*shudder* My organizational skills would lose those papers all over my minivan. GSAK does this for all caches currently displayed in the current filter. (no filter means it is going to want to print your entire database) Select File/Print - Condensed HTML. You can preview a few different types. If I were to do it, I'd probably select: Include User Notes : check Logs to include : 5 Page break : check Remove images : check Depending on how brave I feel whether or not I decrypt before i print, or in the field. VW

I didn't realize this was an unavailable option. Definitely need this, else I can't blame people for requiring approval.

Just to give this topic a bump and get us back on debate - hoping that one day we can start getting submissions through. I agree with this. When I posted "Onsens," "Swimming Holes," or the others that got used by someone else, I didn't anticipate that I'd have to get committee approval. It doesn't take that much effort to log a cache. I mean, let's be realistic. This management problem only arises when you start requiring verification of the waymark before approval. For the WM categories that I would manage, the only thing I'd require is the log. I'm not getting into the photo requirements or having left your footprint in a concrete mold next to the WM. If people log a bum WM, it'll get found sooner or later. Maybe then, we can do it that way. If you want to add an "approval requirement" for your category, you need to nominate two or three other users that are able to approve the WM. Then the WM will be managed by a group of people with a common interest in the category. Favoritism is going to exist forever and ever, amen. In WM it doesn't serve anybody's interest for the favoritism to exist. I _want_ people to log new WMs to my categories. I want as many WMs in each category as possible. I'll be more excited about how many WMs my categories have than I will be how many I've found or created myself. VW

Actually, I'm not referring to the "wow" factor of locationless or virtuals, but am more referring to the previous poster's idea that: Apparently the concept that people can find "off the leash dog parks" has something that the other 12 pages of proposals don't have. Folks - or maybe it's just me - wanna know what that category had that their category did not have. Fact is, category proposals ARE being accepted based on a criteria at Groundspeak that transcends the debates here in the forums. Is there anything we can do to meet this criteria?

Why should they? They are Waymarks, not Geocaches. As long as they all show up in my GPSr, I can find them. I'll bet we can eventually view them all together in Google Earth, too. First, man - you had me excited. I read that too quick and thought we already had PQs for WMs and just didn't see it. A flurry of movements around WM.com, but still disappointed. Second, can we stop assuming that Google Earth is the fix to all the inadequacies of the GC.com mapping? Until Google Earth is high resolution imagery world wide, your excitement about having it able to be integrated with GC.com or WM.com is simply misguided. It's great when you're in the states and in the city and you can tell that the cache is on the corner of X Street and Y Street on the south side. For some of us, it just tells us that the cache is in the middle of the big green glob of mountain side 20 km away.

Wow, I hadn't read that far down the line to see that it doesn't work with the 60CS. That's going to suck if it's truly the case. Though, I had a lot of issues making the 60CS work with other PC based nav programs. Hopefully it's other peoples inability to use correct port/baud settings than it is anything else. Will report back to these forums next week after I get the gear. VW

I would also like to remind folks that there are other innate dangers of GPSr's "in theatre." For instance, young guy tosses in waypoints of his weekly convoy route. He loses his GPSr and it's now in the enemy's hands. It has the same ramifications of losing crypto or comm-sec keys. Many of the bases are now well know, but who wouldn't want to be able to "GPS" plot a location for attacks? Also, folks may find that around certain areas the DoD is intentionally jamming GPSr signals so that only the military issue GPSrs with the correct comm-sec can plot locations in areas. Losing a GPSr in a combat environment - if a person has been careless - is like dropping the location of all your "hideouts" and the maps to get there in one fell swoop. Loose lips sink ships, while lost GPSrs aim mortars. VW

Not groups, I don't think. Less waymark creation red tape. You didn't need "approval" to log a locationless (create a waymark). If it didn't fit the bill, the "waymark category manager" (locationless cache owner) deleted the log and explained it.

I bought my TX from Palm directly. They had a deal for a subscription to Audible it was $100 off the TX. I had an Audible subscription until about 2 months ago but found I wasn't going to use the space on my E for it - and battery life just wasnt so hot for long trips. All in all, I did a serious upgrade for this time around. It includes: Tungsten T/X with hard case 1 GB SD Card From PC Mobile: AA Battery Box for Tungsten T/X (Code:P50AA) http://pc-mobile.net/p500.htm Bluetooth GPS Adapter with R Adapter Cable (GRBTA: includes GRDC+BTA01) Serial Bluetooth Adapter Cable (for use with my car lighter power for the 60cs, G9XPM) http://pc-mobile.net/bta.htm For me, opening the T/X's hard case ($250 combo set) to cache with won't be much different than taking the $320 GPSr. Also, living in a country with little to no support for English version maps, I'll be adding the Pathaway software for the T/X so I can use calibrated JPG/BMP maps that offer a lot more detail than I can get for the GPSMAP60cs. This is a huge step up that there is no way to get for the Tungsten E (well, again - without losing the memory card that holds most of my software). VW

I've been using Tungsten E/Cachemate. Because I wanted features not readily available on the Tungsten E, I'm upgrading to the new Tungsten T/X and also adding a bluetooth adapter from Pc-mobile for my 60cs (also compatible with the eTrex models with the right cable for them). Depends on how techy and what other things you are going to use it for.

I'm not quite certain I see how "off the leash dog parks" have a "wow" factor yet the other 12 pages of ideas don't have any that fit the bill. If "We're not currently accepting," I would think that means new ones wouldn't be created. Otherwise, it should say "We're not currently accepting, excepting ....." Fact is, there is currently a "Waymark category approval" process. I'd just like to know what it is so I can re-post my ideas to meet this requirement. Until then, I don't get why anyone is posting their proposals just so they'll slowly work down the list to disappear.

My GPSMAP60cs cover doesn't go all the way to the edges of the glass. It covers the entire displayable view and then ends at the where the black frame sits. (so none of the shadow you mentioned could occur for mine) Top and bottom sides fit within 2-3 mm.

The article was particularly interesting, and I had some friends that ran into this during the initial OIF. Fact is, for general purpose - the military has to assume that not every person in a unit needs a GPSr. Thus, the perceived GPSr shortage. Actually, most units I've dealt with on the USMC side have plenty of PLGRs (Precision Lightweight Global positioning system Receiver - now quite the misnomer compared to their counterparts on the civilian side) to do what they came into the service to do. During OIF, I traveled by convoy throughout southern Iraq, and three out of the 10 vehicles in the convoy had a PLGR with our maps. Convoy routes were planned by GPS waypoints based on MGRS. Our battallion and flying squadron knew the threat for GPS jamming capability. It's the standard party line when describing the capabilities of the PLGR. (oddly, some are still briefing that the PLGR is more accurate like the article does, though I'm betting it has more to do with the huge 6"x1"x1" antenna sticking off the side than anything else.) On my return trip, I settled at an air base to do "occupation" style operations and wasn't so equipped. After all, no one expected that I would have to go on a convoy. The unit had access to two PLGRs. Knowing all the downsides, I had great comfort knowing I had a commercial GPSr with me. Knowing the threat caused me to carry the backup of maps. If you're a whole click off in position, even in the desert, and you don't know it (whether by maps or by GPSr), the GPSr probably ain't gonna do you know good anyway. At the end of the day, your only guaranteed positioning capability is knowing where you were, looking at a map, and plotting where you are. Everything else is susceptible to electronic interference, even if your PLGR is keyed with the proper crypto (provided you can find someone that knows it well enough to fill it and they have the right key with the right supersession dates). What this comes down to, is the civilian GPSr just doesn't fill all the roles that a PLGR does. There are other functions regarding communications that the PLGR is used for, and the civilian GPSr's don't have the interface to meet these roles. I'd be curious to know where this is in the development process - if it's not already being fielded. Never seen one live, myself. http://army-gps.robins.af.mil/pubs/pathFinder/path10-4.pdf

I figured if I was gonna spend that much money for wireless, I would skip up in all pretty much all areas but the OS and then do the "hand me down" to the wife since she's been leering at mine for a bit. I looked at the wifi options you describe. The Sandisk one would remove my memory card... and a bulk of my applications. The case just doesn't fit in my pocket.

Just bought the Tungsten TX because I'm tired of not having wireless on the Tungsten E and I don't wanna pay for the lifedrive. I also bought PCmobile's bluetooth adapter for my 60CS. Will post back here to let folks know how the TX holds up. VW

Since I'd made this comment several times, time to correct the thing. Google's web site now uses WGS84 coord entry for the URL/search box on Google Maps, and www.google.co.jp. I haven't found the change in the API yet for this, so unless GC.com employs google api, rather than just linking to it, no big deal. Anyway, change all my other comments to say "Japan maps now utilize WGS84 when submitted to maps.google.com and maps.google.co.jp" VW

Me too, and then he'll go to work for my while I cycle and geocache.

First in Asia.... again!

I took the AN/PSN-11 PLGR with me the first time. What a beast, but it has anti-jamming capabilities and was a better option when the Iraqi's still had that ability. I took an Etrex Vista with me the second time, but fortunately never had to use it for more than mapping out locations for airfield and aviation procedures when the PLGR was too big to carry (and expensive/hard to find batteries at times, since I didn't have the AA adaptor). I've heard the US Army is using an application that issues a Garmin mapsource map for Iraq now. He'd do well to ask as many questions as possible if he's in the Army. If he's in the Marines, he'll have maps all around him and we learn to use them - so folks like the aforementioned and their convoy can look at their PLGR (or etrex) and compare to maps without having to rely on their jammed/sandy weapons when ..it hits the fan. Personal commentary is that a GPSr wouldn't have kept us from hearing her name.

I've thought about this too. I think I'll call it the TNLNSL Cache. Ahh.. drats.. 10 of them out there already. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...SL&submit4=Find

Cripes... my 2 yr old GPSr does 10 digit waypoint names already. I have some time before mine gets obsolete, I guess. VW

Man, the one thing I love about activities like this is there's people that really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of this stuff. Personally, I've found that just dropping the GPSr (GPSMAP 60cs) on the spot with the external antenna on it, tossing on the averaging function until it gets down to a decent reading - hopefully 10feet or less (this might not be good enough for those not used to a lot of tree cover). If I'm in really heavy tree cover, I hope for 30 feet and give a hint that would be adequate if someone wants it. edited to say: I do double check coords on maintenance runs to confirm they're within +/- .001-.002 minutes. (approx 6 to 12 feet)

And some Tokyo Mean Datum, making Google Earth all but useless with import of WGS84 data! Yippee! VW