Tzoid

I've seen a few '&' and '@' characters in usernames. These ( and probably others as well) will render the adress invalid. 'mom&pa@geochaching.com' wont work. Neither will 'c@cher@geocaching.com. And I agree with stunod that spammers would absolutely love this if implemented.

And so what? It is the cheaters privilege to cheat. For whatever joy they get out of it.

It needn't be more complicated than adding another note type "Note for other finders". Notes of this type will only be displayed to you if A: you are logged in and B: You have previously posted a Found It note for that cache.

Why the need for a wrapper script?

Caches with an agenda needs at least to be upfront about it in the cache description, so they can be filtered out if necessary. But the guidelines are quite clear on this, so in most cases they won't be approved. It is unlikely that caches with hidden agendas will create any converts to the cause, in my opinion.

Engadget.com has made a tutorial on how to create cool annotated maps using Google Maps. It requirers the use of the Firefox webbrowser and a plugin, but looks mighty cool. Google Maps dont cover Europe yet, so this isn't that useful for me, but maybe some of you in the States can use it to your advantage.

only if he signed the log and put the cache back

Here is a combined mobile phone unit (CDMA) and GPS. I think it is intended for law enforcement agencies and suchlike. IMHO cachers are better off with an ordinary gps and gprs/cdma mobile phone.

Name suggestion: "No muggles, just alligators" :-D

30 seconds of googling revealed this page

I think this unit is what you are looking for. Except it doesn't integrate with a GPSr. RRP is just under $10.000. Optional external antenna is an aditional $4.000.

GMail invitation is on its way, Clyde :-D

Its often more efficient for a database server to return a large result set than to perform a lot of calculations to reduce the size of said result set in one way or another. So what is and what isn't efficient may be a surprise to us all. Some databases ( Oracle, I think Postgres also ) provide extensions for spatial data that make complex greographic queries more efficient (points within a quadrant, along a route etc). I don't know if groundpeak use such database extensions, but if they don't, I think they should. It's at least something to think about.

It may be that you cachers on the other side of the atlantic have very different needs than what I have. I live in Oslo, Norway, and I can have all the caches within my region of interest delivered to me with one pq ( I currently have 470 caches in my GSAK db). So I have no need for rectangular pqs. And all the other stuff you mention can in my case easily be performed with gsak on those 470 caches. My feeling is that the types of queries you talk about here are of marginal use to most cachers. But I might be wrong. It's happened before.

If you dont mind carrying your laptop around together with the ipaq and the etrex, then GPSGate (http://franson.com/gpsgate/index.asp) may be a solution.

If you could tell us exactly what those needs are, then maybe we could agree?

No need to be condescending, IV Warrior. I did comprehend the question, I just don't see the need for advanced pq's when exactly the same can be achieved easily with gsak. Putting a lot of functionality on the pq-generating server won't exactly make the load on it or the database server any less. At the current rate of 'server busy' messages I don't think advanced pq searches are a good idea.

Markwell

One word: GSAK :-)

I don't understand, the waypoint name is displayed in GSAK. You may have inadvertently removed the column? Check the columns by clicking 'View->Add/delete columns'.

Clyde, all this talk of macros lately has given me a wild idea that you might want to consider. Why not implement the macro language with a real scripting language? One good such candidate would be Python, and I know that for example Paint Shop Pro uses Python as its macro language. It needn't be more complex for the casual macro user, and the power user/programmer will have a full programming language at their disposal. I think this opens up many new possibilities. What do you think?

bump. Any more interesting pictures?

You don't have to post the exact coordinates to the inch, even if you know them. Especially if it would ruin the hunt.

Registering Cachemate is practically free (or more precisely $8 I think ) so for me that was a no-brainer. I use GSAK to transfer waypoints to Cachemate. When I get home after doing some caching, I look at Cachemate to register my find online. The next day my pocket query with updated info arrives in my inbox, which is uploaded into the GSAK database. And the round-dance continues. :-) Btw: I also use GSAK to send the waypoints to my Garmin 60C, so there is no need to send info from the Palm to the GPS.

I use Cachemate on it without problems. I have a newer iPaq as well, but prefer the Palm for caching purposes, as it is slightly sturdier. And I won't mind so much if I loose or break it.