crackhead

I know it might seem obvious, but did you check the batteries to see if they are in correctly? I have had that issue on mine when I realised the were in upside down...

I was finding it difficult to sort through these to find ones close to our home coordinates. Under the "sort by: " there are only options for alphabetical, most popular and largest. If there were one for sort by state or closest, then ascending or descending, it would make it much easier to find Waymarking sites closer to ones home location... We look things up all the time and they end up being on the opposite coast or too many states away to make a day trip out of it. I am all for posting new categories and places to see, but the organizing of the waymarks leaves me a little frustrated when searching for sites to visit. And a question, aren't these supposed to replace Virtual Caches? Or be new sort of Virtual Cache? I see a lot of Way Marks, but no logged finds on any of the ones I looked at, or is this not the point of a waymark? Is a waymark only to post a location within the category it is posted under?

With whom are you asking. For my program, or the rouge program by ggg? If for my program, look in your windows programs menu for "GPX to Google Map Creator". You can create a shorcut to it manually, but it does not install a shortcut on the desktop by default.

My GPS never displayed any problems, but my Motorola Talkabout displays funky when I first turn it on. After its on a few minutes the display seems to fix itself once it warms up, but I would check on the maufacturers page or the booklet that came with you GPS to see what the weather conditions are it handles. Like some are not waterproof, and if moisture built up under the screen from cold tmeperatues and then thawed, the water moisture might ruin the pixel display. Ever get a wrist watch too wet and see the water under the screen? It will do the same thing. The numbers will blur and not display correctly. I think its not so much the cold, but going in the cold and then to warm temperatures, it might have gotten moisture build up from condensation.

I dont use google earth but someone once told me you can also drag GPX files onto google earth and it will display a map as well, so if you cant create the KMZ file, use a GPX file. For those of you who can't use google earth(Win98.95 people) you can use my little program to view the routes on Google Maps instead. http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/ It uses GPX and LOC files to display the tracks on the map and you can save the maps to your desktop.

I dont know if it will work for you but a lot of people on here talk about GSAK. My gps doesnt use any pc hookups, so I couldnt tell you but give it a shot. BTW, "Everywhere is walking distance, if you have the time", also "Anything is possible if you put your mind to it" - I am sure there is something out there that will do the leg work for you. Try looking up you GPSr on Google and see what links you get. Also, try searching the forums just by your GPS name. Someone might have already asked about your specific GPSr and GPX files in a previous thread...

Update: Thanks to John for finding a bug in my latest release. It is now fixed. Build 1.00.0137 is the latest downloadable file. http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

This seems like a great tool for geocaching or any type of trip plotting! Only suggestion, have it read the GPX file directly without having the need for several other programs in between the data creation process. If it could parse the GPX files directly and get the data directly from the GPX file, I am sure it would make the process much quicker and people wouldn't need to have anything except your program and the GPX files. Similar to my "GPX to Google Maps" program: http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html My program will read in the LOC and GPX files just by simply dragging and dropping them on a hotspot in the form. It then does the rest for you based on the options you choose, either for a routed PolyLine map or a Cache map, or the new universal GPX maps, where you can create a map from data used by your GPS once exported to your desktop as a GPX file. Great job on this tool though! Anyone creating these sorts of programs knows how much time and work it takes in order to get the finished product! I know from experience, it's hard work but also rewarding to actually see people using your creations.

That sounds like a loophole, but it's not. (I've already fished in that pond.) Yes, you can get get a cache page that has that information without *explicitly* agreeing to the TOS, but there's an implicit one. Look at the very bottom of every cache page. "Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the Groundspeak Terms of Use. " My read is that Google Maps of your own cache data on your own desktop are OK becuase you're not then running afould of ' You may not distribute such copies to others,' where if you make them public, you are. Google (and archivers in general) actually are getting special permission from the site actually do get explictly allowed via http://www.geocaching.com/robots.txt And I'm sure that any number of us here can point to a dozen ore more sites that run afoul of one or more of these rules. I guess its up to the people creating the maps to decide where to draw the line. Use it on your desktop for acceptable "personal use" or upload it to your site for violation of the Terms of Use. It's like kazzaa. It was intended as a file sharing program, but you know people are going to use it for trading copy written music and movies(even though someone must have purchased it in order to get it on their in the first place) I can see if people were divulging a trade secret or profiting from their cache maps some how, but its not like people don't allready link back to geocache pages for the ones they have found. There are tons of people on geocaching.com with personal web pages that have links to the cache page from their sites, and I am sure this would create a whole new debate on the Terms Of Use (which I am not trying to do). Even though the link doesnt contain the basic textual info like decoded hints and log entries, it still links to a cache page, and I would think that this would somehow fall into some grey area around the same thing as a google map with push pins linking back to the cache page. The only difference is that the map shows the Lat and Long of the cache, as well as the link back to the cache page. While someones site might only contain the name of the cache and/or waypoint name, the map shows a few more details, including the visual location of the cache. I personally beleive the maps are not violating the terms of use, but I dont suggest anyone go and test this by uploading them all over the net, for lack of Legal knowledge on my end. You must decide what to do with the map and how to use it within the acceptable use policy of the site hosting the files and whether it is within fair use of Geocaching.com's Terms of Use. With that said, lets change the subject and go outside to find some caches!! Thanks for the new brain wrinkle!

I am still confused. I know it is probably a simple concept I am missing, but if they didnt want the information to be shared with the public, then why can you view it from the site without being required to have an account and log in. The data in a cache page (Except for Member only caches) can be seen by anyone coming to this site. If the cache waypoint Lat and Long are used to place a marker on a map from the waypoint in the cache page, this is the same data used in the LOC files. What is to stop people from just using the data from the cache page vs downloading a LOC file? Its the same data. Only diffference is that the web page lists hints and user posted logs, as where the loc file just gives the waypoint name and the coordinates. All my map program does is create a google map that displays the waypoint on the map based on the lat and long from the cache page, with a link back to the geocaching.com cache page. Is this a violation of the Terms of Use, if used from your desktop? or are you saying it is only a violation when you display this info on a website for others to view? If this is, then search engines like google are violating the Terms of Use, because they make [Google Cache]CACHED page of different sites. You could search for a geocache waypoint using google and you could view the cached page from within google. They reproduce the page exactly as it would be if you surfed to geocaching.com and looked up a geocache from the site itself.

That's a problem of legalities, not a technical one. By making your maps public, if you used any data from a .loc obtained from this site or a PQ, you'd be violating the TOS. I approached the site about this very specifically and was told in short that you can't make such maps public if they were derived from data obtained from the site by those means. Could you expand on this TOS? Is it the TOS for Geocaching.com? or for the Blogger site? I dont see anything that says you cant use the data for PERSONAL use. It does say you cant use the data for other means, except for non commercial, and not for profit use. And if it was for geocaching.com, where does it say you cant use the LOC and PQ files? I didnt see it when I read the Terms of Use? If you cant use them, how is it you can save them for upload to other devices and XML reader programs. Wouldn't a map on a site be the same thing as reading it in? It plainly stats that you can use the textual data for personal use, not to be used for profit or to export the data to another format, in example, you cant take a loc file and then create a new file format and then sell that file for profit or transfer it to third parties for commercial use, but if your just displaying the location and textual information with links back to Geocaching.com(Where it would be obvious that it was for geocaching.com) wouldnt that be acceptable terms of use? I mean, the Buxtly's waypoint site used data to display the files on its site and links back to geocaching.com They have been around a long time. and I am sure they use the geocaching.com database for its map soucres.

I did fix that problem. It isnt in the latest version, and you made me start thinking I was crazy....You mus thave an old copy of the initial program. Redownload the updated file and see the blog for the latest build updates!! http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

I thought I fixed that problem. I will have to go back and take a look. What version of the program are you using? 1.00.0133 is the latest build.

Added a new window for GPX files that were not created by Geocaching.com This is still in testing, but at least you will be able to plot waypoints for GPX files from other sources. So long as they contain waypoint names for each waypoint(Yes, some files I have downloaded do not use a name for the waypoints in the file, just the track record of waypoints lat and longs, but no name or descriptions. These should work for the Polyline tool though). Still debating on whether or not to add KML files. Because KML files were meant for Google Earth, loading the data on google maps will only display the waypoints, and not the extra data that Google Earth can read, like adding the 3d views and angle/tilt perspectives. There really isnt a need for this. If you have google earth, then you dont need my program, but if you want to make maps for your web page, then this is the way to go: http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

You could save the GPX files and load them in something like GSAK while on the road.(GPX files are for premium mebers only though, otherwise you use the LOC files, but they lack extra info like hints, logs and descriptions.)

I have been hearing about MSN's new Virtual Earth Maps. I gave them a look and sad to say, google maps look smuch better. (MSN was in Black And White in Aerial view) They work pretty much the same with similar controls. This guy who made this site has combined them both onto one page so you can see the maps working for a side by side comparison: http://www.jonasson.org/maps/ I am going to take a look at how hard it will be to to use the MSN maps api as well, but I think I will stay true to my google maps. If its not broke, dont fix it! http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

Do you have a link to the wikipedia geocaching site?

I created a blog page in addition to the download page. This way people can comment or post bugs or problems they are having, or find out how to customize their maps! Makes it a little easier to see whats going on and what troubles others are having. This way you can see what they did to fix their map or what they might have done to improve their map layouts. I hope all like the program and have been able to get it to work for your needs. GPX to Google Maps Blog I will try to make these the last few posts for this thread so people can just bookmark my site for updates and downloads of the latest versions of the program as well as keep up to date on the blog side of it.

Just figured something out. KMZ is a PK Zip file(or open it with WinZip). What you really want to (support) read into the program is the KML file inside of the zip file. I will be working on integratiing this into the app as well. The only thing it wont let you do is Zoom into things in the 3d manner that Google Eaarth will. Google Maps does not support this method, but I will try to make it so the program will extract the coordinates from KML files. In the mean time, you can use your KMZ files with google earth, but KML will be the format my program woul dhave to read. It will not read zipped files, only plain text XML or Plain Text format. I am also working on adding a standalone format similar to DB files, where it would parse on delimiters in the file. This way you could create a plain text document in this manner: long=xx.xxxxxx,lat=xx.xxxxxx;name=xxxxxx/ long=xx.xxxxxx,lat=xx.xxxxxx;name=xxxxxx/ long=xx.xxxxxx,lat=xx.xxxxxx;name=xxxxxx/ long=xx.xxxxxx,lat=xx.xxxxxx;name=xxxxxx/ Then save it to a file extension like "GEO" or something I decide later, or somehting to that effect and it would put Markers at those points with their names, or plot Poly Lines in that order. Commas seperating long and lat, semicolon for names and / for new lines. this way, anyone could plot away. Lots to work on...Suggestions welcome.

++ I figured out the bug with Custom GSAK files. Some people use descriptions that start with a number for cache names. Google Maps Javascript Side of the map likes names that start with a letter for the variable and not a number. Just found this out! I have since fixed this and appended an identifier to the beginning of the name as well as removed invalid characters that I could find(The reason why the Polyline doesnt error out on the same GPX file is because it allways appended the name with a letter identifier first before reading in the GPX name.) Using GSAK for you LOC file conversions is a great idea if your not a premium member. Being that the LOC files lack the descrptive data it makes sense to use GSAK to get the info you want. Let me know of any other bugs! Thank you for the heads up on the name bug!!

I havent tried archived files yet, but I seuspect either the way they are written is different or they remove the waypoint La and Long. Open it in notepad and take a look at the format, and if you can, change it to look like a valid LOC file. Also, dont combine loc and gpx files into one file. They parse differently base don their file extensions. I have a section of the program devoted to each file extension and combining data throws them off, although I never actually tried to combine them, I am not sure it will work. You can download the GPX files from the cache pages by clicking on them. Right clicking to do a save as does not work for some reason, but left clicking prompts you to save or view the file. Hope that helps. I am adding some notes to the GPX page as well. Frodo Underhill had some issues I think with Polylines. I think this is because VML support is an Option for IE. You have to either check it when Installing Internet Explore, or you may be able to get it from Windows Update.

Ok, an official page i snow up for this application. The page is just in the initial stages, as well as the application itself, but mor einfo to come soon. You can use this page to see the latest build version or for any new improvments to the app, as well as a link to download the program. I am probably going to look into a blogger page, so people can add feedback to the app's page directly and offer suggestions or report bugs. I never intended to take it this far with the program, but I have become addicted to looking at the earth through googles Sattelite view, as well as downloading GPX files from google and testing them in th app. A good haack for this is typing into googles search box to find GPX files. You use the the following without the quotes: "ext:gpx inurl:.gpx" This will do a google query for only GPX files. (or any you format it to search, but anywho...) (Official/Un Official) GPX to Google Map Creator Web Page. -By Crack Head Thank you to all of you for your feedback and ideas. Now turn off that computer and go find some caches!!

If there are any funky characters in the names or descriptions of the caches, it throws out when viewing as a web page, only because javascrip variables dont like spaces or non alpha-numeric characters. If you view the source, you can check for each marker and that they are names with just letters and numbers. Try and drop it on the Polyline section and see if you get the same problem. Still working out the bugs. I lik eyou idea about having a page up for it though. I am going to make a page with some instructions on how to get files to work correctly. If you want, download all your caches from the cache pages, and drag and drop them all onto it at the same time. It will read each one and make the map for you that way. I haven't had any issues with the ones directly from the cache pages at this point except for one incident with a cache that had a 3 character waypoint name. I forgot about older caches. I will also have to make a note to make room for new caches once the names get longer than 6 characters. Anywho, lots to do, and thanks for the feedback. Great to see that people are using it. I only intended to make the program so I could visually see where each of the caches I found were all at the same time, and it turned into the whold other monster. Now I want to make it read any format so map creation can be as easy as just dropping a file onto it. Once I create a page for the program I will post it here and then stop updating this post(so long as there isnt anything too important to mention.)

Sounds like a plan, I will have to check it out! Also, updated the module again. Fixed a few bugs here and there. Its all still in testing, but Polyline creating is going better and not crashing from files with bad data.

Added some GPX and LOC file samples to show how the map works, with Readme listing what to use each one for. These are the sample files to make a map showing how the program works. Poly_Line_Plot_Track_Sample.gpx :used for Plot Track option Multy_Loc_Map_Sample.loc :Used for Cache Map Multiple__GPX_Map_Sample.gpx :Used for Cache Map Open them in notepad and you will see the format version that the program will read the files in. Other formats may not work or could even crash the program, but I am working on integrating as many formats of GPX files as I can.