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ryanr69

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Posts posted by ryanr69

  1. Before I go out on a long trek, I usually print out a satillite map of the general area I am going to cover, as well as some zoomed in shots of particular areas, leaving me with a handful of paper to lug around.

     

    What I would like to do is somehow get a very high resolution screenshot of the area (like 10kx10k) converting it to a jpeg and sending it to my tablet. Then I can see where I am in the big scheme of things as well as zoom in and get a high resolution view of a general area.

     

    Is this possible? I usually carry a non-broadband tablet with me (for books) and would really like to cut down on paper.

     

    Basically what I am looking for is an offline high res map reader but how do i get the high res data with the cache points on it?

  2. I have been using PQDL for a LONG time from LeoLuk (http://www.leoluk.de/paperless-caching/pqdl/pqdl-en#TOC-Download) and it seems to now be broken after the latest changes in the gc.com website.

     

    Does anyone have an alternative that works?

     

    Basically, it logs into your account, from a windows machine, grabs all your pocket queries, and drops them into a folder, that you can then write a quick batch file to move them to your gps device.

  3. It would bother me, but there is little that can be done.

    You may after some time has passed. Post a note on the cache page saying "Past the bridge is private property".

     

    Since you have the first hand information from the property owner, I would consider moving it and telling the CO.

    After all, this should have been caught by Groundspeak (but considering how old maps are i understand why not), and without permission, this is littering and inciting trespassing.

    If the CO gets upset, remind them of the alternative, that it could have just been 'thrown in the trash' by the land owner.

     

    As cachers and CO's, I think we need to exemplify what geocaching is, and not bring problems and smear its benefits.

  4. I guess my concern is the following

     

    - Challenges are not moderated.

    - Challenges can be ridiculous, malicious etc, while geocaching is "finding a box and a log"

    - The two shouldn't cross... Two different games, and perhaps audiences.

    - Challenges are manual while GC's are automated.. I can find a cache, and upload it all automatically from a gps, where in the most extreme of challenges, you take a picture and upload it, putting manual requirements on the owner for validation, while GC's, you sign the log and have an audit trail.

     

    I can see examples of good challenges:

    - Go to the sign, tell me what word 1 7 19 21 and 30 is then go there, and take a picture.

     

    And bad ones.

    - Kiss a frog

    - toilet paper someones house

    - Drive 55 on the 101 freeway.

     

    I still think virtuals is the way this should have gone. The current implementation seems wildly v1.0 and shows no value from the Groundspeak organization other than hosting a web page and tracking 'did its', rather than the careful inspection and dedication to geocaching.

  5. When I start up my Megellan eXplorist GC it gets stuck in the loading cycle at the very beginning and never turns completely on to where I could actually use it. Any idea on how to fix this or has someone else had this same problem? any information is appreciated. thanks

     

    This happened to me once, plug it into your computer and access its internal drive, remove the cachelogs and gpx's and reload.

     

    If that doesn't work, replace the batteries.. Sounds simple but that happened to me once also.

  6. I am torn.

     

    One one side i see the value of keeping up spots for the 'finder' community. Finding caches is easy with respect to the amount of time required to find a location, place, and maintain a cache, yet alone do it 10's of times.

     

    Not all cachers want the burnden of placing caches, and I would say a majority of cachers are finders rather than placers. Prolonging the life of caches beyond the wishes of the CO or perhaps putting up for adoption keeps the finder community alive and not allowing it to ebb as the OP may be concerned about.

     

    That is my 45% of agreement.

     

    Overall I have to disagree. Caches carry the personality of the placer. Certain people of certain quirks or schticks that go along with the cache which transforms it from a hidden ammo box to really something special. As an example I point to X Marks the Spot. This cache is a signature item for this placer and for it to be adopted by anyone else would be a dis-service to the spirt of how it was placed. If this cacher were to leave the game, I would expect the spot to be surrendered, thus allowing another placer to put something there.

  7. Does it really matter??

     

    I find caches everywhere, some are great, which get a comment... Others are uneventful, thus getting tftc.

     

    Regardless of people visiting the cache and choosing what to log, or lying and logging without the find, nobody is affected other than the cacher. They got whatever out of your cache that they put into it, isn't that enough?

  8. I would suggest doing at least 20-30 caches first and learn how each has a style.

     

    For example, we have one guy in our area that likes cito tubes and rock cairnes, another who likes ammo boxes and bushes, and then another who likes evil micros. This will give you a personal feeling of what you like and don't like. I dislike caches buried way in the back of sycamore bushes.

     

    Look where they hide them and where they don't. The most successful caches are hidden away from the popular areas you are trying to get cachers to. Like if you are trying to get people to the top of the mountain, put the cache 100 feet away. You want the cacher to find it but not the muggles... Muggled caches get stolen.

     

    Lastly, my pet peeve... LEAVE A HINT.

  9. I just went through this entire exercise and the two finalists were the Garmin 62s and the Garmin Oregon 450.

    The 450 won, specifically the 450T.

     

    The major considerations I found were the following:

     

    Touchscreen (450) vs. Buttons (62s)

    Map Pan and scan (62s) vs. dragging touchscreen (450)

    Screen Size. Smaller on 62s vs. larger garmin 450 (major consideration for me)

    Chirp Support

    Customizeable Dashboards (450 seems to have an up on this)

    Screen Brightness - Lots of complaints about the 450 but its no different than any phone you have. Negligable vs. 62s

    Picture Viewer - Sounds trivial but i use it, 450 has it, 62s is different.

     

    https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=145&compareProduct=63350&compareProduct=63802

  10. Pertaining to the following:

     

    http://post.carnero.cc/cgeo

     

    I would like to see Groundspeak extend the 'olive branch' to make things right with this author.

     

    These are the kind of people that expose the real fun of geocaching and despite the collisions with the T's and C's of the groudspeak TOS, he raises the game to the next level with his contribution.

     

    Having only played the game for a little over a year, I have become completely addicted. It has not only given me something else to do than sit at a computer, but it has made me healthier from all the hiking I have done.

     

    Squeezing out individual developers that offer FREE products to augment your services is a BAD thing... If the issue here is his product vs. yours... make your product BETTER.

     

    After reading a lot of the forums and the wish list... I wonder if anyone at Groundspeak has the same passion to play the game as the subscribers do.

     

    Please make things right, and take the time to READ what he says.. This is a great time to take a reality check and perhaps initiate correction.

     

    The issues at hand are:

    1. The web page and its accessibility with 'current technology'

    2. A potentially nerf'd Developer API vs. a version 2 one Groundspeak would use... This will become a legal issue i bet.

    3. The ability to code changes to the web page and apps that keep ground with 3rd party. (c:geo vs. geocaching apps for droid / web page vs. a 3rd party hosted one).

     

    This is not a bash, I want to see things improve also and c:geo is a great tool in addition to everything else out there.

     

    The post for reference:

     

    Almost two years ago I bought an Android-powered phone. Back then, Android Market was like a small child. Cute, but incompetent. There were no geocaching apps to be found. I missed Windows Mobile's GCzII. So I've decided to write my own application to be able to go geocaching until there was some better application available. Also, Groundspeak was promising an official one. And they kept on promising for over a year.

     

    English part will continue below. Cesky ctenar snad odpusti radoby-anglicky kus textu. Stale neni v mych silach napsat anglicky clanek tak, aby byl skutecne anglicky - coz napravil Case svou korekci. Jelikoz uzivatele c:geo jsou z 95% cizinci, spise prectou neco jako anglictinu nez cestinu.

     

    During the c:geo development, I had to keep my eye on Groundspeak. They didn't like c:geo. Ive read their TOS many times and I saw some parts there with the potential to eventually kill c:geo. But the only thing I'd get from Groundspeak was "don't use our icons". Until two months ago they've never said c:geo is illegal from their point of view. They just tried to scare c:geo users away from using it, but they've never said to me anything close to "please, stop". I really don't like their attitude - they'd like nothing better than to make every living and breathing thing on Earth pay for their low-quality services and applications. Remember all those outages caused by the upgrades of some invisible text on their web? And it will be even worse now since they've decided to not allow pretty much anything to non-paying users. Yet they are still unable to introduce any useful improvements. It was pretty much the norm back in 1990, but today it's really outdated. Remember Facebook, Twitter, Google services, Flickr and any other service currently popular? For the most part, they bring very reasonable things to users for free and some of them add many cool bonus features if you're willing to pay a few bucks a year. They also have pretty good APIs from the very beginning. Groundspeak is spreading FUD for free and giving you unstable, ugly looking service for 30 bucks per year and then they're asking more money for their almost four-star application. They still don't have public API. And some rumors I've heard said that their public API will be "version 1", while their own applications will use "version 2". That means Groundspeak is probably trying to hold all the other apps back. Since they are not able to create a good application, they have to restrict everyone else from doing so. All those things don't sound reasonable to me. In short: I'm pissed off by Groundspeak's attitude. Also, one small addition: Because of my new job I don't have as much free time as I did before, so to spend it fighting with Groundspeak is really not that much fun.

     

    I've decided to leave geocaching (the game) behind and find something else to do for fun instead. I won't support such company anymore. And that also means it's the end of the active developement of c:geo. It will stay on Market, unless/until it stops working due to changes on geocaching.com. Sources will be available on github as they are right now.

     

    Big thank you to all of the users of c:geo for all the sympathy given and expressed by 20,000 ratings (average 4.7 of 5). Thank you for your support, donations, kind words and so on. I hope c:geo did a good job and did guide you to many caches. Hope you had fun with it. And now, please excuse me... I'm grabbing my camera and heading to nature, this time without the intent to look for more caches :)

  11. Understandably Groundspeak doles out geocoin serial numbers to authorized manufacturers of the coins.

     

    Would there be any issue with purchasing a coin (a cheap one), stashing it away in a collection, and then reusing the number on a home made item?

     

    I realize this is what travel bugs might be useful for but I am able to actually create coins with a new toy i got but don't have access to unused serial numbers.

  12. Ive been noticing odd behavior on my GC from day one.

     

    After 10 hours of use (roughly) it will start to indicate that battery's are low and they want to go into standby mode.

     

    Usually I carry a bunch of extra batteries, but I just put tester on the 'used' batteries and noticed that ALL of them still have 1300 mAh left on them

     

    Granted that AA batteries typically have 1700-3000 mAh, is this odd behavior, or do batteries have to be at a minimal spec to operate properly. Im assuming I should be able to get into the hundreds before actually having to replace them.

     

    To say the least, I have a LOT of these batteries that I am re-using for things like RC cars etc and they work fine.

     

    Is this typical, or is my unit defective?

     

    And yes, in the GC settings there is a setting for lithium and alkaline and it is indeed set to alkaline.

  13. Are geocoin / geobug serial numbers only printed on the coin or tags?

    Is there a way for a manufacturer to get a lot of serial numbers or does Groundspeak not do that kind of thing.

     

    I'd like to set up something special with my boy scout den.

  14. Is there a way to reserve say a block of 10 GC codes without actually publishing the cache?

     

    Reason is, I would like to prepare a new cache (put the GC Code on the log), with the code prior to distributing it, then if I am on a hike and find a great place and I just drop it and populate the details later.

     

    I have thought of making 10 fake caches, and putting them in phony locations like the middle of the ocean and updating them later, but that seems to put unneccessary work on the moderators.

     

    Is there an easier way to do this?

     

    Ryan

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