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HoustonControl

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Posts posted by HoustonControl

  1. Bookmark this page so you can return to it when you want to download another county.

     

    Select "datasheets", then select "county".

     

    Pick a state (Texas would be a good choice :D) and then click on "get county list".

     

    Choose the county you want download.

     

    Click "get marks".

     

    Click "select all".

     

    Click "get datasheets" and be patient as this may take some time to bring them all up.

     

    Go to the File button in the upper left of the screen and select "save page as" give it the county name and select 'save as type' = "text file".

     

    Note that there is a limit of about 1000 datasheets that can be downloaded at a single time. If the county has over that amount you will need to choose the first half of the list and get those and then select the rest of the datasheets for another download.

     

    Once you have save the Text file you should open it by double-clicking it. Edit out any lines above the first datasheet, the edit out anything after the last datasheet (from *** retrieval complete). Your text file is now ready to drag and drop on BMGPX to get the gpx file for GSAK.

     

    If you need more assistance, just ask.

     

    John

    Thanks John! That worked like a charm! I had gotten as far as pulling up the datasheets for the county in question, but didn't know what to do with the results to turn them into a GPX file. I've found benchmarks and other survey markers in one's and two's over the years while geocaching around town. I was playing around with GoogleEarth recently and was trying to see if I could zero in better coordinates for Scaled markers by using the documented description. Armed with some better numbers (and a GPSr that loads the description as well as the coordinates), I set out yesterday and found 11 of 13 that I attempted, being first to log on GC.com for 10 of them. Two had been marked as Not Found by the USPSQD in recent years, so I thought that was pretty cool. Anyhoo, thanks for the feedback and help everyone.
  2. Hi HoustonControl,

     

    I just downloaded the 236 PID's for Hildago Co, NM; my next target area for a few old rivets. Seemed a bit slow, but I have only one bar on my Verizon air-card at the entrance to the Chiricahua National Monument.

     

    I have found that I now use GSAK for almost instantaneous DS info for any NAME that catches my eye on GE pinned county by county via DSWORLD.

     

    kayakbird

     

    Were you ATC there in 1969-70 giving F-9's from NQI a bad time?

    Hmmmmm, didn't understand much of that. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to all things benchmarking. I'd created a GPX file for my county several years ago, but haven't tried to update it until now -- an I've forgotten how to do it. I didn't know you could get datasheets via GSAK. Guess I need DSWORLD (whatever that is).

     

    No, sorry, I was in 6th grade in 69-70. ;-)

  3. Hi all,

    I tried doing a new county download from NGS to create a GPX file as described in the pinned topic Me First!, but something has changed or I'm doing something wrong. The NGS webpage linked to only has the option for statewide archive downloads, not by county. Attempting a statewide download (for Texas, anyway) results in an error message. Am I going to the wrong area of the NGS site? Is there a workaround? Thanks for any help with this!

  4. Started happening to me last night on work computer (Windows 7 and IE 8). Continues today at home on Windows Vista and Firefox 8.0. Yeah, seems to be related to having the GC.com map open.

  5. Hey everyone -- looking for some help.

     

    I have a Flying Artifact geocoin that I received as an FTF prize and I've been trying to find an activation code for it. I've tried every coin activation site I know of, but to no avail. I have no idea who made it and a Google search and Yahoo search has turned up next to nothing. Anyone have any insight on who to contact?

     

    It looks like this one: http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=3124151

  6. Wow, you guys have a lot of great accidental cache find stories! I thought that it might have happened a few times but not this many. I would think accidentally finding a cache must be as exciting to a geocacher as a hole in one is to a golfer.

    And Brainsnat, if you say it is ok to sign them then that is good enough for me. Now I know what to do if I ever get that lucky.

    Maybe to a really, really good golfer. I've been golfing for 30+ years and have witnessed several holes-in-one but have yet to make one.

     

    On the other hand, I've found several caches and letterboxes by accident. One was an archived cache just a few yards from a new cache. I got FTF on the new one and the CO let me log the archived one. I got FTF on a letterbox while looking for a geocache, found another letterbox while trying to place a cache ("Man, that looks like a good spot -- oops, already taken!"). I got FTF on one cache because I happened upon the CO while he was hiding it. He had been placing caches in a series along a new trail, but had been placing them a day at a time. I got FTF on his latest, then wandered down the trail a bit and spotted him placing his daily cache. GOTCHA!!!

  7. Hi,

    Does anyone recommend any English caches in and around Barcelona?

     

    We're going at the end of the month and would love to log our first holiday cache

     

    Thanks

    TeamCraft

    Oooooo, we're going to Barcelona as well in a few weeks. I'm interested to see what anyone might recommend.

  8. OK, it was me... :huh:

     

    I have an earthcache (GC2176V) that asks for an answer to one question that requires "outside research" (isn't readily available at the EC site). I mention that the answer can be easily found online. My reasoning is that I want finders to learn a little something geological and the feature in question is on private property with no informational plaque or signage nearby. Oh, and I also ask for a picture (now supposedly optional) of the cacher at the location.

     

    In reality, I get some emails with the correct answer to the question, many with incorrect answers, and some with no answer at all..... and a few even fail to post a picture. But I've yet to delete a log, so I guess you'd say it's all optional. :laughing:

  9. Probably a storage lot for imported cars. The airport appears to be mostly unused with only one active runway, so I guess they're making use of the rest of the available acreage. They cover the cars with protective white plastic during transport to prevent damage to the paint, that's why they all look white.

     

    You can see the same thing at the Port of Houston in Texas:

    http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=29.73...vl=18&sty=h

  10. I promised myself to avoid these forums because it simply isn't worth it. Anyway, that's neither here nor there 'cause I couldn't resist this topic.

    Don't get mad, but you folks are being far too hard on the OP. God loves trees too!

    Seriously, if a recently approved EC that is just a flower garden can get approved, why not a tree? After all, I'll bet the tree is bigger than the flowers!

    By the way, there is not a rock within sight of the cache if you exempt the small gravel on the hiking trail! Explain that one!

    See you guys again in a few months. Have at it. :blink:

    As you can probably tell by my 75 posts in 5+ years, I usually avoid these forums too. But in my limited experience, I've found folks in the Earthcache forums to mostly be civil toward one another, which is refreshing. I don't think anyone is trying to be hard on the OP, just maybe realistic. ;)

  11. I made Platinum level last month (finally got that 3rd EC submitted and approved). I applied for and received the Platinum pin, then for some reason, I received another one a couple of days ago. Guess you could say I'm Double-Platinum! LOL. Santa brought me a full set of the EC coins last Christmas.

     

    I also have one of the white pins for being FTF on This Challenge Cache. :)

  12. Mission 1

    Participating: 25 MAR 2010

    Name Received: 6 APR 2010

    Mission Sent: 9 APR 2010

    Mission Received: 19 APR 2010

     

    I got my coins yesterday from Illinois. Nice!

     

    Glad you like them. How did you get such good pictures?

    Lot's of practice (I take pics of every coin I activate for the coin page). That and a little Photoshop to clean up the background. :lol:

  13. Did you make a note of the tracking number on the coin? Even if the coin wasn't listed as being in the cache you got it from, you can retrieve it from it's current location or holder. Then just post a note for the cache you dropped it in and click on the coin from your inventory to drop it there. Perhaps the previous cacher just hasn't gotten around to logging it into the cache you got it out of. Give them a couple of days...

  14. I had a similar issue with a cartridge running on a Nuvi (550). I built this cart over a year ago and it worked fine on a PPC, Colorado (after some tweaking) and Oregon. Then I bought the Nuvi and tried the cart on it for grins. The cartridge would shut down as soon as I entered the first zone. I narrowed it down to a command to display a certain screen. When I removed that script (let the player navigate to the screen on their own), it worked fine. Strange days indeed....

  15. I'll play -- email sent.

     

    I'm new to this, so what did I just sign up for?

     

    res2100 will email you the name and address of one of the other mission participants and send your details to a different person. You're responsible for sending your recipient 2 geocoins and the person with your name is responsible for sending you 2 coins.

    OK, cool!

  16. I got an FTF on an earthcache that way. I visited a spot with the intention of listing it as an earthcache -- took pictures, read the informational plaque, made measurements, etc. When I got home and began the process of listing it, I saw that someone had beaten me to it by a couple of days. Luckily, I had all the needed info. My earthcache plans were quashed, but the FTF kinda made up for it!

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