Treasure Bandits

This is to let you know that I uploaded a new beta of MagWayMan for Mac OSX only. here are the changes: • changed the expiration date to Jun 1, 2005 • Optimized webmap download (no longer downloads a "ring" of tiles around the active webmap view) • MagWayMan now generates a database and fills it with information about the cache, as gleaned from .LOC and .GPX files. This allows for the data to be available when you pull waypoints from the GPS. • Uses custom icons in the map views. Geocaching icons substituted where appropriate. Some icons may not display correctly, epsecially on older devices. let me know if you encounter this. • The system 9 version no longer displays icons correctly, so is not included in this release. It's at: MagWayMan webpage

OK, the web server for MagWayMan is back up. (DSLAN configuration error...) update... nevermind, my whole office subnet went down 10 minutes after this post. Grr! another update... and now it's back up.

Try MagWayMan. It's still in beta, but it will: Read .GPX and.LOC files that are dropped onto it, Display the waypoints on a map, even a webmap (control-click on the waypoint to get a popup for available maps) Will display both topo and aerial webmaps, will measure distances on the map by option-dragging, will run under os9 (with carbonlib installed) If you try it, let me know, good or bad. craig p.s. the web server is a little shaky right now. (power outages). if you can't get there right away, try, try again. A backup of the site can be found here.

Why is it that premium members can get .GPX files as a PQ, and individual .GPX's from a cache detail page, but only .LOC's are available from the /seek/nearest.aspx? Getting .GPX files from these searches would be helpful in planning "trip" caches. Since the site knows when a premium member is logged in, (and thus can get the .GPX from cache detail pages), getting .GPX files out of the seek/nearest pages shouldn't be too hard. I know, you could set up a PQ, but then you'd have to wait for it to arrive... and, of course, the .LOC files don't have the type/container/difficulty/terrain info...

Robert, I observed this change tonight. see GCJQ9K... the XML segment that shows this change is here (seventh line from the bottom): <wpt lat="40.301483" lon="-79.5727"> <time>2004-06-16T00:00:00.0000000-07:00</time> <name>GCJQ9K</name> <desc>Ode to Odin by Quest Master, Unknown (Mystery) Cache (4/2)</desc> <url>http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c31da81a-1aa8-4fb5-89e5-f22eb862804c</url> <urlname>Ode to Odin by Quest Master</urlname> <sym>Geocache</sym> <type>Geocache|Unknown (Mystery) Cache</type> <Groundspeak:cache id="147519" available="True" archived="False" xmlns:Groundspeak="http://www.Groundspeak.com/cache/1/0"> <Groundspeak:name>Ode to Odin</Groundspeak:name> <Groundspeak:placed_by>Quest Master</Groundspeak:placed_by> <Groundspeak:owner id="6767">Quest Master</Groundspeak:owner> <Groundspeak:type>Unknown (Mystery) Cache</Groundspeak:type> <Groundspeak:container>Regular</Groundspeak:container> <Groundspeak:difficulty>4</Groundspeak:difficulty> <Groundspeak:terrain>2</Groundspeak:terrain> <Groundspeak:country> </Groundspeak:country> <Groundspeak:state>Pennsylvania</Groundspeak:state> Not helpful when I'm just whipping the selection code into shape...

This is what I came up with. are there any "offensive" icons in this? I'm not sure if the CITO logo needs to be completely obliterated or not... sample icons (bigger than regular for clarity) also, the labels will be below the icons, not on them...

thanks, Robert & hemlock! Those will both be very helpful. I didn't realize that a "micro" was a size and not a type. (and what the heck is a "Project APE Cache"?)

I'm planning on updating my waypoint application to use some of the information contained in the <Groundspeak:xxxxxx> XML tags that are in GPX files, and I'm wondering if there's a reference somewhere for the Groundspeak tags. Specifically, I want to know all the different values the text of <Groundspeak:type> and <Groundspeak:container> can contain. Even a sample .GPX file with all the variations would be helpful. I've found the reference for the generic .GPX schema, but the Groundspeak tags are specific to this website, so I thought I'd ask here! Thanks for any help you can give! Craig

My program will have geocaching-specific features, as well as generic waypoint management functions. if a waypoint is for a cache, why not show it as such onscreen?

OK, thx!

Alot of caches being listed nowadays include a waypoint for parking coordinates. Is there any work/interest toward formalizing that as another waypoint entry in the database, so the waypoint for the parking coordinates gets included with the cache coordinates in the GPX/LOC files? for example, the cache GCGWRQ has parking coordinates. can cachers automatically also recieve, say, PKGWRQ as another waypoint in the GPX file? This would definitely be useful to me, and others I'm sure, especially when people dump the waypoints into the GPSr and Cachemate, and decide on what caches to do on the go. Possibly, a whole array of prefixes could be used, such as PK for parking, BR (or maybe PP ) for restrooms, TH for trailheads, etc. Suggestions? All Jeremy has to do is revise the basic structure of the geocaching database. That's not nivolved, is it?

Am I allowed to use the "official" cache type icons from the GC.com website, or will I have to re-illustrate them? Choice A would be easier, and save a little time, but B os OK too.

me too!

This is just a quick note to let people know that there's a new beta of Magellan Waypoint Manager for the Mac available at: MagWayMan Changes are: changed the expiration date to Jan 1, 2005 Rewrote the "WebMap" feature, taking advantage of "tile-based" map downloads, along with a caching directory, preventing the downloading of the same map areas more than once. NOTE: this feature is not as optimized as it could be, and the performance on a dialup connection to the internet will most likely be prohibitively slow. The WebMap ruler, while showing the correct measurement, will not pan correctly while sliding the webmap around. Other changes that don't work yet. Not a version I'm particularly happy releasing, since there's still a bunch of bugs I know about, and probably more I don't, and I still have features I want to add, but people were asking, so here you go. FWIW, most people seem to just use the Waypoint section anyway, and that functionality hasn't been changed. thanks for your interest!

I just saw this post. I'm not sure why my email address would bounce, as far as I know, it's still active, judging from the huge amount of spam I get! I'm still developing MagWayMan, but I don't have a stable beta available to release. I've rewritten the WebMap code to download the maps as tiles instead of individual queries, and set up a "caching" system (no pun intended), like a web browser, to hold tiles for later re-use. The Mapping routines are 75% done, but still have some bugs yet to squash. Other items on my yellowing post-it note are: Route support (at least reading them in and writing them back out so they're not wiped during a sync.) Map Printing The ability to type decimal degrees in, and possibly DDMMSS.SS Plotting the actual GPS icons in the popup menu and maps Quick mapping via ZIP code search The ability to do a 3-point calibration of user-scanned maps and Custom Map Icons for cache types If people still want to use this program, and don't want to wait, I can post the current build, with no promises for the Mapping function. thanks Craig S.

The bi-monthly update of MagWayMan is online. The changes are: Expiration date is July 1, 2004 Recompiled under a new compiler to greatly enhance the response speed of long lists of waypoints. Enhanced the "WebMap" feature, Users can now place user waypoints and option-drag to measure distances on a WebMap. Other, internal changes, paving the way for more features to be added later.

It's become obvious to us, as well as other geocachers in our area, that there are some people participating in this game that find caches, exchange goodies, and sign the logbook, but DON'T log the find on the cache page. One of our caches had a post saying that it was waterlogged, and someone else had written in the log a month earlier stating the same thing, but we never received a post informing us about it. Another time, we were sitting feeding our baby in a parking area of a cache after completing it, when we saw another family at the cache. when they were done, one of the children was holding a toy that we had just placed in the cache. We talked for a minute, then they drove off. We never saw a post from them, and after the cache owner emailed us with the name they signed in the logbook, we looked up the profile in geocaching.com, only to find there was no profile by that name. Is this a common thing? How would these people log travel bugs, for example?

There is a new MagWayMan beta up to replace the version that expired today, at: MagWayMan 0.95b6 The new beta has a new feature called "WebMap", which will let you map any waypoint, whether or not you already have a map of that area. You can access this feature with the contextual popup menu in the waypoint list. The last item in the list will be "WebMap...", which will open the webmap tab of the mapping window, and download the imagery from Microsoft's Terraserver. Note that the functionality is not complete, the controls are roughed in, and I'm still planning out optimizations for the WebMap. The slider is a zoom, and the checkbox lets you switch between topo maps and aerial imagery. A broadband connection is recommended.

if it's not too late, I have 6 cracks, both on the middle screws on each half of the case, and two on the front face on the top screws. Date Code 1602

Indiana Cojones, How did you compile that list? I wrote a program called Magellan Waypoint Manager, or MagWayMan, that is in a late-beta cycle, but it wasn't in your list. It's at: MagWayMan Did you only compile the list for Garmins? How did you search that list out? I'd like to list my program wherever you found that other information. It will add the Cache name plus the difficulty, and owner, if there's room, into the comment field, as compiled out of the .GPX files, along with alot of other features that I won't list here. If you're using a Garmin, it won't help you much. I think I need to know the right place to list it, since it NEVER gets mentioned in these lists. thanks! Craig

Now that I have my web server back up, I'll put in my 2 cents with http://www.studiosoich.com/MWM.html for my Magellan Waypoint Manager, or MagWayMan. It's nearing the end of the beta phase, and free for you to evaluate. As the name suggests, it's only for Magellans, but it has a lot of features that I use regularly for Geocaching, such as: it will read .LOC and .GPX files dropped onto it. if you have a Groundspeak GPX file, it will make a custom comment that has the name of the cache, the owner if there's room, and always the Difficulty/terrain numbers at the end. It also lets you save your waypoint lists out as .LOC. It will download track data, and also let you save the data either as CSV or .GPX. It will also read the .GPX track data. It will plot all this information on a user-supplied topo map or aerial photo that has accompanying .TFW information (in UTM coordinates) And it will let you take "Rubberband" measurements on the map (so when your Signifigant Other asks "how far is it from where we park?", you have an answer.) The full list of features is on the website. I was just about ready to give up on development of this program, since I wasn't hearing from any beta testers, but it seems instead that most of the bugs were squashed, and they didn't have any need to complain... Well, the whole point of my post here is to put in my vote for a cross-platform software list, so I can list my software somewhere other than an obscure forum post. Thanks! Craig

OK, the website is back up. (running OSX) http://www.studiosoich.com/MWM.html

Of course, as soon as I post this new update, the server it's on crashes. for interested people, email me at: mailto:casoich@bellatlantic.net

This program, like all third-party programs. won't let you make maps that you can upload to the GPS. What it does is let you plot waypoints and tracks on scans of topo, street, and aerial maps, and the like.

A new beta of MagWayMan has been posted at: http://www.studiosoich.com/MWM.html MagWayMan 0.95b4 has the following changes: A problem for Panther users and the popup menus have now been fixed. Marginal speed improvements to the listbox editing The expiration date is now March 1, 2004 And this is my request: if you still use the program, let me know! In the last beta release, I recieved a total of 1 reply about the program. I was under the assumption that the program wasn't being used, so stopped development on it. At this point, I feel that the only feature stopping MagWayMan from going final is the lack of route support. If there is something else missing that I'm overlooking, let me know! thanks! Craig S.