debandrobin
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Posts
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Posts posted by debandrobin
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Thanks DonB and everyone! I'm reading furiously and counting the pennies.
Deb
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Thank you Bear and Ragged. Who knew this was all there. Thanks again.
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Thanks for the quick reply. Image manipulation is new to me. I'm going to find the puzzle caches with images that are messing with my head and look at them in a new way.
What is metadata and how is it useful? I've tried the right click -> view image info and it lists the url as being at geocaching.com. I'm not sure how to use that information.
I appreciate your patience teaching me about this. It really is fascinating.
Deb
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I hadn't considered TomTom since I don't know much about the brand. I'll add it to the list of possibilities.
Thanks everyone! Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!
Deb
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Thanks everyone! I hadn't thought of trying computer estores nor sporting goods stores of any type for a vehicle GPS. I'll expand my online searches and see what falls out.
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Image-based puzzles can be very challenging, just because there are so many ways to use images in a puzzle. A picture of a pineapple might represent the digit 9 because there are 9 letters in the word "pineapple". Or it might represent the digit 6 because the letter P is the 16th letter of the alphabet. Or it might be an animated GIF that will display a pineapple for 99 seconds, then display an image of the coordinates for 1 second, and then display an image of a pineapple again. Or it might reveal an image of the coordinates if you filter out the red and green layers, and maximize the contrast in the blue layer. Or it might have the coordinates in the EXIF metadata. Or the dimensions (in pixels) of the image might be part of the coordinates. Or the pattern on the pineapple can hide the coordinates, encoded in Morse code, or braille, or some other way. Or the picture can be a red herring and the puzzle is elsewhere. Or... so many other possibilities.
How do you do some of this?
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Thanks everyone! I will certainly look into it. Any ideas as to where it might be the least expensive?
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I don't like having my picture taken, much less splashed all over the internet. I like not being required to snap a photo with me in it or any photo for that matter. I will comply if the CO is insistent however I am emphatic about the picture NOT being published. Just my two cents.
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I'm fairly happy with my Magellan GC for the searching portion of the game, but I want to upgrade the GPSr for the truck. Any recommendations for an inexpensive (not cheap) model that will allow for lat/long entries and turn by turn directions. I don't need to use it to find GZ, just get me to the correct area. The GC doesn't do turn by turn and my current piece of junk wants $90 to update the maps. I would update the maps but the current map is only 1-2 years old and parts of town that are 20 y.o. are missing. I'd rather spend the money on something more useful.
TIA
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2086 around Indianapolis 46219
edited because I can't seem to spell where I live.
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... I remember my first find, I tried to submit without putting any words in the log. I didn't know what to say. It forced me to say something, so I did. Eventually I learned the value of logs and try to write useful ones. But if it let me log without any comment, I may have done that, and get used to doing that...
I'm pretty new to geocaching and writing my first log was so intimidating. I wrote something about it being the first find and thanked the CO for the cache. Thinking back, it seems so lame compared to some of the beautifully written logs I read now. I've never been eloquent, but I can say thank you for taking the time to hide and maintain the cache and absorbing the initial and potential expenses of cache placement. I also try to include a sentence or two about the cache condition like " cache is in good shape" or "needs some TLC".
No one should be too lazy to at least say thanks.
d
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Thanks Motorcycle Mama. I thought that only referred to the cache size. I'll give that a try.
DnR
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I've figured out how to filter most results but I want to a PQ for puzzle caches. My thinking is I will print them off and pretend I can solve them. I see filters for Traditional caches, ECs, etc but not the ?s . TIA
DnR
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One more time.
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Testing. Curses, not yet.
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I have the GC and it took me a while to figure it out. I have never had a GPS before and spent a lot of time making mistakes. Here is a link to the owners manual. Look Here There are explicit instructions how to use Geocaching.com to load PQs and to upload your field notes to log your finds. A few times and you will be good at it. I have never used VantagePoint so I can't help you there. Sorry. HTH
This sounds very complicated, but will try later. I did try to download cache by cache, but it didn't work. It said it didn't detect my device, but I had it plugged in, on and connected to PC.
Sigh, life was a lot easier with my Geomate!
I created a PQ (thanks John for the link!) but when I go to VantagePoint it asks a user name and password and I don't see a link to geocaching. Got a link for that?
Thanks for putting time in helping me!!!!
you have to transfer them to your gps while connected to your computer and the website. yes, it comes preloaded. like you, the closest of the preloaded ones were over 100 miles away. since you are a premium member, you can put entire pocket queries onto your explorist. the easiest way to do this is to download VantagePoint from the magellan website. you just log in to geocaching.com through vantagepoint, it will recognize that you have created a PQ and all you have to do is sync it.
I've never worked with VantagePoint yet. I just transfer the PQ files manually. Here are the steps
1. Run the PQ and download it as a ZIP file.
2. Plug in your Explorist to the USB port, when the Explorist asks, choose Connect to PC.
3. Open the directory on the GC (to see all the files and folders)
4. Unzip the PQ file in another window. There will be 2 files in it, one with a number and ending in GPX, the other with the same numer, but with WPTS in it.
5. Drag the one with just the numbers to the GEOCACHE folder on the Explorist. This is a list of all the caches and the descriptions and hints and photos and such.
6. Drag the one with WPTS in the name to the Waypoints folder. This contains extra waypoints for the geocaches, parking lots, trailheads etc.
7. Close the windows and unplug the Explorist. That's it.
To confirm they are there (a good thing to do, especially if you are going to cache far from your PC), you could do a couple things on the Explorist.
a. Open the map from the menu and scroll to the area you going, then look to see if caches appear there.
b. Open the Geocache list from the menu and then hit the Menu button, choose Sort & Search and then search for a cache number that you know would have been in the PQ.
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I appreciate all the ideas and techniques people have shared. I think several things will help us the most. First, give up the idea of being totally paperless but realize that there will be fewer pages. Second, gain more experience using our GPSr . Third, relax a little and enjoy the experience. I tend to be a little anal about preparation.
All that being said, please keep posting your methods. Having a method used by a more experienced person is a place to start and being able to modify it to suit our needs should prove helpful.
Thanks again and keep the ideas flowing.
73
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Let's see. Just grabbing and running out the door lends itself to a bit of anticipation but leads to disappointment when we wind up driving all over to find out the cache is problematic. For example, the maps on the GC just show roads when you zoom out far enough. Not enough info even with the cache description. I guess I'm trying to say it's frustrating just driving around following an arrow with minimal info. This is driving around a rural area with mostly cemetery caches. For urban caches it's pretty much the same. We prefer to do businesses at a time they're not open. As for preplanning, it seems to make buying a paperless GPSr kind of silly. If I had realized that I would still be printing, I would have have bought the CSx60 and gotten turn by turn directions. I'm not sure I've been clear but it seems kind of difficult to explain.
You're a premium member so use the PQ. I use GSAK and it has a way to export the caches to Google Maps. This allows me to see roads, and a sat view. That helps plan an efficient route. No matter how hard you try you will end up in the wrong parking lot, etc. The Paperless GPS'r allows you to have the full description, hint and past 5 logs which saves a lot of printing. Like I said I just write down the cache name so I know the order of my route, and let my turn by turn directions do the rest.
It sounds like not having turn by turn directions and not knowing the area is really hindering you. Most the responses have been more about the planning aspect and less about the tech you have (which seems like the biggest issue)/
I agree. I think our newness at using a hiking GPS in general is part of the problem. I want to use GSAK but I am leery since I can't get VantagePoint to do much. Would you steer me to a site with clear instructions for GSAK? Maybe we just need more practice, and a good backpack.
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Let's see. Just grabbing and running out the door lends itself to a bit of anticipation but leads to disappointment when we wind up driving all over to find out the cache is problematic. For example, the maps on the GC just show roads when you zoom out far enough. Not enough info even with the cache description. I guess I'm trying to say it's frustrating just driving around following an arrow with minimal info. This is driving around a rural area with mostly cemetery caches. For urban caches it's pretty much the same. We prefer to do businesses at a time they're not open. As for preplanning, it seems to make buying a paperless GPSr kind of silly. If I had realized that I would still be printing, I would have have bought the CSx60 and gotten turn by turn directions. I'm not sure I've been clear but it seems kind of difficult to explain.
Did you get the maps that you can put on your GPS?
I find those help.
I don't think that is an option for the Magellan GC.
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It would be helpful to know what you found unsatisfactory about each method.
We're definitely fans of planning ahead. We enjoy looking at maps and learning about new places so the planning process just adds to the fun. Also, we're more interested in certain kinds of adventures (parks, walks/hikes, interesting history, etc) than just being able to find a cache that is close to wherever we are. We usually set up bookmarks to highlight caches of interest. We print out the bookmark and usually only print a cache page if we want the details handy (e.g. for an EarthCache). If we're going to an area and are not sure exactly where we'll be we'll supplement the bookmark with a broader PQ of the area to give us more options.
Good luck!
Let's see. Just grabbing and running out the door lends itself to a bit of anticipation but leads to disappointment when we wind up driving all over to find out the cache is problematic. For example, the maps on the GC just show roads when you zoom out far enough. Not enough info even with the cache description. I guess I'm trying to say it's frustrating just driving around following an arrow with minimal info. This is driving around a rural area with mostly cemetery caches. For urban caches it's pretty much the same. We prefer to do businesses at a time they're not open. As for preplanning, it seems to make buying a paperless GPSr kind of silly. If I had realized that I would still be printing, I would have have bought the CSx60 and gotten turn by turn directions. I'm not sure I've been clear but it seems kind of difficult to explain.
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How do you prepare for an adventure? We have tried printing and planning a route and we have tried just grabbing the ol' GPSr and running out the door. Both methods have proven to be unsatisfactory. How do you plan for a day of fun? We bought a Magellan GC so we could be paperless but find we are still printing the face sheet and a zoomed in map. Perhaps our noobieness is making this more difficult than it truly is. Any advice? TIA
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I'm from Indy. As far as I'm concerned, you can have the Colts back!
GPSr on a laptop
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
If you Google GPS dongle you will find many satellite receivers that connect to a computer. It will function like a vehicle GPS unit. You could then open Geocaching.com in a window ( if you are able to access the internet that way) and have the best of both worlds.