trippy1976

I actually use a combination of geocaching.com, geobuddy, easyGPS, and MS MapPoint 2002 on my laptop. I d/l the cache points from the web site, then format them for MapPoint in Geobuddy. I use Easy GPS to upload the points to my GPS. I also purchased a nifty add on for MapPoint http://www.techgt.com/agps/default.htm Using these, I can do some pretty cool stuff. It makes it super easy to plan a caching run in a big way Plus with the agps add-on, you can get turn by turn directions mostly. I can also use MapPoint to make HTML pages with my geocache runs documented. It's kind of a lot of fluff, but I find using my laptop and MapPoint to get (at the very least) driving directions to near the caches makes life easier. I think actually using my laptop as a GPS is a little less realistic, but I've done it and it is neat. You get better maps than you could probably get with some of the best GPS devices. That's my 2 cents. I have a Venture BTW. You could do all this with the standard yellow one though. -------- Trippy1976

I actually use a combination of geocaching.com, geobuddy, easyGPS, and MS MapPoint 2002 on my laptop. I d/l the cache points from the web site, then format them for MapPoint in Geobuddy. I use Easy GPS to upload the points to my GPS. I also purchased a nifty add on for MapPoint http://www.techgt.com/agps/default.htm Using these, I can do some pretty cool stuff. It makes it super easy to plan a caching run in a big way Plus with the agps add-on, you can get turn by turn directions mostly. I can also use MapPoint to make HTML pages with my geocache runs documented. It's kind of a lot of fluff, but I find using my laptop and MapPoint to get (at the very least) driving directions to near the caches makes life easier. I think actually using my laptop as a GPS is a little less realistic, but I've done it and it is neat. You get better maps than you could probably get with some of the best GPS devices. That's my 2 cents. I have a Venture BTW. You could do all this with the standard yellow one though. -------- Trippy1976

I'd be interested in this. It'd be easier to track any news if all the post RE: this were in one thread though. -------- Trippy1976

I've done this as well. Sadly, there don't seem to be a plethora of caches in Michigan. I got all withing 175 miles of me and it's only around 140 or so. Anyway, I've actually opened the file and cut'n'pasted the XML that gets downloaded in the past. For loading a LOT of waypoints into a MapPoint map, I've merged the files in Geobuddy and saved as the Streets and Trips format. Merging is definitely sweet. Downloading an entire state's worth of cache points or being able to configure for yourself how many are displayed on a page would be even better. -------- Trippy1976

I think geobuddy (Geobuddy Webpage) will help you out with this. It should open up the .loc file you have for easyGPS and allow you to save it as the streets and trips format. If you can't open it from file->open, look for some sort of import wizard. -------- Trippy1976

Thanks for the tip on AGPS. Can't wait to try it. -------- Trippy1976

quote:Then, from MapPoint 2002, import the CSV file (Data->Import Data Wizard)... Oh sweet! Thanks guys. Really appreciate it, I hadn't tried the import thing. Only opening the file directly. Thanks for the help! -------- Trippy1976

quote:Then, from MapPoint 2002, import the CSV file (Data->Import Data Wizard)... Oh sweet! Thanks guys. Really appreciate it, I hadn't tried the import thing. Only opening the file directly. Thanks for the help! -------- Trippy1976

I use the icons because I d/l all the waypoints for caches within a certain distance from my house and then when the fancy kicks in, I just ask my GPS for the nearest one, see if it's found (can tell by the icon) and then off I go. Other than that, I only use them to mark houses or bases I start from. Otherwise I try to name the point something useful and use the dot because I'm lazy. If easyGPS or some other app allowed me to easily change the icon on bulk selections, I'd use it more. But I usually just use the icons to denote caches I've found vs. ones I haven't. And that's only if you have a model that supports that icon and have done the upgrade for your software. -------- Trippy1976

This is a question I started wondering about when reading in the garage sale forum. In there I see (and supposedly it's true on ebay as well) that the Garmin III+ is going for $170-$200 used. I bought a new eTrex Venture for $140 at a boat show new. It was the display model or else it would have been $160. Anyway, aside from the basemaps, what makes the GPS III+ more valuable than a new eTrex model? I'm asking out ignorance primarily, so keep that in mind when replying please I have a Venture and my friend has a III+. Neither of us are yet aware of the full potential of our units We know the documented features, but the undocumented ones like use with various apps, etc. are of great interest. The venture seems to go shot for shot with the III+ with the exception of maps and the detatchable antennae. The Venture is lighter and takes less batteries. So each has its pros and cons, but all in all they seem to stack up pretty close to one another. However, I'm always inclined to go new instead of used. I guess I am looking for thoughts on why the III+ has retained this value, and whether a used III+ and the like is preferable in comparison to a new GPS from the eTrex series. -------- Trippy1976

This is a question I started wondering about when reading in the garage sale forum. In there I see (and supposedly it's true on ebay as well) that the Garmin III+ is going for $170-$200 used. I bought a new eTrex Venture for $140 at a boat show new. It was the display model or else it would have been $160. Anyway, aside from the basemaps, what makes the GPS III+ more valuable than a new eTrex model? I'm asking out ignorance primarily, so keep that in mind when replying please I have a Venture and my friend has a III+. Neither of us are yet aware of the full potential of our units We know the documented features, but the undocumented ones like use with various apps, etc. are of great interest. The venture seems to go shot for shot with the III+ with the exception of maps and the detatchable antennae. The Venture is lighter and takes less batteries. So each has its pros and cons, but all in all they seem to stack up pretty close to one another. However, I'm always inclined to go new instead of used. I guess I am looking for thoughts on why the III+ has retained this value, and whether a used III+ and the like is preferable in comparison to a new GPS from the eTrex series. -------- Trippy1976

It looks like GeoBuddy will output streets and trips, but sadly - MapPoint will not read this format. Anyone know of a file conversion utility? -------- Trippy1976

It looks like GeoBuddy will output streets and trips, but sadly - MapPoint will not read this format. Anyone know of a file conversion utility? -------- Trippy1976

I'd like to see a product that dumps to MapPoint 2002 format. Unless that is a proprietary format. Then I'd like to see MS get a life. -------- Trippy1976

Hey all, I have used the slick d/l feature to get the coords for caches I want to seek into easyGPS. This is pretty cool, I have to say. However, I've been playing with my gps (eTrex Venture) and MapPoint 2002 and was thrilled to see that all you have to do is plug in the serial cable, fire up MapPoint and whala... I have all the maps in the world that I want/need for my GPSing needs. Right now, I can type the coordinates one by one into MapPoint, but I'd rather use some sort of file format to pump them in. So I can see where caches are in respect to others and then I can plan to seek X, Y, and Z this saturday because they are close to each other Vs. going "Crap! I'm 14 miles from the next one, but it's 2 miles from our first cache." I'm all about finding caches, but I'm also all about doing it efficiently Setting an active waypoint (my home) and then using easyGPS to find the points X miles from somewhere is a fairly suitable approach, but I'd really rather see them all on a map. Plus I can then use MapPoint to help find the cache. (Cheating?) I think this would be neat, anyone out there know how this could be done? -------- Trippy1976

Hey all, I have used the slick d/l feature to get the coords for caches I want to seek into easyGPS. This is pretty cool, I have to say. However, I've been playing with my gps (eTrex Venture) and MapPoint 2002 and was thrilled to see that all you have to do is plug in the serial cable, fire up MapPoint and whala... I have all the maps in the world that I want/need for my GPSing needs. Right now, I can type the coordinates one by one into MapPoint, but I'd rather use some sort of file format to pump them in. So I can see where caches are in respect to others and then I can plan to seek X, Y, and Z this saturday because they are close to each other Vs. going "Crap! I'm 14 miles from the next one, but it's 2 miles from our first cache." I'm all about finding caches, but I'm also all about doing it efficiently Setting an active waypoint (my home) and then using easyGPS to find the points X miles from somewhere is a fairly suitable approach, but I'd really rather see them all on a map. Plus I can then use MapPoint to help find the cache. (Cheating?) I think this would be neat, anyone out there know how this could be done? -------- Trippy1976

Another thing I noticed is that you don't have to be registered on geocaching.com at all to see the caches. If a registration with a validated email address were required to see the caches and coordinates, the chances would be greater that you could track down the lost TBs. At the very least, it would then be possible to see if the newbie took the TB, logged in the physical cache log that they took it, and then look up their profile and email them about it. Just a thought.

That kind of ID card was attached to ALL the TBs I found. It was smaller, but had information on what the goal of the bug was (to see the U.S., to stay in a state and collect keychains on it, etc.) and EXACTLY how to log it. I was able to easily log all TB information. That was after my first caching outing. I think it's a really good idea to attach something like that to all TBs.

Gah. Yeah, I think goals are instructions. I went on a TB binge last weekend in NY since I knew I was going to Michigan. I found two that said "I want to see as many states in the U.S. as possible" and we found another that said it would like to see as much of NY as possible. I left the NY bug w/ a caching buddy there and I'm taking the other two to Michigan where they will find new homes and help me get going on caching in my new home.

Holy cow! If you're interested in just going caching, I wouldn't expect you'd have to pay more than $200 for a GPS to do that. I bought an eTrex Venture for $140 at a boat show a few weeks ago. The base (yellow) eTrex is like $99, but obviously not as feature rich. I'd read up on things a bit and also visit some boating stores. I like to hold stuff like this before I buy it.