jri

The names should pop up if you hover the mouse over the label, but they clutter up the map too much if you show them for every cache. That's why I decided to have a separate list in the sidebar. The list gets sorted alphabetically to make it easier to match up the codes to the names.

Oops - I'd changed the feature without changing the description! Cache labels are still there, and better than before. However, they are no longer on the i menu. Instead, there should be a new "Cache List" option for the sidebar panel at the left of the map, alongside the normal "Search" and "Pocket Queries". Here's a screenshot: The "Show labels" button toggles the labels on and off on the map. If you toggle "Auto update", then more labels will appear as you scroll the map, otherwise hit the refresh icon when you want to see more. The X icon clears the list, and removes the labels from the map. The list updates whenever you refresh it (or pan the map, if Auto Update is on), whether or not labels are shown. In the list, the little map icons centre the map on each cache, while clicking on the name should open the listing page. This feature becomes less useful as you zoom out and more caches are shown. It does work with thousands of labels, but it will slow down your computer!

I've updated GME to v0.6.2 at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/109145 . The new version should fix the bugs caused by the site updating to Leaflet v0.5 (OS maps not showing on cache pages, TB logs not getting numbered on the tracking maps). It should also improve the labelling of caches on the main map, and add a side bar listing the cacahes (a bit like the old map...) Enjoy!

Due to the relatively recent arrival of a mini-cacher in our family, I am clearing out surplus gadgets and have a Globalsat BT-338 bluetooth GPSr for sale. Although it was my first geocaching device, it's probably more for gadget fiends than beginners as it doesn't have a screen or cable. Instead, it GPS-enables Bluetooth-compatible devices that don't have GPS built in, or improves the accuracy of those that do. I've used it with a Palm Tungsten T3 PDA, various Nokia cellphones, and an HTC Desire smartphone. On Android, the free Bluetooth GPS app should allow it to work with any app that's location-aware. I've also used it with Windows and Linux laptops. It doesn't need any drivers, and should work with any software that can connect to a standard serial port, so long as you have a Bluetooth dongle set up to allow connections. It's worked fine for me with this dongle and this one). Although it's an old model, the BT-338 is very accurate, holds the signal well in poor conditions, and has great battery life. The GPSr comes with a mains charger, belt pouch, and a CDROM with manuals and a simple Windows program to display the GPS data. Unfortunately I don't still have the original box. With a new battery, the BT-338 can last up to 17 hours on one charge. As it's second hand, this one may not last quite so long now, but it should still comfortably outlast a smartphone when running an active Bluetooth link. Price is £25 plus P&P (or pick it up from me in Bristol).

The same for me, seemingly due to Tuesday's update Yup. That's the problem, and it will affect all browsers. Version 0.5 has changed how the Leaflet Maps API internally works out the URIs for map tiles. "Standard" maps are OK, but ones that use odd URI formats (like Bing and Wikimapia) got broken. The good news is that I can fix it, and should be able to do so in a way that will still work when they update the /map page. The bad news is that you'll have to wait until the weekend! I want to take the opportunity to put in a panel that will list the names and GC numbers of all the caches on the map...

Do the other maps work OK? The OS maps come from Bing, so if the Bing maps don't load either, it's probably a temporary problem with your connection to their servers. If the other maps are working, then try resetting your GME configuration using the instructions here: http://geo.inge.org.uk/gme_trouble.htm (just reinstalling doesn't affect the configuration on its own). Hope that helps!

And for those that haven't got Stylish, here's a userscript version of Avernar's style that should work in Chrome and Opera without any plug-ins, and also with Greasemonkey in Firefox: // ==UserScript== // @name Coloured Geocaching Icons // @namespace inge.org.uk/userscripts // @description Replaces grey log icons with coloured ones // @include http://www.geocaching.com/* // @version 0.0.1 // @attribution Icons by thebruce0 // @attribution Style by Avernar // @attribution Script by jri // ==/UserScript== (function () { var s = document.createElement("style"); s.type = "text/css"; s.innerHTML = '\ img[src*="/images/logtypes/3.png"] { display:inline-block; padding: 16px 0 0 0 !important; height: 0px !important; width: 16px !important; overflow: hidden !important;background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAACvklEQVQ4y52TzW9UZRhHz/sxd9oZrrYFLp2B6TfaxkLblIgkbBDjwhjYaIyu3OkOiC6MiQmJceHCuCBRFm6J+zZxoXFRQmAkLKZ2AJ1KWxhKS5GhQ4d2eu977+OiQUXCxvMHnJwneX5KRPg37509LxduRjQSjUl5JJFjm97kcI/PuQ8OKf6Deiz47qfr8vEP85jdXRQG8rS3pLBGcA4eNCOqs4vI7Tt8drybU0eH1BOCr3+uyKcTC/QeGWVwZxtZHEYccRO0ZxBjaKCorNSZm5rm8zcLfPTaoALQAKcnZul5ZZzRXAfJ0gqlqcv4rRnS1uK3pilNFYnv1djf2UbPoRG+mLzx9wn6nW/Oi+0q0Bd4tCvD9VKZ8i/TrK1tYCw8bKxTLpb4/UqZDk/oD1pQhW7e+vaiAOhL1ZDCQIGsgDYgAKJwThAVE8eCJAkJgsKSQejuz3N5ob5VsJakaGvVaCUkcUyQD8j35vH9DM4Jvp8l19dFsLsTcQ6bwPNZSwMPAKu1xaLR4oiaIcNjw7w0NowCUAYNHHv3GEoLzcihRGGUoFKprQKSJrFLEAQElNV41hDFDhfFhJHDswaNQeIEAUIHEkVbBYEnLK1usD3IoDyP6tw8peJVHtZqxC7BWovf0cbQ+Aj9e/PUZZN7yxvssvGW4PhoO2dKN3kht49fSzPcvbVE3+AAuT05Up4mCh2Li0vcmCnTqD8g2PcityvznDyQ++eR9n7yozzqHWSos5U9O7JkUobYgbgQqzUqnaYRhiyuNPhtpUF27g8qX76uACzA5IlxXv2qSLnZh854+FawsQMUGkcYJTxywrVqHXNrlomTB5/eQvV+Td4+O83MKjzX1cn2XT4taY/Ndbj/Z43V6jIj2+D7D/fTE3SopwSPmSwtyLniXSrL60RakdLCwM40779c4I2xwrPX+H/5CxoNM5mqa2nIAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);}\ img[src*="/images/logtypes/4.png"] { display:inline-block; 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document.documentElement.firstChild.appendChild(s); }()); To install, copy and paste the script above into Notepad or another text editor and save it as a file called ColouredIcons.user.js (the ".user.js" bit is important), then - In Chrome, navigate to chrome://chrome/extensions then drag'n'drop the script file onto the page to install it. In Opera, move the file to your User Javascript folder (you can set which folder this is at Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Content > JavaScript options). In Firefox, with Greasemonkey installed, open the script file from the File menu to install it. Me, I'm not much good at graphics, but there are a whole load more dull grey icons on the site. If anyone else feels like coming up with their own versions of them, you can just create them in your favourite graphics program, then use the Data URI Kitchen to convert them to the URL format used in the script above or Avernar's stylesheet. Use the "upload a file" option and tick the box for base64 encoding.

I added a function to my Geocaching Map Enhancements script a while back that lets you drop circles of an arbitrary size onto the geocaching map. As well as checking spacing for new caches, it can be helpful with some types of puzzle cache. However, while I'm all for people using tools that help them hide and seek caches, I wouldn't be too keen to see this function implemented in the main website. In particular, I wouldn't want it to draw circles around every cache, as in Dr H0rrible's screenshot. I'd rather people find interesting locations for caches, then check whether there's anything nearby that conflicts, instead of looking for a gap in the saturation map, then going out to hide a low-quality cache in some nondescript location that meets the spacing requirements. In any case, there may well be good reasons for gaps in otherwise saturated maps, e.g. areas where landowners have denied permission.

Of course it's up to Groundspeak to split up caching regions as they see fit. The thing that annoys me is that they don't do it consistently. While some parts of geocaching.com use the arrangements described above, the maps on my stats page show that I've found caches in a place called "United Kingdom", and Northern Ireland is shaded in for me. While I've visited both Éire and Northern Ireland in my pre-caching days, I've never found caches in either. I'm not holding my breath for Groundspeak to fix this... Hopefully at some point I'll be able to make my stats page consistent again by going back and actually finding some Irish caches

GME v0.6.1 is live at http://userscripts.o...pts/show/109145 This version adds a number of extra features, and has a few minor tweaks compared to the version I posted here recently. Here's the summary change list: + Cache labelling on main map + Geolocation on seek page and cache listings + Freeform coordinates on seek page + Trackable map enhancements + Drag'n'drop support for dropping GPX routes and tracks + Driving directions on additional waypoints + Options to remove individual custom maps and export custom map code * Fixed: conflict with GCComment on search pane * Fixed: Streetview link preserves zoom level * Fixed: Exits gracefully if multiple copies installed * Reduced impact of drag'n'drop highlighting on cache listing * Recoded for robustness, tidiness and security: used strict mode and jslint, reduced use of global variables, and added new Greasemonkey permissions metadata. - Removed workaround for fixed geocaching.com bug (no cache information showing on mouseover) More details are on the userscripts.org page linked above. My next task is to improve the documentation!

Good suggestion. Since it only needed one line of code, it'll be in the next official update!

Although this doesn't work using Opera :(Would it would be a better idea to put it on the main option screen? Works for me in Opera and Opera Mobile. Which version of Opera are you using? And have you checked you're running v0.6.1 of GME?

I've updated the version of the script at http://geo.inge.org.uk/userscripts/GeocachingMapEnhancements.user.js to give the labels semi-transparent backgrounds. That helps them show up better, but still gives you half a chance of figuring out what's going on when they start stacking up. Technically, it's very easy to make the labels show the cache names, but as MartyBartfast points out, it gets rather messy. Where I live in Bristol, just showing the GC codes makes the map pretty cluttered, with lots of overlapping labels. While I could truncate the names at some arbitrary length, that would get pretty annoying, especially for series with lots of caches with similar names in the same area. For that reason, I will stick with just the GC codes for now. That said, you can see the full name if you hover the mouse over the GC code or the cache icon. In a future version, I'll see whether I can make a sidebar or popup that gives a list of caches and names (just like the old maps...)

Using Firefox. No, definitely no scroll bar. It's not really an issue as I can always hit F11 and that brings the bottom into frame but I just thought it might be something that could be fixed easily. The other trick for Firefox is to use the PgUp/PgDn buttons...

Unfortunately there's not much I can do about this, as it's a feature of the JQuery Mobile library that is used for the dialog boxes. Ironically, it's designed for devices with small screens, but I'll see if I can improve the layout at all! Which browser are you using though? There's a way of scrolling in pretty much everything I've tested, although it's not always obvious.

This is something I'll have to document. The way the site works, when you load up the map page, your browser can't see any information about where the caches are. All it has is a set of map tile images, that may or may not have cache icons somewhere on them. When you move your mouse over each map tile, your browser asks the server whether there are any caches in that tile. This is why there's sometimes a delay when you hover the mouse over a cache icon, before the answer comes back. GME can only label the caches that the server has reported - i.e. the ones on tiles you've moved your mouse over. The information from the server is specific to each zoom level, but GME remembers the caches it has already labelled. However, the location information comes back from the server in pixels rather than lat/lon coordinates, so as you zoom in, the labels may drift away from the caches. To make it work well, move your mouse in an S pattern over the screen before you use the label function. If you don't get labels for all the caches, point at them with the mouse, then try again. Sometimes this fails if the server is overloaded: unfortunately the browser doesn't repeat requests. However, you should be able to get the label by changing zoom level and trying again.

After some long while in development, I've got a new version of GME more or less ready to go live. It's had a very substantial under-the-hood re-write with the idea of tidying up the code; making it more robust and less likely to conflict with other scripts or gobble up all your browser's memory. That said, re-writing inevitably introduced loads of bugs, which I think I've now pretty much ironed out. On the positive side, the new version has a few bonuses: It can label the caches on the map, so you can print it out and see which one is which. It can use geolocation on the cache listings and seek page to tell you how far a cache is, or what's near "here". Dragging and dropping GPX files onto the map now supports displaying tracks and routes. You should also be able to drop onto the cache page maps as well as the main map page. The cache list on the travel bug map page gets numbered so you can see which cache is which on the map, and links are added so you can centre the map on a given cache. If a cache has Parking or Trailhead waypoints, you now get a link to show you driving directions to them from your home location. It's a bit easier to manage custom map sources. If you're feeling adventurous enough, you can test out the new version (v0.6.1) by installing from http://geo.inge.org....cements.user.js There's no documentation for the new version yet, but I'd appreciate any bug reports or feedback - e.g. are the new features intuitive enough to find? Is it doing something you don't expect it to? If you run into problems, look at the instructions for v0.6.0 at http://userscripts.o...pts/show/109145 and if the worst comes to the worst, uninstall the new script and revert to the version from userscripts.org In a couple of weeks, when I'm reasonably confident there are no bloopers, I'll update the official userscripts.org page to the new version.

The details of your configuration (browser and version, application version, etc.) ASUS TF101 tablet running Android 4.0. Problem appears when using stock Android browser, Firefox Mobile 16.0.2, Firefox Mobile Beta 17.0, Opera Mobile 12.10 or Chrome Mobile 18. (No scripts/extensions installed). The specific steps you are taking that lead to the observed behavior: Go to http://www.geocaching.com/map Click on the "Pocket Queries" button at the top of the search panel on the left of the page. Click on the "Search" button at the top of the panel. Details of the observed behavior: After step 1, everything looks normal. The search panel has the normal text input box and the Filter Caches controls. After step 2, the panel goes blank: you can still see the "Search", "Pocket Queries" and "Set Map Preferences" buttons, but nothing in between. No list of pocket queries is displayed. After step 3, the panel is still blank - none of the search or filter controls come back. Details of the expected behavior, i.e. what you believe should be happening instead: When I click the "Search" and "Pocket Queries" buttons, I expect the panel content to toggle between the two. Notes: I don't have this problem at all on my Win XP laptop, using the desktop versions of Opera 12.10, Chrome 23 and Firefox. On the tablet, this behaviour is happens in multiple browsers, whether I use the touch screen or the tablet's mouse. My guess is that it could be something to do with how the site uses JQuery Mobile UI, possibly a CSS issue.

I get this problem too. It seems to happen after I have been logged in to the site for some time, e.g. if I've hibernated my computer and gone out caching, then gone back to the website without restarting my browser. Is there some kind of user authentication session that expires after a time, but doesn't cause you to get logged out?

Glad it's now working for you both. @geralduscambrensis: Do you think that having two copies of GME installed was your issue too (one in Chrome extensions, one in Tampermonkey)? GME ought to be able to run in Chrome without Tampermonkey, but it looks like I should also check that it can cope gracefully with two versions being installed. I'm in the middle of a fairly major re-write at the moment, so I'm keen to wrap up any bugs I can at the same time. I'm trying to make the next version of the script more robust, add new features, and possibly even work in Internet Explorer! If I can make it work, the big new feature will be the ability to print maps with all the caches labeled.

Two things for me: The hide The location For the majority of caches, I think it's the location that is most important. The way I play the game, many of my finds are when I am travelling in unfamiliar areas, looking for good places to go for a run or a walk. Finding new places to explore close to home is good too. I can put up with a fairly boring hide (35mm can under a rock, tupperware under an Unusual Pile of Sticks, etc.), so long as it's in an interesting location: history, views, etc. Conversely, I'm not terribly impressed hunting for a cache in some dingy back ally, even if it does have really good camouflage. But that said, for a great cache, you need a good hide as well. In that I'd include puzzles, interesting containers, ingenious hiding places and so on. And it has to carry through the whole experience. I do like the achievement of solving a really challenging puzzle, but it's a bit of a let down if it's a grotty physical hide or a poor location.

If the map selector appears, then disappears and doesn't return, it sounds as though GME is failing to load part-way through starting up. I would try re-setting GME's configuration using the instructions at http://geo.inge.org....htm#resetconfig . If that doesn't work, then I will need some more details before I can help: I can't reproduce your problem using my setup (Win XP, Chrome v22 and GME v0.6.0). Can you see the GME icons in the bottom-left corner of the map? Does GME work normally when you go directly to http://www.geocaching.com/map rather than clicking the "View Larger Map" link? Do any error messages appear in the Chrome console (apart from the normal ones about viewport arguments)? NB if you use the View Larger Map link, it is normal for the big map to load whatever map you have selected as the default in GME, rather than the one you were viewing on the cache page. Also, if you end up reinstalling / upgrading GME and you're not using a script manager like Tampermonkey, read this thread about how to install userscripts with the new security features in Chrome. Hope this helps!

I live in Bristol, UK. Although it is officially a "cycle city", its traffic is not known for being especially friendly to cyclists, or cars for that matter. Nonetheless, cycling is often the fastest way to get around the city, and over half my finds are within 25km of home, most of them made by bike or on foot. Most of the rest of my finds are made when I happen to have been travelling somewhere (by train, plane, car, or whatever else) and then collect local caches on foot. Whether at home or away, caching gives something to add direction to a morning run, or to point out interesting places on a wander. There are occasional caches where I've been on a road trip, stopped somewhere, and picked up a cache nearby, but very rarely will I drive directly to a cache . That said, I do do the odd day trip where I will drive somewhere, park up, and hike to the caches nearby. Obviously using a car lets me get to fun places you might not otherwise see. But equally, there are fun places I can get to by train or other means, and I do that too. Having travelled and cached a little in America, I can appreciate that it's not the most comfortable place for getting around by any other means than by car. I've also cycled and cached in India, and found that a whole different experience!

This is something that the Geocaching Map Enhancements userscript can help with. With GME installed, when you click "View larger map" from a cache that has additional waypoints, the map shows all those waypoints as markers. If you had corrected the coordinates of the cache, it also shows both the original and corrected location.

If by "additional map overlays" you mean you can't see any of the maps added by GME, try the suggestions on the troubleshooting page. In particular, check that you are using Leaflet Maps, then resetting your GME configuration to the defaults (instruction on that page). If you can see the normal selection of GME maps, and its the actual overlays that have gone (i.e. extra information displayed on top of the base map), then try re-entering them in the "Manage additional maps" section of GME's configuration screen. Failing that, you'll have to give more details of precisely what you are trying to do and what's (not) happening.