bengtb

I just installed the Garmin Communicator plug-in in Chrome (22.0.1229.79) on my (Intel-based) Mac (Mac Pro running Mac OS 10.7.5). The Communicator finds my GPS and reports everything as working. When I try to send a cache to my gps with the Send to GPS function is get an error message saying that "Your browser is not supported to use the Garmin Communicator Plug-In.". Obviously this is not true and thus a bug in geocaching.com. /bengtb

Yes, absolutely. Though the altitude given by a GPS is not very accurate unless they have a pressure sensor.

Please, please, please! What ever you do make sure that you still have interoperability with Java and other major languages. Consider follwing WS-I's Basic Profile. This makes sure you do not use datatypes that aren't supported by other languages (such as the dreaded DataSet...) or use schema specifics that are not easily understood by most other platforms. Microsoft has added a lot of great features to .Net, like WCF, that are not interoperable out of the box, unless you stop and think about it. Interoperability must be absolute key for a site like geocaching.com.

That happened a couple of times for me as well. The sad thing is that I tried it a couple of times hoping it would go away, BUT instead the PQ:s were created and I was out of PQ:s for the day. Early the next day I was leaving for a three day caching tripp. With the time difference to Sweden, where I live, I missed the other PQ I wanted. I had to download every cache's GPX separately and edit them to get a big file to download to my GPSr....

Doesn't the rules state that you shouln't put food in the caches? Animals could destroy the cache or themselves trying to get at the good smelling stuff.

Actually you have to look out for all the steps in a multi cache as well. You cannot see those anywere so asking you reviewer is the only reliable way to make sure that your unpublished cache doesn't collide with other existing ones.

Are you sure that the cache you are looking at actually has a hint? I have a 210 and I get the hint transfered using the Geocaching manager.

About always having spare batteries I would add "change them in time before the GPSr turns itself off". It has happend to me more than once that my trail has dissappeared from my GPSr when the receiver turned off due to the batteries being flat. Change them in time it your trail is of interest.

Anyone know a good algorithm for calculating the densest area? If I have the coordinates for 1000 caches how can I find the center and radius for the densest area within?

Mapsend Lite BETA from Magellan can help you with the conversion as well as visualising the trails and waypoints. Look for it using Google. I don't know if there is a non-beta version available.

When I mark a geocache as found in my eXplorist 210 the cache is removed from the list of caches and a file called geocaching.fnd is created. It seems that the file format is binary. Anyone of you know the format of that file?

If it is rubber then maybe a bicycle tire repair thingy could work? If it's some sort of rubbery plastic then this may not work. If you think you will use it extensively when it's wet outside I would check what it would cost to repair it before trying anything myself.

I think I know what your trying to do, I have a 210, but have recently aquired an XL which runs basically the same way. First off I bought the Topo 3D maps which is so worth the money, that will help a lot. Also try your "preferences" button, then go to active setup scroll down to My POI's, press enter and that will give you your files, if it runs the same as the XL, which I am pretty sure it does. Hope this helps! Still there is no way to display POI:s from more than one file at a time.

PLEASE DISREGARD OF THIS MESSAGE -- I GOT IT BACKWARDS. EVERYTHING IS OK. (how do I go about deleting this message?) I recently started to use a Macintosh and (naturally?) the Magellan Geocaching Manager does not work there so I started to look for alternatives. GPSbable looked good and has a passable GUI for converting files. Though the files that gpsbabel creates when asked to create a magellan geocaching file is a textfile with lines staring with $PMGNGEO which is an extension to the NMEA protocol suit. This is indeed the geocaching manager file that is saved on the PC (using the .geo extension on my PC), but NOT the one saved on the GPS unit (using the .gs extension on my explorist). The file used on the explorist 210 is a binary format. Do you guys know how to convert a $PMGNGEO text file to the .gs binary format used on the GPS unit? I cannot find any documentation for it anywhere. /Bengt B ps gpsbabel doesn't handle 8-bit characters in the Latin1 alphabet such as åä and ö by the way. Both formats created by the Magellan software handles these characters very well. Being from Sweden this matters to me. ds

I second that enthusiastically! Not only that -- it's often much cheaper to buy two devices! The 60csx with maps for both uses costs much more than one simple for geocaching and one for the car. At least in Sweden.

Actually the DL/UL isn't hart to understand and get to work. One thing that I didn't understand when I upgraded from 100 to 210 was the fact that the 210 is filebased and you have to select files all the time. You want to mark a wp? Click mark and fill in the name etc, then when saving you have to select the file to save the wp in. You want to goto? Select the file and then select the wp you want to go to. I am used to filesystems and files so that is not a problem for me, but my kids? They still use the 100! /B

I depends on what you want to do with your GPSr. If you want to go caching then you can leave the setting set to WGS84. If you plan on using a physical map on paper with your GPSr use must use the same datum on GPSr as on the map. Otherwise you will be lost. The datum used on the maps should be printed on the maps or at least the shop where you buy them should know. Good Luck and welcome to Europe!

Google Earth can read GPX-files. I believe that all GPSr create data that can be converted to GPX-format using GpsBabel or GSAK.

The eXplorist 210 is an excellent device, especially considering price/performance. Though this device has only the GPS-based altimeter and compass. The compass only works when moving and the altimeter is very inexact. If these things bother you, get another device.

Magellan has a topo map over Germany at http://www.magellangps.com/products/map.as...amp;PRODID=1090. I'm sure Garmin does to.

As you can update the firmware from the web you certainly can add functionality. The big question is if the OS and the application APIs are documented anywhere. Without the documentation it's probably not worth the effort. An alternative could problably be a small computer connected to the GPS collecting the current position every second and doing whatever needs doing with that information presenting it on the small computer instead of the GPSr.

There are basically two solutions to your problem (if buying a new car isn't): - buy an external GPS antenna and connect that to your GPSr if it has a connector. - buy a GPS signal retransmitter that has an external antenna and retransmitts the signal inside the car The latter has the benefit to work with more than one GPS in the car.

For caching, if you already have a navigator, you need the simplest of GPS receiver. I started with an eXplorist 100, but have since then upgraded to an eXplorist 210. The 210 can be connected to a computer to download waypoints. It also has rudimentary (base-)map. But the value of the map is certainly questionable. You really don't need the map if you have a navigator. That's my recommendation: buy the cheapest GPSr you can find. Choose one that you can connect to a computer if you want to go geocaching often or many caches at a time. For the odd cache on weekends even that isn't necessary.

I live in Sweden so tha absolute prices will be different, but maybe not the relative. I have just bought a Navman iCN 530 for the car, costing me about USB 480. For geocaching I bought an Magellan eXplorist 100 for USD 175. Buying an Garmin Gpsmap 60 CSX costs roughly USD 800 in Sweden and that is without the maps. The Gpsmap lacks the void guiding telling you to turn left in 300 meters and has one or two beeps instead, if I have understood correctly. So at least for me buying two separate devices in the lower price range gives me much more money to spend on other things. Buying one device to fit all situations isn't always the best thing. Although the geek in me wouldn't mind owning a Gpsmap 60 csx...

Be aware of that just because you can see (and download) an icon you do not have the copyright to the icon. You may not use the icons without the copyright holder's permission. I don't know if you care about these details, but that's the law in most countries.