elrojo14

Man is Cachly the way to go! Our Death Valley Run to Scotty's Castle is in a week. So I wanted to get the benchmarks I want into my phone. The first thing I did was a radius search using the scaredycatfilms.com as a reference. I wanted the benchmarks from Stovepipe Wells down through negative elevation past the Devil's Cornfield and to the Scotty's Castle Road junction. I switched to Google maps, used the measure feature and found a point that would make a circle radius along that road about 8 miles northwest. I used this page to input the data and it saved the benchmarks along that route perfectly. I did another one up near Scotty's Castle and got a few more I needed. Then I discovered a great feature. You can input up to 200 PIDS into this search feature and get the datasheets from there. So I used a combination of the scaredycatfilms.com and the search for nearby benchmarks page to find individual benchmarks that had already been found so I know they are there and so I can also look for benchmark disks because finding rods doesn't interest me as much. I pasted the datasheets into notepad and saved them as .txt files. I used NGS>>GPX app to convert the .txt to .gpx and then uploaded them to Cachly into one single offline file. See the attached photo for what it looks like on Cachly. I want to get the same .gpx to Tung8 since we will be going together, but why send him the three files I used when Cachly will export my .gpx file to my Dropbox? Cachly is looking great for most of my offline benchmarking needs!!!

ArtMan this is the direction I was headed, but found a much better method than that! Check it out here.

Well as you are following in the other thread, I have completely discovered that Cachly works for offline benchmarking. However, I will still likely be using your web based app anytime I have reception. They will be a workable duo for the short term. I think trying to get Cachly to do it all might not be a bad way to go. Again, your web app worked great and I certainly appreciated it. It made finding 27 benchmarks in a day fairly easy!

Ok, huge developments today. Here we go. First, if you have the right .gpx file for benchmarks and upload it to Cachly, Cachly will display the benchmarks on the map and you can click on them and see the full data sheet details! With Cachly's awesome map and compass system, this just made benchmarking in remote locations 100% doable. However, this is where it gets complicated. First, you could always download the entire state's benchmarks. Main problem with that is I downloaded half of California's benchmarks today and it was 31301. It took nearly six hours to download the half of them. If you want to download them all you will need to take these steps. First, download the state list of benchmarks here. ftp://ftp.ngs.noaa.gov/pub/DS_ARCHIVE/DataSheets/ However, that data is not ready to make a .gpx, so you are going to need a converter. I used http://ngs.tsqmadness.com/ngsgpx/index.html. According to Tung8, the converter can't handle that many at one time, so somehow he split it in two. My guess is he opened the .txt in notepad and cut half of the data. Once you convert the data from NGS-GPX, then place the file in your Dropbox and then from Cachly, go to More>Import from Dropbox. Wait for it to import. You might want to do it over night (which is what I will do with the other half of CA's benchmarks I still need to go. You might not have the time or storage space to do such a thing. So the quest to find an easier way to get the data began. And I found one way. Go to https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/datasheets/index.shtml and there are several options here, but make sure you click on the .txt version. I tried doing the County, but it timed out. So then I did it by a quad and then also by radius. Once you are able to get to the next screen that shows the results, you want to select all and then view datasheets. Once that is finished, it will show you "The NGS Data Sheet". Copy all of that text and paste it into a notepad file and save it as a .txt file. You will then need to convert it using NGS-GPX and then place it on your Dropbox for transfer to Cachly. This method will make the files much smaller and easier to use in Cachly. And that there is how you get offline paperless Benchmarking on Cachly!!!

So for those of you who don't care about the Cachly forum, you should start caring. If you can convert USGS datasheets into .gpx, Cachly will easily show benchmarks on a map and their data! This is a game changer!

I made a features request on the Cachly Forums. If you can be a help there, I would really appreciate it. http://www.cach.ly/support/index.php?/topic/1533-benchmarking-on-cachly/

forbin_c! Cachly is probably the finest Geocaching app of all time. Why? Because they actively take customer requests and try and implement them into the product. I asked for something for Apple Watch and they had it in a new release three days later!!! Let's ask them to do Benchmark support! If we can get the right data file that has the relevant data, there should be no reason Cachly can't easily display the data for us. I will go ask.

I did open the .loc file in notepad and noticed it didn't have much other than coordinates and PUID. Which is better than nothing, but on benchmarks not having the datasheet description will effectively leave you searching in circles on some benchmarks where the coordinates are off by a quarter mile or more. I almost think I can upload .gpx to Cachly too!

My 2019 Geocaching Goals are to find a bunch of benchmarks. Which is fine if I have cell reception. However, I like to Geocache where there is no cell reception and am wondering if there is anyway to download benchmark data to my phone or my Garmin Oregon. Even a laptop if necessary. Thanks in advance for what I hope might be an answer that surprises me. Is there any interest from Groundspeak in allowing benchmark pocket queries that would download the data? That would be nice. edit: Cachly will do it!!! Scroll down for how to do it.

I couldn't find this topic the other day for some reason. I knew I posted about it somewhere. I used this to find 27 bencmarks in a day the other day and it worked just fine. I have since used it to find about 5 more urban benchmarks. I like it and am finding it useful. However, I really need an offline option!

I could have sworn I commented on this somewhere last week, but I guess not. I went and found 27 benchmarks last Friday using this web based app and it worked fine. I used the map to get close and then I just happened to be in an area where it was pretty wide open so finding the witness posts and benchmarks in the open was not hard. It worked for me and as long as I have cell reception, I can keep using it. Thank you!

Nice! Now that all of the iOS apps are dead, I am having a hard time figuring out what to do as my 2019 Geocaching Goals really focus on Benchmarks. This helps. Thanks. I might test it out in the field tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

The tours for Scotty's Castle are back on. I just booked two tickets for Sunday December 23 at 9:30 AM. I hope it doesn't rain on us that day! https://www.dvnha.org/programs-events/death-valley-institute-field-school-events/scotty-s-castle-flood-recovery-tours-walking-tour

What? If you can't find ways to post nude caching photos, you aren't trying hard enough!

Anything Groundspeak does to kill the fun, I just make an "Un" cache to counter. Here is an example of an "UnChallenge". And now I have moved on to "UnWebcams". Though I think allowing them again like virtuals for some random reason that no one will ever agree was good unless they got one is a good idea.

If you don't care about your numbers and just enjoy the hunt, you don't even have to log them online. If a CO ever deletes your log, post a write note instead. If you explained in your log you couldn't do it and took a photo in the area, that is about all you can do.

We are kind of getting into another topic, but the GPS usage does puzzle me. I really like the old LBHs that you use the clues in the description to get to, but those seem to be grandfathered in now. The reviewers seem to be more into making you use the GPS to get to the final, but it seems like such a fine line given so many other caches that don't. We have some fun local night caches you do by car. Again, I think they are publishable because you go to GZ and then the CO says "head this direction". That seems to be the way to involve the GPS. And if that seems to work, then I can live with that.

My wife drove while I flew. You can see our red Explorer a few times in the video if you watch for it.

My wife got me a Parrot Bebop 2 for Christmas 2016. I have really enjoyed it, but man I wish I had a Mavic. This is actually my third Bebop 2. The first one lasted about a week before I was flying it back into the neighborhood and clipped a palm tree, the rotors shut down, and it powered right onto the concrete of my neighbors driveway from 20 feet in the air. I never got it working right again. So I found a replacement on Amazon for $350! It worked fine. Then Parrot e-mailed me and said they don't usually replaced crashed drones, but they will mine! SWEET! So I was going to have two drones. Two days before the replacement arrived, I again, hit a tree across from my house, the drone fell from like 30 feet this time and hit another neighbors retaining wall and was done for. This one I have managed to keep whole much longer and just found out more about better battery maintenance and charging. I did manage to back it into a hill at a Geocache a couple months ago, but successfully recovered it. There really are two great things I have that have really enhanced my Geocaching. A Yamaha XT225 dual sport motorcycle and a drone. Should I have put a stamp with it and made it a LBH? I was basing it off of this fun cache I found. https://coord.info/GC46WZJ

Using satellite imagery, why would you ever need a GPS to find any cache? https://coord.info/GC3N08Y So this rule kind of puzzles me at times. However, our local reviewers seem to allow caches that get you to the start point and then have you start a certain direction. Given these guidelines, I think I am satisfying "A landmark used as a reference point to determine the next stage". Go to the Taft sign and head southwest on Harrison Street.

Surprisingly, they published my cache today! https://coord.info/GC7QCYX

That is a good idea. Challenge your friends to make them all greater than 3/3 hides or no traditionals. Or all new virtual caches! Or all with the scuba attribute!

I think the promotions are simply to give everyone on the discussion boards something to lose sleep over. Mission accomplished! LOL. We already know that we will do just about anything for souvenirs, just so we can promptly forget about them and never look at them again. We already know that most of our caching habits don't change dramatically over what Groundspeak does or doesn't do, we make the game what we want. So all of this just makes me laugh.

Yeah, I got my 500 points in one day, but I was over a hundred miles from home. It still wasn't hard, especially if you went for 15 point caches. I like planetary pursuit. The only thing I would do different is get rid of the trackable points, though it didn't actually impact me.

This one started when he was two years old. He finally logged his own lab caches last year at Project Ape Mega, but hasn't logged a traditional yet. https://coord.info/GL2JBCWE