mlord

Travel bug mileage still appears to be broken. For example, TBG56B "Lost Girl" reports 10663.9mi (today), but this total is missing 9326.04 miles from a move to Australia from Canada, and so the total should be 19989.94 instead. Or possibly even higher from other lost mileages. Interestingly, the "Old Map" function still "finds" all of the mileage, including the missing move to Oz: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 mlord placed it in Kings Lookout by XBY (Travelled 9326.04 miles NW) So the data is still there, just not on the "new" displays, and not in the total displayed.

For sale: original CD-ROM in original case for DiscoverAus Streets & Tracks v1.0. This is the "Magellan MapSend" equivalent for Australia, and the one CD covers the entire continent in reasonably good detail. I purchased it for a recent visit there, and no longer require it now that I'm back in Canada. Works with Magellan Meridian and Sportrak families of GPSRs. Will mail to anywhere on the planet. CAD$125+postage takes it away (new was AUS$240). Email to mlord at pobox . com Cheers

The Missing Mongolian is also a great cache -- a good intro to the back side of the Park (well, okay, the middle of the park), and features a nice spot for a possibly secluded dip when visited mid-week. Cheers

My new Zire72 included a copy of PalmOne WebPro v3.5 on the CD-ROM -- seems to be a reasonably capable web browser, but it does not understand UTF-8, so I see odd characters in cache pages. No built-in Java, but PalmOne also has links for downloading a java engine, and I wonder if that would work with pocket-queries.. I don't have a net connection for my Zire72, but those of you that do have one might want to try that combination (WebPro + java download). Cheers

Mmm.. I just now checked the rtr.ca server logs for your attempts, and I see logs of accesses without being "logged in", and then one successful "login", but nothing attempted after logging in. The server thinks your login worked, but didn't receive any further activity from you after that. This could be due to caching in your phone's browser, or because you didn't try anything after the successful login. If you give it another go, and then try logging a cache after logging in, the records should show what's wrong. Usually, the only thing that prevents rtr.ca from working with any handset is when the mobile service provider does not allow/support "cookies", as is the case with at least one major carrier in Europe. No cookies == no login, regardless of which wap portal you try. Note for others; rtr.ca is just for me and my buddies, or for the few of us whose handsets just plain don't work with wap.geocaching.com and/or geocaching.com/wap. If your handset works with Jeremy's official site(s), then please switch over to those. Cheers

The printable versions of the cache pages render perfectly on my Zire72.

Well, in that case, I suppose we ought to be lobbying for ZERO logs in all .GPX downloads. Duh.

Lots of us rely on the log entries to help out when a cache is not initially found at the expected location. My experiences in Australia, England, and Europe are that cache owners do not always post all of the necessary information as part of the cache description, prefering instead to spoon feed *necessary* info one clue at a time in the logs until somebody manages to log a first-to-find on it. Without those older logs, some caches are simply not findable.. But more common are caches where the owner does not maintain the cache listing. Examples include caches 200m from their posted coords -- findable by a local cacher with time on her hands, perhaps, but frustrating for visiting cachers without access to log entries listing corrrected coords etc.. I'm NOT advocating changing the default number of log entries from 5, but rather providing a simple option to set the number of logs to anything from zero (for all of you objectors) to perhaps 20 or so. Currently, I pull down every single cache page for the 500-800 caches in the area of interest before leaving on the trip, stashing those on my laptop for hotel-room reference. I'd much rather have them on my PDA, and that's why I pay gc.com for pocket queries. For now. Cheers

Thanks for helping my memory! Okay, so it's always been only 5. FIVE is not enough!!! Jeremy, can we have an option somewhere for including MORE log entries in Pocket Query results (please!). Up to 20 would be very nice. Thanks

Jeremy, (EDITED) Pocket Queries give only the most recent five log entries, which is not nearly enough for a travelling cacher. On a recent trip to Oz, some critical information needed for finding caches there was buried deep down in the logs, way beyond the most recent five, or even ten, log entries. Some cache owners simply seem to put clues and updated coords into the notes rather than editing them into the main cache description. When travelling abroad, I find it vital to have at least 10 logs per cache available, and preferably 20 logs. A mere 5 is really inadequate. Can we have an option on the Pocket Query page to select the number of log entries to include? Even if it only allows up to 20 (or 10, I suppose) it would still be big improvement. Without them in the .gpx file, I'll need to download each cache page separately again, which puts extra load on the gc.com servers, and takes up much of my time too. Thanks

Well, lemmesee.. >The WAP version should automatically add gc if missing My WAP portal has had this since day-1. >a WAP travel bug interface Ditto, but it only does lookups for now. I might add logging sometime this summer, though. Cheers

Oh.. forgot to point out the obvious: Your GC.com userid/passwd are only needed to (1) log a cache, or (2) "filter-finds" on searches. The regular search & view functions are userid agnostic. Cheers Mark

Hi all. The http://rtr.ca/geo site is my own. I developed it originally so that I could look up travel bug tags from the cache site, so that I could make informed decisions about whether or not to pick up the TBs. Since then, it has grown some, and currently does everything I need it to do. It works on nearly all WAP enabled mobiles, and is in regular use around the world, 24 hours a day. YES, I could see your password if I wanted to. NO, I don't want to. The site neither needs nor bothers to "remember" passwords after it has completed the required login cookie exchanges with GC.com. And I don't really want tons of traffic there anyway, or for the site to in any way annoy or take something away from the keepers of GC.com -- which is why the source code is being kept under lock and key for now. Someday Jeremy and company may have a similar low-bandwidth service that works as well on 2-line cellphone displays as it does on bigscreen tungstens. Meanwhile, my site is filling a small gap in service, and hopefully won't be needed in the long run. Several people have attempted to use it as a bulk-download service similar to "pocket queries", but the site includes algorithms to detect and discourage such. It is really just meant for the odd lookup while out caching in the field -- for folks like me who travel far and wide on biz, and decide to stop for a cache or three after hours. One feature it has that is not widely deployed is a "remember me" hack for selected users -- currently just me -- which recognizes my handset and handles GC.com autologin when needed. I'd like to offer this to others, but that's a non-starter really, since it requires deliberately keeping userid/passwd pairs around -- definitely a no-no! Cheers Mark

As of today, "filter finds" no longer filters out my own caches.. so I have to page forward a couple of screens before I get into the caches I really want to see. Intentional, or not ?? Can we please have it back the good way? Thanks

I've got a 3-week trip to Oz coming up, and would like to purchase a recycled copy of DiscoverAus for my Meridian to use on the trip. AUS$240 seems a bit excessive for a mere three weeks of use, so if anyone in N.A. has been in a similar situation and would like to resell their copy, lemme know! Cheers

My unofficial WAP portal to the site also works, and allows geocaching.com login for posting notes/finds to caches, and doing queries with "filter finds" automatically "on" when logged in. The link is posted in a wireless thread in the Canada forum. Cheers

You probably need to force your phone's browser to RELOAD the page (do this on the main menu of the site). After that, it should all work well again. Also, I just now fixed the "log a cache" feature -- was slightly broken for the past week, works again now (I just logged in and logged a find with it a few minutes ago). And one more bugfix: the login function should also now be working for HTML users (eg. Palm Tungsten). Cheers!

Okay, fixed some bugs today: The login function was broken temporarily, and is now working again. Also, the site is now marking uncacheable pages correctly, which should reduce confusion when using the site. Cheers

This topic has now moved to the "Canada" forums. Look for it there to see what's new.

NEW FEATURE: I've just added the ability to POST A LOG for a cache using the cellphone. This means you can log a find/nofind from the cache location!! Very handy for travelling cachers, or even for eager "first finders" and the like. As always: http://rtr.ca/geo Cheers

Please email me with specifics of you phone model, and I'll try and find it in the logs to see what happened. Thanks

My GeoCache Portal (for wireless handset users) has now been updated to include LOGIN capability. If you trust me enough to enter your geocaching.com userid/passwd, my server feeds it to geocaching.com and gets a cookie back, which is then sent to your phone. The userid/passwd are not kept anywhere for any pupose. Why login? Well, it's optional, so ignore it if you like. But if you do login, then all cache searches automatically do a "filter finds" -- weeding out your own caches and those you've already logged. If you don't want to filter, then don't log in! Coming someday.. "Log Cache.." Cheers

The site I host currently exceeds the capabilities of all of those 3rd party ones, as well as the official one (for now, though Jeremy is catching up fast!). Cheers

Prior to Jeremy's recent provision of WAP access to geocaching.com, I had been working on a cellphone interface for fast cache and TB lookups. It's been live for a few weeks now, and works well. For me, at least. But I need more people to try it out and report back. This may live on in the longer term as an alternative wireless web interface for (at least) my own use, but I suspect Jeremy's main site will eventually catch up if not overtake it in terms of capabilities. Where this one differs though, is that I am in Canada and will be optimising it for use in our environment where possible. What's it good for? 1. Cache lookups and searches while travelling with only a GPSr and a cellphone. Search by Lat/Lon, owner, postal code (or zip), or proximity to a known GCxxxx waypoint. 2. Paperless caching -- at 2 cents/page, Telus users may find it cheaper than taking along cache printouts. 3. Travel bug lookups while at the cache, to help decide whether to take the bug or not. Eventually: 4. Log a cache from the field. 5. ??? Currently the site formats pages slightly differently according to handset type: one version for Nokia browsers, and another version tailered for OpenWave browsers. Most Telus phones use OpenWave. The site also automatically detects the max transmission size for a given handset, and breaks pages up accordingly. So older handsets receive smaller chunks, and newer ones (with bigger buffers) might typically get an entire cache page in one lump sum. With Telus, it's 2 cents per page, regardless of bytecount.. Anyway, I'd like another tester or twenty to help me out. If you are interested, drop me a SHORT email, and I'll send you the URL. I'd love to post it here, but until I get formal permission from the geocaching.com Gods, it's best that it be kept semi-private. Cheers mlord (Mark)

I just tried it from my AudioVox-8300 handset, and it works, but it's definitely not optimal yet. Jeremy: I've sent you a PM regarding my own WAP interface -- you may want to have a look (from a phone or simulator) to get some ideas. For data entry fields (eg. Lat/Lon), it is important to provide a format example to aid the user -- I have no idea what the geocaching.com/wap prompts want me to enter for those. On handsets with the OpenWave browsers (nearly all except Nokia), one can supply detailed formatting info in the WML code, which really speeds up data entry and accuracy. Because of the two browser families, nearly all pages will need to be rendered differently based on the type of browser: one method for OpenWave, another method for Nokia. Best to test everything on the two types of simulators as well. Cheers