Stabeez

I am finding it very difficult to use the geocaching maps with the new icons on the maps. The circle around the cache graphic makes it difficult to make out what type of geocache I am looking at unless I go to a very close view. This makes it difficult to plan a route for the day or pick an area with a certain type of cache available. The blue and green look much alike as do orange and yellow (if I am showing found caches as well). I much prefer the previous maps where I was able to tell the cache type readily by its shape, even from a distance. The green treasure box, double yellow (multi) and large question mark (sometimes a ghost when viewed in a large area) were more easily distinguished. When the maps are printed and used while traveling in low light conditions, the icons were also easier to make out.

This happened on ten units all at once. I’m looking for help to figure out what went wrong. This is an appeal for help to the geocachers who may have experience with this. It is probably a very simple fix that eluded us today. I had my class at the Laurie Lawson Outdoor Centre near Port Hope today to do some learning with GPS on a course that the Outdoor specialist was going to lead us through which sounded pretty innovative. The units that we were using were Garmin eTrex (yellow) with freshly charged batteries. These are the ones that run about $129. We had 10 GPSr units and 17 kids along with 10 adults including 5 parents, a Co-op student, 2 O’ Ed staff and 2 school staff to help out. It would seem that nothing could go wrong. We turned on the units and set them out on the picnic table in a fairly open area to acquire satellite signals and began the lesson. Twenty minutes later, some of the units were beginning to pick up a signal with 40 - 60m accuracy. We went for a short hike and returned to find most were showing an accuracy of the high teens. Great. We could get to setting the co-ordinates and go to find our first location as a test. Wow. They all seemed to be zeroing in on the same area. That was a good thing. The units had the usual differences between individuals but they were all reasonably close in their readings. The problem was that they were off about 400m. We turned off all of the GPSr’s, turned them back on and they picked up satellite signals right away but still weren’t leading us to the right area. I turned on my Garmin Oregon 400t which was tucked in my pocket and the class dutifully followed the signal to within 3m of the location we were looking for. Success. Right on target. Hmmmm????? We had the kids eat their snack and started going through the manual and calling to see if anyone could explain where we were going wrong. We compared settings to the Oregon. Map Datum WGS84, True north, hddd mm.mmm' , etc. seemed the same. We went back outside and started over again but to the same results. Nothing we tried or any suggestion that was given seemed to work. We decided that to give the kids a similar experience, the best idea was to use a mapping activity using a grid layed upon a map of the area. We had a great day but now we need to figure out what went wrong with the GPS unit set-up. I’m sure that it is a setting or in some way a human oversight but what is it? I would like to be able to inform the O’ Ed. staff so that other classes can be successful and so that whatever we were doing incorrectly to adjust the problem won’t be a problem for others. Who knows, maybe next year when I take my class back we’ll be able to the activity or I’ll be able to try it at our own school site this year. Any suggestions. Thank You, Dave (Stabeez)

Here you go. There's a great cacher in my area that has done this site and there is all the tools you will need... http://home.comcast.net/~rosco_bookbinder/...onversions.html The Steaks A big thanks to "The Steaks". This is exactly what I need. Now for the 2 feet of snow to melt so I can get to the cache. Stabeez

Here you go. There's a great cacher in my area that has done this site and there is all the tools you will need... http://home.comcast.net/~rosco_bookbinder/...onversions.html The Steaks

Thanks to all who have responded. I have a weekend of checking out and trials to see if I can put this information into practice. I'm new to these forums and apologize for asking a question already asked, however, I still can't locate the previous thread. With practise, I'll get the gist of it. Again, Thanks

I have a MAC computer and a Garmin Legend CX. I would like to find a program similar to one suggested to me for PC and Magellan called Mapsend Lite. The program allows you to project at a given set of degrees from two different waypoints and locate the point where the two projected lines intersect. For more info, this is to solve the cache Cavan Treasures V at N44 11.785 W 078 27.957 There are at least a couple others nearby with the same required technique. Thanks, Stabeez

So. If I can't use MobiPocket, what are the alternatives. I have a Mac computer so I need a Palm program that is compatible.

I use GPS Babel with my eTrex Legend cx and a Mac G4. The GPS doesn't show up on my screen either but once I get into the program I can tell the computer to send the gpx file to the GPS.