The AIIM Team

I tried to use GPSBabel independent of GSAK and got the same result. The latest version of GPSBabel has a Windows GUI and I tried every setting in there plus every setting for my COM port on the computer. It's a GPS Babel compatibility issue. Unless someone says "I have an eMap and use GPS Babel" I guess my cause is lost. Thank you for your detailed post. It was thoughtful and not confusing at all.

Robert Lipe, head GPS Babbler participated in troubleshooting as well and could not help me make it work. Again, despite a valiant effort. EasyGPS, GeoBuddy, Mapsource all work fine.

(edited) I worked with Clyde and company a few weeks ago on this problem and after much appreciated detailed attention from him and his it was decided that it was a mystery and they could not find anyone that used or use GSAK with a Garmin eMap to validate from. I also tryed the beta of 7 at the time which also failed. So I am trying to establish if anyone is: 1. Still using an eMap (they RAWK!) 2. Using it regularly with GSAK 3. had a problem like this and overcame it.. If I can get that baseline I will dig up the specific error and ask your indulgence in helping.. Thank you. Ivan P.S. Here is the original thread at GSAK: http://gsak.net/board/index.php?act=ST&f=6&t=3886 P.P.S Here is the original error from inside GSAK: "Error: Error sending waypoints, GARMIN: Can't init Com1" No, com1 was not busy, I probed it with a utility, used other software to reach the GPS, used GSAK first after reboot, etc. P.P.P.S Here is the GPSBabel error output: GPSBabel Version: 1.3.1-1007 options: module/option=value: xcsv/style="GSAK.STL" Opening COM1 Tx Data:10 fe 00 02 10 03 : ...(PRDREQ ) Rx Data:10 15 02 02 00 e7 10 03 .. (NAK ) GARMIN:Can't init COM1 finish bad Press any key to continue . . .

No apology necessary at all. If I dedicate the VIIx to geocaching I should be able to save most of the memory for Plucker and then I will have joy. Unless my memory fails me and the VIIx is broken. The upgrade path of Palm devices in my house goes 1. me new 2. me want upgrade, hand down to wife 3. wife destroys hand me down within months (purses are harsh environments) 4. cycle starts again. We broke the cycle by buying her a Zire and the darn thing is unbreakable, so no new one for me!

I finally have some time to give your posts due consideration... PDOP's: I have a serial cable for my eMap but a USB cable for my Visor. I'll look into a serial cable for the Visor and null modem connector for the connector. It's gotta be cheaper than the dedicated cable! Team Cotati: It's not difficult at all to run PQ's, my question was about waypoint management taking into account the 500 waypoint limit on my GPSr. I am curious how you know where to pick a new starting point for a PQ along a route to minimize overlap? Klemmer & TeddyBearMama: I am not looking to replace my GPSr at this time, but I am helping someone buy one at this time, and that is a great feature to consider. If I understood you correctly you can just swap 500 waypoint files along the way inside the GPSr. Tres Cool! Mrking: I will definitely be learning more about GSAK, and I will start with your advice, thank you. Miragee: Also thank you for the suggestion about GSAK Arc/Poly EDIT: No joy for me. My Visor is USB only, and the instructions for creating a proper cable are scary and include wiring a 9v battery, etc. Maybe I can dig out my old 8MB Palm VIIx and see if it works to use for caching.

Whoa. I just found the Visor to eMap cable at Purple Cables and it's $65.00!!! Erm, maybe not going to pursue the ePilot software right now. That's disappointing.

There are some great things to think about here, folks. Thanks. I think I will first concentrate on learning to use GSAK better and figuring out some more non-overlapping PQ's. And that software for the Palm looks promising, too. THere are at least 6 things I didn't think of in 6 replies. Thanks very much.

No I don't think we'll go through that many caches, but it does limit us geographically. You have a neat idea, though. I think a spin on what you are saying is get big PQ's and filter them in GSAK based on wants and needs before we leave the house. Thanks!

I have a Garmin eMap. It has the capability of storing up to 500 waypoints. I live near a very target-rich environment, St. Augustine, Florida. I do paperless caching using a Palm device (Handspring Visor) and GPXSpinner and Plucker. I am happy with this setup, but for one thing. I have Pocket Queries that have 250 caches in them with my home as the centerpoint. This PQ doesn't reach into St. Augustine or the southern part of the county. With my other Pocket Query loaded in my GPSr (near work, 30 miles NNW of home) with 200 caches in it I am at...calculating...thinking...450 waypoints used . So if I want to do paperless caching and I want to cover the entire county and the area near my work, I am going way over the 500 waypoint limit in my eMap and will need to delete and load waypoints on the road. Barring a hack to increase waypoint storage in my eMap, I can only think of the following as solutions. Can any of you offer some that would be out of the box to my thinking? 1. Decrease the number of caches in my PQ's. Tell the PQ engine to only show me unfound caches also. This decreases the radius that I can hunt in. I don't know how it is near you, but if my family only wants to hunt traditionals that are larger than micro size we have to be able to branch out geographically a bit. Lots and lots of micros around here. We are not against micros, they are great for showing us places we have never been and are better for having seen, but we have the little ones in tow and they love trading. 2. Buy a cable to connect my Visor and my eMap (with new software) and load and unload waypoints on the road to and from my Visor This would slow me down considerably, which is a factor when you have two preschoolers tagging along most of the time! 3. Buy a shiny new GPSr that holds 1000 waypoints. Uh, no. That's all I have. I know this issue has been dealt with before. Thanks for your thoughts.

Well, I just stayed up an hour and a half later than I should have reading this thread. I gave up after page 16. It was a blast! There is a dearth of traditional caches in NE Florida, it's micro mania around here. My wife and I have begun to plan to place some regulars and I now have dozens of ideas about how not to make them boring. THanks for the great thread. I'll be cursing you in the morning when my alarm goes off!!! Ivan of The AIM Team (Now the AIIM Team), St. Augustine/Jacksonville megalopolis.

Erik's point about "public" places is well made, but I am not talking about those places. There are caches that are say attached to an ATM machine beneath the bush line in a big strip mall that fall under his definition. A cache I found today is in a city owned "park and ride" lot that is not used besides Jaguars games. THat is another example of a "public" place. The caches I am talking about are on, in one case, a manufacturing plant's property that has an interesting ground level sign. The cache is in the sign. The other one is in a small suburban office park that happends to have a boardwalk in the center of it. Both are posted no trespassing, although they are not gated. I do very much appreciate Keystone Approver's time in explaining the meaning of some of the rules. You are correct, my interest lies with the cache placer in these cases. In any case, I know it is polite to start there, not up the chain at the approvers level. Thanks again.

I get your point. I am on a rules discovery mission at this time. I could very easily alienate myself from an otherwise great group of cachers if I go off half cocked. Thanks again.

I know darn well by the wording on the cache page that no permission has been asked nor received. If so it would be no big deal to cache there during the day, barring letting some passing geocacher see where the spot is! Thanks for your response.

OK. I know my colleagues in caching locally read this forum. So I am going out on a limb here. I think there are a lot of caches that are on private property with no permission requested or granted. Am I a "narc" as we used to say in school, for even caring? When the cache description only says "lots of muggles around during the work week, better off after hours and weekends" and I go there and find it's a private business with a clear No Trespassing sign or just an unfenced private business with a neat place to hide a cache and get in and out quickly is that OK according to the rules? I don't think so the way I read them, and I am uncomfortable doing them. One possible rebuttal to my comments is "so don't do the ones you are uncomfortable with." Well, it's pretty annoying when I line up 6 caches for a lunch break (I got to 3 and found one, TYVM) and most of them are on the property of a business or an office park. I find this a lot. I know the local geocaching group, I am a founding member of it and was on the board. Many of them are guilty of this. If there is anything to be "guilty" of that is, which is the purpose of this post. So, am I a narc, or am I missing some finer point? Please clarify. Ivan

waiting...

If you live and geocache in Northeast Florida, I invite you to visit our website and join us for fun event caches in and among the palmettos, pines and oaks. NEFGA Anyone who considers themselves to live in Northeast Florida is welcome, including but not limited to the greater metro Jacksonville area, Live Oak, Tallahassee, Suwannee, St. Augustine, Flagler County, Gainesville, Ocala and points beyond! Please visit our wesbite for all the latest information including a great links list for all geocachers. Ivan Lindenfeld Promotions Director NEFGA

tetset The A.I.i.M. Team: Ali, Ivan, Lil Mikayla and new Gps-er coming soon Isabella. Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, old college Eastport backpack

test The A.I.i.M. Team: Ali, Ivan, Lil Mikayla and new Gps-er coming soon Isabella. Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, old college Eastport backpack

I just posted to test my new avatar. I was wondering if the search engine here could tell you all the caches at a rest area or something or how people handle that. The A.I.i.M. Team: Ali, Ivan, Lil Mikayla and new Gps-er coming soon Isabella. Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, old college Eastport backpack

Anyone on the north end of Central Florida is welcome to join the Northeast Florida Geocachers Association. We are formally up and running and are busily planning events and getting our proverbial guano together. temporary web site, real one coming soooon! Ivan NEFGA Promotions The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/060903/met_12743214.shtml Guess our area org meeting on the 21st is going to be a little bigger. The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers)

Thanks, ST. I really thought this would be a repost, too. Good to know what ground zero is for trivia's sake, too. The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers)

I am sure this has to be a repost but I did search. NYT requires a subscription so here it is in it's full text with credit given. April 22, 2003 Urban Heights By C. CLAIBORNE RAY . How is the altitude of an American city determined? A. The United States Geological Survey lists the altitude of a National Geodetic Survey benchmark at or near the center of civic power, like city hall or the main post office. Such a point is chosen to offer some consistency, because a city like San Francisco can have a range of altitudes. A Geodetic Survey benchmark is a metal marker about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, placed on a stable foundation like a building or bridge abutment. Its actual altitude is most reliably determined by a surveying technique called leveling, explained David Doyle, chief geodetic surveyor for the National Geodetic Survey. "The technique is an optical observation made using a specialized piece of surveying equipment that does nothing more than determine differences in height," he said. "It uses a telescope with a very sensitive level bubble and two people holding rods marked with different values. By observing one, then the other, the difference in altitudes is read." "There is actually one ground zero," and all of the 600,000 points in the survey's database refer to it, Mr. Doyle said. "It is a single benchmark at a place called Father's Point, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence Seaway." The point, which is tectonically stable, is called the North American Vertical Datum of 1988. The public can find the value for any benchmark through the Web site www.ngs.noaa.gov. The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers)

Thanks for pointing this story out. I enjoyed it. The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers)

I have run into something... I spun my latest GPX and in the "index page by distance to home" I get distances like 2254.79 mi. E GC1F3B Suwannee Lagoon Everything seems to be based on Sacramento, CA. But the "Near Jacksonville" ones display the correct data. Other than the documented .ini file, is there other doco for this app? Lil Devil refers to a help file. Where would that be? Thank you. I am hopelessly hooked on GPX SPinner. The A.I.M. Team: Ali, Ivan and Lil Mikayla, Jacksonville, Florida Equipment: Garmin eMap 32MB memory, Palm VIIx, Old College Eastport backpack, VW Jetta Wagon and Isuzu Trooper (hers)