agentmancuso

Done. At the usual place.

I'm glad it's been useful. I'll sort out one for YOSM shortly. Regards, Bernie

Passive Station ID numbers now added to description field. Bernie

I'd be tempted to turn that around and ask: why so few variations in features between such similar units such as the various sorts of etrex?

I wasn't being very clear above - I was referring to POIs, which can have about 100 characters in both the name and the description fields. It's a pain to have the end of a longer description disappearing when the name field only contains a few letters and the there are 3 &1/2 empty lines on screen. But using POIs might be a good solution for the your problem with cache names?

They seem to have gone downhill on that subject. When I bought a Vista HC a few years ago, it came with a pretty decent manual. My father-in-law has just bought a Vista HCx, and the accompanying documentation is very poor by comparison.

Ha , yes, particularly annoying when only a handful of characters have been used in the name field, leaving half the screen blank anyway

"Why don't you use decent glue for the rubber surround?"

I've uploaded to Trigonomy a new POI .csv file for use with a Garmin GPSr, containing location data for all known Trig Pillars, extant or destroyed, plus FBMs, Active & Passive Stations and other notable trig marks such as Curry stools, Concrete Rings, Fenomarks, Spiders, Phantom Trigs etc. Where pillars have been converted to Blocks, relocated or replaced by another station this is indicated too, and the latest version adds a fair bit of extra detail: * FB numbers for all pillars that ever had one * Vanessas identified * access problems flagged * reports of damage (fairly serious only) * toppled or leaning * reason for loss if known * details of replacement pillars * stonebuilt, cylindrical, other shape irregularities Where a pillar has been shunted to the edge of a field or behind the barn or whatever, co-ords relate to the new location, not the original point, and in some such cases, there are directions to help find awkward pillars. (Also available here for other GPSr) Any omissions or corrections to the usual address etc. Bernie

If anyone is looking for location data for Trig Points or Flush Brackets, I've uploaded POI files for them to here.

Go here.

Ha, maybe yes. But it gets you out in the open air, sort of thing.

The question 'Why do people stop caching?' has been discussed on the UK forum recently, to which I answered the following: Partly that. I logged geocaches for a while, then gave up on them to concentrate on looking for trigpoints and benchmarks, which I find much more satisfying. Why is that? Partly, there is a historical interest side to Ordnance Survey stuff that plastic tubs will never match. And partly the aesthetics are just better - when a benchmark or trig is in an unattractive place then there is at least a reason for it, mainly, that the surroundings have changed over the decades. Frequently, caches are in unattractive places for no reason other than a lack of imagination on the part of the owner. But as was mentioned already, caching is good for the kids, and I'll no doubt log a few more when mine show an interest. It seems relevant here too.

Partly that. I logged geocaches for a while, then gave up on them to concentrate on looking for trigpoints and benchmarks, which I find much more satisfying. Why is that? Partly, there is a historical interest side to Ordnance Survey stuff that plastic tubs will never match. And partly the aesthetics are just better - when a benchmark or trig is in an unattractive place then there is at least a reason for it, mainly, that the surroundings have changed over the decades. Frequently, caches are in unattractive places for no reason other than a lack of imagination on the part of the owner. But as was mentioned already, caching is good for the kids, and I'll no doubt log a few more when mine show an interest.

Thanks. The island is rather special. The building visible on the bottom right is a Buddhist retreat centre, and there are monastic remains going back at least to the 7th century, when the island was inhabited by an early Irish saint, Molaise, after whom the island is named - in Gaelic Eilean Molaise.

Some pictures of benchmarking in Scotland: Sunrise over S5332 Peat Hill, Ayrshire. View to Holy Island from S1607 Goat Fell, Arran. View to Holy Island from S8701 Clauchland, Arran. One from down south: S6860 Ravenstonedale, St Oswald's Church, Cumbria. An 18th century church, with 13th Century monastic remains in the graveyard. And one I found, rather than took, and which always looks vaguely Egyptian to me:

"alter the default text" Not sure how to make it any clearer! Looks like it can't be done, thanks anyway.

Does anyone know if it's possible to alter the default text that appears when a Waypoint is created? (I'm using a Garmin etrex Vista Cx) Thanks,

I think GSAK is a great (and tiny) investment, and I don't even use it for caching.

I don't really cache any more, but I use Martin's maps for benchmarking, and add to OSM whenever I'm out. It's great to see mapping detail that you recorded yourself on the Garmin screen!

Waymarking is very poor compared to the two UK based sites. Crucially, Waymarking has no base data, whereas T:UK & Bench-marks.org.uk are both derived from data obtained directly from the Ordnance Survey itself. Waymarking depends entirely on user added points, a current total of about 2000. So unless you happen to live very near an active waymarker, you'll have to add any points manually yourself, which is a laborious and time-consuming process, run along a set of obscure rules apparently designed by committee. On T:UK the data is there for you already, and freely downloadable; there's no comparison in terms of user friendliness.

The short answer is 'yes', but in a slightly different format, in that the UK equivalent isn't linked to the Groundspeak empire in any way. There are two sides to it - trigpoints and benchmarks. Trigpointing is more common - most people are familiar with the 4-foot concrete pillars that stand on many hilltops. Have a look at the sites - if you'd like any more details don't hesitate to let me know.

Hence better to avoid etrex units with no memory card slot. Any HCx model can take a card costing less than a fiver, and you can cover the whole of the UK & Ireland with OpenSource Mapping and never have to worry about file size.

I love this. I really do. Magic.

Same goes for the etrex Summit HC - tiny memory, no card slot. Get a Vista HCx or a Legend HCx!