btgeocacher

Speaking as a professionally licensed Electrical Engineer let me say I have HUGE concerns about using such boxes. I think they should be banned outright. Remember those films they showed you in driver's ed? We used to call them "meatball" films because they invariably showed us the gruesome results that could happen when we abused our driving privileges. Well, few folks get to see the equivalent "meatball" films showing what happens when electrical equipment arcs over or faults. I have. The physical forces, power and heat from such is awesome. Most folks just worry about touching "live wires" and getting a shock. That may be the least of your worries. If disturbing such a box caused a fault, you could be hurt or killed and never even come in contact with the electricity. It happened to me when I was 18 years old and messing with an electrical box I shouldn't have been messing with. It flashed over and I was badly burned though I didn't contact the wires at all. I couldn't see for several minutes because the brilliance of the fireball "bleached" the rods/cones in my retina. Fortunately I didn't have any lasting visual impairment. The other problem I have with such caches it that even if our own clever design causes no harm, what does that teach the finder about possible hiding places? What if down the road your clever hide causes the cacher to fool around with other such boxes because of what he "learned" from yours? In my opinion, every cacher out there that has one of these boxes is at least morally culpable in some small measure for any such injury that comes from a cacher poking into an electrical box. Now a cacher might anyway even if there were no such hides around but it is clear that having ever found one such hide, they will be more likely to investigate such boxes in the future. To me that makes you an "accessory before the fact" of any such injury if you do such hides. The lawyers may not get you if it wasn't YOUR cache but you have to live with your conscience. This is the problem I have with caches that are even clearly labeled as some of the ones depicted in this thread. Sure, they've taken care of themselves but they still teach the cacher that finds them to consider others that are similar, labeled or not. Labeling, in my opinion, while a step in the right direction is just inadequate to be worth the risk of contributing even indirectly to another's injury. And the other posters are right. It doesn't matter what kind of disclaimers you can appeal to. Just ask any homeowner with a swimming pool in the back yard about the "attractive nuisance" doctrine of tort law. You can be sued anytime for anything. I submit that hiding a cache in a place that otherwise "looks" like some place you shouldn't be poking into is simply a foolish risk from a legal point of view. So rather than "let the hunter beware" I think it is at least as equally true that "let the hider beware." Attractive nuisance doctrine will hold them, not the hunter at fault. I wouldn't advise taking on that risk. There are just too many other good options for hiding things. Steer clear from electrical enclosures of any kind. -dB A concerned Electrical Professional

In reading this thread about eBooks and PDF reader solutions, I can't help wonder why a plain old email solution wouldn't work? I've just started doing that in my own iPhone software for those rare times when you are out of even Edge connectvity range. Also, it provides a solution for iPod Touch users that obviously out of wi-fi range when in the field. It seems to me that many of the devices I see mentioned here must also have email. I'm sure the Blackberries and the like do and I'll wager the Palm's do even if it is only to "synch" email with the PC. Why not just decode the PQ's and email them to yourself/PDA and then take them with you into the field that way? I'm focused on the iPhone and iPod Touch devices (because I don't have the others) but I've got to believe that email would provide a workable solution for these devices too. Now it turns out that the email clients in the iPhone and the iPod Touch will handle HTML mail and that means you can make cache entries and log info look very nice (the 320x480 full color screen isn't too shabby either) but even in mono on an old Palm you should be able to get the benefit of the writeup which is the main point being addressed with most of the paperless solutions. All you really need is a piece of software that will parse your GPX XML files and perhaps allow you additionally to select which entries you want emailed to your geocaching email account. You then connect to that either directly (if your device works that way) or with your PC with a subsequent synch to your device and you should wind up with your cache info/logs etc. in your PDA inbox. Just navigate and read as usual. It works for me. -dB www.ayefon.com - really CHEAP geocaching solutions for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

1. I use a Garmin eTrex Legend 2. I use my iPhone and my own software (iGeocacher) 3. I just use the Pocket queries directly from the geocaching forum with the iPhone but to download them to the eTrex I use Geobuddy (but I'm now evaluating GSAK as it looks good.) For onesey, twosey ad hoc dowloads I just use the new "send to GPS" facility here with the eTrex. It works very well. But for bulk downloads using one of the other tools is a must. 4. The iPhone and iPod touch have the full Google maps built right in for both street, satellite and hybrid views. I find that's all I need and I've integrated it with my software. My personal goal was not to have bunches and bunches of pieces/parts but rather a well integrated tool or two that would minimize the amount of "fussing" that I had to do by way of advanced preparation for caching. Some solutions I've seen just have too many steps. Given the on-line download to GPS feature that is now a part of the Geocaching.com site, I really only need my GPS and my iPhone and the iGeocacher webapp for the latter. You could pretty much do the same thing with an iPod Touch too. -dB www.ayefon.com - inexpensive geocaching solutions for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

You might want to try using the built in email facilities that come in both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. That works very well for me. You already have the PHP GPX decoder part done from what it sounds like. Just add an email back-end and you are in business. That way you don't have to "jailbreak" the device which is a real issue with many owners. I've steered clear of jailbreak solutions for that reason. Of course, a native app is ultimately the way to go and I'm working on that but we all have to wait for Apple to release the new OS for that to come to fruition. -dB www.ayefon.com - inexpensive geocaching solutions for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

I love using my iPhone as it gives me the "web in the palm of my hand" while out in the field. I can even make log entries right on the spot when I have connectivity. When I don't have even Edge connectivity then I leverage the built in HTML email that is common to both the iPhone and the iPod Touch (so now the Touch crowd can play too!) The only issue there is having an easy way to get your pocket query "mailed" to you in a suitable form. Naturally I use my own solution but cobbling together a PQ to email transcoder isn't hard. -dB www.ayefon.com - inexpensive Geocaching solutions for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Another option for iPhone and iPod Touch users is to leverage the built in HTML email in both devices for paperless caching. I do that in my own product. -dB www.ayefon.com - Geocaching software for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

I may have just devised an elegant "paperless" solution for those with the iPod Touch (would work for iPhone too) that was inspired by the discussion here. It basically leverages the pop mail capability built into the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I've just tried it with my iPhone and it seems to work. I *think* the iPod Touch in the latest rev does If there are a few iPod Touch owners out there that would like to try a bit of testing for me we might just have a nice OFFLINE solution for paperless caching for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone when it's out of range. If you'd like to participate in this "alpha" testing and you have a POP mail account set up to receive email on your iPod Touch, drop me a line (don@babcock.org) I'd like to get some feedback from the iPod Touch world (I don't have one of those.) You'll need to be running the January update or later which includes email. -dB www.ayefon.com

I think that's what partfoundry started with - there are videos on the web of their prototype board, looking very home-made, working on an iPhone. The software side is the hard part. I guess the SDK wasn't what they were hoping for. Heck, I had a hard time finding (affordable) GPS software for the Palm platform. I had a Palm from my job and a Bluetooth GPS I bought, but I found the free/cheap software available to be lacking in functionality. It made me miss my eTrex Legend. The advancements are all right there on the horizon. It's one of those things we'll laugh about with our grandkids - <old man voice>Back in my day . . . </old man>. RROM ;-) Actually, all you really need to be able to do for the Sparkfun approach in SDK terms is read the serial NMEA stream and that's just basic serial I/O. Essentially that's what I did with my Wintec project (www.btgeocacher.com) and the Sony W810i. I still use that today. So the math and the calcs are all there (thought I'd have to port them from Java to C/Objective C - not a huge leap there.) The SDK is still "beta" and they haven't got the full gui builder in it yet but that's promised by the summer. That will make designing the GUI a lot easier. Basic serial I/O should be MUCH easier than the extra discovery/selection steps involved in basic serial BlueTooth. I do wish that Apple had seen fit to open up the Bluetooth API. They have reserved it just for the headset stuff. I kind of like the wireless idea so that I don't end up with an umbilical of sorts. Those tend to get snagged on branches and stuff in the woods. My little Wintec unit is sensitive and you can put it on your ball cap while you are using the phone as the readout. The wi-fi "server" style of GPS would work similarly except you'd be reading the NMEA data via a URL instead of a serial port but after that the parsing would be the same. I thought about trying to build the wi-fi "server" version using something like gumstix micro PC's but if someone is already doing it, I'd rather just buy one. I can envision all kinds of cool nav displays possible using the beautiful screen real estate offered on the iPhone. -dB www.ayefon.com - iGeocacher - geocaching webapp for your iPhone.

Not following the current political scene, I take it (grinning, ducking, and running....) -dB

Thanks. You captured the spirit of the post. The intent was to promote thoughtfulness, not prescribe. I had to give a few personal examples to avoid being completely abstract but I'm not smart enough to pass any absolute judgment on what is a "good" or "bad" hide beyond my own needs. If, however, I can provoke a measure of that same thoughtfulness towards their fellow cachers then my objective has been well met. -dB

I'm pleased that so many folks are giving thought to the issue. Indeed many caches ARE already out there. But my post is forward looking. Just because we have bad examples already in the field doesn't mean we can't learn from them and do better. I think that if you carefully read my original post I put the responsibility for safety on both parties. Those hiding and those hunting. To those hiders that appeal to disclaimers, you might want to consider the well known principle of "attractive nuisance" in tort law. Google it. You be the judge if some clever lawyer might not use it to fleece you for a poorly conceived hide where someone was injured. The cache I most recently passed on was under a bridge footing. Not only was it hazardous to attempt physically for someone my age (a nine year old boy would have no hesitation I'm sure!) I hadn't even thought of the terrorist angle whereby we might inadvertently raise suspicion by hiding/snooping around public structures that might be terrorist targets of opportunity. This discussion raised my awareness. That's why discussion like this periodically is a good thing. It broadens our thinking. I'm not sure, however, that I buy the argument that having caches that push the envelope is a good idea to promote geo-awareness as some seem to suggest. I can see how cachers walking around with unknown electronic equipment in unusual places might give those not familiar with the hobby reason to wonder. I'll confess some unease at a recent cache where I was walking around in a store parking lot festooned with numerous CCTV cameras. I wondered what any observers must be thinking of this guy and his kids obviously snooping around their back lot. My intent in the OP was to provoke thoughtfulness in both hides and pursuit. It has obviously met that objective. My aim was to encourage consideration of possible "unintended consequences" of our actions in both hiding and hunting. I don't think the hiders can escape some responsibility no matter how cleverly and stridently they protest. The responsibility of the hunters is perhaps more self evident. All the more reason to underscore the former in an effort to achieve proper balance. Good and safe caching to all. -dB

On my 25th wedding anniversary, I took my wife to a special resort. While there she happened to see an article on geocaching in one of those lifestyle oriented magazines put out by some tourist organization describing things to see and do in our state. Being an outdoorsy type and knowing we had a GPS for Search and Rescue work with the Civil Air Patrol she thought it sounded like fun. It was and it led us to this forum and we continue to this day. It is one of my younger daughters favorite ways to get "daddy time." -dB www.ayefon.com

As an engineer I started my career in petrochemical plants. When you work around things that easily go "boom" you get a LOT of safety training. Some of that came back to me the other day as I thought about some of the "clever" hides I've found. I wonder if we aren't sometimes a bit "too clever." Consider that every cacher learns something every time he/she finds a new cache. To a great extent we are "trained" by our finds. I've been exposed to a number of caches that turned out to be micros or magnetic caches secreted behind various escutcheons. Apparently the so called "lamp post" hides are a matter of some infamy in some caching circles. As an electrical engineer, the first time I found one of these under a lamp post escutcheon in a supermarket parking lot, one of my first thoughts was "I wonder if there is any live or exposed 120/220V wiring under here?" Now having been thus "trained" by such a find, on subsequent forays, I found myself considering all manner of other escutcheons in the environs at the coordinates for investigation. The problem is that such covers and escutcheons are there for a reason, sometimes more than just cosmetics. If we too cleverly hide things, we are inadvertently training our seekers/finders to consider similar hiding places in the future. It occurred to me then that when it came time to hide my own caches, I need to give some consideration to the "message" it is sending about reasonable and safe hiding places. I'd hate to inadvertently train folks to do unsafe things. Here's an example of one recent micro that I saw that gave me pause. The micro was a cleverly fabricated bolt that had a sort of double head. Inside the cylindrical bolt body was a cavity where one could stash the smallest paper log or perhaps a slip of paper for next stage coordinates in a multi. I asked myself this question: "How would the successful finder of such a cache be trained by it and what discovery behavior might it promote on future hunts? The obvious answer was that bolts might be "fake" and hide a microcache. The finder would be thus encouraged to twist on similar looking bolts he might find (not uncommonly) at other potential cache sites. But what if he "unscrewed" a bolt only to realize as something fell on him or otherwise injured him that the bolt was merely a bolt and that though loose, it in fact held something in place? Some property might be damaged or someone might get hurt all because a clever cache effectively trained the hunter to meddle with things they really should not meddle with in unfamiliar surroundings. Generally speaking I don't think we should be hiding caches where they encourage a mindset of snooping under escutcheons or which promote partial disassembly of items (like micros suspended from chain link post caps inside fence poles) in order to be found. Certainly removal of bolts or other structural fasteners should not be encouraged by our clever cache hiding. So the next time you hide a cache, give some thought to what you are training your hunters to expect in the way of hides. Then ask yourself if there is some way that behavior repeated in a different context might have them poking in places where they shouldn't. Yes, it's their responsibility to use good judgment but we all know in the heat of the hunt that we are influenced by the hides we've found in the past ant it is just too easy to explore without thinking. I submit that the "hider" bears some responsibility for what their hide accomplishes in terms of training by example. I've seen a number of cache descriptions and log entries that described hazards like traffic, unsure footing, steep slopes, etc. that have made me wonder what the hiders were thinking when they hid things that required this kind of warning. Surely we can do better. I recently passed on a cache that I'd located but which was clearly too risky for me (age 55) or my 12 year old daughter. My old flight instructor used to ask the question "When do you execute a go around maneuver (instead of landing.)?" The answer is, when it first enters your mind. When do you abandon the chase for a cache? When the idea that continuing might be the least bit unsafe for life and limb. It just isn't worth it. Those hiding caches should ask themselves not only is my hide as safe as I can reasonably make it for those that will hunt but also what am I perhaps unintentionally teaching about suitable hiding places/explorations with my hide and might that "train" the hunters inappropriately in future hunts? Hunters need to consider abandoning the hunt in the interest of safety the first time the thought that proceeding might be unsafe enters their mind. Let's be safe out there and do that which promotes safety for all of us whether hiding or hunting. FWIW, -dB

Partfoundry has dropped the plug-in GPS for iPhone / iPod touch. They're currently working on a Wi-Fi connected GPS "server" to be released in Summer 2008. Since it's vaporware at the moment, don't go holding your breath... I think someone will do either a clip on (via the serial port) version or the wi-fi "server" version for the iPhone. It just makes too much sense and I think the demand is there. If they don't, I'm going to cobble one up using components you can buy from Sparkfun Electronics but that wouldn't be a project for the faint hearted. I'm just more focused at the moment more on the software side of things. While you can't yet install software on a "stock" iPhone (non-jail broken) there are webapps available that work very well which a number of folks here are using to go "paperless" in conjunction with a conventional hand held GPS. Some are listed in the Apple catalog. I'm still trying to make up my mind on the best way to go. It's good to hear that the Blackberry GPS works well. I tend to be wary of combo's like that. It's hard to make a sensitive GPRS and cram it in with a lot of other RF electronics. I tend to believe that the outboard units work significantly better but that may be due to chip set. I know my little BlueTooth Wintec outboard unit is way more sensitive than my eTrex Legend but that may be because the former is SRFIII. Much as I would have liked to see Steve Jobs put a GPS in the iPhone, given the minimum footprint of those devices and an antenna efficient enough to work without compromise, I'm not sure how he could have fit it into the case. Besides, when you are doing the road warrior thing traveling down the highway at 100 feet per second, three meter accuracy doesn't buy you anything. Cell tower triangulation is superior for that use case, works faster, is more immune to "urban canyon" scenarios that block satellite reception, etc. I really wouldn't want to see the case bigger or the battery life shorter by having a built in GPS when you can get what most folks really need from the cell towers and the cell receiver that had to be there for the phone anyway. At first I was disappointed as a cacher but upon reflection I think they probably made the best choice. One nice thing about the "separate" approach is that I can upgrade the GPSR when better chips come out without having to buy a new phone. I guess I'll wait to see what comes out this summer but I'm still thinking of rolling my own with the Sparkfun approach just for grins. But then as a HAM radio op and EE, such things are my hobby. The software side is easy given what we now have in the Apple SDK. That will definitely be here in a couple of months. The hardware is a bit more speculative. -dB www.ayefon.com

Well, for what it's worth regarding the tally, In not quite 3 weeks since I released it, I have over thirty customers that have purchased iGeoCacher so I'd have to say that there are at least that many of us using the iPhone for paperless caching. That would put it at the number two spot in your list behind the Palms and Treos. I'm averaging two sales/day lately, so I think that number two spot may be temporary ;-) The iPhone makes a superb paperless caching platform. It will be even better once I get the native app done under the new 2.0 iPhone OS because that will bring the iPod Touch users into the fold. I've had all sorts of inquiries about that device since this project's inception. -dB www.ayefon.com - iGeocacher - Paperless caching for your iPhone.

I was in the market for a PDA/phone and was considering the Blackberry when a friend at work showed me his iPod Touch. When I saw how easy that was and the power of the web, I was hooked and went for the iPhone. I don't know your budget or your status with respect to cell phones but you MIGHT want to consider getting a "smart phone" that more or less kills two birds with one stone, so to speak. Now by way of full disclosure, it happens that as of two weeks ago, I'm the author of a new paperless geocaching software package for the iPhone. That's all I'll say as I don't want to "sell" you. I'll leave that to other folks here. Regardless of that, I've just found the iPhone to be a marvelous combination and synergization of the cell phone and PDA. On top of which Apple is releasing a new OS for it this summer which will allow developers to easily develop the next generation mobile/PDA apps and I'm convinced that it will blow the doors off anything else. Consider this. The Blackberry is (for the time being) the #1 smartphone (phone/PDA) in market share with around 40 percent of the market now (down some due to iPhone gains.) It has been around for years and is well respected. The iPhone came out last July. In it's first 200 days it sold 4 million units (20,000/day.) It went from ZERO to 19 percent of the smartphone market in that time and now stands at over 28 percent to RIM's (makers of the Blackberry) 41 percent. I predict that by year end it will have overtaken RIM as number one in market share. That would only take another 7 points movement and that seems easy based upon current sales. Now it's a bit more pricey than a low end Palm or a good cell phone. But when you combine the cost of both plus chargers, accessories, etc. etc. all of a sudden the economics shift in favor of the all in one solution. I always have my phone with me and it is nice not to have to take along a PDA as well as my GPS. That's too many gadgets and not enough pockets (g). I'd hate to see you spend a hundred or two hundred bucks on a Palm and ancillary goodies (chargers, software, etc.) only to realize that you could have added your budget allowance for cell phone upgrades to that and gotten a truly amazing piece of electronics, the iPhone. FWIW. It is helpful to have some software "middleware" to help organize caches on your PC and then load them easily into your GPS. I've used both Geobuddy and I've just started with GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) and the latter looks VERY capable. I really like the map features of Geobuddy but now that it is built into the iPhone it's become somewhat moot. Finally, it always seems that no matter how careful I prep for my caching, I'd always forget to download something or print something. With the iPhone, I pretty much have data connectivity in most of the places I cache because I'm in range of some cell tower and the EDGE network. Since the iPhone plan comes with "all you can eat data" you just go get what you need on the web, including looking up info on the geocaching site if need be. All in all, I find the iPhone superior on most counts and in a few months when the new OS is out with the built in SQL Lite DB that developers can leverage, it will become even better. Until then it's utility is more tied to web connectivity. But as most of my caching is suburban anyway, that isn't an issue even now. In another few months web connectivity won't be an issue. All of which is to say, give the iPhone a look since it does both the PDA stuff AND the phone stuff and nothing comes close for web stuff with Safari built in. One more thing. I don't own stock in Apple and I'm yet to get my first Mac (other than the iPhone) but I have to confess that I'm rapidly becoming a fan of their products. They just show incredible engineering and innovation. ;-) I absolutely LOVE the iPhone and it is turning into a superb paperless geocaching platform. Lord willing, and if the tax man allows I'll be ordering a MacBook later this month. I've drawn the line on Windoze at XP. No Vista for me. It's an absolute pig. -dB www.ayefon.com - Fine geocaching software for the iPhone.

You are most welcome, Steve. By all means do so. Be sure and check out the You Tube walk-through. This app isn't quite two weeks old yet and already I've doubled if not tripled the feature function set based upon user feedback. I can't wait to get out again this weekend. It rained here in NC last weekend which was bad for caching but good for programming (g). -dB

There are a number of us that are using the iPhone for paperless geocaching and I thought I'd start a new topic as a landing place for us to discuss how we use this marvelous device, software we've found for it, tips, techniques, workarounds, etc. Anything having to do with using the iPhone (or even the iPod Touch) for paperless geocaching. -dB [Edited to remove commercial link]

Personally I'd recommend you get a replacement battery for your PDA or just go grab another cheap PDA from Ebay. The last time I checked there weren't any GPSr units on the market that are "fully paperless capable" and by that I mean a unit that holds the cache info, hint, past logs, AND has an ability for me to enter data INTO the unit once I've found a cache. This I feel is an important part of paperless caching especially if you're going after a bunch of caches on a single outing. There are some commercial "ruggedized PDA/GPS" combos out there that would be awesome Geocaching units, but the prices are scary! Please someone PLEASE make a cheap (relatively) rugged PDA GPS soon! As soon as they come out with a GPS that does wireless connectivity, I'll interface it to my iPhone. In all other respects you can do it all with the iPhone. see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mcmpE6YjdE for a movie of mine. The only thing you mention that I haven't yet added is the ability to VIEW log info. I already added the ability MAKE log entries in the field. The log info is there in the GPX's so I just need to go ahead and add that part. Should have that done by this weekend sometime. I WISH they had opened up BlueTooth on the iPhone. I have a Wintec unit that is spot on and very sensitive. It also has serial data output so that is a possible option as well. Wireless would be the cat's meow for the iPhone though because that's how they clearly want you to work in the Apple world. I'm expecting someone to do an external GPS for the iPhone any time now. But other than only using one unit, I'm paperless now with my eTrex Legend and the iPhone. I have all of the required info at my fingertips and Google maps for driving directions to boot. -dB http://www.ayefon.com - Unique software for your iPhone

Where RF is concerned there can be any number of culprits. The mere fact that you say "buzzing" is suspect. Buzzers, vibrators, depending upon implementation may generate RF noise. The bottom line is that your GPS is a sensitive receiver like any other and it is small and different units may be more or less susceptible to near band or in band RF interference. I good test might in fact be to turn on a cheap AM radio nearby at the same time and see if the loss of signal happens at the same time as some other noise. It could be something as simple as a nearby High Voltage transmission line insulator that was defective. Hunting down RFI is not always easy. Ideally, you'd have an audio receiver or spectrum analyzer that you could use to actually listen on or otherwise inspect the GPS frequency to see if you could "hear" or "see" any interference. But that kind of gear can be pricey and you won't find it at Wal-Mart (g). -dB http://www.ayefon.com

That set of symptoms would seem to indicate either a failure of the GPS system itself (which I suspect we would have heard about) or local interference on the frequency band used by GPS. I suspect the latter since it affected all of your units. The radio spectrum is becoming increasingly crowded and it could have been something as simple as a nearby CB operator with an over amped rig and some set of conditions that generated harmonics that simply interfered with your reception. You may remember the "good old days" when someone in your house turned on a noisy electrical appliance while you were listening to AM radio and it sounded like the signal was being put through a coffee grinder. Same idea. FWIW if anyone was arc welding nearby that could have done the job too as anything arcing puts out very strong localized wideband noise. My money would be on simple RF interference. -dB http://www.ayefon.com - quality software for your iPhone including iGeocacher

Well, all iPhones (unless you are using a hacked one) come with unlimited internet service. I find that I have Edge connectivity in my primary caching realm (I don't do much way out in the wilderness - most of my caching is suburban.) You might want to look at iGeocacher (http://www.ayefon.com) which is a published webapp for the iPhone. It is designed to be low bandwidth and you can get the cache info, logs, see your waypoints on Google maps and even have it give you driving directions. You can also even log from the app right on-line if you wish. It's kind of nice to just log the find on the spot rather than wait to get back home. The biggest boost for me is planning my cache attack having uploaded my pocket queries I then have all the info in the palm of my hand. Now at the moment this does require connectivity to work well but I'm also in the process of porting the app to run completely locally to take advantage of the 2.0 software that Apple will release for the iPhone (June they say.) Frankly, I'm finding that the Edge network works very well and it's hard to beat the synergy that gives you with Google maps. If you've got an iPhone, point it to: http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/igeocacher.cfm?id=demo@email.com and have a look. I'm developing like crazy and have already incorporated at least 4 new features folks have asked for this weekend (it's raining here so no caching for me :-( Just programming :-) ) See: http://www.ayefon.com/geo/beta.cfm Let me know what you think. I'm looking for good ideas for iGeocaching -dB http://www.ayefon.com - Fine software for the iPhone community

That's a pretty pervasive rumor, although I've already seen someone call "B.S." on the claim that the new iPhone will have an OLED screen. Integrated GPS will be nice, since one of the front-runners for a plug-in GPS module (Part Foundary's LocoGPS that was supposed to be shipping right now) turned out to be a no-go. They're working on a wi-fi connected GPS module for Summer 2008. I'm hoping Apple just integrates the GPS or turns on the Bluetooth in the next-gen iPhone/iPod Touch. I'd love to see them turn on the BlueTooth because that was my first mobile product (http://www.btgeocacher.com) I asked about that over on the Apple site and thus far there is no joy with respect to being able to do BT apps :-(. Now wireless GPS would be a piece of cake. Frankly I have to admit that I think Jobs got it right with the iPhone. As a GPS fan I would have loved to have seen a GPS built in. However, what I've found as I've played with various units is that the GPS's in the phones are generally inferior to outboard BT units or handhelds. Also, they take up space and are an additional power management/load factor. Also, when you are barrelling down the interstate at around 100 feet/second, it does you little good to be able to tell your position to the nearest 20 or thirty feet (which is typical for GPS accuracy.) So when you step back and take an unprejudiced view using cell tower/wi-fi location actually makes a lot of sense and works well for the road warrior game. Given a wifi outboard GPS it will be trivial to write all manner of applications and wifi is probably easier to manage than BT (having done both.) I thought of actually "rolling my own" as a prototype using a mini-itx PC and a serially attached GPS to cobble together a wifi GPS. I've also looked at the available "modules" out there but they fall short of what I need for the iPhone. Someone will produce a wifi GPS that is economical and along the same lines as the BT units. It begs to be done. When it is, doing the actual iPhone app will be trivial. -dB http://www.ayefon.com - innovative software for your iPhone (including iGeocacher) P.S. If someone hears of a good wifi GPS being marketed, please drop me a note.

Wouldn't we all. Right now, webapps (other than kludges like co-opting the contacts list etc.) are the only game in town. I'm in the beta iPhone developer program and with the 2.0 SDK I am in the process of building a "native" app that will do what my webapp will do but offline using the SQL Lite DB that is built into the 2.0 software. That won't be available until after Apple releases the 2.0 software in June at the earliest. In the meantime, a lot of folks (including myself) are getting a LOT of utility out of the webapp version and it is helping to flesh out the most desired operational features for the upcoming native software. If you want to read about that work, check out: http://www.ayefon.com/geo/beta.cfm There is no question that local storage is the way to go but in the meantime, I'm actually finding that a great deal of my caching is inside Edge network range and that works very well in the field. But I tend to do the majority of my caching in the suburbs on weekends with my daughters. Those that are truly "lost in the woods" without cell connectivity will need a standalone storage. That will be trivial to do once we have SQL Lite available. It won't be much more than porting the existing MySQL database which is web hosted to a the iPhone in SQL Lite. -dB http://www.ayefon.com - Unique software for the iPhone including iGeocacher.

That feature has just been developed and is beta. See: http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/igeocacherb.cfm?id=demo@email.com on your iPod touch or iPhoen in safari and click on the "overview" link at the top. Explore the links on the next page. -dB http://www.ayefon.com - iGeocacher - caching for the iPhone enthusiast.