Geocache Points On A Google Map, Visualize Them

July 19, 2005

No this is selected for one waypoint at a time.

Your utility is more versatile if you can just solve the parsing problem.

July 19, 2005

No this is selected for one waypoint at a time.

Your utility is more versatile if you can just solve the parsing problem.

The alternative to the parsing problem is download EACH GPX or LOC file from EACH cache page, then drag them ALL onto the program. It will create the marker for each GPX file. The problem the program has is not multipe GPX or LOC files, but files that contain more than one set of caches.

I hope that clears things up a bit. Give it a try and you will see what I mean. Drop a GPX file that has multiple caches in it and it creates only the first caches marrkers. But put each cache in it sown GPX file and then drop them all, and you get a marker for EACH gpx file.

Does this make sense. I hope I wasnt confusing people on the problem I am having parsing the files.

I created over 80 cache points on the map at one time using a GPX file for each cache. it only misses the caches when the GPX or LOC files contains multiple caches.

July 19, 2005

Latest build : 1.00.0055

Fixed a bug that was missreporting the Icon width and height size in Netscape. Should be fixed now.

I have a question for people though. Aside feom GPX and LOC files, what other map containg cache points files are their tha tyou are all using? With the exception of GPX and LOC files, does anyone have a cache file they load that uses a different extension? And if so, could you send me one to look at.

The more formats my program uses the easier it will be for people to create the maps on the fly by just dragging and dropping them onto the program.

Here is a screen shot of what the output is looking like now:

It now lists more data from the GPX file to give visitors more info on each cache when the marker is clicked.

Edited July 19, 2005 by crackhead

2.1k · July 19, 2005

Nice looking program, the inability to parse multiple wayoints from a GPX file is kinda crippling though. IMO, work on that as much as you can (maybe ask those more experienced?) and then you'll have a much downloaded program.

July 19, 2005

Crackhead - I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I'm a professional software developer with a lot of experience programming for Windows. Any interest in me looking at your parsing code to see if I can figure out why you're only getting the first one?

July 19, 2005

Nice looking program, the inability to parse multiple wayoints from a GPX file is kinda crippling though. IMO, work on that as much as you can (maybe ask those more experienced?) and then you'll have a much downloaded program.

OK OK OK OK OK!!!Whew....

FINALLY! I got this puppy to parse the entire files!!! And it only took me, what? 3 days to get it to work. The problem I was having is GSAK exported files are formatted different that the Geocaching.com files. But, I got them both to work, and LOC files containing mupltiple caches also work. Totaly stated over from scratch and I found a lot of bugs no one was reporting(And neither am I..Wink)

So download the new version and let me know if it works. I get it to work for me, but that doesnt mean it will work for everyone.

Please email me with any bugs or ideas!!!!

Ok, now go and try it out!!

http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/gpx_to_googlemap.zip

July 19, 2005

Noticed one thing. GSAK exported files can contain non alphanumeric characters. Here are some examples of the things that were throwing me off: Ã „

What Kind of codes are they? They make it harder to get the map to load cause I have to find all invalid characters and strip them from the GSAK file first before I can work with it in the javascript side of the web pages.

So if you have any issues getting the mapto load, look at each marker variable for things like this, because they will cause you to just get a blank white screen and no map.

5.3k · July 19, 2005

Noticed one thing. GSAK exported files can contain non alphanumeric characters. Here are some examples of the things that were throwing me off: Ã „

They're UTF-8 encoded characters, presumably just like the headers say they are.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I'll share a tip from my experience in GPSBabel. If you even think you want to open-code an XML parser, don't. :-) Until you struggle with whitespace variations, multiple charset encodings, entity encodings, quoting, tags split across lines, and the other vagaries spelled out in agonizing detail in the hundreds of pages of W3 specifications, you won't appreciate the value of a good library written by someone that _does_ understand all that stuff. For example, you did know that these are identical in XML?

There may not be an _infinite_ number of ways to represent the exact same data contained in even one GPX file from this site, but there are enough to cause you grief. As perspective, I use the expat library in GPSBabel and have no problem reading (non-broken) GPX from Groundspeak, GSAK, ExpertGPS, or any of the other apps listed at http://www.topografix.com/gpx_resources.asp.

July 19, 2005

Just for sheets and giggles, I Pocket Queried 300 caches! Downloaded the GPX file. Dropped it onto my program. LEt it run (Took 8 minutes) Wrapped teh HTML and Saved it. Opened it in IE 6.0 (Took 3 minutes to render) and HA! It works! And mighty fine I might add!!

Don't beleive me, then give it a shot!!

300 caches, 8 minutes to parse GPX file

Open Map, 3 minutes on IE6.0

And I am running Windows 98 NOT Windows 98SE!!

AMD Duron 800 with 512megs of ram.

So lets have a little test. Let me see GSAK load 300 queris and export it DIRECTLY to a google map. Never used GPSBabel and until this morning, I was never able to get it to parse the way I wanted it to.

Now that its finised, I am going to sleep!! I have been up for 3 days straight working on this!!

Have fun people!

July 20, 2005

Added SCALE mode so you can see the distance scale on the map

(File Version: 1.00.0027)

I am working on an option to plot polylines so you can see, say a route you walked, drove or took to get to a cache, if you have the track points in Lat and Long for each turn you took to get there.

This will hopfully be integrated into the program directly, as an option from the main screen. I may just add a pop that lets you drag the GPX file onto it and generate the polylines as a seperate map, as loading both Markers and Polylines slows down the maps tremendously, although Polylines load great and work really smooth in IE 6.0 because of its VML use.

July 20, 2005

Off topic, but if you are into Google Maps like me, check out:

http://moon.google.com/

July 20, 2005

Off topic, but if you are into Google Maps like me, check out:

http://moon.google.com/

Haha! Saw that already this morning. Zoom all the way in and its CHEESE!

July 20, 2005

Ok. Lets say you go out for a walk, or a jog. Take your GPS with you. LEts say you mark your position at every turn you make, or every 1,000 feet. Same for if your in the car.

Take that route you travelled and create a GPX file. Drop it on the program under the new PolyLine feature and now you have a map with lines connecting each point of your travels. Great for keeping track of different routes in the car, or while out for a walk, you can see where you have been!

One warning though: Too many points may cause the browser to become unresponsive (there is a limit to googles api response and your pc's memory).

So load up a file from your GPS and lets see where you have been.

Dont have any way to create a GPX file? Make your own using this format and then save it as .gpx in notepad. My program will take input for PolyLine creation in this manner. (Note: The Standard cache/marker positions do not use this format because there is data in the Groundspeak GPX files that I use for the Marker popups, but this will work for the polylines, as I do not look for the extra data when making the lines.):

<sym>Waypoint</sym>

</wpt>

<sym>Waypoint</sym>

</wpt>

<sym>Waypoint</sym>

</wpt>

or:

<name>GCNJKV</name>

</wpt>

</wpt>

</wpt>

Hope You all get a chance to try it, and give me some feedback on what I can do to make it better or any bugs, flames, etc...

Thanks.

July 21, 2005

Fixed a bug in the marker layout for the polylines. Now you only plot two markers. 1, the start point, and 2 the end point in the travels.

This should help load th emap much faster as well, since Polylines dont really slow down the map, its the markers that cause such a lag time.

http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/gpx_to_googlemap.zip

Also, Changed the way it does reading of the files for Marker Layout. Should increase the speed of map creation a little bit.

Latest Build (File Version: 1.00.0054)

July 21, 2005

Poly Line Example for custom Tracks.

July 21, 2005

Added some GPX and LOC file samples to show how the map works, with Readme listing what to use each one for.

These are the sample files to make a map showing how the program works.

Poly_Line_Plot_Track_Sample.gpx :used for Plot Track option

Multy_Loc_Map_Sample.loc :Used for Cache Map

Multiple__GPX_Map_Sample.gpx :Used for Cache Map

Open them in notepad and you will see the format version that the program will read the files in. Other formats may not work or could even crash the program, but I am working on integrating as many formats of GPX files as I can.

Edited July 21, 2005 by crackhead

July 21, 2005

Aside from GPX and LOC, you might want to look into KMZ support. It's the format that is used for Keyhole and Google Earth. I imagine that it would be useful to be able to import these formats directly from Google Earth for those who use it. I know that you don't use Google Earth because it's only compatable with newer versions of Windows, crackhead, but you can still get some example KMZ files from http://www.googleearthhacks.com and maybe you can deconstruct the files enough to get started.

Glad to see you've made so much progress on your program. Any plans to add support for Google Moon in an upcoming release? :lol:

July 21, 2005

Aside from GPX and LOC, you might want to look into KMZ support. It's the format that is used for Keyhole and Google Earth. I imagine that it would be useful to be able to import these formats directly from Google Earth for those who use it. I know that you don't use Google Earth because it's only compatable with newer versions of Windows, crackhead, but you can still get some example KMZ files from http://www.googleearthhacks.com and maybe you can deconstruct the files enough to get started.

Glad to see you've made so much progress on your program. Any plans to add support for Google Moon in an upcoming release?

Sounds like a plan, I will have to check it out!

Also, updated the module again. Fixed a few bugs here and there. Its all still in testing, but Polyline creating is going better and not crashing from files with bad data.

July 21, 2005

Hey, crackhead, any possibility of tossing up a website with a changelog and build number to keep this sorted out? With how fast you're releasing new editions, it might be a bit of bother for you to have to post, but it's a hassle to look through this thread and see if I need to redownload the zip file. Also, I'd like to link to your tool on the Geocaching entry on Wikipedia.

July 21, 2005

Okay, I finally installed the latest release and gave it a try. I'm glad that it has GSAK support, but it's still not quite perfect. I tried loading my whole GSAK database in a GPX file, about 50 caches, into it and it successfully generated the HTML, but when I tried to load it up all I got was a white page with a blank DIV. Hmm. Something's causing the HTML to break. I messed around with it a bit more and eventually tried it with a smaller selection of caches, about six, and it worked as intended. Since you said that it can manage 300 caches at once, there must be some sort of problem character that's causing it to fail to render the page completly. If you like I can send you my GSAK database and you can try it yourself. You'd have a better idea of what to look for than I.

July 21, 2005

Okay, I finally installed the latest release and gave it a try. I'm glad that it has GSAK support, but it's still not quite perfect. I tried loading my whole GSAK database in a GPX file, about 50 caches, into it and it successfully generated the HTML, but when I tried to load it up all I got was a white page with a blank DIV. Hmm. Something's causing the HTML to break. I messed around with it a bit more and eventually tried it with a smaller selection of caches, about six, and it worked as intended. Since you said that it can manage 300 caches at once, there must be some sort of problem character that's causing it to fail to render the page completly. If you like I can send you my GSAK database and you can try it yourself. You'd have a better idea of what to look for than I.

If there are any funky characters in the names or descriptions of the caches, it throws out when viewing as a web page, only because javascrip variables dont like spaces or non alpha-numeric characters. If you view the source, you can check for each marker and that they are names with just letters and numbers.

Try and drop it on the Polyline section and see if you get the same problem.

Still working out the bugs.

I lik eyou idea about having a page up for it though. I am going to make a page with some instructions on how to get files to work correctly. If you want, download all your caches from the cache pages, and drag and drop them all onto it at the same time. It will read each one and make the map for you that way. I haven't

had any issues with the ones directly from the cache pages at this point except for one incident with a cache that had a 3 character waypoint name. I forgot about older caches. I will also have to make a note to make room for new caches once the names get longer than 6 characters.

Anywho, lots to do, and thanks for the feedback. Great to see that people are using it. I only intended to make the program so I could visually see where each of the caches I found were all at the same time, and it turned into the whold other monster.

Now I want to make it read any format so map creation can be as easy as just dropping a file onto it.

Once I create a page for the program I will post it here and then stop updating this post(so long as there isnt anything too important to mention.)

July 21, 2005

Ok, an official page i snow up for this application. The page is just in the initial stages, as well as the application itself, but mor einfo to come soon. You can use this page to see the latest build version or for any new improvments to the app, as well as a link to download the program.

I am probably going to look into a blogger page, so people can add feedback to the app's page directly and offer suggestions or report bugs.

I never intended to take it this far with the program, but I have become addicted to looking at the earth through googles Sattelite view, as well as downloading GPX files from google and testing them in th app.

A good haack for this is typing into googles search box to find GPX files.

You use the the following without the quotes: "ext:gpx inurl:.gpx"

This will do a google query for only GPX files. (or any you format it to search, but anywho...)

(Official/Un Official) GPX to Google Map Creator Web Page. -By Crack Head

Thank you to all of you for your feedback and ideas.

Now turn off that computer and go find some caches!!

Edited July 21, 2005 by crackhead

July 21, 2005

Bug report:

Okay, I figured out why the GPX file I exported from GSAK wasn't working. There were two caches in the list that it had problems with. I downloaded the .LOC file from the Geocaching website for each of these and it can import them into a map fine, but LOC files use the GC code rather than the title, so I still suspect that the software is having a problem with the titles of the caches. One is "Cars" (too few characters, the software needs to put in spaces if it can't handle fewer than X many characters), the other was called "Pizza-Pizza @ the Park" (The @ must be the problem here, it is the only special character that isn't in the titles of any other caches). When I remove those two caches from the list before generating the .GPX file, it creates the map perfectly. I can't get GPX files from the website, but I assume that they would work the same.

I also found another bug while testing out .LOC files downloaded from the website. The software gives an error when trying to import any .LOC files from caches that have been archived. Caches which have been made temporarily unavailable work fine, just those that are actually archived. It gives the following error when importing such .LOC files. "Not a valid GPX or LOC file! Invalid files might lock the program. etc..."

I'll keep testing and let you know of any other things I find.

Thanks for the website, by the way.

July 21, 2005

Bug report:

Okay, I figured out why the GPX file I exported from GSAK wasn't working. There were two caches in the list that it had problems with. I downloaded the .LOC file from the Geocaching website for each of these and it can import them into a map fine, but LOC files use the GC code rather than the title, so I still suspect that the software is having a problem with the titles of the caches. One is "Cars" (too few characters, the software needs to put in spaces if it can't handle fewer than X many characters), the other was called "Pizza-Pizza @ the Park" (The @ must be the problem here, it is the only special character that isn't in the titles of any other caches). When I remove those two caches from the list before generating the .GPX file, it creates the map perfectly. I can't get GPX files from the website, but I assume that they would work the same.

I also found another bug while testing out .LOC files downloaded from the website. The software gives an error when trying to import any .LOC files from caches that have been archived. Caches which have been made temporarily unavailable work fine, just those that are actually archived. It gives the following error when importing such .LOC files. "Not a valid GPX or LOC file! Invalid files might lock the program. etc..."

I'll keep testing and let you know of any other things I find.

Thanks for the website, by the way.

I havent tried archived files yet, but I seuspect either the way they are written is different or they remove the waypoint La and Long. Open it in notepad and take a look at the format, and if you can, change it to look like a valid LOC file.

Also, dont combine loc and gpx files into one file. They parse differently base don their file extensions. I have a section of the program devoted to each file extension and combining data throws them off, although I never actually tried to combine them, I am not sure it will work.

You can download the GPX files from the cache pages by clicking on them. Right clicking to do a save as does not work for some reason, but left clicking prompts you to save or view the file. Hope that helps.

I am adding some notes to the GPX page as well. Frodo Underhill had some issues I think with Polylines. I think this is because VML support is an Option for IE. You have to either check it when Installing Internet Explore, or you may be able to get it from Windows Update.

July 22, 2005

Okay, let me clarify. I first tried to load my entire GSAK database as a multi-cache GPX file, but the page kept coming up blank. Through process of elimination, I kept generating the GPX file starting with one cache until I had added them all and found two that caused the problem. I then tested those two caches individually with LOC files from the website and generating a map for only those waypoints by themselves and it worked, but it was using the GC code rather than the name that the GPX files include. So, I came to the conclusion that there are problems with the names of the caches in the GPX version that is causing the HTML to not render.

Also, I looked at the archived LOC files from the site and, sure enough, they're lacking data. I guess this is Geocaching.com's fault and not the software.

The reason I can't get GPX files off the Geocaching.com website to test is because I'm not a paid member and don't have access to those types of files from Geocaching.com, but I can generate them myself in GSAK, which is what I've been doing.

Oh, I also tried out Polylines after the last post and it was able to handle the entire GPX file, even with the bad cache names. It seems to ignore that part because it doesn't show any of that information and only uses the lat/long data to draw the route.

July 22, 2005

Okay, let me clarify. I first tried to load my entire GSAK database as a multi-cache GPX file, but the page kept coming up blank. Through process of elimination, I kept generating the GPX file starting with one cache until I had added them all and found two that caused the problem. I then tested those two caches individually with LOC files from the website and generating a map for only those waypoints by themselves and it worked, but it was using the GC code rather than the name that the GPX files include. So, I came to the conclusion that there are problems with the names of the caches in the GPX version that is causing the HTML to not render.

Also, I looked at the archived LOC files from the site and, sure enough, they're lacking data. I guess this is Geocaching.com's fault and not the software.

The reason I can't get GPX files off the Geocaching.com website to test is because I'm not a paid member and don't have access to those types of files from Geocaching.com, but I can generate them myself in GSAK, which is what I've been doing.

Oh, I also tried out Polylines after the last post and it was able to handle the entire GPX file, even with the bad cache names. It seems to ignore that part because it doesn't show any of that information and only uses the lat/long data to draw the route.

++ I figured out the bug with Custom GSAK files. Some people use descriptions that start with a number for cache names. Google Maps Javascript Side of the map likes names that start with a letter for the variable and not a number. Just found this out!

I have since fixed this and appended an identifier to the beginning of the name as well as removed invalid characters that I could find(The reason why the Polyline doesnt error out on the same GPX file is because it allways appended the name with a letter identifier first before reading in the GPX name.)

Using GSAK for you LOC file conversions is a great idea if your not a premium member. Being that the LOC files lack the descrptive data it makes sense to use GSAK to get the info you want.

Let me know of any other bugs! Thank you for the heads up on the name bug!!

July 22, 2005

Aside from GPX and LOC, you might want to look into KMZ support. It's the format that is used for Keyhole and Google Earth. I imagine that it would be useful to be able to import these formats directly from Google Earth for those who use it. I know that you don't use Google Earth because it's only compatable with newer versions of Windows, crackhead, but you can still get some example KMZ files from http://www.googleearthhacks.com and maybe you can deconstruct the files enough to get started.

Glad to see you've made so much progress on your program. Any plans to add support for Google Moon in an upcoming release?

Just figured something out. KMZ is a PK Zip file(or open it with WinZip).

What you really want to (support) read into the program is the KML file inside of the zip file. I will be working on integratiing this into the app as well. The only thing it wont let you do is Zoom into things in the 3d manner that Google Eaarth will. Google Maps does not support this method, but I will try to make it so the program will extract the coordinates from KML files.

In the mean time, you can use your KMZ files with google earth, but KML will be the format my program woul dhave to read. It will not read zipped files, only plain text XML or Plain Text format.

I am also working on adding a standalone format similar to DB files, where it would parse on delimiters in the file. This way you could create a plain text document in this manner:

long=xx.xxxxxx,lat=xx.xxxxxx;name=xxxxxx/

Then save it to a file extension like "GEO" or something I decide later, or somehting to that effect and it would put Markers at those points with their names, or plot Poly Lines in that order.

Commas seperating long and lat, semicolon for names and / for new lines. this way, anyone could plot away.

Lots to work on...Suggestions welcome.

July 23, 2005

I created a blog page in addition to the download page. This way people can comment or post bugs or problems they are having, or find out how to customize their maps!

Makes it a little easier to see whats going on and what troubles others are having. This way you can see what they did to fix their map or what they might have done to improve their map layouts. I hope all like the program and have been able to get it to work for your needs.

GPX to Google Maps Blog

I will try to make these the last few posts for this thread so people can just bookmark my site for updates and downloads of the latest versions of the program as well as keep up to date on the blog side of it.

July 25, 2005

Hey, crackhead, any possibility of tossing up a website with a changelog and build number to keep this sorted out? With how fast you're releasing new editions, it might be a bit of bother for you to have to post, but it's a hassle to look through this thread and see if I need to redownload the zip file. Also, I'd like to link to your tool on the Geocaching entry on Wikipedia.

Do you have a link to the wikipedia geocaching site?

July 25, 2005

It would be right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

July 25, 2005

Double posted.

Edited July 25, 2005 by PercyKittenz

July 28, 2005

I have been hearing about MSN's new Virtual Earth Maps. I gave them a look and sad to say, google maps look smuch better. (MSN was in Black And White in Aerial view)

They work pretty much the same with similar controls. This guy who made this site has combined them both onto one page so you can see the maps working for a side by side comparison: http://www.jonasson.org/maps/

I am going to take a look at how hard it will be to to use the MSN maps api as well, but I think I will stay true to my google maps.

If its not broke, dont fix it!

http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

July 28, 2005

TOO FREAKIN' COOL!!!

Very well done.

The interface could use a little work (way too busy), but the output that was generated is great.

July 30, 2005

Added a new window for GPX files that were not created by Geocaching.com

This is still in testing, but at least you will be able to plot waypoints for GPX files from other sources. So long as they contain waypoint names for each waypoint(Yes, some files I have downloaded do not use a name for the waypoints in the file, just the track record of waypoints lat and longs, but no name or descriptions. These should work for the Polyline tool though).

Still debating on whether or not to add KML files. Because KML files were meant for Google Earth, loading the data on google maps will only display the waypoints, and not the extra data that Google Earth can read, like adding the 3d views and angle/tilt perspectives.

There really isnt a need for this. If you have google earth, then you dont need my program, but if you want to make maps for your web page, then this is the way to go: http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

Edited July 30, 2005 by crackhead

July 31, 2005

This program just ROCKS!!!!! Anyone have any experience getting one of these maps to display on a Blogger.com blog hosted by blogspot.com? For example, can I post a Google map view of the caches I just found in downtown Nashville during my recent trip on my blog http://AdventuresInGeocaching.blogspot.com?

August 1, 2005

Yes, awesome program. There is, however, one odd bug that if waypoint names are five characters, it adds a "<" character after the waypoint name, example:

//Marker creation at specified Lat and Long.

//click on marker to show pop up text/html.

var GCBFA<Marker = new GMarker(new GPoint(-76.22165,44.738333),icon);

map.addOverlay(GCBFA<Marker);

var GCBFA<MSG ="Tornadoland Way Point Name: GCBFA< 44.738333,-76.22165<hr width='200' color='black'><a href='http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e5bcc58a-7146-4638-97d7-3b2812bc5a84' target='geo'>Launch Cache page</a> werdna: Placed By '10260'werdna' : Owner 'Traditional Cache' : Type 'Regular' : Container '2' : Difficulty '2' : Terrain 'Canada' : Country 'Ontario' : State ";

GEvent.addListener(GCBFA<Marker, "click", function() {

GCBFA<Marker.openInfoWindowHtml(GCBFA<MSG);

});

5.3k · August 1, 2005

Anyone have any experience getting one of these maps to display on a Blogger.com blog hosted by blogspot.com?

That's a problem of legalities, not a technical one.

By making your maps public, if you used any data from a .loc obtained from this site or a PQ, you'd be violating the TOS. I approached the site about this very specifically and was told in short that you can't make such maps public if they were derived from data obtained from the site by those means.

3.8k · August 1, 2005

By making your maps public, if you used any data from a .loc obtained from this site or a PQ, you'd be violating the TOS. I approached the site about this very specifically and was told in short that you can't make such maps public if they were derived from data obtained from the site by those means.

Much to the great dismay of Ed Hall and fans of Buxley's maps. I sure wish this could get worked out.

August 1, 2005

Yes, awesome program. There is, however, one odd bug that if waypoint names are five characters, it adds a "<" character after the waypoint name, example:

//Marker creation at specified Lat and Long.

//click on marker to show pop up text/html.

var GCBFA<Marker = new GMarker(new GPoint(-76.22165,44.738333),icon);

map.addOverlay(GCBFA<Marker);

var GCBFA<MSG ="Tornadoland Way Point Name: GCBFA< 44.738333,-76.22165<hr width='200' color='black'><a href='http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e5bcc58a-7146-4638-97d7-3b2812bc5a84' target='geo'>Launch Cache page</a> werdna: Placed By '10260'werdna' : Owner 'Traditional Cache' : Type 'Regular' : Container '2' : Difficulty '2' : Terrain 'Canada' : Country 'Ontario' : State ";

GEvent.addListener(GCBFA<Marker, "click", function() {

GCBFA<Marker.openInfoWindowHtml(GCBFA<MSG);

});

I thought I fixed that problem. I will have to go back and take a look. What version of the program are you using? 1.00.0133 is the latest build.

August 1, 2005

Yes, awesome program. There is, however, one odd bug that if waypoint names are five characters, it adds a "<" character after the waypoint name, example:

//Marker creation at specified Lat and Long.

//click on marker to show pop up text/html.

var GCBFA<Marker = new GMarker(new GPoint(-76.22165,44.738333),icon);

map.addOverlay(GCBFA<Marker);

var GCBFA<MSG ="Tornadoland Way Point Name: GCBFA< 44.738333,-76.22165<hr width='200' color='black'><a href='http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e5bcc58a-7146-4638-97d7-3b2812bc5a84' target='geo'>Launch Cache page</a> werdna: Placed By '10260'werdna' : Owner 'Traditional Cache' : Type 'Regular' : Container '2' : Difficulty '2' : Terrain 'Canada' : Country 'Ontario' : State ";

GEvent.addListener(GCBFA<Marker, "click", function() {

GCBFA<Marker.openInfoWindowHtml(GCBFA<MSG);

});

I did fix that problem. It isnt in the latest version, and you made me start thinking I was crazy....You mus thave an old copy of the initial program.

Redownload the updated file and see the blog for the latest build updates!! http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

August 1, 2005

Anyone have any experience getting one of these maps to display on a Blogger.com blog hosted by blogspot.com?

That's a problem of legalities, not a technical one.

By making your maps public, if you used any data from a .loc obtained from this site or a PQ, you'd be violating the TOS. I approached the site about this very specifically and was told in short that you can't make such maps public if they were derived from data obtained from the site by those means.

Could you expand on this TOS? Is it the TOS for Geocaching.com? or for the Blogger site? I dont see anything that says you cant use the data for PERSONAL use. It does say you cant use the data for other means, except for non commercial, and not for profit use.

And if it was for geocaching.com, where does it say you cant use the LOC and PQ files? I didnt see it when I read the Terms of Use? If you cant use them, how is it you can save them for upload to other devices and XML reader programs. Wouldn't a map on a site be the same thing as reading it in?

Licensee may use, copy, alter, modify, merge, reproduce, and/or create derivative works of the on-line textual content [including the about geocaching content, links content and cache hiding tutorial] for Licensee's own internal use. The portions of the on-line documentation merged with other software, data, hard copy, and/or digital materials shall continue to be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement and shall provide the following copyright attribution notice acknowledging Groundspeak's proprietary rights in the on-line documentation: "Portions of this document include intellectual property of Groundspeak and are used herein by permission. Copyright © 2001 Groundspeak, Inc. All Rights Reserved."
Uses Not Permitted:

· Licensee shall not sell, rent, lease, sublicense, lend, assign, time-share, or transfer, in whole or in part, or provide unlicensed third parties access to the Data, Related Materials, any updates, or Licensee's rights under this Agreement.

It plainly stats that you can use the textual data for personal use, not to be used for profit or to export the data to another format, in example, you cant take a loc file and then create a new file format and then sell that file for profit or transfer it to third parties for commercial use, but if your just displaying the location and textual information with links back to Geocaching.com(Where it would be obvious that it was for geocaching.com) wouldnt that be acceptable terms of use? I mean, the Buxtly's waypoint site used data to display the files on its site and links back to geocaching.com They have been around a long time. and I am sure they use the geocaching.com database for its map soucres.

5.3k · August 2, 2005

One key difference between Google Maps and Tiger Maps in this regard is that you can post a Tiger Map without revealing coordinates. But the your first sentence is another key. Putting them on your computer where you have exclusive access to them would certainly constitute personal use. Republishing enough data to find a cache (and the arguments to 'new GPoint' would certainly qualify) on a public site is what this site has been so aggressively discouraging. That last sentence in your quote is the clencher - you are transferring data obtained under the license.

If you're looking for a poster child of TOS conformance, Buxley might not be your best choice Ed and this site have publicly squabbled for years. (I remember first hearing about it back in '01) I don't know who's really right there, but the fact that this site has dismantled access for brillig.com is a pretty good hint they don't want that done.

http://www.brillig.com/geocaching/status.html

I don't make the rules. I just try to understand them well enough to play by them. I can think of many "value add" services an ambitious programmer could provide to the site but depressingly few of them follow the TOS of this site.

August 3, 2005

One key difference between Google Maps and Tiger Maps in this regard is that you can post a Tiger Map without revealing coordinates. But the your first sentence is another key. Putting them on your computer where you have exclusive access to them would certainly constitute personal use. Republishing enough data to find a cache (and the arguments to 'new GPoint' would certainly qualify) on a public site is what this site has been so aggressively discouraging. That last sentence in your quote is the clencher - you are transferring data obtained under the license.

If you're looking for a poster child of TOS conformance, Buxley might not be your best choice Ed and this site have publicly squabbled for years. (I remember first hearing about it back in '01) I don't know who's really right there, but the fact that this site has dismantled access for brillig.com is a pretty good hint they don't want that done.

http://www.brillig.com/geocaching/status.html

I don't make the rules. I just try to understand them well enough to play by them. I can think of many "value add" services an ambitious programmer could provide to the site but depressingly few of them follow the TOS of this site.

I am still confused. I know it is probably a simple concept I am missing, but if they didnt want the information to be shared with the public, then why can you view it from the site without being required to have an account and log in. The data in a cache page (Except for Member only caches) can be seen by anyone coming to this site. If the cache waypoint Lat and Long are used to place a marker on a map from the waypoint in the cache page, this is the same data used in the LOC files. What is to stop people from just using the data from the cache page vs downloading a LOC file? Its the same data. Only diffference is that the web page lists hints and user posted logs, as where the loc file just gives the waypoint name and the coordinates.

All my map program does is create a google map that displays the waypoint on the map based on the lat and long from the cache page, with a link back to the geocaching.com cache page.

Is this a violation of the Terms of Use, if used from your desktop? or are you saying it is only a violation when you display this info on a website for others to view?

If this is, then search engines like google are violating the Terms of Use, because they make [Google Cache]CACHED page of different sites. You could search for a geocache waypoint using google and you could view the cached page from within google. They reproduce the page exactly as it would be if you surfed to geocaching.com and looked up a geocache from the site itself.

5.3k · August 3, 2005

What is to stop people from just using the data from the cache page vs downloading a LOC file? Its the same data.
[ ... ]

Is this a violation of the Terms of Use, if used from your desktop? or are you saying it is only a violation when you display this info on a website for others to view?

That sounds like a loophole, but it's not. (I've already fished in that pond.)

Yes, you can get get a cache page that has that information without *explicitly* agreeing to the TOS, but there's an implicit one. Look at the very bottom of every cache page. "Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the Groundspeak Terms of Use. "

My read is that Google Maps of your own cache data on your own desktop are OK becuase you're not then running afould of ' You may not distribute such copies to others,' where if you make them public, you are.

Google (and archivers in general) actually are getting special permission from the site actually do get explictly allowed via http://www.geocaching.com/robots.txt

And I'm sure that any number of us here can point to a dozen ore more sites that run afoul of one or more of these rules.

August 3, 2005

What is to stop people from just using the data from the cache page vs downloading a LOC file? Its the same data.
[ ... ]

Is this a violation of the Terms of Use, if used from your desktop? or are you saying it is only a violation when you display this info on a website for others to view?

That sounds like a loophole, but it's not. (I've already fished in that pond.)

Yes, you can get get a cache page that has that information without *explicitly* agreeing to the TOS, but there's an implicit one. Look at the very bottom of every cache page. "Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the Groundspeak Terms of Use. "

My read is that Google Maps of your own cache data on your own desktop are OK becuase you're not then running afould of ' You may not distribute such copies to others,' where if you make them public, you are.

Google (and archivers in general) actually are getting special permission from the site actually do get explictly allowed via http://www.geocaching.com/robots.txt

And I'm sure that any number of us here can point to a dozen ore more sites that run afoul of one or more of these rules.

I guess its up to the people creating the maps to decide where to draw the line. Use it on your desktop for acceptable "personal use" or upload it to your site for violation of the Terms of Use.

It's like kazzaa. It was intended as a file sharing program, but you know people are going to use it for trading copy written music and movies(even though someone must have purchased it in order to get it on their in the first place)

I can see if people were divulging a trade secret or profiting from their cache maps some how, but its not like people don't allready link back to geocache pages for the ones they have found. There are tons of people on geocaching.com with personal web pages that have links to the cache page from their sites, and I am sure this would create a whole new debate on the Terms Of Use (which I am not trying to do).

Even though the link doesnt contain the basic textual info like decoded hints and log entries, it still links to a cache page, and I would think that this would somehow fall into some grey area around the same thing as a google map with push pins linking back to the cache page. The only difference is that the map shows the Lat and Long of the cache, as well as the link back to the cache page.

While someones site might only contain the name of the cache and/or waypoint name, the map shows a few more details, including the visual location of the cache.

I personally beleive the maps are not violating the terms of use, but I dont suggest anyone go and test this by uploading them all over the net, for lack of Legal knowledge on my end.

You must decide what to do with the map and how to use it within the acceptable use policy of the site hosting the files and whether it is within fair use of Geocaching.com's Terms of Use.

With that said, lets change the subject and go outside to find some caches!!

Thanks for the new brain wrinkle!

August 11, 2005

Update: Thanks to John for finding a bug in my latest release. It is now fixed.

Build 1.00.0137 is the latest downloadable file.

http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/map/GPX/gpxblog.html

December 12, 2005

I would like to thank folks in this thread because indirectly they helped me with the development of my "Rogue's Map" (see http://www.pitt.edu/~qqq/Go/Rogue.html). For the club I'm in, I need to seek cache's 60 miles apart. This map allows me to mark caches that I've already found (or would like to visit), and draw sixty mile circles around them. That way I can know where I should search next. Clicking on the map gives me a link back to geocaching.com which I can use to find other waypoints.

With my most recent version I can open the .loc file of selected waypoints and paste the text at the bottom of the page. Then I can click a button that will put these on the map temporarily (i.e. refresh the page and I'm back to only the waypoints that have been saved on my file server). Anyway, I am posting it here because somone might be interested in some of the code (circle-drawing xml-parsing functions).

December 14, 2005

Help! I must be doing something wrong! I opened the zip file, ran "setup". It ran through the setup steps and said it was installed. Now there is still no icon or anything on my desktop!

December 14, 2005

With whom are you asking. For my program, or the rouge program by ggg?

If for my program, look in your windows programs menu for "GPX to Google Map Creator". You can create a shorcut to it manually, but it does not install a shortcut on the desktop by default.

Geocache Points On A Google Map, Visualize Them

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