+lordelph Posted July 14, 2005 Posted July 14, 2005 I've written a GreaseMonkey script which allows you to view the progress of a travel bug across the globe with Google Earth. To see it in action, view this image (70Kb) To install it, you must use the Firefox browser with the Greasemonkey extension. Once you've got that, right click this link http://files.dixo.net/geocachingtbtracker.user.js and choose "install user script...". A dialog will appear showing the script name and the pages it will modify - to confirm you want to install, click OK. Now go find a TB to track! I wrote this very quickly when the idea occurred to me this afternoon - if you notice a problem with it, do let me know!
+lordelph Posted July 16, 2005 Author Posted July 16, 2005 (edited) I just fixed a bug in the script where it could miss points on TBs that had photographs logged, so if you've noticed too few points, re-install the script and try again! Many thanks to the eagle-eyed Rutson for alerting me to the problem. Edited July 16, 2005 by lordelph
+lordelph Posted July 16, 2005 Author Posted July 16, 2005 There's no stopping that Mr Rutson when he gets going and he's just added some nice tweaks, each cache on the route is now marked, and you can "playback" the TB track in Google Earth to fly from cache to cache. It's a lovely upgrade, so if you liked the extension before, you'll love it now Upgrade by re-installing from the original link.
+Tidalflame Posted July 17, 2005 Posted July 17, 2005 Nice. I might try it once I get a few TBs of my own
+magicboy Posted July 19, 2005 Posted July 19, 2005 Got the script no bother, but whenever I try to install Google Earth, nothing happens... Anyone know what I might be doing wrong??
+Team Red Roo Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 I've written a GreaseMonkey script which allows you to view the progress of a travel bug across the globe with Google Earth. Brilliant - almost as good as bottled beer
+Doc-Dean Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 How will it display the track of places that travel over the horizon to the other side of the globe?
+Doc-Dean Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Very cool! Just installed it. Works great but only on some TB tracks. Answering my own question from above.... I tried a very well travelled TB - A virtual TB and while trying to send the (very large) data file to Google Earth it repeatedly caused Firefox to crash.
+lordelph Posted August 18, 2005 Author Posted August 18, 2005 I'll check it out - probably a limitation on the size of data: urls...
+MamaMouse Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 (edited) I downloaded the add-in and the script and then tried to view the map picture and I got a pop-up asking me what I wanted to do with the file. The pop-up said the file was an: application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml application. I tried it on travel bug TBJVDW which has traveled From Alaska to Florida to New Zealand. I also tried it on several other less traveled bugs, but I get the same result. Did I miss something? Nevermine .. I figured it out.. Duh ... have to install Google-Earth. Silly me. Now it works great! Edited August 18, 2005 by MamaMouse
+fizzymagic Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 I'm curious: how do you accomplish this without violating geocaching's Terms of Use that prohibit automated page-scraping?
+lordelph Posted August 18, 2005 Author Posted August 18, 2005 It isn't performing an automated fetch of anything - the fetching is driven by your own browsing. All it does is utilise the information on the page to visualise it in a different way.
+fizzymagic Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 It isn't performing an automated fetch of anything - the fetching is driven by your own browsing. All it does is utilise the information on the page to visualise it in a different way. I'm confused. Where are the coordinates of the caches it has visited available on the TB page? I went and looked and I did not see them. Don't you need coordinates to make the map?
+lordelph Posted August 19, 2005 Author Posted August 19, 2005 View the HTML source to that page, the information is there. If you can read javascript, you can view the source of the GreaseMonkey script to see how I did it.
+fizzymagic Posted August 19, 2005 Posted August 19, 2005 View the HTML source to that page, the information is there. If you can read javascript, you can view the source of the GreaseMonkey script to see how I did it. Ah, indeed it is! The various map centers. Clever. I don't use Greasemonkey because of its serious security flaws. Knowing that the information is on that page is extremely useful, howver. Thanks!
+Maingray Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 Great stuff, works well with the 0.5 beta. Why does it go to the last location first and then proceed with the tour?
+Doc-Dean Posted September 16, 2005 Posted September 16, 2005 I'll check it out - probably a limitation on the size of data: urls... Any update on this bug?
+Windsocker Posted September 16, 2005 Posted September 16, 2005 Being a complete novice at pc's i tried this and its working fantastic i have a few Tbs now i can see there travels thanks guys
+Anonymous' Posted September 16, 2005 Posted September 16, 2005 That's a very cool idea, I'll have to try it out on one of my TBs.
+Tharagleb Posted October 6, 2005 Posted October 6, 2005 Does this work with Internet Explorer? To install it, you must use the Firefox browser... It is a Firefox extension, however Firefox is free, just go download it.
+lordelph Posted October 6, 2005 Author Posted October 6, 2005 While there are Greasemonkey-like extensions for IE (try Turnabout), this particular extension uses a Firefox-specific feature to do what it does.
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