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Google Earth And Geocaching


Hynr

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The thread on integration with Google Earth (GE) got closed before we had much chance to have a discussion.

 

I find this software very intriguing and it would certainly help me to see how others are using it in conjunction with geocaching. I can understand some trepidation at the particular script that was mentioned since it apparently hits the web site for the coordinates in a way that violate TOU. But the same thing can be done with PQs in a way that does not cause this trouble.

 

I am surprised that it was not pointed out that GE already has great integration with geocaching. You can open a gpx file in GE directly. This means that as premium member you can click in the icon to download the gpx file for a particular cache and then drag that gpx file into GE. If you associate gpx files with GE, then you have as full integration as with any of the on-line map systems. Multiple caches can be plotted by dropping a PQ result onto GE. Ditto for gpx files created with GSAK.

 

The only problem I have found with dropping an entire PQ result into GE is that it seems to have some sort of upper limit on how much gpx data it can take. It always seems to choke on a large PQ; but loading 70 to 100 caches seems to be no problem. Has anyone else seen this and found what the problem might be?

Edited by Hynr
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Checked this out. This is really cool! Problem is it pinpoints some of my hides right down to the foot! I may have to hide them better now!! Find it works best if u turn off the checkbox (unclick) go to ure location then click it. Caches will pop up in a couple seconds.

Edited by Crusso
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I always load my pocket query into google earth before I go out geocaching. It helps me figuring out where to park and how to best approach the cache (I guess it's a bit of cheating :D

I even found few caches without GPS, just by using GE.

 

I also like to display my gps track in Google earth, i am posting some of them on my website

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Well, how freakin' cool is THAT!? I just learned about Google Earth this week. (I know..I'm behind the times.) DIdn't know I could import the GPX files. Tried it. GREAT! I wouldn't want to use it for regular caching, but for those back country ones that could potentially involve a LOT of bush whacking through our local dense poison oak, I'd certainly be up to using this tool.

 

Otherwise, in regular instances, what would be the point? OK...making life a lot easier. But I'm not in this game for the ease...I'm in it for finding COOL places. This tool couuld help me narrow down some of my choices on days when I have to make such "crucial" decisions.

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...

 

The only problem I have found with dropping an entire PQ result into GE is that it seems to have some sort of upper limit on how much gpx data it can take. It always seems to choke on a large PQ; but loading 70 to 100 caches seems to be no problem. Has anyone else seen this and found what the problem might be?

I am not having that issue. The main PQ I use is about 490 waypoints, It loads that just fine. I have also made a Much larger group of waypoints from combined PQ's and was able to succussfully load 1914 waypoints with no crash.

 

I process the PQ's through GSAK so that I can view the Smart Names that click with my brain a little easier than the GPxxxx values. It involves opening the PQ in GSAK and then exporting as .GPX with Waypoint Name tag = %smart.

 

BTW, it's absolutely awesome to fly around the mountains and islands of NW Washington and view the terrain on which the waypoints sit. From there, it is one click to open the cache page and view some details.

 

I wonder if this should be moved to GPS Units and Software?

Edited by soreyes
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Been using GE a few weeks now.. didn't realize I can use the .gpx and .loc files with it. Awesome!

Been using it for a couple months, even taught a group of teachers how to use it in their classes. I thought only the paid Plus version would let you load GPX files. Just tried it with the free version, and voila, a GPX file loaded. And a link to the cache's page on geocaching.com is in the legend and in a call-out when you click the point on the map. I suspect geocachers work at Google, as I noticed there are a couple of caches near the Googleplex.

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There are caches at lots of placers that cachers don't work at. But given the geek appeal of geocaching and the geek density there, it would surely be a sucker bet to assume that zero geocachers are Google staff.

 

The difference between the paid version and the free version isn't hte ability to import GPX, it's the ability to talk directly to a receiver.

 

If only there were some program that could talk to exactly the list of receivers that Google supported and spoke KML..And what if that program could also speak GPX and Geocaching.loc. The mind boggles.

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[...]  If you associate gpx files with GE, then you have as full integration as with any of the on-line map systems.  [...]

I wasn't able to get this asociation to work. I can drop GPX files on the Google Earth window and it works fine, but if I Open a GPX file (from Windows Explorer or Firefox) and specify GoogleEarth.exe as the program to use, although Google Earth will open (if it is not already open), it doesn't go anywhere. If it is already open, it pretty much does nothing other than surface the Google Earth window.

 

Obviously downloading a GPX file and then dragging it to the Google Earth window is easy enough, but I wish I could get this association working. Any tips would be appreciated!!

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Obviously downloading a GPX file and then dragging it to the Google Earth window is easy enough, but I wish I could get this association working. Any tips would be appreciated!!

Apps need to be designed to "hook in" to the "open with" function. That would be a Google Earth feature. I don't know where suggestions go for feature enhancements but the Google Earth site would be the first place to go.

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I wasn't able to get this asociation to work. I can drop GPX files on the Google Earth window and it works fine, but if I Open a GPX file (from Windows Explorer or Firefox) and specify GoogleEarth.exe as the program to use, although Google Earth will open (if it is not already open), it doesn't go anywhere. If it is already open, it pretty much does nothing other than surface the Google Earth window.

It works fine for me. I didn't do anything fancy about it either.

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I am trying to get an overlay of caches to work with GE. I haven't searched the entire forum yet, but my dad and I took a trip from western Illinois through Indiana to Michigan and I had to look up cities along the way to try to find caches, then determine how far they were from the interstate we were travelling. I wanted a chance to quickly get off the interstate and walk around for a while without detouring too much. I personally wouldn't use it to "pinpoint" the exact location of it, but rather take a really high level view of our route and get caches along the way. Is this ability covered somewhere?

 

As a sidenote, how long before a cache location is found in GE where you can zoom in and make out someone actually finding the cache?

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We're looking into adding kml functionality to both sites including network kmls (so when you pan and zoom google earth it pulls up caches/waymarks).

I think [supplied link] does what you were suggesting.

Actually that does it the wrong way, and violates the TOS in the process of doing it. So if you don't mind I will edit that link so it doesn't cause an impact to the features of geocaching.com.

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Hello,

 

I'm the developer of the script that is apparently a closely guarded secret here. Groundspeak has asked me to stop hosting it, and has also blocked my IP to force the issue. I don't mean to badmouth them, they just have a different perspective on development than I do.

 

Since the script is disabled now, I don't imagine there is a problem linking to my site* where I talk about the issue a little more. I do have the PHP source that I used, and it probably still works if you put it on your own server.

 

Best of luck to all of you -- stay creative with this hobby!

 

Andy Fowler

 

* [edit] Okay, so no HTML could be a problem... www.andyfowler.com

Edited by phoenixdarkdirk
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What did your script do, exactly?

 

And why was it shut down?

It was pretty fun while it lasted, A user could pan around and area on google earth with geocaching waypoints displaying around the center of focus. The waypoints had clickable links to the cache page.

Somthing like that can be accomplished with a GPX file though, but it is a little less convenient to get the waypoint names to display in the readable fomat that the script was displaying.

According to his blog, we just need to wait until google purchases geocaching.com and then we should be able to do everything for free due to some sort of deal with the api mafia.

Edited by soreyes
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What did your script do, exactly?

 

And why was it shut down?

Without reading the code, if it violated the TOS, then most likely it would take the center point of Google Earth's view and then ask geocaching.com for all the caches near that point and then scrape each of the cache pages in order to get the coordinates to place the pinpoint and add the text/description details.

 

Each time you move the view, I imagine it would need to recheck the GC.com server...which would eventually mean tons of hits if anyone were to navigate Google Earth the way I do (click. click...clickclickclick...)

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Ok ... I am Sorry but I just have to ask ...... What is this TOS that is being violated

TOS - Terms of Service

 

Pretty much any website that you go to will have a "Terms of Service" agreement on it. Generally this includes things like rules against page scraping. Basically you aren't allowed to use a program to siphon content off of their website, and put it on yours (or in some program).

 

A non gc.com example, you can't use amazon.com's book database to preform automated lookups of books by ISBN number (well actually you can, but to do so would violate their TOS page).

 

In this case, the rule serves to limit how much the site gets hit without actual users going to it. They are trying to cut down the 'pressure' that one 'power user' can put on the site at a time. Make sense, I mean why should a couple of users be allowed to put the same pressure on the site as a couple of hundred 'regular' users. Cool as it may be for the power users, it just ain't all that fair for everyone else. Jeremy has now said that they are looking at integrating this functionality the 'right' way, so that essentially it won't be a massive drain on the server, personally I'm looking forward to it.

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Just thought I'd kick in my 2 cents on this subject. Google earth (I am a Subscriber to Google Earth Plus) is ok for geocaching and does accept .loc files for input. It can come in handy for helping to get an idea of where a cache is. It is also capable of downloading waypoints from your GPS. One of the things that Google doesn't tell you is that it has NO UPLOAD CAPABILITY TO GPS. So if you want to upload any waypoints, routes, etc. to your GPS from Google Earth. Forget it. Kinda ticked me off when I subscribed and then found out later.

 

Secondly, Google Earth is based on NASA's "Blue Marble" Maps and Hi-Res Sattelite Photos of select areas. If you zoom in close on an area that doesn't have any HI-Res, you will get a green blur instead of clear images. It will however "layer" streets, etc. on the map. On that note, those two types of map are the only available. It has no Topo or Orthographic Map capability.

 

It does have the capabilty to show you street names (even in Low-Res areas) and other capabilities to save "Push-pinned" or favorite areas, etc and 3-D topography. In some cases it has 3-D buildings. You are also able to save Screen Captures of areas, print them, or E-mail them to people. In those respects Google Earth is pretty cool, especially in Hi-Res areas or an area where you've no idea what streets you're looking for.

 

It is not, however, all it's cracked up to be. Hi Res areas are few and far between and the lack of FULL GPS Capability makes it semi-useful from a Geocaching point of view. When it comes time to renew my subscription, I probably won't unless they make some major improvements.

 

I have found another program that in my opinion is just as, or more, useful to GeoCaching. NASA's Worldwind. It also has 3-D capability, and the ability to save screenshots of maps for printing later. It doesn't have a lot of the "Bells and Whistles" that Google Earth has and has absoluteley no GPS capability. But it DOES have something that Google Earth doesn't. Topo and Orthograpic (as well as 4 other Map types) available. It also has Hi-Res available in some areas as well.

 

It's really great to be able to pull up a Topo of an area that your're going to be caching in and tilt it and Zoom in and out, fly around, etc. to get an idea of what kind of hike you're in for. Then if you want, switch immediately to Orthographic view for a more Hi-Res view of the area. In most cases the Orthos (although Black and White) have just as good a resolution as a color Hi-Res and are available for the entire United States.

 

NASA's World Wind is also free and a work in progress under GNU licensing rules. In other word's there aren't any! This also means that people are still working on it and it will only get better. It is however a hard drive space and resource hog at the moment ( I'm sure as development moves along it will get better) so you should read the requirements for it and be sure your pc can handle it. It also requires Microsoft .NET 1.1 and it's upgrade.

 

Like Google Earth, it is another tool. Neither program is totally useful to GeoCachers, but together they are powerful tools to help in the "find."

 

You can find World Wind at worldwind.arc.nasa.gov

 

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :rolleyes:

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I also find that GE does not fill my water bottle, control the charge on my rechargeable batteries, and handle various other functions that I somehow associate with geocaching. Of course, I had no expectation of these things, nor that it might feed my GPS.

 

To say that GE does not meet expectations is a bit strange to me. What is does at no cost to the user is absolutely fantastic. It exceeds my own expectations in every way.

 

Also, keep in mind that GE is still in "beta"; if you want features added, then you should communicate that to Google.

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NASA's World Wind is also free and a work in progress under GNU licensing rules. In other word's there aren't any! This also means that people are still working on it and it will only get better. It is however a hard drive space and resource hog at the moment ( I'm sure as development moves along it will get better) so you should read the requirements for it and be sure your pc can handle it. It also requires Microsoft .NET 1.1 and it's upgrade.

I've got a 3yr old laptop running XP and 256Mb memory. NASA World Wind started but consistently crashed within 2 minutes no matter what I did. The pan/tilt just created a blurred smear over the screen...then crashed the system. Reluctantly I uninstalled it :rolleyes:

I also now have a mapping-specific progam (thank you Santa! :huh: ) that does much the same, with country-specific info for lat/long/alt. Excellent software but again, the laptop can't do it justice, and wheezes on processing.

 

Then along comes Google Earth. It doesn't have the feature-specific bits from the commercial software that I love, but D A N G ! ! ! The efficiency in the code is impressive: the only slowness comes from sucking the images down the cable. Everything else just sings! Dragging a GPX into it then zooming in is brilliant. It's got my vote.

Edited by GSVNoFixedAbode
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I also find that GE does not fill my water bottle, control the charge on my rechargeable batteries, and handle various other functions that I somehow associate with geocaching. Of course, I had no expectation of these things, nor that it might feed my GPS.

 

To say that GE does not meet expectations is a bit strange to me. What is does at no cost to the user is absolutely fantastic. It exceeds my own expectations in every way.

 

Also, keep in mind that GE is still in "beta"; if you want features added, then you should communicate that to Google.

I think what driven1 was getting at is that he paid for it based on the fact that it advertises interfacing with a GPS receiver in the Plus version, but found out after paying that it supports download only, and you can't upload to the GPS. It's a little different if a free program doesn't do exactly what you want as opposed to something you shelled out 20 bucks for to get a feature you then find out doesn't work the way you were led to believe.

 

I for one am glad he said something. I was thinking of going to Plus just so I could get the GPS interface, but I think I'll save my money.

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Thank you BooBear! And when I subscribed to the paid version, the Subscription fee was 29.95. Google recently dropped it to 20 to get some sales. That also kinda ticked me off. They, to date have not sent me anything about a refund of the 9 dollars or extending my subscription.

 

Yes, the free version is great if you're ok with it's limited functionality. It is also not nearly the processing and space hog that World Wind is. In most cases Google Earth will work just fine on any PC. It does have a quirk about video cards (it prefers NVIDIA cards) and you may have to download a different version if your pc doesn't have that brand of card. I paid for for other functionality and didn't get what I thought I was getting.

 

Straight from their page...

 

"Google Earth Plus is an optional upgrade adding GPS device support, the ability to import spreadsheets, drawing tools and better printing.

 

Further...

 

Why buy plus?

 

In addition to the basic features, Google Earth Plus includes:

 

GPS data import - read in tracks and waypoints from select GPS devices

Note 1: Verified support for Magellan and Garmin devices only

Note 2: Does not support export of tracks or waypoints to a GPS

Higher resolution printing (greater than screen resolution).

Customer support via email (not just web).

Annotation – adds draw/sketch tools for richer annotations (can be shared as KML).

Data importer – read address points from .csv files.

 

See notes 1 and 2? Neither of those were on this page when I purchased the Subscription.

 

Google Earth Plus

 

Also on World Wind, as I stated in my post, your PC (or Laptop) has to have the processing power and space to handle it. My Pc is pretty powerful and has a lot of space. World Wind runs just fine on it.

 

I give people another perspective from a Google Earth Plus user and look what happens! Sheesh!

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My Problem with using a gpx file with Google Earth is that all I see is the Waypoint Name.

 

The Title would be preferred.

I wonder if I can change that with GSAK?

 

I can't wait for GC version of this feature for GE...

 

Jeremy, please keep us posted... Thx!

 

(Release Dates, Works in Progress, Beta Testing

 

:rolleyes: Drool... :huh:

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Yes, I just did it last night for the first time. Change the name in GSAK by using %smart in the waypoint name field.

 

Google Earth is becoming my new best friend....

Or better still use the %shortname in addidtion to the %code tag. Just use the following custom URLs in GSAK: (Tools=>Options=>HTML)

 

Google Maps=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%lat+%lon+(%code-%shortname=30)&hl=en

Google Satellite View=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%lat+%lon+(%code-%shortname=30)&spn=0.020,0.020&t=k

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My Problem with using a gpx file with Google Earth is that all I see is the Waypoint Name.

 

The Title would be preferred.

I wonder if I can change that with GSAK?

 

I can't wait for GC version of this feature for GE...

 

Jeremy, please keep us posted...  Thx!

 

(Release Dates, Works in Progress, Beta Testing

 

<_<  Drool...  :huh:

I cobbled together a program earlier this year that does what you're asking. Well, half anyway. I wrote it back when GE was known as Keyhole. The program processes a .gpx file into a GE .kml file, plunking down one icon for found caches, and another for unfound caches, using the cache's name instead of the waypoint name. It has been invaluable to me ever since. Massachusetts is VERY high reolsution. Seriously... you hit the CT border and everything goes fuzzy!

 

Some things it doesn't do... icons don't link to the cache page on GC.com. There is no way to tell what kind of caches (traditional, multi, puzzle, etc.) you're looking at. I went to fix these issues about a month ago, only to find that my "free beta" version of VB.NEt had unceremoniously expired. (Grrrrr.....)

 

Drop me a line and I'll send it out to ya. No promises. It was built and tested to run right here, so no telling how it'll like playing with strange systems. Worst case scenario: you can send me a .gpx and I'll happily process it and return it.

Edited by Clan Delaney
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My son got me hooked on GE. I love it for geocaching.

 

This is how I use GE for caching. I have created folders for each town (actually I cache in both NH and MA so start with folders for the states). I then downloaded a .gpx file that I exported from GSAK using the cache name (%name). In GE layers, I have borders, city boundaries, and postal codes boundaries turned on. This helps me see what town a cache is in (just be careful if a town has more than one zip code). I then dragged each cache from its temporary import spot to the folder for the town it is in. Now when I want to cache in a certain town, with a few clicks in GE, I can see what is available and each has a link directly to the cache page.

 

Now if GE will only make icons for geocaching. I use the sun icon for my found caches because they don't have a smilie face. <_<

 

Donna~The Haddad's Pit Crew

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