An *extra* Pocket Query

[+GeoLink]

Does anybody have a quickie solution for exceeding the 5 pocket query per day limit for premium users? I have five queries that run weekly. Unfortunately, I'm going of town this afternoon and realized that I don't have my destination area covered. You guessed it, my five "regulars" ran this morning and I can't get any more until tomorrow when I'm already on the road. Any help would be appreciated.

[+ODragon]

There is no answer in the short term. In the long term, set up the PQs so that you never automatically run 5 in one day. I rarely run more than 10 a week....

[+welch]

If Loc files would work you could, edit or create a new PQ to wherever your headed. Fill it out as normal except don't add a day to run, then submit it. When the page reloads pick the link at the top that says "run the search on the nearest cache page ". Then go threw everypage and download the coords 20 at a time... course you won't have an easy way to have the info with you, just a bunch of waypoints.

[+Tharagleb]

You could ask a friend, or even a complete stranger, to run a query for you and email you the results. This probably isn't kosher but as a one-time thing I think TPTB wouldn't make a fuss. I dunno.

[+ODragon]

You could ask a friend, or even a complete stranger, to run a query for you and email you the results. This probably isn't kosher but as a one-time thing I think TPTB wouldn't make a fuss. I dunno.

TPTB said that was against the TOS...

[+Tharagleb]

You are correct:

 

You may make a single copy of the Site Materials solely for Your personal, noncommercial use, but such copying must be consistent with any applicable additional terms and conditions and You must preserve any copyright, trademark, or other notices contained in or associated with such Site Materials. You may not distribute such copies to others, whether or not in electronic form and whether or not for a charge or other consideration, without prior written consent of the owner of such materials. If you have any questions, contact us at contact@Groundspeak.com.

[+BDstarcachers]

Is there any way you could combine a few of those?

 

Most GPS's hold 500 waypoints.

 

For my standard Database for my GPS, I have all caches I have not found

within 100 mi radius my Zip and give me 400 caches. That covers my entire

caching area and more than I would ever need.

I only run that about once a week and update my GPS so I am always ready.

 

I get all the new caches out within the last week, daily.

 

You may want to ask yourself, do you really need all those running every day?

Or can you run them only when you need them, it only takes a click, select

today to run it and it comes through usually within minutes to your e-mail.

It's like an "on demand" thing. Very quick.

I do this when I have a special cache run out of town and I need a completely

new database of caches.

When I get home, replace the out of town ones with my standard database.

 

Your pocket queries stay on your list until you delete them. You do not even

have to have any of the days checked you want to run them. They can just

be there for when you need them spare of the moment.

Click on the PQ you want, check today, submit. Done. Minutes to your e-mail.

 

Just some food for thought. Not sure how spread out your pocket queries are

and if you really need them every day...

[+GeoLink]

Thanks to all who responded so quickly. I think I will run the query and download 20 at a time as was suggested for this trip. For the future, I'll either combine a few of my queries or spread them so as to run on different days so I don't get caught with the same problem again.

[+Yamar]

You could ask a friend, or even a complete stranger, to run a query for you and email you the results.  This probably isn't kosher but as a one-time thing I think TPTB wouldn't make a fuss. I dunno.

TPTB said that was against the TOS...

You can always create a second user, sign them up to become a premium member and then wham... you get 10 PQs a day! And Jermey gets twice the cash! Everyone wins.

 

Though the TOS would limit you from sharing the data from one of you with the other of you.

[+Markwell]

There are two ways to look at the possibilities around the 5 per day limit.

 

One proposed above was to create a new account and get 10 queries per day.

 

As an additional comment on that method, you can do the cheaper method and pay the $3 membership for one month. Just make sure that on the secondary account, you choose something bizarre for a user name like "E4HXGU8SK" so that someone doesn't kick you later for using what THEY wanted as a login. If you like having the 10 queries daily (5,000 waypoints per day!!!), you can keep the second account and pay up the yearly membership. But for a one time thing, just pay it for one month.

_____________________________________________

 

I know this doesn't help much for the IMMEDIATE need, but there is a chance that you could use the queries that you have more efficiently. Instead of shot-gunning the area with multiple PQs for radius, or not targeting what you're interested in, refine the queries to turn back less results, or more specific data. For example, if you only want to do single stage caches, make sure to choose Traditional, APE or Letterbox.

 

Another way to increase efficiency is to make sure there's no overlap - grabbing the same cache information in multiple queries. For example, if you wanted to get the San Francisco/San Jose area, if you used only radius PQs, you would most likely have to create about 8 so that you wouldn't hit the 500 per PQ limit.

 

Instead, you could create a series of PQs that uses the same center point and radius...

...and changes the "date placed" to a set of ranges:

 

PQ1: Placed between Jan 01 2000 and Jun 30 2002

PQ2: Placed between Jul 01 2002 and Aug 15 2003

PQ3: Placed between Aug 16 2003 and Dec 17 2004

PQ4: Placed between Dec 18 2004 and Dec 31 2009

 

You'll have to fiddle with the dates in the queries to make it so that they have about 480-490 caches, except for the last one. I always like to have wiggle room in case an old cache gets unarchived. The only thing you'll have to watch at that point is for when the PQ of the most recent caches approaches 500, then either adjust all of the query dates (most likely SOME have archived from the past) or add that next query.

 

The benefit is that you'll get PQs that have completely unique results. A cache can only have one placed date. It cannot reside in more than one query set up in this method.

 

Combining the efficiency of the PQ also benefits everyone, as bandwidth is decreased and (I'm sure) server time. And if you can get your regular area down to 4 queries instead of 5, that gives you the benefit of having that one extra one that you can use at any given time.

_____________________________________________

 

Lastly, I'd suggest rotating information so that you don't use ALL of your PQs to get all of the information on one day. If you still have the need for 4 PQs to cover your regular caching area and you want more than one "on demand", you can schedule the older cache's information (PQ1 and PQ2) on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and get the newer cache's information (PQ3 and PQ4) on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. That way, you're constantly getting updates to the information throughout the week, and getting the most up to dates stuff on Friday.

_____________________________________________

 

These are all just ways to work within the system to get the most bang for your buck, and a lot of these won't help if you have an immediate need, but it will hopefully free up the ability to have at least one PQ free for running "on the fly".

Edited October 6, 2005 by Markwell

[+Kerstin76]

Instead, you could create a series of PQs that uses the same center point and radius...

(Image)

...and changes the "date placed" to a set of ranges:

 

PQ1: Placed between Jan 01 2000 and Jun 30 2002

PQ2: Placed between Jul 01 2002 and Aug 15 2003

PQ3: Placed between Aug 16 2003 and Dec 17 2004

PQ4: Placed between Dec 18 2004 and Dec 31 2009

That's an interesting idea. Thanks for letting us know I guess I can make my PQs much more efficient then...

[+Stunod]

Instead, you could create a series of PQs that uses the same center point and radius...

(Image)

...and changes the "date placed" to a set of ranges:

 

PQ1: Placed between Jan 01 2000 and Jun 30 2002

PQ2: Placed between Jul 01 2002 and Aug 15 2003

PQ3: Placed between Aug 16 2003 and Dec 17 2004

PQ4: Placed between Dec 18 2004 and Dec 31 2009

That's an interesting idea. Thanks for letting us know I guess I can make my PQs much more efficient then...

After you set up your queries with date ranges, don't forget to check occationally to make sure the last query isn't pulling 500 caches. If it is, you need to add a new query and adjust date ranges. That is also a good time to go back and tweak the other PQs to pull as close to 499 caches as possible (some will drop out as they are archived).

 

Edit: Oops, I see Markwell was already very clear about that. Well, I'm just reiterating his comments...

Edited October 6, 2005 by Stunod

[+The Leprechauns]

Markwell's method is also one of the most efficient ways of getting a master GPX file of all the caches you've found. If you have, for example, 1600 finds in your home state, you'll need to break those up in some way. Four files of 400 caches each, divided by date hidden, is what I would use. As you find more caches, the boundaries of the queries will need to be adjusted.

[ertyu]

I had the same trouble, got caught by the 5 limit before leaving for a trip. Just created another account and bought myself 5 more.