Gpxsonar V1.5 In The Making...

November 6, 2005

I have a new Dell 51V which has the new windows mobile 5. Everything works great as far as I can see except the open dialog to load the gpx file. The name and the date appear in the same spot. So you only see the first character of the file name and then the date covers the rest. This is in portrait mode and will have to try out the landscape mode next.

November 6, 2005

Hi Fabien,

this is geoPirat from Germany! I had the pleasure to find and log more than 1K caches with GPXSonar during my 2 week stay this summer in Florida.

From this experience, I'd appreciate the automatic timestamp in field notes and export to GPX (for Boulter express) very much.

A feature that counts my founds, DNFs, notes and SBAs of my field notes would be helpful (report field notes).

Big help would be: when searching in the caches, the text field should be emptied every time the dialogue pops up (option), so I would not have to erase the text of the previous search.

An automized backup of the gpxsonar dat file would be nice - if the application crashes, my found caches would not be lost. A restore option would be necessary, then.

I use GPXSonar on a T-Mobile MDA Pro with WM2005 (it works) and on a Dell X30 with WM2003, beta-testing is no problem.

Thanks for this great application!

Edited November 6, 2005 by geoPirat

November 11, 2005

Hi,

I'm defining the feature set for GpxSonar v1.5 and I'd like your input to prioritize the lists below.

Proposed features:

. Sorting of field notes by timestamp

. Ability to record field notes using voice records.

. Export to Mapopolis Maplet

. Export to .wp2 format for oziexplorer.

. Export to .ov2 format for tomtom.

. Export a single waypoint at a time from the waypoint list

. Export to .gpx format (for compatibility with boulter express logger)

. Export of waypoints from the cache manager

. Command line option to generate a web page given a waypoint

. support for TerraCaching.com gpx files.

. Support for Pocket Queries in .zip format

. Ability to turn off downloading of background images in cache pages

. Bluetooth GPS support + navigation to cache

. VGA Support (PPC 2003 SE or above)

. Auto-insertion of a timestamp when creating a new field note

. Ability to cut, copy, paste to / from field notes

Proposed Bug fixes:

. Preventing GPXSonar.dat file corruptions

. Enhanced error handling

Also, I am looking for people willing and able to test the application on their respective Pocket PCs. If you want to help out, please let me know in this forum and be sure to tell me what kind of Pocket PC you're using.

Thank you.

Regards,

-Fabien.

Fabien,

Am now using GPX Sonar with my iQUE M5. So far so good. I'd be glad to help you test your new features.

Kim Warner, Jr.

aka Basssax

Columbia, MD

November 18, 2005

ability to export to OziExplorer .wpt file format

VGA support - great!

November 21, 2005

Could you have the ability to DELETE one or more waypoints instead of IGNORING them. I'm not sure what IGNORE means.

Basssax,

Columbia,MD

November 22, 2005

basssax,

GpxSonar does not ever remove any data from the Gpx file. Instead, the application keeps track of the caches that you no longer want to see. If I were to actually remove data from the gpx file, the deleted data would come right back the next time you load a fresher version of the same pocket query and you'd need to delete it again...

November 23, 2005

The ability to manually add a waypoint. Pharos just dropped that feature from Ostia. Keep the Ostia export option.

I just donated to the GPXSonar cause. I am now a registered user of both GSAK and GPXSonar.

Beta test volunteering

Axim X50v WM5.0

Pharos Bluetooth GPSr

Edited November 23, 2005 by tech_guy and the missus

November 23, 2005

I would like to have the ability to load waypoints into my Garmin directly from GPX Sonar. I have a cable that links the GPS to the PDA. I use it for active navigating with Mapopolis. I have a very cache rich area to the north of me (Dallas/Ft.Worth) and one to the south of me (Austin/San Antonio) I keep Files of approx. 1000 caches for each area. As well as a file of 500 for my close in area. I use a Legend with a max of 1000 waypoints. There are times when I may go north on Saturday and then head south on Sunday. But I have to find a PC to download the respective waypoints into the GPSr somewhere between the two destinations. If I had a laptop it would be no problem. All of the waypoints are in the PDA I just need a way to pump them into the GPSr. Hope you can help! Sawdust92

Edited November 23, 2005 by sawdust92

December 5, 2005

Hi,

is it possible to speed up the opening of gpx-files?

Files from PQs bigger than 2 mb takes a long time to open them (on a iPAQ H2210).

It also would be great if closing gpxsonar with the "cross" (on top right) will complete and immediately close the program, same as File - Exit. Otherwise on every startup you have to select and open a gpx-file (...and wait).

Maybe the option "open last gpx-file" on startup would be helpfull.

Greets from germany, Marcus

December 5, 2005

KukiHN,

is it possible to speed up the opening of gpx-files?

Yes, by get a faster Pocket PC :lol: More seriously, large GPX files just take time to handle. I could improve the performance of the application by overhauling the architecture of the program but it's a huge effort that I'm not willing to undertake right now. Also, there would be some trade-offs with some of the features.

It also would be great if closing gpxsonar with the "cross" (on top right) will complete and immediately close the program, same as File - Exit. Otherwise on every startup you have to select and open a gpx-file (...and wait).

File - Exit already does what you need. Closing with the cross closes the current GPX file, not the application. This is the desired behavior and I don't see any reason to change it.

Maybe the option "open last gpx-file" on startup would be helpfull

You can already do that. Check File - App Config.

Regards,

-Fabien.

December 11, 2005

Would love to beta test...using HP3835 w/ Windows CE 2003

1.1k · December 12, 2005

Is there any chance to get GPXsonar to run on older Pocket PCs? I have never used GPXsonar because it wont run on my old HP Jornada.

December 13, 2005

I would love to see the search feature integrated into the main page and not buried on a second screen. My thought was something like this.

Obviously I just grabbed a picture out on the net and edited it. The output on the screen makes no sense in a search scenario.

Thanks for your work on this project!

I have a Dell Axim x50v w/Windows Mobile 5.1.70 and would beta test.

December 13, 2005

I would love to see the search feature integrated into the main page and not buried on a second screen. My thought was something like this.

Obviously I just grabbed a picture out on the net and edited it. The output on the screen makes no sense in a search scenario.

Thanks for your work on this project!

I have a Dell Axim x50v w/Windows Mobile 5.1.70 and would beta test.

December 14, 2005

It would be nice if I could map my found caches to a unique MSST Push Pin.

December 14, 2005

I would love to see the search feature integrated into the main page and not buried on a second screen. My thought was something like this.

Good idea. I'll see if this could work.

It would be nice if I could map my found caches to a unique MSST Push Pin.

You can already do this. Simply name your found caches GPX file with the same name as your MSFT S&T map file. Check the export preferences for more details. You'll likely be limited to a small area though, so if you cached in many states or abroad, this is not the best approach for mapping your finds...

December 15, 2005

You can already do this. Simply name your found caches GPX file with the same name as your MSFT S&T map file. Check the export preferences for more details. You'll likely be limited to a small area though, so if you cached in many states or abroad, this is not the best approach for mapping your finds...

Sorry, my request is when I export the MSST push pins; currently it uses different icons for cache type. I'd like to add another icon for all found caches in the current export list. That way I could see all caches in the area but easily note which I found and which I have not.

Hopefully I explained it better. Thanks.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Lux

December 16, 2005

I've used GPX Sonar for the past 6 months and it has been the best thing that's happened to my geocaching since I got my GPSr. You will enjoy it, and the developer of the program is working on a new version (1.5 is coming out soon, current version is 1.4 and seems very stable).

I do have a question for the group, however. I have an Axim X30 and a Garmin Vista C that I use for geocaching, and so far, haven't had a bit of trouble with either. But I can't quite overcome the last hurdle of storing .gpx files on my Axim and transferring them to my GPSr in the field.

Now, before everyone tells me to read Crashmore and Trippy's very excellent article on Pocket PC Paperless Caching (again), understand that my Garmin is one of the new Etrex color screen models (Vista C) and does NOT use the older style Garmin E- or R-type data cable, but uses a USB cable. The plug on the USB cable that interfaces my Vista C with my PC is a Type B 5-pin keyed mini-USB plug (I think) and seems to be quite common in the digital photography realm.

So here are the questions:

1) Does anyone know where I can buy an interface cable linking an Axim X30 and a Garmin Vista C? (Hint: PC-Mobile does NOT)

2) Does anyone have experience on loading the Garmin USB drivers (Ver. 2.1 - Aug 04) onto a Pocket PC? And, if I do this, will I be able to successfully transfer .gpx files from Axim to Etrex in the field?

3) If the first two questions are answered, what program do I use on my Axim X30 to store/manage the .gpx files? Will Easy GPS work on the Pocket PC platform?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help me in this endeavor!

Jon

December 17, 2005

Hi!

First of all thanks for that cool programm. I tested the aviliable programms for my PocketPC and figured out it's the best. If you want me for beta-testing let me know.

. VGA Support (PPC 2003 SE or above) -> so that i get nice graphics on my hx47000

. Export to .ov2 format for tomtom. -> So that one can do it, when forgotten at home.

. Support for Pocket Queries in .zip format -> would save some space, even though I'm using a huge SD-card, my gpx-File is usually of 11 MB size

. Bluetooth GPS support + navigation to cache -> I don't know if you should do bt support or general nema support. This feature could replace my glopus. Setting gps-location as centre would be a cool stuff.

. Auto-insertion of a timestamp when creating a new field note

Other features:

An big issue is the performance. Well, as mentioned above I'm having 11 MB gpx-files and there are probably 1500 caches in it. It always takes a little while to load these. I usually try to export smaller files from gsak however I regulary miss some of the caches then. I think the main performance bottleneck are the calculations like distance and wind directions. If I set a new center it takes a while as well. Maybe an option would be setting up a default sort by name and doing the calculating while the file is already accessible. After everthing is loaded the sorting is fast. The use more memory option is enabled and my PPC has 624 MHz.

I'm regulary doing a cache route at home. So I already know my next cache. Due to memory problems I have to close GpxSonar and reopen it when I'm there. Glopus, TomTom, GpxSonar, an GPSProxy are to much for my PPC at the same time.

Internationalisation would be a nice feature to have as well. Even though the programm is simple to use and one should be able to figure out that few labels. I can image that some people won't be able to use this cool programm because of not knowing the English language.

Kind regards

any

December 17, 2005

Fabien,

Been waiting a while for this

I too have had the issue of lost exported notes. Went to create and new set and it over-wrote the notes with an emtpy note pad and deleted all of the notes from the program. As if i hadnt been out all day. If i hadnt kept a scroll on the gps and the time stamp for each picture of the find, i would have lost it all...

Now it wont open and i have deleted and re-installed the program just to try and get it to work.

New features are nice, but please help explain what is happening.

HP iPAC 4700, PXA270; Windows Mobile 2003

Tracy

tiki-4

December 25, 2005

export to oziexplorer wpt2 files and vga support would be very nice,

thanks,

Dave

December 26, 2005

Exporting waypoints to Oziexplorer would be the icing on the cake, also backwards compatable with 2002 Windows CE would be nice and being able to customize field notes (time stamp, etc) would be smashing as well so you could export your log straight into Geocaching.com without doing a thing. Truly paperless.

Willing to Beta, have Ipaq H3970 (2002) and HP H5555 (2003).

Yt2...

January 5, 2006

Ive been using gpxsonar on an xda 2 FOR 4-5 months and have not long upgraded to an Imate Jasjar running WM5 and its the best software since sliced bread. There are still heaps for me to learn. Ive done the little file tweek where you add that config folder which means I can now keep my home co-ordinates intact.

At the moment cant think of an improvement but ill volunteer to test.

I use a 1 gb SDd card on my device. I use the Garmin 60c as my GPS unit. I use GSAK as my software of choice for most things when im not using Jasjar

January 5, 2006

First of all...

GPX SONAR is an EXCELLENT caching tool, and this thread to make it even better is exciting.

There is a feature that I use frequently on CacheMate(I run Style Tap on my PPC), which is a bearing and distance tool from a waypoint. Basically I start with the waypoint of the cache, as some multicaches use a bearing and distance to the next mark, enter the bearing and distance from there, and it generates accurate LONG & LAT coords for my next mark. CacheMate does this, and it is the only feature I use it for. Everything else is done in GPX Sonar.

I realize I can do this with a compass, or with some high $$ GPSRs...but it is a handy cache tool that I thought was worth mentioning. Time wasted on figuring out the distance and bearing is time I could be moving onto the next cache!

Thanks again for the time & effort put into the program.

January 9, 2006

Cache Dawg,

enter the bearing and distance from there, and it generates accurate LONG & LAT coords for my next mark. CacheMate does this, and it is the only feature I use it for. Everything else is done in GPX Sonar.

Guess what... GpxSonar does this as well. Check this link for more details:

http://home.comcast.net/~fabienroyer/Docs/CenterCoords.htm

Hope this helps <_<

January 9, 2006

Perfect...I knew I was not using this program to the fullest potential!

Thanks for the heads up!

January 9, 2006

Ipaq 3850 (Win 2003) here.

I would love to be able to rotate the display 90 degrees so I can see more columns without having to hit the scroll bar along the bottom.

1.1k · January 10, 2006

Here's a couple of things I would like to see added.

1 - The ability to add travel bugs to your list of travel bugs without having to pick one up from a cache. This would be very handy to have when you've just activated a new TB but haven't released it yet.

2 - A search timer. A simple timer that you can start and stop so when we post our DNF logs we can include such comments as "I spent 37 minutes and 42 seconds looking for your stupid 1/1 cache." . The idea being that you start the timer when you start the hunt and then stop it when you find the cache.

Thanks for considering them and please let me know if I can help you beta test 1.50 when it comes time.

1.1k · January 10, 2006

Dupe post removed - sorry 'bout that folks.

Edited January 10, 2006 by ZackJones

January 10, 2006

Hello,

It would be nice to have "cut and paste" ability into the ROT13 helper.

Regards,

Corvette Johnny

January 11, 2006

Here's a couple of things I would like to see added.

1 - The ability to add travel bugs to your list of travel bugs without having to pick one up from a cache. This would be very handy to have when you've just activated a new TB but haven't released it yet.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the request, you can already do that.

File|My Stuff|Travel Bugs|Add

1.1k · January 12, 2006

Unless I'm misunderstanding the request, you can already do that.

File|My Stuff|Travel Bugs|Add

Well I'll be. That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

January 16, 2006

It seems that the found feature displays that status only as loaded in the imported .gpx file. If one's imported (filtered in GSAK) file contains only not found caches, is there a way to note found status as you find caches? That feature appears to be loaded within the "notes" feature. It would be nice just to have a "button" of sorts to record and display "found" status. Right now, I make a note, hit the timestamp and get the note icon, but found status is imbedded in the note.

All other recommendations are great as is the program. Many thanks for the service.

January 16, 2006

is there a way to note found status as you find caches?

Accomplished by logging a field note.

January 20, 2006

I used the field notes for the first time, I logged a time stamp for each one, but to my dismay the report for the field notes was not sorted by initial creation time. Entering them into geocaching.com as I found them, is my preferred way because it helps me remember each cache. Especially on a large cache run.

January 20, 2006

I would vote for being able to sort caches by timestamp but I consider it much more important for that feature to find its way into GSAK, which is where I log caches from. You should be able to select whether the sort is done on the latest or earliest timestamp.

January 23, 2006

Hi all,

Just a quick heads up...

Blindleader: I've added the sort by timestamps feature already :unsure:

Also, I've been slammed at work for the past 3 months and progress on GpxSonar has gone slower than expected. I may just release what I have (many significant improvements) now as 1.5 w/o GPS support and revisit it later.

Cheers,

-Fabien.

January 24, 2006

I can't tell if this has been raised before, but 0 (zero) digits are left out of the timestamp string, and it's kind of weird looking.

Please release 1.5 as it is if it has the fix to losing the notes. Right now I tend to exit from the program on a regular basis and then back up the notes, because I've been bitten too many times by the bug.

1.1k · January 24, 2006

Also, I've been slammed at work for the past 3 months and progress on GpxSonar has gone slower than expected. I may just release what I have (many significant improvements) now as 1.5 w/o GPS support and revisit it later.

That would be fine for me. I don't use the GPS support anyway

November 12, 2006

First of all a huge thanks to GEO for giving the caching comunity this great program.I was using another paid program before but have now switched back to GPXsonar as I like the layout better in how it is displayed in IE and looks more like the GC page.I have been doing some unnoficial beta testing and have just switched to the 1.5 beta and like it.

Things 1.5 fixed for me or I like better

-Field notes don't dissapear (although I did manage to fix this earlier today in 1.4)

-When I export field notes it exports the notes from all my databases not just the one I am currently in

-The many more option for exports.(seeing the export for explorist sd cad makes me wish garmin would fix their file system so we could do the same thing with the 60csx.)

The performance worls well for me but I have used gsak to make a macro to break down alll my gpx files to much smaller chunks by cities so the gpx files are all now well under 1mb so load time is very quick.This is why I had left GPXSonar originally was the incredibly long loading times of my large gpx files but now I see this is one of those problems where it had more to do with me and my use and not the program.

I noticed that most of the people that were hving problems with field notes in 1.4 were using wm5.I hd the same problem with 1.4 running wm5 on my treo 700wx and then did a little investigatig and found that I was missing a config file which was prent on my device with wm2003 I copied the file over and now my field notes as well as settings stayed.For ayone not moving to 1.5 yet this is an easy fix.

I will let you know of any other issues or such I find while using and would love once bluettoth gps support is added if it is but thanks for all the work up until now

CrazyOn2Wheels

November 13, 2006

As posted in the GPXSonar site forums today, I would like to see an icon added for benchmarks. Thanks for a great program!

November 14, 2006

This is the greatest PPC program i have! Caching is so much easier now. those palm people don't know what they are missing...

I would love to help beta. I have a HP ipaq rx3115 running windows mobile 2003 SE 4.21.1088

dougtape

2.4k · November 14, 2006

Ok, I noticed this is a really old thread that just recently got bumped. However, 1.5 is still listed as in beta. Any idea when it's going to move into the "stable version" status?

January 11, 2007

Not sure if/when 1.5 will move from beta to Final as it looks like the original programmer has lost nterest but soemone else is trying get/keep t going.

The only thing that i've seen is with cache listings with blank short or long description fields. They cause the program to try to load them into IE and it appears to hang.. the quick fix in the field is to click on another listing to bring up the floating menu. Once up, select the dismiss menu and everythings good again. The hints are still available even if the listing won't open. The fix for the GPX file is to search and replace the blank description fields with any text. I do this in notepad and it works well but a bit of a pain if your in a hurry. Start out looking for the following text, 'description html="False"></', replace with 'description html="False">any text</'

and also,

'description html="True"></' , replace with 'description html="True">any text</'

If I knew how to write macro's for word I would have done that rather the the manual way.

February 10, 2008

I'm unable to access GPXSonar site.

any cklue why ???

Thanks

T-La

1.4k · February 10, 2008

Hi,

I'm defining the feature set for GpxSonar v1.5 and I'd like your input to prioritize the lists below.

Proposed features:

. Sorting of field notes by timestamp

. Ability to record field notes using voice records.

. Export to Mapopolis Maplet

. Export to .wp2 format for oziexplorer.

. Export to .ov2 format for tomtom.

. Export a single waypoint at a time from the waypoint list

. Export to .gpx format (for compatibility with boulter express logger)

. Export of waypoints from the cache manager

. Command line option to generate a web page given a waypoint

. support for TerraCaching.com gpx files.

. Support for Pocket Queries in .zip format

. Ability to turn off downloading of background images in cache pages

. Bluetooth GPS support + navigation to cache

. VGA Support (PPC 2003 SE or above)

. Auto-insertion of a timestamp when creating a new field note

. Ability to cut, copy, paste to / from field notes

Proposed Bug fixes:

. Preventing GPXSonar.dat file corruptions

. Enhanced error handling

Also, I am looking for people willing and able to test the application on their respective Pocket PCs. If you want to help out, please let me know in this forum and be sure to tell me what kind of Pocket PC you're using.

Thank you.

Regards,

-Fabien.

Would it be possible to set it up so you could delete the listing as you do them. If this is already possible I haven't figured out how to do it.

February 11, 2008

Gone, gone, gone. Dropped by the last developer, seems he has gotten out of geocaching, but he has made it available on his personal site. Search around and you'll find it

Edited February 11, 2008 by stickman756

February 11, 2008

Is it worth getting it over the older version?

1.1k · February 11, 2008

I use v1.3.1 on my Dell Axims and it works fine.

February 12, 2008

I'd help test for you. I use a Dell Axim x5 for paperless caching. Currently use Gpxsonar 1.4 and Cachemate 1.3

Gpxsonar V1.5 In The Making...

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