Geocaching Swiss Army Knife

[caveguru]

just started using gsack.... and am having a difficulty in entering co-ord...lat and long for and arc/ poly query....need to set two waypoints...to do search...nothing workin....keep getting " need minimum 2 waypoint message ""

 

i would appreciate any help w/ learning the nuances of the program...and expediate the progress in my learning curve.ie creating a cache search route...

 

thanx

The Caveguru

[+PDOP's]

Think of an arc filter as an old style route on your GPS - a sequential series of waypoints along a path you want to follow. You need at least a start and finish point.

Set Filter - Arc/Poly

 

If you want to search from a single point you should use the Center Point function.

Centre Point Menu

[+Half-Canadian]

This forum thread is an excellent resource, it will walk you right through the process:

 

Caches Along A Route

[+The Blue Quasar]

We have two GSAK help files on our OGA web site so far that might help.

 

One for ARCS/ROUTES and one for POLY. There are instructions on how to create ARC filters.

 

The Filters we have are only in Ontario, but it might help to see the format

 

OGA's Service Library

 

See Section 6 for the PDF help files for GSAK

 

The Blue Quasar

 

GSAK is the official GPX/LOC file management program of the Ontario Geocaching Association.

 

GSAK is available from GSAK Homepage

Edited December 23, 2005 by The Blue Quasar

[+Keith Watson]

GSAK uses GPS Babel for it's engine. If you don't have Mapsource, the file posted on the OGA site may leave you stranded. You can access the GPS Babel engine directly like I do and achieve the same results. Check out http://www.gpsbabel.org/ for a free download and instructions.

[+Amazon Annie]

Yup, using GPS Babel "straight up" works too but some of us like the extra-gooey ..er.. GUI interface that GSAK provides. If you read the manual on the OGA site it says:

"... if you are a user of Mapsource (or Mapsend) these programs can do all the work for you. I will show an example using Mapsource but the principle is the same when using Mapsend."

 

I can certainly work up a Mapsend tutorial for the filters if anyone needed it.

 

For those who love GSAK like I do, these filters are great! A couple of clicks and they're installed permanently and if you're using CacheMate then sorting your categories just got even easier. Now if I could find a filter to sort out my house and office files as easily, life would be good.

 

Best of whatever season you are celebrating or not to you and your family.

[+Keith Watson]

If you are using pocket pc, then I would recomend GPX Sonar. I just drop GPX files right onto the PDA and I'm good to go.

[+Hard Oiler]

I can certainly work up a Mapsend tutorial for the filters if anyone needed it.

 

Any mapping program works as long as you can extract the coordinates. I've used Mapsend, Streets & Trips, Fugawi/Softmap. Some are more manual than others but they all work. In fact the SW Ontario filters on the OGA site used Fugawi/Softmap as it shows the clearest region boundaries. It comes down to what you have and what you want to do.

 

It would be good to have some major Ontario highway filters on the OGA site - I have the 402/401 somewhere - maybe someone already has a complete collection they could make available.

 

And seasons greets and happy caching from here too

[+Amazon Annie]

t would be good to have some major Ontario highway filters on the OGA site - I have the 402/401 somewhere - maybe someone already has a complete collection they could make available.

 

Funny you should say that Tony! There is a new file on OGA of the "Entire 401 across Ontario". I'm sure there are others in the works. If anyone has one to contribute, please let us know and I'm sure BQ and Logger would be interested.

[+PDOP's]

Any mapping program works as long as you can extract the coordinates. I've used Mapsend, Streets & Trips, Fugawi/Softmap.

The last releases of GSAK and GPSBabel added the ability to read route points directly from S&T .est files so it's easier than ever.

[+Hard Oiler]

Thanks for the tip PDOP's - I hadn't noticed that. That certainly makes S&T an excellent option since I never did figure out a good way to get it to export a csv file. GSAK and GPS Babel get better and better

[+The Blue Quasar]

I added the 403 and QEW to our list on the OGA Site.

 

I also have 400 and 402 completed but not posted, since I didn't know if they would be of any use.

 

I will get those up soon too.

 

All of the ARC Files on the OGA Site were created by hand (as in I used 'pushpins' in Mapsource, then saved the points as a MPS file) and I reviewed them in Streets and Trips 2005. The data wasn't an exact match but close enough to be useful.

 

So the ARCs are rough, but close enough for filter use.

 

Some of the 400 series of highways are pretty short, or unusable in my opinion for filters in my opinion compared to what a Point Filter would accomplish.

 

The other thing is that the ARC's comprise the entire highway, and do not have points related to major interchanges (ie. the 401 ARC might not have a point at the 400 junction)

 

For those that are planning on travelling, the best method is still to use Mapsource/Mapsend to create custom routes and covert to Filter Data, as recommended in our OGA file for Creating a Route for GSAK, or altenative methods of your own choosing.

 

I'll look into a S&T option as well. I often take our FILTER Files and use S&T to see the location of the points (pushpins).

 

In S&T.. DATA>Import Data Wizard

Navigate to the file of coordinates

Select "Comma", then NEXT

For DATA TYPE 1 - use LATITUDE

For DATA TYPE 2 - use LONGITUDE

Click FINISH and the pushpins will stick on the map.

 

The Blue Quasar

[+The Blue Quasar]

Added the ARC files for 400, 402

 

The OGA Site has ARC's for the 400, 401, 402, 403 and QEW. I will make more over the next week or so. Let me know if there is a highway that you would like to see added by emailing me at admin@ontgeocaching.com

 

OGA Service Library is the location of these ARC Filters and other files too.

 

These can be found in Section 5, and the files in Section 6 will help you use them with GSAK

 

The Blue Quasar

[+PDOP's]

Thanks for the tip PDOP's - I hadn't noticed that.  That certainly makes S&T an excellent option since I never did figure out a good way to get it to export a csv file.  GSAK and GPS Babel get better and better 

One important thing to note is that route generated by Streets & Trips is not stored in the .est file but is recalculated each time the file is opened. The .est file only contains route points (pushpins) for the start and end points as well as any stops you add.

 

You'll need to add as many stops as required to accurately define the twists turns along your route as the arc filter assumes straight lines between the points. More on this here.

 

Edited for link

Edited December 25, 2005 by PDOP's

[+Hard Oiler]

Thanks PDOP's your web-site is very helpful. I did get a chance to play and found that the S&T method is not just restricted to caches along a route. If you define a polygon with pushpins and save it as an .est file you can load the file into GSAK and use it as a filter to find all the caches within the polygon. The one requirement is that you do have to add each of the pushpins to a route even if the route isn't meaningful (some of my pushpins were out in Lake Huron). It appears that GSAK won't access the pushpins unless they've been added to a route.

 

Interestingly if you add to the polygon using pushpins they aren't restricted to roads. If you use the "add a stop" method by dragging on a route segment they snap to the nearest road.

[+Keith Watson]

I have created an ARC Builder using Google Maps. It allows you to create a route with out having to use the entire length of a highway. You can route anywhere wou want. It is is test right now, but let me know what you think.

[+PDOP's]

Very nice Keith. It works like a charm

[+mrking]

I have created an ARC Builder using Google Maps. It allows you to create a route with out having to use the entire length of a highway. You can route anywhere wou want. It is is test right now, but let me know what you think.

Holy Crap that is sooo cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[+Hard Oiler]

Nice one Keith - I tried to break it by dragging it over to the UK and doing a filter for an upcoming trip. It did turn blue but it still worked

[+PDOP's]

Just had a peek at the file it creates and noticed that it creates coordinates to 14 decimal places Keith what are your plans for this page? Will it be open to all comers or will you be restricting access?

 

If it were possible it would be nice to customize the map to open at a user defined location.

[+Keith Watson]

Looks like it will be a permanent addition. You can use the This Forum Thread to post and questions, or suggestions.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Keith Watson

[+lordfishman]

Yeah Really useful! I have spent countless time trying to get caches on a route. I am going to NS and NB in about three weeks and I spent quite a bit of time getting caches on my route. So you did this all in PHP then not bad.