+Crusso Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 As alot of people use laptops in their vehicles, would it be possible for Geocaching.com to look for NMEA input and determine our present location so we could search for caches in our immediate vicinity? I know this would require some modification to the site software but is it even possible? It would be a really cool feature for those of us that have a laptop or pda with a GPS attached and a wireless card..... "You are here and so are these caches...." Quote Link to comment
+Cyclometh Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 I use Cachemate and GSAK for that. Download a PQ into GSAK, move it to Cachemate. When I'm out on the road and find a cache or benchmark, I just do a radius search there and browse the list for the next interesting one. Quote Link to comment
+wimseyguy Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Of course they can. Why do you think so many cachers wear tin foil hats? Quote Link to comment
Sadie Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 All seriousness aside, I heard that Groundspeak has an agreement with "a certain major GPSr manufacturer and communication satellite companies". GC will be streaming encoded GC ID's from certain satelaites with Coords and relevant info. (Decoding will only be available through a special chip purchased/subcribed to from Groundspeak.) The GPS will filter out the GC#### that are not within XX miles of your location. Caches in your "found it" list (stored on the GPS's SD card) will either display as found, or not shown (user selectable). Other features / setable options: Caches that do not have any "found it" logs will flash. Caches with SBA's or XX number of DNF's will be either gray or ignored. Quote Link to comment
+fox-and-the-hound Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 It would be a really cool feature for those of us that have a laptop or pda with a GPS attached and a wireless card..... "You are here and so are these caches...." Maybe I'm missing your question, but if you have "a GPS attached", can't you just take a reading and search by your present coordinates? Quote Link to comment
+Moose Mob Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 (edited) As alot of people use laptops in their vehicles, would it be possible for Geocaching.com to look for NMEA input and determine our present location so we could search for caches in our immediate vicinity? I know this would require some modification to the site software but is it even possible? It would be a really cool feature for those of us that have a laptop or pda with a GPS attached and a wireless card..... "You are here and so are these caches...." That would be great if they could. My first thought is that it would entail updating your home coords with this umber in realtime, folowed by a pocket query for the area you are in, or headed towards. I can see where lots of development would be needed, and the results would be great when you don't have time to plan your trip. Edited March 21, 2006 by Moose Mob Quote Link to comment
+fox-and-the-hound Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Oh, you mean "real-time", sorry! Cool idea though Quote Link to comment
+Moose Mob Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Oh, you mean "real-time", sorry! Cool idea though Yes. And I am about ready to drop kick this wireless keyboard. It increases my typos by a factor of 3. Quote Link to comment
+fox-and-the-hound Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Oh, you mean "real-time", sorry! Cool idea though Yes. And I am about ready to drop kick this wireless keyboard. It increases my typos by a factor of 3. Sorry MooseMob, I meant that for the topic poster! Quote Link to comment
+darus67 Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 on the "hide & seek a cache" page there is a form to search by Lat & Lon. It wouldn't take much to read in a line of NMEA output from a gpsr and turn it into a URL to generate a search around those coords. Quote Link to comment
+Crusso Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) on the "hide & seek a cache" page there is a form to search by Lat & Lon.It wouldn't take much to read in a line of NMEA output from a gpsr and turn it into a URL to generate a search around those coords. That's more like what I am talking about. Simply have a button labeled "Find the nearest cache". The website would query ure GPS in real time and give u a list of what's near. You wouldn't have to type in any coords or zips or do a pocket query. Sort of like a "You are here and so are these caches". Granted, it's easy enough to just look at ure GPS and type ure lat and long into the web site form but wouldn't it be slick to just hit a single button? I figured with all the software pros we have that it would be an easy thing (or would it?) to implement. Edited March 23, 2006 by Crusso Quote Link to comment
+The Cheeseheads Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I suppose if you had a laptop with wireless access, you could run Google Earth with the GPS tracking upgrade and download the Geocaching KML file. Get all that up and running and you're set! Personally, I put Streets and Trips on my laptop and load up all the caches in there. Connect my GPS and I'm set, no WiFi required. Quote Link to comment
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