Mapopolis...anyone Using It?

[+Techtravler]

Is anyone using Mapopolis to reach the general hunt area? Like the parking lot of a hiking trail.

 

I am trying to narrow down a purchase of a new GPS for geocaching. I have been using my Dell Axim with the Dell Navigation package for about 2 years for car navigation. I now want to get something rugged for geocahing, but I am running into one problem. I need something for driving to the general cache area, and then the ability to search for the Cache. My Dell Navigation does not allow waypoints or even coordinates to be entered in. Mapopolis does, but I am not having much luck with the Demo maps I am testing. Whenever I enter coordinates I get a message saying "This location cannot be used. Try Again?

I am entering coordinates that cover the maps I have loaded, so I am not sure the problem.

 

Just wondering if anyone else is using this program and having luck here

[+IronmOn]

Is anyone using Mapopolis to reach the general hunt area?

 

I see that you are a Premium member, have you tried using the Geocaching Web site maps that are listed within each specific Geocach listing? What about using GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) which will work great for converting waypoints to be used with many other map programs. For more info on GSAK visit

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

 

I am trying to narrow down a purchase of a new GPS for geocaching.

 

As far as a good dependable GPS unit, I really liked my Garmin e Trex Legend, which works great for Geocaching. You can get a brand new one for as cheap as $119 online at

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/se...9&sku=G145-0026

[+Techtravler]

Is anyone using Mapopolis to reach the general hunt area?

 

I see that you are a Premium member, have you tried using the Geocaching Web site maps that are listed within each specific Geocach listing? What about using GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) which will work great for converting waypoints to be used with many other map programs. For more info on GSAK visit

GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)

 

I am trying to narrow down a purchase of a new GPS for geocaching.

 

As far as a good dependable GPS unit, I really liked my Garmin e Trex Legend, which works great for Geocaching. You can get a brand new one for as cheap as $119 online at

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/se...9&sku=G145-0026

 

The map is a help, but I really want the ability to do this on the fly. When I am already out and did not plan on Geocaching.

 

Also, there does not seem to be a way to enter waypoints into Dell's Software

[+Alan2]

From my answer fro the other thread:

 

I use Mapopolis on my PPC. It auto routes using voice and visual prompts. Using gpxtomaplet you can overlay all the caches on the Mapopolis street maps and auto route from one cache to the other or see what caches are nearby as you drive around doing other things. Add gpxsonar to your PPC and you can go paperless. I use my PPC in the woods but my Vista is hardier but lately I've been using the PPC because its GPS in the SF slot is a Sirf Star III technology that works better than any other under the foliage.

 

You can try Mapopolis for free for 9 days.

 

Also, I use GSAK in my computer to create the paperless pages using gpxsonar in my PPC.

 

You can also use GSAk in conjunction with Mapopolis and the maplets using gpxtomaplet so that when you tap the icon on the road maps, the cache will display cache type, name of cache, hider, D/T, miles from home, container type, etc.

[+Steel City Seekers]

Techtravler,

 

Speaking for myself and on behalf of matthewp over at Aximsite (because we're the same person), I'm not sure why you can't get Mapopolis to accept the coordinates. I select Tools > Find > Latitude/Longitude. There, I get a screen that lets me enter the coords and either add a landmark at the coords or just choose "ok" and see the location on the map. I thought the trial maps were full-featured, so I would think that this would work. If you continue to have trouble, I'd suggest heading over to the Mapopolis forums at gpspassion.com. They are frequented by Mapopolis people and other very experienced users that are very responsive to all questions.

 

Mapopolis works very well for geocaching, and Alan2 has already turned you onto all the additional (and free) programs that really make it excel. You can download your pocket queries and translate them to maplets. As I'm driving along, I can see all the caches I'm driving by. Don't forget to unlock the software from the road.

 

There are also some other programs such as Backcountry Navigator, Beeline GPS, Memory Map, and a dozen or so others that will aid you in finding the cache from the car to the cache (not the house to the cache because these programs don't do autorouting). BN and Beeline are much cheaper than Mapopolis, Memory Map is the same or more in price. I think all of these programs will import .gpx data.

 

If you think you're going to get into caching in any serious way, however, I stand by my advice at Aximsite to go with a rugged, stand-alone receiver. If you're planning to do any type of hill climbing or get off a paved or well-established trail, then you're carrying several hundred dollars worth of very fragile equipment. What happens if you get caught in the rain? Trust me, you will. If you drop it, you could likely trash a $300+ Pocket PC, a $100+ GPS receiver, and your $100 software won't be much good to you with the other two devices broken.

 

Also, the Pocket PC battery is good for only a few hours and you can't just pop in a few new AAs like you can with a stand-alone.

 

It seems to me that, if you're happy with the Dell navigation system to get you to the cache location, then why not just spring the money you'd otherwise use on software on a stand-alone receiver instead. A stand-alone that can download data, that is.

 

Now, as Alan2 says, the SirfIII receiver is absolutely unbeatable in heavy foliage, so I suppose that might be a consideration. But, if your system is two years old, then you don't have SirfIII. I would highly recommend against purchasing Mapopolis and an new SirfIII for geocaching given that you already have a good road navigation system. That would be over $200 and you can get a pretty nice stand-alone for that money.

 

I'm thinking about trying to talk management into an Explorist 210 Outdoor package. It can be had from Tiger GPS for about $175 and Magellan is offering a $30 rebate on the explorer. This package includes the receiver, topo software, carrying case, charging cable, and data cable. I don't have any experience with Magellan's Geocache Manager because I only have a 100 right now, but it looks like it imports a good deal of info. to support your on-the-spur-of-the-moment caching. I can say from my experience with the 100 that reception is very good.

 

Of course, this is all just my $0.02 and it's kinda specific to my experiences and opinions, but hopefully it provides some thoughts for you to consider.

[+Techtravler]

Techtravler,

 

Speaking for myself and on behalf of matthewp over at Aximsite (because we're the same person), I'm not sure why you can't get Mapopolis to accept the coordinates. I select Tools > Find > Latitude/Longitude. There, I get a screen that lets me enter the coords and either add a landmark at the coords or just choose "ok" and see the location on the map. I thought the trial maps were full-featured, so I would think that this would work. If you continue to have trouble, I'd suggest heading over to the Mapopolis forums at gpspassion.com. They are frequented by Mapopolis people and other very experienced users that are very responsive to all questions.

 

Mapopolis works very well for geocaching, and Alan2 has already turned you onto all the additional (and free) programs that really make it excel. You can download your pocket queries and translate them to maplets. As I'm driving along, I can see all the caches I'm driving by. Don't forget to unlock the software from the road.

 

There are also some other programs such as Backcountry Navigator, Beeline GPS, Memory Map, and a dozen or so others that will aid you in finding the cache from the car to the cache (not the house to the cache because these programs don't do autorouting). BN and Beeline are much cheaper than Mapopolis, Memory Map is the same or more in price. I think all of these programs will import .gpx data.

 

If you think you're going to get into caching in any serious way, however, I stand by my advice at Aximsite to go with a rugged, stand-alone receiver. If you're planning to do any type of hill climbing or get off a paved or well-established trail, then you're carrying several hundred dollars worth of very fragile equipment. What happens if you get caught in the rain? Trust me, you will. If you drop it, you could likely trash a $300+ Pocket PC, a $100+ GPS receiver, and your $100 software won't be much good to you with the other two devices broken.

 

Also, the Pocket PC battery is good for only a few hours and you can't just pop in a few new AAs like you can with a stand-alone.

 

It seems to me that, if you're happy with the Dell navigation system to get you to the cache location, then why not just spring the money you'd otherwise use on software on a stand-alone receiver instead. A stand-alone that can download data, that is.

 

Now, as Alan2 says, the SirfIII receiver is absolutely unbeatable in heavy foliage, so I suppose that might be a consideration. But, if your system is two years old, then you don't have SirfIII. I would highly recommend against purchasing Mapopolis and an new SirfIII for geocaching given that you already have a good road navigation system. That would be over $200 and you can get a pretty nice stand-alone for that money.

 

I'm thinking about trying to talk management into an Explorist 210 Outdoor package. It can be had from Tiger GPS for about $175 and Magellan is offering a $30 rebate on the explorer. This package includes the receiver, topo software, carrying case, charging cable, and data cable. I don't have any experience with Magellan's Geocache Manager because I only have a 100 right now, but it looks like it imports a good deal of info. to support your on-the-spur-of-the-moment caching. I can say from my experience with the 100 that reception is very good.

 

Of course, this is all just my $0.02 and it's kinda specific to my experiences and opinions, but hopefully it provides some thoughts for you to consider.

 

Thanks for the relpies. I guess I need to clear up a couple of things.

 

First, I can enter in Coordinates into Mapopolis, it is that some of them give me an error message. You actually mentioned something about unlocking from the road. I will look into this, it could be my problem.

 

Second, I would love to keep using my Dell Software to get me to the cache area, and buy just a decent rugged GPS that I won't freak out when I or my 4 year old daugter drop. However, my Dell does not allow coordinates. I have looked around pretty good, and nobody has figured this out yet.

 

I have even used GPStomaplet and imported my local caches. They all show up great, but some give me the error I was talking about when trying to route to them. With this said, I would rather not spend $100.00 on Mapopolis. I keep thinking there is a way to get the Dell to accept locations that are not actuall street address.

 

Thanks for the info, I will try gpspassion.

[+Steel City Seekers]

Oh, I get it. You can't put the parking coords. into the Dell system so the Dell system is not beneficial for the house to parking part. Wasn't thinking about it that way, sorry. For sure, ask about this on Aximsite. I expect you'll get a certain yes or no there.

 

For unlocking from the road, do this: Tools > Settings > GPS Options, then uncheck the "Lock To Road" option. This is to show your location when you are off the road, obviously, and would be used pretty much if you used Mapopolis in the woods. If the box is checked it will only show your position on the closest road to where you are. I doubt it has much to do with your woes entering coordinates, though.

 

In lieu of entering the coordinates, you can just click a position on the map and it should show a pop-up box. The information in the pop-up box is customizable (and can show coordinates if you choose -- Tools>Settings>Map Features, select the "Show Coordinates" checkbox). If you click a position that is close to parking, you can tap and hold the box which will show a sub-menu including a Route To option. If your GPS is running, it will route you to the location. If not, you can set a start point and save the route for later use. Or, you can save the selection as a maplet or favorite. So, you might be able to force Mapopolis to use the location if you can locate it reasonably close on the map. I've done this a few times because I knew I'd see the parking once I got close, but needed routing to get to the area. I've also done it because I was too lazy to enter the coords.

[+sarhound]

I'm using the same setup as Alan2 is using; I've had occasional problems with a maplet location being tagged as "unable to calculate location" (usually happens in East Texas when I'm WAAAY out in the middle of nowhere.) I just hunt for a road somewhat close to the maplet location in that instance, then let it autoroute me to the general vicinity and hunt for a better way into the area.

 

I'm running it on an HP iPAQ, and I use an Explorist 500 when I bail out of the truck. I'd sooner cut off both my legs than lose my new friend (whom I have dubbed "HAL.") Even when he gets frantic because he doesn't like the fact that I may not always follow the route he's planned to the cache, he's made it a whole lot easier to drive in areas that I'm not familiar with.

 

The combo of GSAK and GXPToMaplet is what makes Mapopolis very useful to me.