Paperless Caching Questions

[+ChaseOnTheGo]

Hello everyone,

 

I was interested in going paperless. I am going to buy a Treo Go that has version 4.10 os, 15.7 mgb of space. Currently I don't have a premium membership to download multiple caches at a time but thats ok for me, I can click them one by one. So all I want is the cache page as offline content on my PDA, NO FANCY STUFF! How can I do this for free?

 

Thanks!

[+N8OFP - Del]

With out a Premium membership you can only download the .loc files. The .loc files are very basic, you won't get the details from the Cache page with a .loc file. With the .loc files you get the Name of the Cache the Waypoint Name and the coords. If you want all the other information you must be a Premium member. Them you can download all the cache details and with a program like Cachemate you can load the information into your PDA.

[+Miragee]

Uh . . . the Premium Membership is only $3.00 a month . . .

[+groovetopia]

Uh . . . the Premium Membership is only $3.00 a month . . .

 

You should definitely go with the premium service - it's worth skipping a cup of coffee a month and is definitely worth it. I use my iPod for paperless...gpx file -> gpsbabel -> vCard - works like a charm...and alphabetical, too...

[+salmondan]

Uh . . . the Premium Membership is only $3.00 a month . . .

 

You should definitely go with the premium service - it's worth skipping a cup of coffee a month and is definitely worth it. I use my iPod for paperless...gpx file -> gpsbabel -> vCard - works like a charm...and alphabetical, too...

 

Your ipod? Tell me more. What sort of software do you need on the ipod to do this? (Talk simply and slowly, I'm a wee bit stupid.....)

[+Prairie Dog]

Yes, me too. Just pretend that I know nothing about this. How do I take a cache description and make it ipod compatible?

[+Prairie Dog]

I just tried this and it seems to work.

 

Download the .gpx file of the cache you want to view.

Download GPS Babel from here http://www.gpsbabel.org/

Open the .gpx file in Babel.

Save the output file as a .vcf (for ipod)

Copy the .vcf file to the contacts folder on your ipod.

It will then show up in your contacts list.

 

I have not been able to edit the .vcf file to create a custom title like “PD’s Cache” or edit out extraneous information in the description like “this is a nice park.”

 

This would be time consuming to do for many caches. For one or two at a time it seems to work.

 

Does anyone know a better way? Am I doing it right?

[+groovetopia]

I have a really old ipod, but I'm sure it works the same on the new ones.

 

I use gpsbabel (there's a fairly simple online version at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/gpsbabel/) to convert the pocket query (or other downloaded gpx among others) to VCF.

 

When I plug my iPod in, it shows up on the desktop - not sure how it works on a PC, but I'm assuming you could go start -> my computer -> iPod or E: drive or whatever. If you're using a PC, somebody else can probably tell you how to navigate to the proper folder...erm...directory on your iPod.

 

You're looking for the "contacts" folder. Simply drag and drop the VCF file into this folder and then you can use your iPod. Mine comes up under extras->contacts on the iPod and is alphabetical by waypoint (GCXXXX).

 

I think there is a software limit of 1000 contacts, but you might be able to use more.

 

When I'm going out caching and have a pocket query on my gps, I have a companion file on the iPod. I might name the pocket query Las Vegas 200.gpx and the vCard (vcf for iPod) Las Vegas 200.vcf. It contains all the pertinent information in alphabetical order.

 

This is, perhaps, not as clear as it could be and I will happily answer more questions if I can.

Edited June 21, 2006 by groovetopia