Memory Map and Cachemate

[+Alboy]

Hi

 

I've been reading another post about Palms/PDAs etc and didn't want to hijack that thread so starting this one...

 

What is the advantage of having cachemate on your PDA over just using html files exported from GSAK?

 

I've not looked at Cachemate but can't see what else it can bring to the party?

 

Anyone care to help me?!

 

thanks

[+Learned Gerbil]

It allows for ecording of logs, some automating of logging on GC.com and enhanced data management. On the other hand, I find it much easier and quicker to link HTML files for use on the PDA with MM.

[+melmur]

Firstly there is the speed and way which you can search the caches, it's pretty similar to GSAK in the way you can get to the cache you need.

 

Secondly, if you us Memory Map, you can just click the icon of a cache on the map and be taken directly to the cachemate info, You can also navigate to caches with cachemate as it now includes cachenav as a part of the install.

 

I used to mess around with the html files but believe me, if you try cachemate you will never bother again. It's a free trial so go see for yourself!

[+Kryten]

I use MemoryMap linked to CacheMate. CacheMate allows caches to be forward or reverse sorted by name or by distance from a selected location or by "gc" code etc. Filters can also be applied to reduce down the dataset. In a GPS enabled PDA, CacheMate can sort caches on distance from current location or if your "real" GPS has taken the day off, the CacheNav plugin can even provide a "goto pointer" The CacheMate database is much smaller than the HTML equivalent. The latest version also allows recording of an audio note into the cache page, handy for saving those little snippets of inspiration for inclusion in the subsequent log.

[+Moote]

Simple answer, Cachemate give you greater flexibility, here are some of the things you can do

• POI export to TomTom
  
• Filter caches quickly, by various criteria
  
• Hold details of 10's of thousands of caches in a small database
  
• Write notes on each cache
  
• Use your PDA as a backup GPS using the CacheNav Plugin
  
• Send Cache Waypoints to your GPS from your PDA
  
• Uses a slick and fast SQL Database
  

I think all of these are somewhat time consuming, if not impossible with the HTML extract, and I see no point in holding duplicate sets of data.

 

As for the Party, is Cachemate invited now?

[+Moote]

It's a free trial so go see for yourself!

To me it was a No Brainer, I never trialed it beyond install and subsequent registration, £5, people spend more on a packets of fags!

[+CrazyL200]

It's a free trial so go see for yourself!

To me it was a No Brainer, I never trialed it beyond install and subsequent registration, £5, people spend more on a packets of fags!

 

Now I've tried it, I'm sold. The trial version only allows 10 listings in the database (or at least the one I tried first).

 

£5 is nothing.

[+Learned Gerbil]

Secondly, if you us Memory Map, you can just click the icon of a cache on the map and be taken directly to the cachemate info.

 

You don't need Cachemate to do this. The scripts were originally written to work with HTML files and do a briliant job. The advantages of Cachemate are as I said above. Personally, having used Cachemate since I started caching on the Palm, I now find it too much trouble for what I need, which is a couple of hundred unfound local caches. Instead I use MM and HTML. Other users will find the extensive abilities of Cachemate much more worthwhile, it just depends on how much you need ot walk arround with loads of data in your pocket.

 

When I have a faster PPC I may well return to Cachemate, but at the moment I don't need it.

[+dino-irl]

The latest version also allows recording of an audio note into the cache page, handy for saving those little snippets of inspiration for inclusion in the subsequent log.

Is that on the PPC or Palm?

 

If it's the PPC where's the best place to download the update file?

[+Kryten]

If it's the PPC where's the best place to download the update file?

 

Yes it's on the PPC, available from here

 

edited to sort quote

Edited September 14, 2006 by McKryton

[+Alboy]

So I could export many (all?) the caches from GSAK onto cachemate (big file?), then if I wanted to do a cache I could somehow import that into MM and away we go?

 

That sounds quite useful, as currently I carry all caches within 25 miles of me, which is 750 caches including loads of London ones, on MM, and it can take a long time for MM to load when I open it. If I just loaded the ones I want as I go then it would probably be much quicker?

 

Also, if I then find myself in Kent with an hour to kill I could do a search for a suitable cache, import it into MM and away we go? Or use a combination of MM and CacheNav I suppose?

 

That might be worth a party invite?!

[+Learned Gerbil]

I try and keep MM to 500 or 600 caches or it gets very slow to open, but I do have a steam driven PPC.

[+Moote]

So I could export many (all?) the caches from GSAK onto cachemate (big file?), then if I wanted to do a cache I could somehow import that into MM and away we go?

I have run a Cachemate database with 12000 + caches imported, mainly as a test of its abilities, I can tell you it works faster than a 500 cache GPX file in GPXSonar

That sounds quite useful, as currently I carry all caches within 25 miles of me, which is 750 caches including loads of London ones, on MM, and it can take a long time for MM to load when I open it. If I just loaded the ones I want as I go then it would probably be much quicker?

MM would still have its limitations in speed, but I guess the MMO overlay file would be slightly smaller, due to the shorter line required to call the cache details, so that would have a small but maybe unnoticeable effect

Also, if I then find myself in Kent with an hour to kill I could do a search for a suitable cache, import it into MM and away we go? Or use a combination of MM and CacheNav I suppose?

Unfortunately Memory Map on the PPC is limited to what data you can import, but as the Cachemate DB can hold lots more caches without overhead, you will have the data you require to do these opportune caches

That might be worth a party invite?!

Oh if there are invites floating around, remember mine Edited September 14, 2006 by Moote

[+CrazyL200]

Just got back from 2 and a bit days caching using Cachemate for the first time in anger.

 

I've found that if I create my own new cache page (for one that didn't come up on my PQ for some obscure reason), when I do a cache notes export, it doesn't save the "home made" cache page.

 

Also found, for some reason, once a cache report html export had been done, Cachemate needed restarting (and sometimes a PDA soft reset needed) to get it to do another export (I'm paranoid about backing up regularly on a PDA !!!).

 

I suspect both problems would be resolved with a new installation. All I did was copy the entire contents of my 2GB SD card onto a 4GB card, instead of doing a hard reset and fresh install of everything. To back this up, Memeory Map threw a couple of wobblies that are consistent with an incomplete installation.

 

Otherwise, I'm impressed with Cachemate's capabilities for data handling and the simlicity of the Cachenav plugin.

[+melmur]

I personally don't bother inputting anything into Cachemate in the field, I just write in the cache log, then take a digi pic of what I've written so I can recall it to log online when I get home. It saves a lot of time messing around in my opinion.

[+Ay_Gee]

I tried Cachemate some time ago but decided to use BeelineGPS ( http://www.visualgps.net/beelinegps ) instead! It makes a great GPS tool with it's own mapping which is especially useful when cacheing abroad.

 

I use this alongside TT5 and Fugawi on a SPV M1000 PDA/phone/camera (ebay £80) with BT GPSr (ebay £30). Works well for me - no paper!

[+studlyone]

I tried cachemate for the first time yesterday and I am hooked (I can almost hear the rain forests breathing a sigh of relief LOL). I found it easy to use and a godsend when doing multiple caches as you don't have to sort through reams of paper.

 

Ian

[+fat boy slow]

I have used Cachemate and memory map on a PPC for a while now.

 

However I am having 1 real problem with this, can someone please tell me how ( in words of 1 syllable preferably) to set it all up so I just have to tap the cache icon to open up the html file on the cache, everything I try keeps on linking the icon to the geocache webbsite. So at present I am resorting to scrolling through the Cachemate database and opening the file in there ... not ideal but it works ... sort of

 

Now I have worked out that I am not doing a very simple something , somewhere.... but what is it I should be doing?

 

Any and all advice would be great

 

Thanks

Edited September 30, 2006 by fat boy slow

[+Nellies Knackers]

If you are using Roolku's MM export script there is a modification that links direct with cachemates database rather than seperate html files, I'm sure Moote will be along soon with the code as I've forgotten which bits need cutting out.

[+Pengy&Tigger]

I've used cachemate for a couple of trips, and I'm not happy with it so I'm going back to HTML exports. For my personal use, I wouldn't use most of the extra features in cachemate and I also have some look & feel issues with it:

 

- I don't like the way it reformats some of the HTML (tables etc)

- I don't like the way it has to open up a new window to decode a hint

- When I used HTML, all I had to do was close the cache page window and I would go straight back to memory map. With cachemate, I have to physically re-open memory map.

- It seems to take a couple of seconds longer to open a cache page when clicking on the MM icon, than it does with the HTML exports.

 

I agree it takes longer to do a HTML export than to import a GPX into cachemate, however I rarely want to export the whole of the UK, so I'd rather save time in the field than at home.

 

What I'll probably do in future is stick with HTML for planned hunts, and have the UK sat on cachemate and update it once a month for emergency caching.

 

T

[+sfab]

I have used Cachemate and memory map on a PPC for a while now.

 

However I am having 1 real problem with this, can someone please tell me how ( in words of 1 syllable preferably) to set it all up so I just have to tap the cache icon to open up the html file on the cache, everything I try keeps on linking the icon to the geocache webbsite. So at present I am resorting to scrolling through the Cachemate database and opening the file in there ... not ideal but it works ... sort of

 

Now I have worked out that I am not doing a very simple something , somewhere.... but what is it I should be doing?

 

Any and all advice would be great

 

Thanks

I was going to post the same question. I have just had my first trip out with ipaq2790/MM/cachemate and it went ok. But this function would be nice..

[+CrazyL200]

Just got back from 2 and a bit days caching using Cachemate for the first time in anger.

 

I've found that if I create my own new cache page (for one that didn't come up on my PQ for some obscure reason), when I do a cache notes export, it doesn't save the "home made" cache page.

 

Also found, for some reason, once a cache report html export had been done, Cachemate needed restarting (and sometimes a PDA soft reset needed) to get it to do another export (I'm paranoid about backing up regularly on a PDA !!!).

 

I suspect both problems would be resolved with a new installation. All I did was copy the entire contents of my 2GB SD card onto a 4GB card, instead of doing a hard reset and fresh install of everything. To back this up, Memeory Map threw a couple of wobblies that are consistent with an incomplete installation.

 

Otherwise, I'm impressed with Cachemate's capabilities for data handling and the simlicity of the Cachenav plugin.

 

Just had another day out with Cachemate.

Combined with Memory Map and Tomtom etc... all sharing vis GPS Gate, what else does a traveller and a cacher want in life.

Gets me everywhere I want (caching and non-caching) and allows records of all found to be kept and sorted.

Still have the problem of Cachemate exports to html needing a soft reset to get it to do it properly, but I haven't tried the hard reset and rebuild yet