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What does "paperless caching" mean?


Danske

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The GPS shows you the coordinates and some models will show you the cache and owner name. What it doesn't show you is the info on the cache page and the hint. Sometimes the info on the page, particularly in the case of puzzle caches, is important in order to find the cache.

 

So many people print out the pages of the caches they are planning on hunting so they have this info along with them.

 

Paperless caching is a way to do away with printed cache pages and have all the cache information on your PDA.

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Newbie here - Obviously not using paper, but doesn't the GPS display everything needed? What do you write on paper?

Hi, Welcome

My GPS does not show things like description, difficulty, hints, past logs which can give a little extra hints. Some people print out the cache page on paper to take with them while hunting. Going paperless means putting the information in a Palm Pilot, pocket PC or some such portable device to take with them while hunting in the woods.

 

Some of the newer GPS's do have the ability to store more information about a cache than mine. You did not say what model you are using. I have a Magellan SporTrak Pro.

Hope this helps.

 

Hope this helps.

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I wondered what it meant also.

Now I know, thanks.

I still wonder why you need to save all that info, Ive only found a few cashes so far but Ive not had a problem, did 7 today as my personal best.would like to get the clue on my gps though, i can see how that would help.

 

I guess you don't need all the info. For years when I geocached, I'd often have no information other than the cache coordinates and waypoint name. But this often meant I didn't know what I was looking for. I'd get to the cache site and wonder if it was a virtual, micro, or multi - or sometimes even a puzzle with no container at the coordinates. Needless to say, this made searching difficult at times.

 

The cache pages often contain important info. Sometimes this includes interesting background about the area around the cache, info about where to park, hours the cache is available and the hint, as well as the size, name and type of cache. Because of this many people will print out the pages to bring along on cache hunts, particularly if they don't download coordinates directly to their unit. Going paperless allows you to have all this info on your PDA.

 

A lot of my caching is done spontaneously. I do a weekly load of my nearest 800 unfound caches to my GPS and if I'm out and about and have time on my hands, I check my GPS to see what is nearby. Because I also load those same 800 cache pages to my PDA I have all the cache pages available to me so I know what I'm looking for.

 

I have the Magellan eXplorist 500le, I notice it has a screen for more info about the cache but is blank on the GPS. How do I get the additional info to the GPS? Thanks!

 

If you are a premium member you can load GPX files to your unit and that should populate those fields. At least it does with Garmin units, so I assume Magellan is the same.

Edited by briansnat
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If you are a premium member you can load GPX files to your unit and that should populate those fields. At least it does with Garmin units, so I assume Magellan is the same.

Do you have to be a premium member to load GPX files or do you just get more information?

Yes you have to be a premium member to get GPX files from the website (they're emailed to you, after you run a Pocket Query). If your not a premium member you can only download .loc files which have less information, and you can only download them 20 at a time (a pockey query can have info for up to 500 caches).

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I also have the 500le.I have to read then dowload every cashe separately, time consuming but its interesting trying to remember the details for each.

It would be very cool to have hundreds or even a few dozen loaded onto my gps but yes I would need the details to know more about each one.Maybe at some point Ill get the full membership.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to southern California for a week. I'm not sure exactly where I will be caching, so I ran some pocket queries and loaded 2800 caches to my Venture CX and pda. My wife mentioned that she might want to go to Las Vegas for a day or so, so I loaded 475 more caches to both units.

 

Now I'm ready to go. It took maybe twenty minutes to set up the pocket queries and I took another fifteen or so to cull out the caches that look like they're missing. Beyond that, my pc took some processing time to generate my files for the pda.

 

When I am ready to geocache, all I have to do is see what's close to me and go for it.

 

Paperless is great!

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This looks like just the thread to ask my question before I go out for my first time this weekend. I picked up a Magellan Explorist 210 and with the pocket query I downloaded 100 local caches, the gpsr shows the name of the cache, the ID number, owner, type, location, date placed, date last found, difficulty and hint. Do I need a palm to carry more information of is the gpsr going to be enough?

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This looks like just the thread to ask my question before I go out for my first time this weekend. I picked up a Magellan Explorist 210 and with the pocket query I downloaded 100 local caches, the gpsr shows the name of the cache, the ID number, owner, type, location, date placed, date last found, difficulty and hint. Do I need a palm to carry more information of is the gpsr going to be enough?

 

That may be enough. I've found many with less info, but I find that having the last 5 logs while in the field can be invaluable.

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A Palm M500 will work just fine for caching. I use Cachemate on my Palm M500. It is only $8.00 to register.

 

If you use GSAK to send the waypoints to your GPSr, it is easy to get the name of the cache, and even part of the hint. Use the codes in the "Smart Name" feature.

 

This is the code I use for the Waypoint name:

 

%smart=6 %con1%typ1%dif1%ter1

 

This includes part of the name, the Size of the container, the Type of cache (Traditional, Multi, Virtual, Puzzle), the Difficulty and Terrain (based on a 10-point scale).

 

To get part of the hint, I use this code in the Waypoint Description blank:

 

%Name=10 %hint

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I have a nextel phone and just got the geocache navigator. I tried it out for the first time yesterday and it works like a charm. You just put find caches near me and they all pop up with descriptions, past logs, and hints. There are other search options on it to like search by zip or coords. I really liked not having to waste an hour and a stack of paper printing off caches.

Edited by flarose516
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HELP! I can't even download any .LOC files from geocaching.com. Every time I do, I get a page saying that my browser has forbidden access to the page. I guess that I have to adjust my IE 7 settings, but I have no idea where to start. Any help for this nyophyte?

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A Palm M500 will work just fine for caching. I use Cachemate on my Palm M500. It is only $8.00 to register.

 

If you use GSAK to send the waypoints to your GPSr, it is easy to get the name of the cache, and even part of the hint. Use the codes in the "Smart Name" feature.

 

This is the code I use for the Waypoint name:

 

%smart=6 %con1%typ1%dif1%ter1

 

This includes part of the name, the Size of the container, the Type of cache (Traditional, Multi, Virtual, Puzzle), the Difficulty and Terrain (based on a 10-point scale).

 

To get part of the hint, I use this code in the Waypoint Description blank:

 

%Name=10 %hint

 

I use gpsbabel to get the same thing.

 

It creates a HTML file with the names (modified, see below) hints etc.

 

I use a perl script to modify the names of the caches

 

UC12~112ch

 

UC - Unknown cache

1 - Difficulty

2 - Terrain

everything after ~ is the cache id.

 

send the NMEA sentances to the GPSr (Lawrance I-GO) load the html page (palm or laptop) and I am off!

 

Everything is done automatically with a script, merging gpx files, removing dupes, un-zipping gpx files from e-mail. All I do is press go when the terminal program is running.

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