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Querying GCCXXXX lot/lon programatically


niemeyer

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Sorry, let me try to be more clear.

 

I'm asking for a way to automatically (with software) get the position (read, latitude and longitude) of a given cache ID (say, GC1234). Would anyone know if this is possible?

Premium members can download up to 500 caches using pocket queries.

 

I don't think that an automated program to obtain cache information would be allowed by the terms of service.

Edited by sbell111
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In order to get coordinates for a waypoint you'd need to browse to a URL like this:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCW7HZ

 

That would bring up the cache page, and the coordinates would be on there if you were logged in.

 

Once the cache page's HTML data is downloaded to your computer you could read it an extract the coordinates out of it programatically.

 

Creating a program to loop through a lot a waypoints and download them just to get coordinates in this manner is potentially a violation of the terms of use, and might result in your IP being banned from accessing the website. Pocket queries are a much faster, more reliable, and "legal" way of getting the same data.

Edited by DocDiTTo
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I'll bet that the OP is trying to create an app to grab the coordinates of a new cache he sees in an instant notification.

 

TPTB have good valid reasons for wanting you to visit the website to obtain that information.

 

You've lost the bet. ;-)

 

I would just like to have that information available in a site, with a link

pointing to the actual cache information in GC.com.

 

I don't think this would be threatening GC in any way, since the service

provided here is valuable enough to highly encourage anyone interested to

actually visit the site, and grab additional information. I also wouldn't

have an index of all cache IDs, which means I can't just "steal" information

and run away (there are better ways to do it, if that was the intent).

 

Would anyone know the mail of technical people in geocaching.com whom I

might talk to about this?

 

Thanks!

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I'll bet that the OP is trying to create an app to grab the coordinates of a new cache he sees in an instant notification.

 

TPTB have good valid reasons for wanting you to visit the website to obtain that information.

 

You've lost the bet. ;-)

 

I would just like to have that information available in a site, with a link

pointing to the actual cache information in GC.com.

 

I don't think this would be threatening GC in any way, since the service

provided here is valuable enough to highly encourage anyone interested to

actually visit the site, and grab additional information. I also wouldn't

have an index of all cache IDs, which means I can't just "steal" information

and run away (there are better ways to do it, if that was the intent).

 

Would anyone know the mail of technical people in geocaching.com whom I

might talk to about this?

 

Thanks!

 

Ok - how about the reverse - provide coordinates of a location and see all nearby caches via a link?

 

Take a look at my airports utility at http://www.wnag.net/airports

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I'll bet that the OP is trying to create an app to grab the coordinates of a new cache he sees in an instant notification.

 

TPTB have good valid reasons for wanting you to visit the website to obtain that information.

 

You've lost the bet. ;-)

 

I would just like to have that information available in a site, with a link

pointing to the actual cache information in GC.com.

 

I don't think this would be threatening GC in any way, since the service

provided here is valuable enough to highly encourage anyone interested to

actually visit the site, and grab additional information. I also wouldn't

have an index of all cache IDs, which means I can't just "steal" information

and run away (there are better ways to do it, if that was the intent).

 

Would anyone know the mail of technical people in geocaching.com whom I

might talk to about this?

 

Thanks!

You can find a contact link at the bottom of every page on the GC site. But I can tell you now - IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

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I would just like to have that information available in a site, with a link

pointing to the actual cache information in GC.com.

 

I don't think this would be threatening GC in any way, since the service

provided here is valuable enough to highly encourage anyone interested to

actually visit the site, and grab additional information. I also wouldn't

have an index of all cache IDs, which means I can't just "steal" information

and run away (there are better ways to do it, if that was the intent).

 

Would anyone know the mail of technical people in geocaching.com whom I

might talk to about this?

 

Thanks!

I'm pretty certain that your use would violate the terms of service.
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I'm pretty certain that your use would violate the terms of service.

 

Hey, I'm not trying to "sneak" anything in, and that's why I'm asking

here. I won't be doing any screen-scrapping to retrieve information

in an unsupported way. If GC.com is not interested, even though it'd

be actually giving them more traffic, I won't include that feature,

and that's all.

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If you could figure out GC.COM's GC naming scheme, you could endlessly query near-future schema assignments for the whole world, then filter for your proximity coords, then stay up 24 hours a day.......

No, just make it play a really loud sound file to wake you up. It'd be like the Ghostbusters. Alarm goes off, you and your friends jump out of bed, slide down a pole, get in your geomobile and are off!

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If you could figure out GC.COM's GC naming scheme, you could endlessly query near-future schema assignments for the whole world, then filter for your proximity coords....

Funny. That sounds exactly like a notification service someone had set up a few years ago to email you when a new cache was placed nearby :laughing:

 

Groundspeak finally got tired of the screen scraping abuse and banned the guy's account and IP address :laughing:

 

Fortunately Groundspeak released their own notification service a few months later <_<

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I would just like to have that information available in a site, with a link

pointing to the actual cache information in GC.com.

 

I don't think this would be threatening GC in any way, since the service

provided here is valuable enough to highly encourage anyone interested to

actually visit the site, and grab additional information. I also wouldn't

have an index of all cache IDs, which means I can't just "steal" information

and run away (there are better ways to do it, if that was the intent).

 

I'm pretty certain that your use would violate the terms of service.

 

I'm not so sure. Have a look at the French national site, which AFAIK has been passed kosher by Groundspeak. It only hosts info which is available in the .LOC files. Click on one of the cache names to the right of the map of France to see what I mean.

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