List all caches in a specified area

[+PlantAKiss]

What is the best way to get a list of all caches in one particular area like a park? If the cache listing states "in XYZ Park", then I know its within that park. But some listings don't mention a location by name so its easy to miss some caches that might be in the same location as some others. I'd like to be able to make a list of all caches within a park or other specific area so that I can look for them all on one trip (say if its an out-of-town park that I might not get back to easily).

 

I know you can search cache listings by longitude and latitude. So...would you have to use Googe Earth to find a park, and then do a search using a central spot in the park to get coordinates to use for a listing search??

 

Or is there some much easier way to do that that I'm not aware of. I haven't seen any way to do a search by park name.

 

Thanks!

Edited April 6, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+cosninocanines]

If you know the coordinates or at least one cache in the park you can run a Pocket Query from your Account page.

[+Miragee]

I use GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) to sort, filter, slice, and dice the Pocket Query data.

 

I can use one of the caches in that park as my center point in my database of more than 1000 caches and then do a distance filter to get just the caches within .5, or one mile, or five miles from that cache.

 

After that I send just those caches to my GPSr and also create a .pdb file for that area for a new folder in Cachemate on my Palm.

 

I'm sure others will have other suggestions for you, but that is how I would do that.

[+PlantAKiss]

I just got my Premium membership and I'm also currently GPSr-less (it broke ) so I haven't yet tried the pocket queries.

 

I'm sure it will take me a little while to figure all that out. It sounds like greek to me right now but maybe once I play with it and experience it that will make more sense.

 

After fussing with Garmin for sending me a refurb, I hope to be getting my NEW GPSr next week. I guess I need to go bone up on Pocket Query instructions. I'm hoping that will not be over my head as I have no experience with any type of database type programs where you work with "criteria."

 

Thank you!

Edited April 6, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+Cardinal Red]

What you need is a PDA. Order a PQ (very easy). Load all (well, most) of the Geocache data from an area into the PDA. But you don't need to start with GSAK. You can get your feet wet with CacheMate, and only add GSAK later if you decide you need that level of control and complexity. Not all of us do.

 

CacheMate can be downloaded free. The unregistered version will hold 10 records (caches). If you like it, the registration code is a one time only fee of $8.

 

While you are at any cache in the Database (actually from ANY location), you can ask CacheMate to sort every record in the Database by distance and direction. I find that very helpful.

 

This is a good project to work on while waiting for your GPS.

[+PlantAKiss]

This is a good project to work on while waiting for your GPS.

 

I did think of that. I see a lot of posts about PDAs. I thought they were pretty expensive though. Getting the GPSr was a stretch for me. And is it a pain to have to deal with two separate devices?

[+Miragee]

A friend got an unused Palm M500, in the box, for $30.00, including the shipping. I have one of those, which I had long before I started caching. I've been using Cachemate on it for more than two years now and it works great.

 

The reason I recommend that Palm is because it connects to your computer with USB, and it can also accept an SD card in case you want to hold lots and lots of caches, like if you were going on a road trip.

 

Oh . . . and if you get a Palm, get a hard case for it . . . It is easy to drop your PDA when you are fumbling with your digital camera, GPSr, and walking stick . . . My Palm has survived a few falls because of the inexpensive case I got for it.

[+PlantAKiss]

Hmm. I know nothing about PDAs. I don't even know what they do. lol

 

But like you said...I'm already dragging around a camera, usually a leashed dog, swagbag, water, GPSr and soon a walking stick.

 

So...using PQs...are you saying that a PDA can store more cache information than what you get if you just download the PQs into your GPSr??

Edited April 6, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+Markwell]

I personally believe that asking someone to use a PDA and Cachemate is MORE complex than learning GSAK. GSAK can sort and filter the cache any way you want.

 

But more importantly, and what everyone seemed to miss are some of the tools on the site already.

 

Here's a scenario I just went through to find caches near Yellowstone Nat'l Park.

 

Look on a map and find that Gardiner, MT is nearby.

Enter that data into Maporama.com and come up with the coordinates for Yellowstone as "45.03 (45°1') | -110.71 (-110°42')"

Go to the Geocaching.com/seek page and enter the coorindates into the Decimal Lat/Lon search (75 mile radius will catch them all)

 

That gave me a list of 232 caches within 75 miles of Gardiner - some could be the wrong direction. So - click on the Map It icon:

And that takes me here, a Google Map with caches plotted on it. Zoom out and I can see all of the caches in Yellowstone area.

 

All this with just one additional site to find the starting coordinates, and no extra software or a PDA.

[+Markwell]

So...using PQs...are you saying that a PDA can store more cache information than what you get if you just download the PQs into your GPSr??

 

Yes - the GPX file contains the last five logs and all of the details about the cache, size, type, description, difficulty, terrain, encrypted hints, travel bugs - almost everything. Even if you've found it or not.

 

Cachemate and GSAK can both be used to produce files readily readable on a PDA. You've basically got a miniature handheld computer that has a snapshot of the data from Geocaching.com.

[+Miragee]

Hmm. I know nothing about PDAs. I don't even know what they do. lol

 

But like you said...I'm already dragging around a camera, usually a leashed dog, swagbag, water, GPSr and soon a walking stick.

 

So...using PQs...are you saying that a PDA can store more cache information than what you get if you just download the PQs into your GPSr??

If you decide to go the PDA direction, and install Cachemate on it, and use a database program like GSAK, you can have all the information, cache description, Past Logs, etc. for thousands of caches on the PDA.

 

When I took a trip to Colorado, I had caches for Arizona in one database on my Palm M500, caches for New Mexico in another, likewise for Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

 

Because this area is so cache-rich, I have more than 1000 caches in my Palm, even though my GPSr can hold less than 500. I load the GPSr based on whichever direction I think I am heading, but if I end up somewhere else, I have the cache descriptions, coordinates, etc. in my Palm.

[+PlantAKiss]

I'm not terribly interested in a PDA if I don't NEED it. I don't want to become bogged down in all kinds of techie stuff. I just want to go outside and have a good time looking for caches. I'm still a newb. Maybe when I have a good number of cache finds under my belt and more experience, I'll be more interested in getting more technical about it. Right now there are still features on the GPSr I don't know how to use. lol Perhaps a PDA will be in my future...

 

Markwell...thank you. I think I will try what you just described and see if it works to find smaller parks in a metro area.

 

Thanks so much for all the advice.

 

I reeeeeeeeaaaaally miss my GPSr.

Edited April 6, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+Cardinal Red]

So...using PQs...are you saying that a PDA can store more cache information than what you get if you just download the PQs into your GPSr??

 

YES ! ! ! - I also use a Palm m500. I don't get the Map. I don't get any Pictures. I only get the last 5 logs. I don't get Attributes. All the rest of the info is available. You won't get that on your GPSr.

 

Before posting this I noticed Markwell's post. There is a first time for everything and this time I thoroughly disagree with him. Everybody should have a PDA to carry in the field where it's NEEDED. Very few bother to read the cache page (that is also a tool available on the site). Most of them won't take the time to do his suggestion either.

 

If you always have time to thoroughly research a very limited number of caches per run that's fine. If not, get the PDA. Everybody wants a GPS that will hold everything. We don't have that available yet. So we have people tearing apart stone walls (etc.) because they never read the cache page. So simple to ruin a stone wall even a cave man can do it. No technology required.

[+PlantAKiss]

Well I'll be! That worked.

 

Awsome!

 

Now I know why they call you...well....Markwell.

 

---------------------------

 

Oooops. Ok. That didn't work on my next try. I guess that only works if the area is on a map service. I tried two local parks and it kept bringing up streets with similar names.

Edited April 6, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[Neos2]

Markwell's info was good. However, let me share the reasons you may want to later consider adding a PDA to your equipment list.

 

You don't have to have a fancy, expensive PDA. I have a simple Palm iiixe that I bought off another cacher for $25 (they threw in the case, a second case with a keyboard, extra rechargeable batteries, and a couple of other things they weren't using any longer, too).

 

My gps can accept 1000 waypoints. I have it set up to show me the name of the cache, the gc ID, the difficulty and terrain, who hid it, and an abbreviated hint. For some caches, I could go to the cache without ever reading the cache page--but I don't like to do that, in case there is something important on the cache page (like hours, or how to avoid crossing onto provate property etc).

 

The PDA holds "I don't know how many" caches. I have about 2500 on there right now. It reads like a mini cache page. I leave the clues undecrypted, so I can hunt for the cache without the hint first but if I need the hint, one click of a button decrypts it for me. I also have at least the last five logs in the PDA.

 

I use GSAK and cachemate to load all the info into the PDA and GPS, and it takes me all of about 5 minutes to get fresh data from a PQ into my gps, my husband's gps, his PDA and my PDA--then we are out the door. If we get to the park only to find it's packed for a balloon race or a Civil War festival or something, we can just move on to some other part of town. If we clean out the park in an hour and still want to cache, we can move on to the next park. I can even be out about town (not caching) and suddenly find myself with a few minutes to spare, and go grab any cache that is showing up on the gps.

 

I use Markwell's method of searching the nearby caches when I am looking for places I may want to visit soon--so I'll know where to center my PQ. But once I run the PQ, I love the additional information the PDA offers me. It really isn't a lot of nuisance at all. I use the gps to locate a cache I may want to do, skim the PDA cache page, put the PDA away and go do the cache. The PDA only comes out of my pocket again to do the next cache, or to look up the hint or logs if needed.

[+trainlove]

Another simple way to know if which caches are in the same park is to use the resources that geocaching.com already provide. No need for GSAK or other outside software.

 

Specifically I'm talking about the maps, if you zoom in and have 'identify' clicked you should be able to tell if something is where youre going to be or somewhere else.

[+Miragee]

You are correct, however, the OP is a Premium Member, so the easiest way for them to get all the information, in .gpx format, is to get a Pocket Query based on the coordinates of that park as cosninocanines originally suggested.

 

For Non-Premium members, your reply is an excellent solution.

[+TrailGators]

I think the needs depend on what kind of caching that you are going to do. If you are hiking and plan on finding a handful of caches you don't need a Palm at all. Most hiking caches are pretty easy to find. But you could use GSAK to load the hints into your GPS. If you are going to find a lot of urban caches then a Palm is handy because when you get home you can use the online Express Logger to make logging a lot easier.

[+Trucker Lee]

Back to the original question, I myself would go with locating the park or area on a map, and get the coords of the centerpoint. Load this to Groundspeak for a search, get the PQ. Move this to GSAK, then narrow the field with a polygon filter. Send the info to Palm and GPSr.

 

I like the Palm because I can carry it outside the vehicle, not like the laptop. No need to carry sheets of paper, although I started this way, doing cut and paste of the info I wanted on each cache to notepad, then just printing multiple caches on one page. With Palm, I can get a lot more info on more caches in a shorter time.

[+michigansnorkelers]

OK, I see you're a premium member. So, here's one way to do this.

 

1. Start with any cache. On the cache page, click on OPEN IN GEOCACHING.COM GOOGLE MAPS.

 

2. Now, scroll to the park of interest, and zoom in/out as needed. In this example I picked POCHAHONTAS STATE PARK AND FOREST which is near you.

 

 

3. Now, there are two blue boxes in the upper right corner. Click on the RIGHT one, and enter a title you'll remember. Let's call it POCHAHONTAS. It will now look like this.

 

 

4. See all those gray boxes to the right of the caches? Click on each you want to save. For this example, I chose just the multis.

 

 

5. Now, go to the second page, and select some more. No more multis here, so I chose two puzzle caches.

 

 

6. Now, click on the UPPER LEFT of the two blue buttons to VISIT your bookmark list.

 

 

7. Your choice now. Create a PQ probably.

 

You could print those pages, so you know where the caches are in relation to each other.

 

But going paperless has lots of advantages. I already have a Palm Zire 72.

 

What I would do now, is download the PQ to my Palm under a separate directory.

 

BTW, you could have also copied images of those pages and transferred them to your Palm as well. With GSAK, all you do is press CTRL ALT F10 to save screenshots. I sometimes find this handy, especially with hybrid satellite views... HOW COOL IS THAT!

 

 

HAPPY GEOCACHING!

Edited April 8, 2007 by michigansnorkeler

[+LennyTheLizard]

I just wanted to put in my two cents, and that's about all it's worth. Here is how I do it, but I realize that my equipment is different than most.

 

I have a Garmin Ique 3600, which is a Palm OS version PDA (handheld computer) that also has GPS built in. There is only one device. Every week, I get 2 Pocket Queries downloaded from geocaching.com. One of them finds the 250 geocaches closest to my home coordinates that I have not found yet, and the other finds 100 geocaches nearest to my father-in-law's house that I haven't found. We visit there at least twice per month. I use Cachemate for geocaching. The program comes with everything I need. I know some people use GSAK, but I've never had a need for it. I use CMConvert (comes with Cachemate) to load the pocket query cache into my PDA. With one button I can export all the geocache locations in cachemate into my Garmin address books under a "cache" category. Now, while driving around in the car, with the map showing, I can see when I'm near to a geocache, and get driving directions right to it. Then I switch back to the Cachemate program and have a compass style arrow that tells me how to get to the cache, and I can get all the cache descriptions, logs, hints, etc.

 

For finding caches near a certain point, I can just zoom and scroll to the location on the map, and "look around" to see if there are any caches. Or, you can select one cache near the point of interest, and do a Cachemate search for nearest cache. It will give you a list of all the caches around the first cache in order of the closest to the farthest.

 

I imagine using a seperate GPS and pDA would still work similar. I think there is a huge advantage to having a PDA, especially, if you're out and about and weren't planning on caching, you already have all the info on hand. It may take a few hours to learn how to use the programs, but these forums are an excellent source of help. As far as carrying an extra device, don't you have to carry around a sheet of paper for every cache in order to tell you the description or hint on how to find the cache? The PDA can eliminate all the paper!!!

 

Sorry for being so long-winded

[+PlantAKiss]

Thank you MichiganSnorkler! Wow. I appreciate the effort you put into that.

 

And thanks to everyone else too. My head is swimming with all the info. lol

 

First off, let me explain why I'm a little backwards here. At home, my computer (a Mac) is practically useless. I'm using an old OS so almost nothing works including my printer. (Now I LOVE a Mac...my problem is not being able upgrade.) I am also on dial-up. SO...in order for me to go caching, I have to sit and wait while each page opens (IF it opens...many do not) and then handwrite notes about each cache. I try to keep it brief (size, ratings, a few notes).

 

At the office, GC.com has been blocked until just last week. I nearly fainted when by accident I discovered they had unblocked it. I was SO excited! That's when I was finally able to get my Premium membership (as Paypal doesn't work at home either). Therefore...I haven't used any my new membership features and I don't have experience in some of these things y'all are talking about because they didn't work at home.

 

My issue now is...many of the downloads y'all are mentioning won't work at home. And I'm not supposed to download anything on the office computer (although I did put my Garmin stuff on here). I'm not sure how many of these features I will be able to use unless I download these things in spite of it being a no-no. I'm pretty thrilled I will be able to actually print out a cache page.

 

I have no experience with any type of database files so all that is greek to me but hopefully I can figure it out if I get the chance to try them. I use strictly graphics programs so I'll have to figure the other stuff out.

 

In my brief map experiment on Friday I was not able to find some of the smaller parks I go to. I don't know if maybe the maps just don't show smaller parks? Pocohontas is in my area and I do plan to hit that one day but I haven't finished the caches in my own area yet. So many caches, so little time. And I've been GPSr-less for almost a month but hopefully my new replacement will arrive this week.

 

Although we just had snow this weekend (a real shocker for April), I am anxious to get out and do some caching in this beautiful spring weather!

 

-------------------

 

I might also add that my GPSr is a Garmin Quest. Not your typical unit for geocaching but it works great and I love it. I just hope I can do some of these things with the Quest.

Edited April 9, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+The Leprechauns]

michigan snorkeler did a terrific job in illustrating the method I was trying to describe. Sometimes screen shots work better than words. But when you posted your question I didn't have time for that -- I went out and found ten caches yesterday, selected in part by using a bookmark list that I created from map browsing.

[+Markwell]

The trick is finding the initial coordinates. Pocohontas State Park has a main entrance road, with a fork to the northeast and northwest. I found the coordinates of that as N 37° 22.182 W 077° 34.550, by using a combination of Microsoft Streets and Trips (for the general area) and GeocachingAdmin's Terraserver Viewer for fine tuning.

 

Admittedly, the Streets and Trips is a PC-based software, but you could use a cache in the area as a starting spot as well. It looks like "Nature's Cannon" (GCKFKV) at N 37° 22.091 W 077° 34.626 would work as a nice center as well, and is only about 600 feet from my arbitrary choice of a center of the park.

 

Still looking on the Streets and Trips map (but you COULD do this on the Terraserver Viewer as well), a radius of 3.5 miles should cover the entire state park. Plug that into the geocaching.com/seek page and you get this - a list of 42 caches most likely in the area. In looking at the Google Map interface, it looks like the first 41 are in the state park and that #42 is over in Chesterfield.

 

Again - no GSAK or any offline data, but I'm not sure how well all of those websites will work on a dial up.

[+PlantAKiss]

OHOHOH...I thought of something I meant to ask. For the PDA...does it cost money to RUN it? (i.e. being connected to a phone service or some fee for accessing the internet??). I could handle buying a cheap PDA but if means subscribing and paying monthly fee for it...I dunno.

 

Just as an aside, a month or so ago some geocachers made the news here. They accidently stumbled across an illegal campground in Pocohontas State Park. The belongings were traced to a man who was mysteriously murdered in Paris shortly before the camp discovery. No one knows why he was apparently living the park and how he got to Paris and why he was killed. You never know what you might find geocaching.

 

---------------------------

 

OK...I tried Maporama. I am looking for two parks, Bryan Park and Three Lakes Park, in Richmond VA. When I try to search those, it defaults to street names with Bryan and "three" in it. Am I doing something wrong or does it not contain info on small parks? (Pocohontas is quite large).

Edited April 9, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+briansnat]

OHOHOH...I thought of something I meant to ask. For the PDA...does it cost money to RUN it? (i.e. being connected to a phone service or some fee for accessing the internet??). I could handle buying a cheap PDA but if means subscribing and paying monthly fee for it...I dunno.

 

No monthly fees associated with running a PDA.

Edited April 9, 2007 by briansnat

[+Miragee]

Here is an eBay search of Palm M500s. I have been using mine for Geocaching for more than two years with Cachemate installed on it. There are less expensive Palms, and much more expensive Palms. The M500 uses USB so it works with newer computers that don't have Serial connectors.

 

Puchasing an inexpensive hard case for it is also a good idea.

 

I may have posted this link before, but here is a rudimentary GSAK tutorial, including screenshots.

[+PlantAKiss]

Thank you!

 

I just did a quick skim of GSAK and Cachemate from the links provided. And I do mean quick as I'm at work....

 

Is Cachemate only for two types of PDA..."pocket PC" and "Palm OS"? Its not used with a GPSr?

 

GSAK is a program that will provide files to DL directly into your GPSr? And/or PDA?

 

Sorry for the ignorance.

[+Miragee]

There are two versions of Cachemate, one for the Palm OS, the other for Pocket PC. The GPSr is already set up by the manufacturer. You can put maps on it, and waypoints, but no additional software like Cachemate . . .

 

GSAK is a very powerful program that will open the zipped Pocket Query files, allow you to filter the data anyway you want. Then you use it to Send the waypoints to your GPSr. Export the filtered data in the correct format for your PDA (Palm, or Pocket PC), and Export the data in the correct format for any maps you use, or for Google Earth.

 

Although GSAK costs $25.00 to register, it is such a powerful, time-saving program, I cannot imagine caching in this very cache-rich area without it.

[+PlantAKiss]

Thanks. I knew you didn't load Cachemate onto your GPSr. I wasn't sure if the data collected by Cachemate goes only into a PDA. So Cachemate is basically a program for a PDA where GSAK you can load your data into a GPSr or PDA. If I got that right...

 

I've seen that comment before, that the Richmond area is "cache rich."

[+Markwell]

OK...I tried Maporama. I am looking for two parks, Bryan Park and Three Lakes Park, in Richmond VA. When I try to search those, it defaults to street names with Bryan and "three" in it. Am I doing something wrong or does it not contain info on small parks? (Pocohontas is quite large).

 

Well - Maporama uses "place names" and addresses from around the whole world - I would expect it would miss SOME.

 

I'd suggest starting with the cooridnates of a cache you KNOW to be in the area.

 

BTW - Streets and Trips tells me that...

Bryan Park is centered around 37.59362, -77.47282 - and if you do a search within 0.5 miles, you'll have the caches in that park.

Three Lakes Park is centered around 37.61769, -77.42972 - and if you do a search within 0.3 miles, you'll have the caches in that park.

 

Head over to GeocachingAdmin.com's Terra Server Viewer like I had suggested. Here's a link to get you started. That shows a topo map of the area around Richmond. Click anywhere on the map, and it will recenter, showing the coordinates of where you clicked just above the map (Image Center: N 37 31.669 W 77 27.127)

 

Then you can zoom in and click around until you find the area that you're looking for.

 

ALSO -

Try out Maps.Google.com. I entered Bryan Park, Richmond, VA and got a good map of the spot. Then click "Link to this page" and the page will refresh. The new address looks like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Bryan+Park,+Richmond,+VA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.819956,61.875&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=37.600666,-77.471638&spn=0.015028,0.030212&om=1p

That part that says &ll=37.600666,-77.471638 is giving you the lat/lon for the center of the map. Just another way to get your starting coordinates.

[+PlantAKiss]

Thank you. Actually on my lunch hour I played around with the TerraServer Viewer and I located the caches in both Bryan Park and 3 Lakes. I made print outs. I had to cut and paste the coords by hand out of each listing but that worked. I also used Google Earth to get center coordinates for those parks. I've actually found all those caches except a TB Hotel that is new. I was just using those two parks for practice. But the maps will help me since I'm working on placing a first cache. Its difficult finding an "empty" spot that meets my criteria.

 

Thank you so much!

Edited April 9, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+BuckeyeClan]

Hi there! I'm pretty new to this, but here's my method for finding caches in specific parks. From the geocaching homepage I go to "hide and seek a cache", and then "search with Google maps". I then enter the city and state or zip code for the area I want to search. Once it brings up the map, I just pan and zoom to find the specific park that I want. Or else I just look for green spaces or clusters of caches to zoom in on to see what's there. Then I read through the listed caches, and print out the ones that look like they would suit us. We don't do a whole lot of caching, and we usually only look for a few each outing, so this low-tech method has worked well for us!

[+michigansnorkelers]

The method I described works for all parks. You just have to zoom in close enough for small parks to appear.

 

 

 

But I just had another idea!

 

Stepping outside the box, do you have a modern cell phone?

 

Geocache Navigator is an inexpensive service available for, I believe, $7.95 per month. It runs on a number of modern, GPS enabled phones. You get a list of caches right on the phone display, along with maps. I've run into several geocachers who swear by this and have more or less abandoned their PC based ways. Every time I see one of these in action, I get more and more jealous! My next cell phone will be GPS enabled.

 

Check the forums about this, and check here too:

 

http://www.geocachenavigator.com

[+PlantAKiss]

Stepping outside the box, do you have a modern cell phone

 

Ok...I know I'm pretty backwards on my ancient Mac, but its NOT by choice. lol That's financially based. Yes, I DO have a "modern cell phone." I even have some hip and cool ringtones like Hey Ya and Play That Funky Music.

 

Yes, my cell phone is GPS enabled. I can use it by paying per month or I believe it is $3 per day. I've never used the feature because I HAVE (had) a GPS and if Garmin sticks to their word, I should have my new one in a few more days.

 

SO...how did you get the caches to show up on Google Maps? (And before anyone yells at me, remember that the vast majority of these features I have never used because they don't work at home and until just a few days ago GC.com was blocked at work). Are you accessing Google maps from the cache listing page and that shows the cache on the map??

 

BuckeyeClan...

From the geocaching homepage I go to "hide and seek a cache", and then "search with Google maps". I then enter the city and state or zip code for the area I want to search. Once it brings up the map,

 

I do that too but I get a listing of the caches...not a MAP with the caches on it. ??

 

I feel like a caveman brought into the 20th century trying to figure out a fork and a knife... [sorry Geico Caveman Guy]

 

I hope my office doesn't re-block GC.com or I will lose all these nice features I'm discovering...

 

------------------------------

Never mind! I found it! The "Map It" Button! I've ignored that button since it wouldn't work. Geez. That would be a big help.

Edited April 10, 2007 by PlantAKiss

[+sbell111]

YES ! ! ! - I also use a Palm m500. I don't get the Map. I don't get any Pictures. I only get the last 5 logs.

I use Plucker with Sunrise's desktop application instead of Cachemate. This allows me to see any cache page pics on the cache pages in my PDA. Also, if you use GSAK, you can 'build' the files and end up with more than the last five logs. Edited April 10, 2007 by sbell111

[+michigansnorkelers]

Stepping outside the box, do you have a modern cell phone

 

Ok...I know I'm pretty backwards on my ancient Mac, but its NOT by choice. lol That's financially based. Yes, I DO have a "modern cell phone." I even have some hip and cool ringtones like Hey Ya and Play That Funky Music.

 

Yes, my cell phone is GPS enabled. I can use it by paying per month or I believe it is $3 per day. I've never used the feature because I HAVE (had) a GPS and if Garmin sticks to their word, I should have my new one in a few more days.

 

SO...how did you get the caches to show up on Google Maps? (And before anyone yells at me, remember that the vast majority of these features I have never used because they don't work at home and until just a few days ago GC.com was blocked at work). Are you accessing Google maps from the cache listing page and that shows the cache on the map??

 

BuckeyeClan...

From the geocaching homepage I go to "hide and seek a cache", and then "search with Google maps". I then enter the city and state or zip code for the area I want to search. Once it brings up the map,

 

I do that too but I get a listing of the caches...not a MAP with the caches on it. ??

 

I feel like a caveman brought into the 20th century trying to figure out a fork and a knife... [sorry Geico Caveman Guy]

 

I hope my office doesn't re-block GC.com or I will lose all these nice features I'm discovering...

 

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Never mind! I found it! The "Map It" Button! I've ignored that button since it wouldn't work. Geez. That would be a big help.

 

Look on ANY cache page, just above the list of cache logs, and you will find about a dozen maps to choose from. For all my examples, I used GEOCACHING.COM GOOGLE MAP. From there, just scroll and pan&zoom to your heart's content!

 

[+BuckeyeClan]

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Never mind! I found it! The "Map It" Button! I've ignored that button since it wouldn't work. Geez. That would be a big help.

 

LOL! I can relate! I remember when I first started geocaching, I couldn't figure out a good way to look for caches in a specific park. I must have spent an hour or two trying to guess where caches were, reading cache pages, looking for ones that said what park they were in, totally overlooking the mapping options. Finally I thought, "I wonder what this mapping link does?", and ta-da! The park and all it's caches were suddenly right in front of me! It sure made everything a lot easier!

 

If you ever head down this way to do some caching, check out Newport News Park. It's a really nice park, and you could easily spend the whole day caching, and still not find everything hidden there!

 

BuckeyeClan

[+capn-jack]

I'm pretty much addicted to Google Earth. It's a free download, and you can waste hours and hours looking at all the places you've been, and the places you want to go.

 

If you go to your account page and look in the giant pile of goodies on the right side of the screen, you will find a little tag/banner for loading a .kml file into your Google Earth.

 

Then you can just wander around in G E, and all the caches will pop on little icons. they will not be in the exact spot (I suspect they are intentionally corrupted to make it more challenging) but you can find clumps of caches, and caches in and around any area of the globe.

 

Then just click on the icon, and when a balloon pops up, click the link to the cache info. The GC.com page will open at the bottom of the screen.

 

Of course, this doesn't quite get the custom, automatic, whiz-bang download that a Pocket Query will do.

[+PlantAKiss]

Thanks you all! And just to clarify...its not that I didn't know things existed (like the mapping etc.)...I just couldn't use and experiment with them until this last week. At home, most things don't work on my old computer...and at the office, CG.com has been blocked until last week. That is why I am just now using some of these features since my exciting discovery that the website is now unblocked. I never had the chance to use this stuff before...so I just ignored most of it since it was useless to me.

 

My other issue is...some of the programs mentioned are downloads and...umm...ah...that's "illegal" here at the office. However...I DLed Google Earth a while back. And...I have downloaded my mapping software...AND...yesterday I downloaded GSAK. Sooooooo...I hope I don't get fired... Hopefully if they discover my transgressions, I'll just get yelled at and told to delete them.

 

SO...yesterday on my lunch hour I found my first cache without my GPSr using a map. Then my replacement GPS finally arrived and I downloaded GSAK and successfully moved my very first PQ into the new unit. YAY! Now...I'll have to think about the PDA.

 

BuckeyeClan...I didn't realize you were in VA. Thanks for the info. I do hope to be expanding out one of these days and I'll definitely check that out. Thanks!