Streamlining paperless caching

[+Team Darcins Digs]

I have been paperless caching for a couple of months now. My Palm is now getting cluttered with hundreds and hundreds of caches.. What I would like to hear is "what is your routine"?

I cache on weekends so Thursday is spent updating all my PQs with GSAK then sending them to cachemate, and GPSr.

Edited June 27, 2007 by Team Darcins Digs

[+Knight2000]

After a while i just delete old ones in my Palm and put new ones in. If you use GSAK i would do that. I dont use GSAK though.

[+luckycharlie]

I have been paperless caching for a couple of months now. My Palm is now getting cluttered with hundreds and hundreds of caches.. What I would like to hear is "what is your routine"?

I cache on weekends so Thursday is spent updating all my PQs with GSAK then sending them to cachemate, and GPSr.

 

 

I have created a new database in Cachemate called "Found". I just bookmark the caches as I find them. Search the bookmarked caches to post them on Geocaching.com, and then move those bookmarked caches to the "Found" Database.

 

You can also save your caches in GSAK, and move them around as you like.

[+stepshep]

In cachemate I have several databases, I'll be travelling to Salt Fork State Park this weekend and just put all the info from those caches into my 'Salt Fork' Database, same for the waymarks at salt fork. After I find a cache/waymark, I click Found it on the CacheMate and delete the waypoint from my GPSr. After I log all my finds (and DNFs) I go to the Found database and select delete records. This keeps everything nice and clear.

[+Jhwk]

I have both a found and not found on my cachemate database. When I mark it found, it moves the cache to the found database. Once I have posted my finds, I just tap the cachemate heading at the top of the screen and say delete records (make sure you are in the proper db that you want to clear.

 

every couple of weeks, I clear out my GSAK and Cachemate unfound cache listings and load the fresh GPX files. Keeps everything nice and clean. I travel quite a bit, so having caches for Seattle and Portland does me no good when I live in the Ozarks.

[+Jhwk]

In cachemate I have several databases, I'll be travelling to Salt Fork State Park this weekend and just put all the info from those caches into my 'Salt Fork' Database, same for the waymarks at salt fork. After I find a cache/waymark, I click Found it on the CacheMate and delete the waypoint from my GPSr. After I log all my finds (and DNFs) I go to the Found database and select delete records. This keeps everything nice and clear.

why wouldn't you just keep them all in the "not found" listing. Seems like you are taking extra steps.

 

I just load all of my caches to the not found list, and then just search by name. not that it is good or bad, just wondering...

[+Dryphter]

Pretty much what others do:

 

Multiple databases for GSAK as I live in SD, but travel to FL, WA, etc. So I keep a database for each area. I also have a 'Found Caches' database in GSAK that I copy finds from the other GSAK databases into when I want to run stats/numbers.

 

Then on Cachemate I have the same - multiple databases for locations like Tampa, Seattle, etc. Then a Found caches database as well - all though I will probably delete this one as I don't use it much. To me, Cachemate is a good on the trail program, but GSAK is really my main tool to keep track of things. I use Cachemate to record the find, TB or coin info, etc just long enough to get back home. After I log it at home, I could care less what the Cachemate database has in it. I re-export from GSAK to Cachemate everytime I go out anyway.

[+stepshep]

In cachemate I have several databases, I'll be travelling to Salt Fork State Park this weekend and just put all the info from those caches into my 'Salt Fork' Database, same for the waymarks at salt fork. After I find a cache/waymark, I click Found it on the CacheMate and delete the waypoint from my GPSr. After I log all my finds (and DNFs) I go to the Found database and select delete records. This keeps everything nice and clear.

why wouldn't you just keep them all in the "not found" listing. Seems like you are taking extra steps.

 

I just load all of my caches to the not found list, and then just search by name. not that it is good or bad, just wondering...

 

Because I have local caches on my not found listing.

[+Miragee]

I have been paperless caching for a couple of months now. My Palm is now getting cluttered with hundreds and hundreds of caches.. What I would like to hear is "what is your routine"?

I cache on weekends so Thursday is spent updating all my PQs with GSAK then sending them to cachemate, and GPSr.

I have about 1300 caches in my "Default" GSAK database. I update it with fresh PQs depending on which direction I am heading. I have all of those caches in my "Not Found" database in Cachemate on my Palm M500. If I am going to a specific location, I will do a filter in GSAK to get the few caches I'll be looking for that day. I Export a .pdb file for that small subset of the larger database which I put in a new "Today" folder in Cachemate.

 

I'll still have all the caches in the "Not Found" database in case we divert from our plan, but for that day's searches, looking through the "Today" folder that only contains thirty caches is a lot easier than having to seach all 1300. (If my Palm had a faster processor, the proximity search in Cachemate would work . . . but this solves the problem for me.)

 

At the end of the day, after I have logged all the caches in the "Found" folder of the "Default" Cachemate database, I move those caches to the "Found" folder of my "Found" database in Cachemate. I frequently delete all the caches in the default Cachemate database and reload a new .pdb file with fresh data before the next caching adventure.

[+imajeep]

We aren't high-volume cachers, so our method may not work for True Fanatics. We dispensed with GSAK--we PQ the caches for a particular outing and transfer the PQ to CacheMate for our Palm Z22. We load the PQ into Google Earth to get aerials of the cache sites, then take screen shot of those aerials, which we transfer to the Palm using Splash Photo.

[+Team Darcins Digs]

This is great... there seems to be many ways to do it. Please keep them comming!

[+Miragee]

In cachemate I have several databases, I'll be travelling to Salt Fork State Park this weekend and just put all the info from those caches into my 'Salt Fork' Database, same for the waymarks at salt fork. After I find a cache/waymark, I click Found it on the CacheMate and delete the waypoint from my GPSr. After I log all my finds (and DNFs) I go to the Found database and select delete records. This keeps everything nice and clear.

I don't delete the waypoint from my GPSr after I find the cache. I mark it as "Found". Then, when I get home, I download the tracks from my GPSr to Mapsource. As I log my finds, I follow the track to make sure I didn't miss anything. Sometimes, especially if I am caching with other people, I'll forget to transfer a cache in Cachemate from the "Not Found" to "Found" folder, but the little open Tresure Chest will be there on my Tracks, so I won't miss it.

 

[+Renegade Knight]

I don't use GSAK for my PDA. I just copy the curent GPX file to my PDA from my computer and that's it. When I get a new GPX file it is copied over my old one and all I ever have is the caches of interest.