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CacheMate for Windows Smartphone

Maeglin

By Maeglin
in GPS technology and devices

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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I've started work on a version of CacheMate for Windows Smartphone, at the moment laying groundwork and thinking through how I'll do the UI with one menu per screen and no touchscreen. At the moment I can't promise an ETA, but I'm hoping to have something ready for beta testing at least by year's end. I'm targeting WM2003 as a minimum.

 

The list view is already pretty much spec'ed out, and will be sort of a cross between the Palm OS and Pocket PC versions. Due to UI constraints, it will not be a column list view (huge waste of a tiny screen, for one thing), but here is what it will be:

- Selectable primary and secondary (in parentheses) text items (name, waypoint, D/T, distance/bearing, or hunt end time)

- Optional, selectable icon columns for notes, bookmarks, etc.

- Sortable by any of the possible text items

- Up/down buttons either select items or page through list (left soft key toggles this)

- Left/right buttons change category

- Optional use of numeric keypad buttons to select lines

- Optional small font on QVGA devices

 

Keyboard searching of the list (on devices with full keyboards, if keypad selection of lines is disabled) may make it in there, depending in part on what I need to do to get the rest of it functional... conservation of runtime memory is one thing at the top of the list, and that feature requires all of the text being searched to be loaded into memory to be anything resembling efficient. All of the current list filters will of course be in there.

 

What I'm after here are ideas to include in the initial version(s) of the program, at the beginning so that I can more easily include them in the design. Don't state anything that's already in the Pocket PC version as, aside from the list view, I'm using that (and most of its plugins) as a base.

 

Just don't ask about using it with aGPS on phones that have it, since as far as I know Windows Mobile still doesn't expose that for 3rd party developers.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Windows smartphone. Gag. I suppose there is a market there, though.

Judging by the number of requests for it and arguments of "But, it's Windows Mobile!", yeah, I'd say there is one :)

 

It gives me experience as well with porting something to an actual phone (not just a PDA pretending to be one), where the screens are tiny and the only input from the user is through hardware buttons, while still using an API I'm familiar with. If I ever port it to Symbian S60 devices, that experience will come in handy.

 

As for the iPhone port some people have been asking for, it would be interesting, but in the process I'd be shattering a ToS or three.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Would love to use it on my HTC S710, the WM smartphone with slide-out keyboard.

Therefore, requesting a UI that can be used both in portrait *and* landscape mode.

Hmm... looks like I'll be needing to get the WM6 emulator image as well. Thanks for cluing me in on that feature of it :-)

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Thanks again, Rockpullers, for letting me know about that... just tested with the WM6 phone emulator, rotated the screen a couple times, and what I have so far tracks that perfectly. So far, so good!

 

I'm still wanting design/feature ideas for this beast, if anyone has any. Sooner is better if it's going to impact the GUI, as I plan to really get into that this weekend based on a spec derived from the Pocket PC version.

 

Concerning potential export plugins:

I'm aware of Pocket Streets having a smartphone version, which I happen to have a copy of, but is there anything else that runs on Windows Smartphone that would be handy/possible to export to? Let me know...

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Genoist

+Genoist

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I think the capability records via e-mail would be great, that would keep me from having to hook up to the computer to get my records off the smartphone. Also, while I don't know if this is possible, it would be sweet to have some sort of integration to the camera so that I could somehow associate certain pictures with certain caches.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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I think the capability records via e-mail would be great, that would keep me from having to hook up to the computer to get my records off the smartphone.

Assuming you can save attachments from the email app, wouldn't it be enough to just have GPX processing on the phone?

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Genoist

+Genoist

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I think the capability records via e-mail would be great, that would keep me from having to hook up to the computer to get my records off the smartphone.

Assuming you can save attachments from the email app, wouldn't it be enough to just have GPX processing on the phone?

 

I'm talking about getting record OFF of the device after a day of caching.

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MetroGT

+MetroGT

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I switch phones all the time, so since I don't always have a smart phone (did on with my BlackJack but not with my Moto Ming) I have been using the HTML export feature of GSAK and it works great. It's like having a small version of GSAK on my phone and it even works well with the touchscreen phone I'm using currently. Smart Phone would be nice as long as you can get it to run smoothly. Some of the Windows Mobile Smart phones I have used are so bogged down by other software that it may be slow... while the Palm based ones will already work with Cachemate and rather well.

Edited by MetroGT
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Train_Man

+Train_Man

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wow this would be simply amazing. I've always wanted a good caching program for my T-mobile dash but I've been stuck with my old Palm M125 on cachemate. I don't have any suggestions right now, but I'll certainly be interested in the beta when you have something ready! :laughing: Hope you can make it all work out!

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Genoist

+Genoist

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I look forward to the release of the Smartphone version of CacheMate. I am going to be getting the Q9M in the near future, so this will come in very handy. Right now I use a Palm Zire for my CacheMate device, but I would love to have only 1 device to carry with me (since I carry my phone with me anyway).

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wolvercacher

+wolvercacher

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A giant problem I have with smartphones (Samsung Blackjack) is that although I do get instant notifications to my phone I can't get to geocaching.com to get actual logs.

 

If cachemate SP had a way to pull coords from notification emails and dump them to the phone I would definitely pony up some cash.

 

New cache comes up, email sent to phone -> cachemate scans email for "published" in header -> starts playing my favorite "go get the fresh cache song" -> reads location from geocaching.com -> shows map of location with coords displayed from google.com.

 

This may already be part of cachemate but this is what I'd like to be sure the program could do.

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Genoist

+Genoist

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New cache comes up, email sent to phone -> cachemate scans email for "published" in header -> starts playing my favorite "go get the fresh cache song" -> reads location from geocaching.com -> shows map of location with coords displayed from google.com.

 

Scraping from the GC.com website is a big no no. If you want info on a new cache, why not just fire up wap.geocaching.com and check it out there.

 

CacheMate is more a mobile PQ reader. Load up tons of descriptions and hit multiple caches instead of just cherry picking for new caches.

Edited by Genoist
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wolvercacher

+wolvercacher

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New cache comes up, email sent to phone -> cachemate scans email for "published" in header -> starts playing my favorite "go get the fresh cache song" -> reads location from geocaching.com -> shows map of location with coords displayed from google.com.

 

Scraping from the GC.com website is a big no no. If you want info on a new cache, why not just fire up wap.geocaching.com and check it out there.

 

CacheMate is more a mobile PQ reader. Load up tons of descriptions and hit multiple caches instead of just cherry picking for new caches.

 

Thanks Genoist. I understand the utility of Cachemate and would have purchsed it for my phone long ago since I currently am manually dumping GSAK/HTML to phone. What is the problem with pulling from GC.com directly? OK - off topic.

 

Never knew wap.geocaching.com existed but this is a huge help. No more GSAK/HTML dumps to the phone.

 

The ability of Cachemate to pull live would certainly enhance it's utility since you wouldn't have to do all the prep work for traveling to a new place. How about a new function called travel mode where:

 

You type in where you are or where you are going > cachemate runs the pocket query of that zip for closest 500 caches> dump the file/descriptions to your phone. I assume cachemate would also come with a license for a PC version?

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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What is the problem with pulling from GC.com directly?

Do you remember that Terms of Service that you clicked through (but apparently didn't read) when you signed up for that premium membership? There's a part of it that specifically forbade a non-interactive process (for example, what you were describing) from grabbing cache pages and pulling information from them. If there were a web service that could be tapped into for that, it would be a different story, but since those don't exist for the masses yet,,,

 

I assume cachemate would also come with a license for a PC version?

There never was a PC version of CacheMate, nor likely will there ever be one.

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Hynr

+Hynr

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Can you also port over the Cachenav plugin and use the internal GPS chip in phones that have them? In fact, if that is likely, then I would love some information as to which phone this could be expected on because I will be buying a new phone this week.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Can you also port over the Cachenav plugin and use the internal GPS chip in phones that have them? In fact, if that is likely, then I would love some information as to which phone this could be expected on because I will be buying a new phone this week.

Suuuuuuure... as soon as a method is provided for access to that hardware using a standard API on a Windows Mobile device. As it stands right now, there is none.

 

I do plan to port CacheNav and the other GPS access features but, until access to the aGPS hardware is provided for 3rd-party applications, you'll need to have an external GPS receiver to use them.

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wolvercacher

+wolvercacher

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What is the problem with pulling from GC.com directly?

Do you remember that Terms of Service that you clicked through (but apparently didn't read) when you signed up for that premium membership? There's a part of it that specifically forbade a non-interactive process (for example, what you were describing) from grabbing cache pages and pulling information from them. If there were a web service that could be tapped into for that, it would be a different story, but since those don't exist for the masses yet,,,

 

I assume cachemate would also come with a license for a PC version?

There never was a PC version of CacheMate, nor likely will there ever be one.

 

Sorry for trying to help you make money. I thought since GSAK can query your mail and automaticly load cache info it could be a benefit. I'll stop with anymore useless suggestions but there are alternate ways to make this work so you are querying your mail - not GC.com. The only functionality you need to build in is a way to query pop3 servers for header info...

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Sorry for trying to help you make money.

I'll accept your apology for suggesting something that would put me in a legal mess.

 

Pulling cache info from pocket query files, which is what CacheMate already does, is one thing. Pulling cache info directly from the site, which is what you were originally suggesting, is quite another and is against the rules put forth by Groundspeak.

Edited by Maeglin
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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Things are still on track for a beta release by the end of the year. Minus voice notes and travel bug management, I've got a straight port of the main program working. After those are added, as well as a couple other things, I'll be porting most of the bundled plugins (as a start) and doing some initial testing. As soon as all of that is done, it should be ready.

 

I'll have screenshots posted soon.

 

If anyone is interested in beta testing, send an email to support (at) smittyware.com with what device you'd be using it on, and I'll add you to the list for consideration. Not everyone who asks will be included, but I do at least want a good selection of devices as far as OS versions and features.

Edited by Maeglin
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wari

+wari

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If I ever port it to Symbian S60 devices, that experience will come in handy.

 

Now that's something I'd like to see :blink: As I've recently bought cachemate for my Treo 680, I see the utility of having it on my smaller, easier to bring around, N95.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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Last call for potential beta testers!

 

The core software and bundled plugins (aside from CacheNav, which will be done later) are now basically done, and I'm pulling things together to start beta testing next week. As stated before, if you're interested in helping with the test, send an email to support (at) smittyware.com (I won't be sending anything to people who only comment in this thread) with what phone model you're using and I'll write you back if you've been selected when the testing period starts.

 

The focus for additional testers is on maximizing variety of phone models. At this point, that means that if you're using something other than a Motorola Q then you're more likely to be selected :)

Edited by Maeglin
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ThreeTrees

+ThreeTrees

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Last call for potential beta testers!

 

The core software and bundled plugins (aside from CacheNav, which will be done later) are now basically done, and I'm pulling things together to start beta testing next week. As stated before, if you're interested in helping with the test, send an email to support (at) caerleon.us with what phone model you're using and I'll write you back if you've been selected when the testing period starts.

 

The focus for additional testers is on maximizing variety of phone models. At this point, that means that if you're using something other than a Motorola Q then you're more likely to be selected :)

 

FYI... I am getting Mailer-Daemon errors, 'user unknown' for support(at)caerleon.us

The "(at)" was obviously replaced with "@" before sending.

 

I am interested in testing the Beta.

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jambrose

+jambrose

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So you are not looking for any more Moto Q beta testers? Just got a Q 9m from Verizon and trying to convert over from my HP pocket PC. I have all kinds of apps on there but there really isn't to much for tracking via GPS on the smartphone. I wish they would turn on the GPS in the phone for something other than 911. I have got Google Maps and LIve Search to work with my bluetooth GPS but no input for a geocache. Looking forward to something to use on my Q.

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Maeglin

+Maeglin

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It's just that a lot of the beta test requests are from Moto Q users, and I'm looking for more of a variety of test hardware than everyone testing on one type of device. There's still a chance, but I wont know until I go through the list and decide.

 

You're not the only one wishing they'd open up access to aGPS in Windows Mobile. It's kind of backward for that to be happening on what seems like every other smartphone platform, but not PDA-born ones like Palm OS or Windows Mobile.

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