Anyone paperless with an iPhone?

[+oldskoolboarder]

Newbie...

 

First time we went out, I manually chose easy caches and copy/pasted the details/hints in an email and sent it to my Yahoo account. Then made sure my iPhone had those emails to have the data in hand. Nice but a bit of work to get it going.

 

Now, I've paid for Premium membership. I'm going to create a PQ of local, easy caches and get those into Bobcat (or at least try).

 

I saw a program PQView so I can also view that PQ on my iPhone. However, it's browser based so it needs a connection to run Safari. Sometimes doesn't work out if I'm out in the mountains.

 

I've seen people use their iPod address books, etc.

 

Anyone have an easier suggestion?

[+Kealia]

Have you tried using the search feature and typing in "iPhone"?

 

I've seen it discussed a few times, but don't have any details. I'm sure a quick search would turn it up, though.

[+oldskoolboarder]

yes, i did a full iphone search and all I found was a post on screen protectors.

[+Cedar Grove Seekers]

The latest version of GSAK (7.2) has a macro that enables you to load to the Notes on an iPod. Very slick.

 

Not sure if it will work for iPhones too?

[+oldskoolboarder]

The latest version of GSAK (7.2) has a macro that enables you to load to the Notes on an iPod. Very slick.

 

Not sure if it will work for iPhones too?

 

Good to know. Won't work for me on 2 counts though. iPhone doesn't sync to notes, yet... And I'm on a Mac so there's no way to take that GSAK note directly into iTunes Mac. I assume I could use that text file and open it in OSX to move it. I do use parallels for map installations but trying to see how much i can live with on a Mac. Trying Bobcat now.

[+Snake & Rooster]

I got an iPhone when it first came out with the idea that it might replace my PPC for paperless caching. It didn't. While I still use it to check a cache page when I need to, and even log a cache from time to time, I've never figured out how I might load the other info I'd want with me.

 

Typically, I use GSAK to send the type of cache and container to the GPS as a part of the description, and the hint to the GPS as a custom POI. This gives me the info I want 99% of the time. If I am traveling a long distance and want everything with me for lots of caches, I still take the PPC; especially if I think I'll be out of cell phone reception.

[+Arndtwe]

Check out a website called MacCaching.com (<--link).

[+UncleJimbo]

I got an iPhone when it first came out with the idea that it might replace my PPC for paperless caching. It didn't. While I still use it to check a cache page when I need to, and even log a cache from time to time, I've never figured out how I might load the other info I'd want with me..

I have been using my iPod for paperless caching. I use a Mac. I load my PQ's into MacCaching and then export them to iPod notes. I thought the iPhone was supposed to be like a suped up iPod, so I would be surprised if you couldn't export to it like an iPod.

[+shacker]

I'm the author of gpx2ipod, which is a solution to get .gpx logs, hints, etc. into the Notes feature on an iPod (MacCaching added this capability after gpx2ipod). When the iPhone came out, I asked a "Genius" at an Apple Store about the Notes feature on the iPhone, and he said that there were no plans to support Notes, like all previous iPods had done.

 

This stinks, since it means that if you want to use an iPhone for paperless caching, you'll have to use one of the apps that puts logs and descriptions into the Address Book, rather than Notes. And in my experience, that's a terrible solution. No hints, no logs, caches mixed up with all of your existing contacts.... just terrible.

 

Then there's the non-GPS cell phone tower triangulation thing they're doing since the most recent iPhone update.

 

My advice: Forget about the iPhone for geocaching. These two pieces of news have put to bed any prospect of the iPhone being the perfect geocaching device. Get a Colorado and a cheapo phone instead.

[+Melor]

If you have (1) iphone, (2) gsak, (3) webspace somewhere, the iPhone is great. export to html, ftp it to your website and you have -A- condensed log, description, hint, nearest cache, etc. data, -B- Link to sat view of the cache -C- link to full description on Geocaching.com. If you have 1-3, know how to use an ftp program, know how to use gsak to pull out the data you want to FTP, I think the iPhone is great as a paperless cache tool.

 

Paul

 

 

My advice: Forget about the iPhone for geocaching.

Edited February 20, 2008 by Melor

[+everton]

If you have (1) iphone, (2) gsak, (3) webspace somewhere, the iPhone is great. export to html, ftp it to your website and you have -A- condensed log, description, hint, nearest cache, etc. data, -B- Link to sat view of the cache -C- link to full description on Geocaching.com. If you have 1-3, know how to use an ftp program, know how to use gsak to pull out the data you want to FTP, I think the iPhone is great as a paperless cache tool.

 

Paul

 

 

My advice: Forget about the iPhone for geocaching.

dont knowif its any use.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...486&hl=ipod

[+vespax]

Forgive me if I am wrong, but wouldn't the iPhone SDK coming soon solve many of these problems. Perhaps someone can write a program to do paperless caching on the iPhone natively! I remember reading that Jeremy/Groundspeak is looking into the SDK for Wherigo porting to the iPhone.

 

If the iPhone becomes capable of GSAK/maccaching paperless & Wherigo, I will most likely get one when I return to America.

[+frelancr]

there is a PQ viewer web-app for the iphone from the Maccaching peoples...still needs some work though...

 

ooooooh...and THIS would be just soooooo cool!

 

M

 

(edited for new linky goodness)

Edited February 27, 2008 by frelancr

[+DanTheMan81]

I just went yesterday caching with my iPhone. The only paper I had in my pack was a back up in case of emergency. I printed the pages as PDFs and then before I left I sent them to my Gmail account which is pushed to my iPhone. After opening the PDFs on my iPhone they as saved locally it seems. Even when I didnt have cell service I was still able to open the emails that were already pushed to my phone including the PDFs I sent. The trick is to open the PDF while you are still at home with cell service or WiFi. This way the PDFs get "saved" to you email and you are able to see them in the field.

[+Billybobsgoat]

I email the pages to my iphone it works really well

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

Sorry this is a few days post-last... post:

 

Ehen you're emailing the PDF's to yourself, how time consuming is it to go through and do this?

 

I have an iPod Touch and have used it much like is described for other things - email file or just put it in a draft in my Gmail account and make sure I open it before I lose wifi. Piece of cake.

 

BUT... as far as I can tell, you have to save each file, singularly, as a PDF file and then attach each file, singularly, to an email in Gmail... I would assume you could attach more than one PDF to your draft, but you still have a lot of repetitive action and frankly, time consuming if you intend to do any amount of caching at all.

 

A small handful, while somewhat time consuming, is easier to handle than, say, 50... or even 500 in the average PQ.

 

How in the world do you make this work if you want to do any kind of volume or load up the machine/PQ for a week of random driving...

 

It doesn't seem very practical for more-than-a-handful.

 

(That said, I am heading into the mountains tomorrow with 5 must-do's, and 32 others... I put the 5 must-do's into the Touch... and dumped 500 (including all 37 on tomorrows route into the GPS and my dying-soon Palm)

 

Thoughts? What am I missing that would make this faster to process

 

Thanks -

 

michelle

[+blb9556]

You could manually enter the cords into the iPhone through notes or you if you really want to you could jai.... uh nevermind.

[+Rattlebars]

Personally, if I could afford an iPhone, I would not take it into the mountains, woods, rivers, ponds, swamps or even some spooky urban areas looking for caches..... especially as mentioned in areas where you won't have service anyway!

 

I would get on eBay and buy a Dell Axim x5 (recently got two for $70 and sold my old one for $46!) or an old Palm. If you are planning a 50 cache day, the load ain't that much. If you're urban caching, you got your car. If you're woods/mountain caching, you gotta carry water etc.... plenty of room for a PDA....

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=193419

 

I won't admit to the the number of times I've had to retrace my steps with my spouseling's cell phone in my hand dialing my own phone number hoping my phone will ring loud enough to find it where it fell. Actually, only totally lost it once and had to buy another (eBay again).

 

iPhone's a pretty expensive toy to drop on a rock or into a stream. Not like a GPS which is built a bit hardy for the outback.

 

If you can afford an iPhone, you can afford a GPS that will load waypoints et al.... (unless the iPhone broke your bank!)

[+Dash-2]

Occasionally, when I'm out and about, I'll check my email on my iPhone, if I see that there is a new cache close by, I use the built in Google Maps to find it. A little harder because it doesn't know where I am, but the close-up satellite view works wonders.

 

I've also used my iPhone if I need to check the cache details, view some logs, or make sure it's not inactive.

[setec]

Personally, if I could afford an iPhone, I would not take it into the mountains, woods, rivers, ponds, swamps or even some spooky urban areas looking for caches..... especially as mentioned in areas where you won't have service anyway!

 

I would get on eBay and buy a Dell Axim x5 (recently got two for $70 and sold my old one for $46!) or an old Palm. If you are planning a 50 cache day, the load ain't that much. If you're urban caching, you got your car. If you're woods/mountain caching, you gotta carry water etc.... plenty of room for a PDA....

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=193419

 

I won't admit to the the number of times I've had to retrace my steps with my spouseling's cell phone in my hand dialing my own phone number hoping my phone will ring loud enough to find it where it fell. Actually, only totally lost it once and had to buy another (eBay again).

 

iPhone's a pretty expensive toy to drop on a rock or into a stream. Not like a GPS which is built a bit hardy for the outback.

 

If you can afford an iPhone, you can afford a GPS that will load waypoints et al.... (unless the iPhone broke your bank!)

 

I am new to geocaching. I use a Dell Axim X30 with a bluetooth SDIO GPS card in it. Right after I ordered thse, my brother-n-law gave me a new Garmin Nuvi 200W GPS unit, so I have been trying both. However, even those I printed out caches a few times, I didn't print the logs. The iPhone came in handy even in the woods because I was able to look up geocaching.com and read the logs. So, its worth it to have along if you ending up having signal enough to use the internet. Its better than leaving it in the car. The new iPhone coming July 11th seems like it would be a great geocaching device since it has GPS as long as someone comes up with a nice geocaching app for it.

[+tzipora]

I take screenshots of the geocaching.com page and save them to my photos section. When I do it that way, I don't need any connectivity to get my info.

 

This is important to me, because a great many of the places I go lack decent reception...or reception at all.

[setec]

I take screenshots of the geocaching.com page and save them to my photos section. When I do it that way, I don't need any connectivity to get my info.

 

This is important to me, because a great many of the places I go lack decent reception...or reception at all.

 

That's an excellent suggestion!

[+winwin56]

There are folks who have taken the time to make video tutorials that answer your very question on YouTube. Just type in key word search for iPhone+geocaching and you'll find what you are looking for.

 

Good Luck!