Wherigo with iPhone

[MissSea]

One more person begging for an iPhone Wherigo app. Ditto on the accuracy things ... I was right on top of a micro, and only my ignorance and unwillingness to go the distance prevented me from finding the cache. A "they couldn't put it there, could they?" kind of moment ...

 

Wherigo is gaming for the future. Getting kids outside to play while on utilizing real-time gaming apps. Blows the mind.

 

MissSea

[Ranger Fox]

If anyone can help me install iATKOS on a virtual machine, I'm willing to try making a Wherigo iPhone app by using MonoTouch. I've been trying to install OSX on my own, but haven't met with success. I've tried Virtual PC, VMWare Workstation, and VirtualBox.

 

So, if anyone has any experience doing this or has a virtual machine file they wouldn't mind sharing, speak up.

 

(If it's only for this one use, I would rather not spend the money to purchase a Mac laptop.)

[+TheFlatline]

If anyone can help me install iATKOS on a virtual machine, I'm willing to try making a Wherigo iPhone app by using MonoTouch. I've been trying to install OSX on my own, but haven't met with success. I've tried Virtual PC, VMWare Workstation, and VirtualBox.

 

So, if anyone has any experience doing this or has a virtual machine file they wouldn't mind sharing, speak up.

 

(If it's only for this one use, I would rather not spend the money to purchase a Mac laptop.)

 

I googled "macOS in a virtual machine" and the first two links were pertinent to your cause.

 

Sadly, I don't think iATKOS will run in a virtual machine, but there are other solutions.

 

MacOS via VMWare

 

And

 

O'Reilly's MacOS emulation

 

both probably are relevant to your interests!

 

Drop me a line if you need help. Not much of a programmer but I can usually ethnically engineer my way around a problem put in front of me.

[Ranger Fox]

Thank you. I think I found something at the moment. I haven't tried it because I've been involved in other parts of the project. At the moment, I'm stumped on how to get compiled lua code into LuaInterface. It would be a lot easier to peek at the original Wherigo Player's code, but I'm trying not to ask (not that I believe I'd stand a chance, mind you, but I could still prod them about their open source comment).

 

Once I finish working March Madness tournaments (I do live stats), I can resume working on this.

[+red tag]

Thank you. I think I found something at the moment. I haven't tried it because I've been involved in other parts of the project. At the moment, I'm stumped on how to get compiled lua code into LuaInterface. It would be a lot easier to peek at the original Wherigo Player's code, but I'm trying not to ask (not that I believe I'd stand a chance, mind you, but I could still prod them about their open source comment).

 

Once I finish working March Madness tournaments (I do live stats), I can resume working on this.

 

Thank you Ranger Fox for putting some time in on this !

[+_law_]

Hi!

 

i am also thinking about an iphone Wherigo app for a few month now. i have already written some c/object-c code. i am able to parse the cartridge file (extract lua code, pictures...). the next step should be to read the lua bytecode with the already existing iphone-wax (http://github.com/probablycorey/wax) framework. but currently i dont have very much time for this app.

 

i think it would be a nice idea to build an open source app, so everybody can contribute some code, perhaps we also can connect it with the already existing openwig project. the already have very much knowledge about the whole Wherigo stuff.

 

what do you think about this idea?

[matejcik]

I don't think that it's a good idea to use Wax.

Wax exposes all of Objective C. That is not desirable. For one, the cartridge could easily hack/break the player. For two, with all the possibilities on its fingertips, soon you'd have iPhone-specific cartridges that wouldn't work anywhere else. This way, you could prepare a "cartridge" that would act as an application completely unrelated to Wherigo.

And even if we could push -some- kind of Wherigo player through App Store, this would definitely get banned, because it's the very embodiment of what is not allowed - another application launcher for apps that didn't go through App Store.

 

But you can easily embed the original C-based Lua into your application, and write API hooks.

 

The basic idea is good, though. I've been discussing this with RangerFox, and the execution of what you're proposing very much depends on people who can work with ObjC (which is neither of us )

[Ranger Fox]

Yeah, I'm getting hung up on adding the lua bytecode to the lua runtime. I can parse the file and get the bytecode, but adding it to the runtime produces an exception. Same thing with executing a DoFile on the library in matejcik's Player app.

 

So, at the moment, I don't quite know what to do.

 

My ultimate objective, actually, is to create an event-driven player class that can be used by anyone willing to make a Wherigo Player. I want to obfuscate everything to do with the Player. This way, anyone can take it and easily build a Player on top of it. Instantiate the Player class, pass it either a byte array or System.IO.Stream object representing an entire cartridge, hook up to all the public events, and call the RunCartridge() method to start the cartridge. For save games, an event will be raised with the save game's bytecode for you to save.

 

The iPhone Player fits in as being a side project or proof of concept. If I can get a Player up and running with all this, I have no qualms about pushing Groundspeak for a cartridge find/list/download web service.

 

Perhaps, matejcik, we could find a chat room and work on this project together for a few nights. On my own, I feel as if I'm not getting anything accomplished. (If all else fails, I guess I could go to Groundspeak and ask for an open source Player--something they were wondering last year if they should do.)

[matejcik]

Perhaps, matejcik, we could find a chat room and work on this project together for a few nights. On my own, I feel as if I'm not getting anything accomplished. (If all else fails, I guess I could go to Groundspeak and ask for an open source Player--something they were wondering last year if they should do.)

sure, we'll just need to work out the timezone difference :e) but i'm awake most of the time and my work schedule is highly irregular, so i can do anytime between say 9AM and 2AM GMT

_law_, you interested?

 

also, RangerFox, can you send me what you've got so far? i'll look at it and see if i can beat it into submission

[+_law_]

Perhaps, matejcik, we could find a chat room and work on this project together for a few nights. On my own, I feel as if I'm not getting anything accomplished. (If all else fails, I guess I could go to Groundspeak and ask for an open source Player--something they were wondering last year if they should do.)

sure, we'll just need to work out the timezone difference :e) but i'm awake most of the time and my work schedule is highly irregular, so i can do anytime between say 9AM and 2AM GMT

_law_, you interested?

 

also, RangerFox, can you send me what you've got so far? i'll look at it and see if i can beat it into submission

 

sure. post my a pm with the infos about the chat/mailing list or what ever, perhaps i am able to help.

[wacko_jacko2154]

Any news on the progress? I've been waiting for this app ever since Wherigo came about!!

Cheers

-jackson

[+GuadDawgs]

I too want Wherigo for the iphone. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned the iphone sdk wouldn't allow it. NOT TRUE. I've had several apps built for my web stores that interact with store databases via web based api calls. It completley legal for apps to do this. It's also completely legal for apps to interact via wi-fi or bluetooth with other devices. The Wherigo iphone app could be designed to allow use of a bluetooth gps device. This would satisfy even the most difficult situations where prime accuracy was of great concern. The gps built into the iphone doesn't have to be the only that the app can use. Also it's possible to just build the app as a shell that pulls in code from the Wherigo website. all that is needed is an api of some sort to request data in an iphone gui format. So long as data access is available, the app could go directly to Wherigo.com to get info.

 

ideally it would allow use of 'downloaded' cartridges when not in data areas too.

 

I do envision though, that the Wherigo app would be used mostly by the less serious and more famly fun oriented types of cachers. If someone were to want to get to remote areas and the most difficult of caches, they'd probably be buying better more specific equipment for that kind of sporting anyway.

 

The Wherigo app on the iphone would attract new users to the fun of geocaching.

[+sTeamTraen]

Wherigo lets you run arbitrary Lua code, and Lua is a Turing-complete language. In effect, a Wherigo runtime for the iPhone would be a programming platform which Apple didn't own.

[+DirtySocks85]

So.. who wants to write an iPhone app for jailbroken iPhones for Wherigo? Apple's App Store draconian policies be damned!

[+WVangler]

Bump.

 

The very first Wherigo in my state (WV) was published a couple of weeks ago and I did it last week. It was so much fun that I contacted the owner, got schooled in the Urwigo builder and am almost done with my first cartridge. As you can tell I'm excited about Wherigo now that it is alive in my area, but I have nothing to actually play it on (I borrowed an Oregon to do it). I do have an iPhone, which I use to cache with regularly. Just checking to see if anyone in the know has an update on the possibility of a player for iPhone.

[+Evshro & son]

So this thread started in 2008. Is there any progress on Wherigo Apps? Even for platforms like Droid??

[Ranger Fox]

There is a third-party Wherigo Player for the Droid, WhereYouGo.

 

As for the iPhone, I cannot say at this time. Due to the Easter Egg Hunt app, it is possible to publish lua-based games to the App Store. As for Wherigo, I received some conflicting information from Groundspeak, so I don't know what to say.

[+northernpenguin]

So.. who wants to write an iPhone app for jailbroken iPhones for Wherigo? Apple's App Store draconian policies be damned!

 

Apple has recently eliminated the 3rd Party developer tools / interpreter restrictions, as long as the app does not download code. This means a LUA interpreter, or a Wherigo player could potentially be developed for the platform though setting it up to download cartridges automatically could be an issue.

 

Another possible approach would be to use a web app to do this, like the Google Latitude webapp. That would enable the site to publish cartridges on Wherigo.com, and you could just pick one and run it right there in the field.

[+Delta68]

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wherpigo/id385035547?mt=8#

[+104daysummervacation]

Hi Guys and Delta 68 in particular!!

 

wow ,I am so excited!

 

but ( and please excuse me if I appear somewhat dim ) when I go to download it it says "application not compatible .This application requires the iPhone 4.0 software update"

 

HOw do I get the software update?do I have to synch it through itunes on a cable via a laptop/Mac ?

 

I am capable of doing that but I cannot find the upgrade in the itunes store.

 

Or does it jsut mean I have to spend a small fortune to buy a new square iphone4 ??

 

Any advice is most appreciated.

 

[+Delta68]

104daysummervacation, don't get too excited. I just tested our closest one Amble Around Alcester GC161DA and and it looks REALLY good! The page transitions are very impressive.

 

But! It doesn't work. At one stage you have to enter a date and it says it's incorrect.

It must be comparing it as text or number or whatever

 

It's also very clunky in counting down the distance to the next zone. This might be due to its urban setting but it would be unusable if I didn't already know where to go next.

 

 

Mark

[matejcik]

do any of you know who made the app?

[+spstanley]

do any of you know who made the app?

I'm the culprit. Er, author. If you run into any issues with cartridges, just let me know, giving as many details as possible, and I'll try to make it work with the next update!

[+spstanley]

104daysummervacation, don't get too excited. I just tested our closest one Amble Around Alcester GC161DA and and it looks REALLY good! The page transitions are very impressive.

 

But! It doesn't work. At one stage you have to enter a date and it says it's incorrect.

It must be comparing it as text or number or whatever

 

It's also very clunky in counting down the distance to the next zone. This might be due to its urban setting but it would be unusable if I didn't already know where to go next.

 

 

Mark

Sorry about not adding km as a distance option. I'm guessing you'd prefer that?

[+JesandTodd]

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wherpigo/id385035547?mt=8#

 

Well, I downloaded this immediately and was wo excited to find/do/learn about my first Wherigo! But there are a scant few around me! That blows!

 

Also, I can't find this app via my iPad. I have it on the iPhone, but it doesn't exist in the app store when I search using the iPad. I dunno. I like reading and doing stuff on my iPad first and then using my iPhone. But then again, I really don't know much about wherigos!

Edited October 8, 2010 by JesandTodd

[+Delta68]

Sorry about not adding km as a distance option. I'm guessing you'd prefer that?

 

No, it's not that.

 

When walking to a zone it said, for example, 270ft and that number didn't change until it said 149ft and then 62ft etc

 

It might just be because because it was close to buildings

 

 

 

Mark

[+Touchstone]

Sorry about not adding km as a distance option. I'm guessing you'd prefer that?

 

No, it's not that.

 

When walking to a zone it said, for example, 270ft and that number didn't change until it said 149ft and then 62ft etc

 

It might just be because because it was close to buildings

 

 

 

Mark

 

It's more than likely just a limitation of the iPhone

 

I suspect that the Zones will have to be enormous to overcome the iPhone's handicap as a GPS receiver. Maybe single Zone Puzzle type Cartridges will work fine, but I'm not to sure about multiple Zones with an EPE that is typically ~50 feet.

 

Downloading the app now. I'm sooooo excited

[+CacherX4]

I downloaded the app and ran my first Wherigo with it today. It worked flawlessly given the accuracy of my old iPhone 3g GPSr. It took awhile to count down feet and never pointed me in the correct direction but the written directions were always accurate. ie NE, SW, etc..

 

My question is, how do you uplaod the completed cartridge to the Wherigo site to get it marked Completed. The Wherigo I did, did not include a completion code. I'm sure it is something easy, but I am not seeing it.

 

Thank you for your time.

[+fingers crossed]

 

Also, I can't find this app via my iPad. I have it on the iPhone, but it doesn't exist in the app store when I search using the iPad. I dunno. I like reading and doing stuff on my iPad first and then using my iPhone. But then again, I really don't know much about wherigos!

 

Seems that for some reason it's not compatible with the iPad. Was hoping to live with iphone mode, but it seems not!

[+jellis]

Sorry about not adding km as a distance option. I'm guessing you'd prefer that?

 

No, it's not that.

 

When walking to a zone it said, for example, 270ft and that number didn't change until it said 149ft and then 62ft etc

 

It might just be because because it was close to buildings

 

 

 

Mark

 

It's more than likely just a limitation of the iPhone

 

I suspect that the Zones will have to be enormous to overcome the iPhone's handicap as a GPS receiver. Maybe single Zone Puzzle type Cartridges will work fine, but I'm not to sure about multiple Zones with an EPE that is typically ~50 feet.

 

Downloading the app now. I'm sooooo excited

Let me know how it works since you and A Team Vallejo have the majority of Wherigos in the area

[Jamer196]

104daysummervacation, don't get too excited. I just tested our closest one Amble Around Alcester GC161DA and and it looks REALLY good! The page transitions are very impressive.

 

But! It doesn't work. At one stage you have to enter a date and it says it's incorrect.

It must be comparing it as text or number or whatever

 

It's also very clunky in counting down the distance to the next zone. This might be due to its urban setting but it would be unusable if I didn't already know where to go next.

 

 

Mark

Sorry about not adding km as a distance option. I'm guessing you'd prefer that?

 

Hi, Km would be very welcome since a lot of people use the metric system

 

Thanks for the App, good job

[+TEAM DESERT EAGLE]

I use the iPhone 4 and have never done a Wherigo cache other than tag along with someone else. I have done three of them now and one Wherigo had 2 zones on bridges but I didn't even have to lean over a railing for them to fire. The last one that I just completed was 41 stages and it took about 25 minutes to complete.

The app ran just fine for me and counted down distance right along with no hang up's.

Acuracy was great and I was very impressed.

Thanks for the app, I will make sure to write a review in the app store.

My only question was the completed cartridge??? Where is it when the Wherigo is complete. Maybe an update further down the road will alow this feature to work.

[+JesandTodd]

How do we unlock the cartridge??? The nearest Wherigo is 90 miles away-and I'm sitting here with all the zones completed buy I am unable to find the final because I cant save the completed cartridge....i mean, this is a useless app if I can't find the cache a the end! So how does this work? I fnd nothing by searching the web...

[+TheHarvesters]

do any of you know who made the app?

I'm the culprit. Er, author. If you run into any issues with cartridges, just let me know, giving as many details as possible, and I'll try to make it work with the next update!

 

Well Done! This is an exciting development. Can you (or anyone else) help clarify the situation with user input?

 

I read in another thread (somewhere?!) that they are a little buggy. Is that true? If so, is it limited to multiple choice, or also for other types of input? Does the player crash or not accept the right answer?

 

Apologies for the rapid-fire questions, but I'd like to update my cache page for any i-phone owners that may want to give my Wherigo a try.

 

thanks all,

 

Paul.

[+Touchstone]

do any of you know who made the app?

I'm the culprit. Er, author. If you run into any issues with cartridges, just let me know, giving as many details as possible, and I'll try to make it work with the next update!

 

Well Done! This is an exciting development. Can you (or anyone else) help clarify the situation with user input?

 

I read in another thread (somewhere?!) that they are a little buggy. Is that true? If so, is it limited to multiple choice, or also for other types of input? Does the player crash or not accept the right answer?

 

Apologies for the rapid-fire questions, but I'd like to update my cache page for any i-phone owners that may want to give my Wherigo a try.

 

thanks all,

 

Paul.

 

I tried two of my Cartridges that were Multiple Choice based and both played as Input Fields. Since I don't have Variables defined for either of those Cartridges, the statements would basically be False each time. Still, I was able to progress through the Cartridges somehow.

 

I have to play around with it a bit more to see if the way I structured the Cartridges is the problem, or something more embedded in the Player.

[+TheHarvesters]

 

I tried two of my Cartridges that were Multiple Choice based and both played as Input Fields. Since I don't have Variables defined for either of those Cartridges, the statements would basically be False each time. Still, I was able to progress through the Cartridges somehow.

 

I have to play around with it a bit more to see if the way I structured the Cartridges is the problem, or something more embedded in the Player.

 

Thanks for that response.

 

So it asks the question and then gives an empty field to type the answer? no prompts for:

a. this

b. that

c. other

 

but if you happen to type the right answer its all good?

 

Did you build with the standard builder or Urwigo or Earwigo? wonder if that matters?

Paul.

[+sTeamTraen]

Did you build with the standard builder or Urwigo or Earwigo? wonder if that matters?

It shouldn't... Earwigo, at least, goes out of its way to make *exactly* the same runtime calls as the Groundspeak builder, and unless the Urwigo people wrote their own layer on top, their code probably does too.

[+The-MudSlingers]

do any of you know who made the app?

I'm the culprit. Er, author. If you run into any issues with cartridges, just let me know, giving as many details as possible, and I'll try to make it work with the next update!

do any of you know who made the app?

I'm the culprit. Er, author. If you run into any issues with cartridges, just let me know, giving as many details as possible, and I'll try to make it work with the next update!

 

Ive found that i get " encryted" dialog when using the wherpigo app they work on all other platforms( garmin, droid & PPC) im glad to send the cartridge if it would help. Also I use the earwigo builder to make the cartridge. I have the cartridge set to " hide the strings" not sure what it is called and to not run in the emulator.

I hope to see the bugs worked out. A lot of people around here are glad to see they can do all my wherigos.

[+Touchstone]

 

I tried two of my Cartridges that were Multiple Choice based and both played as Input Fields. Since I don't have Variables defined for either of those Cartridges, the statements would basically be False each time. Still, I was able to progress through the Cartridges somehow.

 

I have to play around with it a bit more to see if the way I structured the Cartridges is the problem, or something more embedded in the Player.

 

Thanks for that response.

 

So it asks the question and then gives an empty field to type the answer? no prompts for:

a. this

b. that

c. other

 

but if you happen to type the right answer its all good?

 

Did you build with the standard builder or Urwigo or Earwigo? wonder if that matters?

Paul.

 

Correct. The text of the question, and an empty text box to type an answer. I normally don't use long text answers due to the cumbersome scroll wheel on the Garmin CO that I use (sure kicking myself for not waiting for the OR).

 

I actually just entered past the field, knowing that it really didn't matter for these Cartridges for the next Zone to appear. I had them set up just to display an, "Oops, that was the wrong answer; this is what you should have chosen". The hike for the three Cartridges in that area is in excess of 7 miles, and I didn't want to unduly punish folks for a wrong answer.

 

Your mileage may vary on more punitive Cartridges where the correct answer is required.

 

I was using the standard Builder from the Wherigo site for these particular Cartridges.

[+geodarts]

I just tested wherpigo on one of my cartridges that uses only input fields and it worked perfectly. I wonder how it will play on some of the cartridges I have seen that use extremely small zones, but that of course is more of a limitation with my 3Gs. In any event, its great to see a Wherigo app - it might even inspire me to build some more.

[tubeex1995]

There is now a new app for Wherigo in the app store. Called "Wherigo", but they are ging to change the name to "werpigo"

[+Touchstone]

Tried a couple more Cartridges last night and the iPhone app worked flawlessly

 

The first one was a pretty simple pick up and put in your Inventory type scenario, and the second was a sorting type of game.

[+TheHarvesters]

Tried a couple more Cartridges last night and the iPhone app worked flawlessly

 

The first one was a pretty simple pick up and put in your Inventory type scenario, and the second was a sorting type of game.

 

Great news!

 

I don't even own an I-Phone, but see this as a very important development for Wherigo.

 

For those reading - if you haven't yet lent your support to Wherigo updates from Groundspeak then please visit the lionk below and spare some votes and heartfelt comments. Thanks.

 

Don't let Wherigo die!

 

Paul.

[+Ashallond]

my 3G can't handle iOS 4....so can you all PLEASE make this usable with 3.1?

[+Tequila]

my 3G can't handle iOS 4....so can you all PLEASE make this usable with 3.1?

 

huh???

 

My 3G has been running iOS 4 since it was released with no problems.

[+Touchstone]

my 3G can't handle iOS 4....so can you all PLEASE make this usable with 3.1?

 

huh???

 

My 3G has been running iOS 4 since it was released with no problems.

 

Same here. My wife hit a few speed bumps trying to update her iOS, but it was partly due to her not having synced the phone for quite some time.

[+spstanley]

 

Also, I can't find this app via my iPad. I have it on the iPhone, but it doesn't exist in the app store when I search using the iPad. I dunno. I like reading and doing stuff on my iPad first and then using my iPhone. But then again, I really don't know much about wherigos!

 

Seems that for some reason it's not compatible with the iPad. Was hoping to live with iphone mode, but it seems not!

Maybe when iOS 4.2 comes out, I can get it running on the iPad. I'm using a few iOS 4 features that I'd rather not do backflips to get working with 3.2.

[+spstanley]

my 3G can't handle iOS 4....so can you all PLEASE make this usable with 3.1?

I ran the first few test versions on my 3G running iOS 4!

[+fingers crossed]

 

Also, I can't find this app via my iPad. I have it on the iPhone, but it doesn't exist in the app store when I search using the iPad. I dunno. I like reading and doing stuff on my iPad first and then using my iPhone. But then again, I really don't know much about wherigos!

 

Seems that for some reason it's not compatible with the iPad. Was hoping to live with iphone mode, but it seems not!

Maybe when iOS 4.2 comes out, I can get it running on the iPad. I'm using a few iOS 4 features that I'd rather not do backflips to get working with 3.2.

 

Here's a Fingers Crossed for that

I have several developed cartridges out there to put it through it's paces

 

Thanks.

[+CTForester]

I am having trouble downloading cartridges. I sign in to the website using the app's browser. Then I navigate to the cartridge's page. When I click on the "Download" button, I am told that I have to log in. Rinse, lather, repeat...

 

Also, when I click on the "Sign In" link, nothing happens. I have to log in using the "My Home" link. If I push on the "Sign In" link and leave my finger there, a window that says "JavaScript" with "Open" and "Cancel" button pops up, but nothing happens if I press either button.