Going paperless...have GPS and PDA on it's way...now what?

[+mailgirl1978]

Ok...I have read and read until my head is killing me.....between GSAK, cachemate, plucker....ect...

what do I really need to get my pocket queries into my GPS and PDA (just bought Dell Axim X30..my GPS is an Extrex HC)

Will I need all of these programs? Will one of them do everything I need them to do?

Thanks for any help!

[+CBT69]

Well, I have no experience with that PDA.. but here's what I do.

 

I use "Send to GPS" for my Garmin (might not work with what you are getting)

 

and at the same time copy the GPX file into my Spinner directory.

 

once I'm done doing that (either individually, or using the pocket query results),

 

I run spinner.exe.

 

Then run plucker, and update the particular channel (in my case, "geo")

 

then hotsync.

 

That's all there is to it! Ready to rock.

 

(This is a Palm Tungsten C.. YMMV, but it seems fairly straightforward regardless of device).

 

The only vaguely hairy bit is when you forget to clean out spinner for a while, and have like, 300 caches in there that it re-indexes every time.. then you have to clear it out to shrink the file down.

[+mailgirl1978]

Oh and what do I do about maps...if I have 500 caches listed in my GPS and my Dell axim how do I know how to get to the next one.......I've been printing out directions too and hadn't thought of that......

[+Zac Young]

I personally use combination of GSAK and Cachemate. It seems to be everything I have abrgained for and it works great! Here is a great tutorial.

 

http://www.floridacaching.com/index.php?op...20&Itemid=9

[+GClouse]

The standard way is by using the explore device function from activesync. If the X30 doesn't have the cd with it, you can download activesync from Microsoft. It is basically a drag and drop operation on the pc.

You would usually just install cachemate on the pocket pc and use gsak on the desktop. Plucker is a programs that compiles html pages into a palmdoc database, and would not help for the X30, however, the X30 has pocket internet exlorer and you can use GPSBabel to convert a gpx file to html and access that on the X30 easily. You will need to use the search function instead of the internal document links if you have more than 30 caches in the html file.

AS for maps, some of the high end X30s have navigation software in the rom and use sd based maps. these units are not common and wre intended for use with a bluetooth GPSr.

I am not familiar with cachemate, but most caching wares have a setting that auto-selects the nearest cache

[+Latentk]

This is interesting, but does anyone have a tutorial for a PPC based device?

 

And also, I thought the Geocaching mode on my Garmin Etrex Vista Cx allowed it to use GPX files to get the loc and hint etv. Am I wrong to assume that?

[+BaldEd]

Hi mailgirl1978.

 

Three suggestions:

 

1. Get GSAK (a database type program specially written for geocaching). This program runs on your PC and will store all cache data downloaded from geocaching.com. This is THE program to use to send data to your gps and PDA. Don't be daunted by it - it will at first seem a little daunting but it can be used quite simply just to send waypoints to your gps and cache descriptions to your PDA. Then as you get more familar with it you will be able to discover the many other things that it can do with the data it contains.

 

2. Become a member of the GSAK forum - there are many people there who can help with any queries you may have. The program has the best software support I've ever come across - the program author (Clyde)never seems to sleep.

 

3. Find a local geocacher in your area who is using GSAK and go visit him/her and ask to shown how he/she uses the program.

 

If you become a Premium member of geocaching.com (US$30 annual subscription) you can set up to have PQ's (personal queries containing cache data of up to 500 caches each) emailed to you weekly. These PQ's come in the form of gpx files. You load these gpx files into GSAK. GSAK has a large number of tools that can filter, manipulate and export the data to your gps, PDA etc. GSAK can also export cache descriptions, previous logs etc to Cachemate (a popular program run on your PDA - there are 2 versions - Palm and PPC), or as html files (if you use an html reader, like iSilo or Plucker, on your PDA).

 

Have fun.

[+twigg2324]

Ok...I have read and read until my head is killing me.....between GSAK, cachemate, plucker....ect...

what do I really need to get my pocket queries into my GPS and PDA (just bought Dell Axim X30..my GPS is an Extrex HC)

Will I need all of these programs? Will one of them do everything I need them to do?

Thanks for any help!

 

We do just this with:

 

Pocket Queries are loaded into EasyGPS, then sent both to the car nav and the Garmin handheld.

 

The .gpx file sent by Pocket Queries is dumped straight into My Docs on the Pocket PC, and you are good to go. We use Beeline GPS on the Pocket PC .... it's close to perfect.

[cliff_hanger]

Ok...I have read and read until my head is killing me.....between GSAK, cachemate, plucker....ect...

what do I really need to get my pocket queries into my GPS and PDA (just bought Dell Axim X30..my GPS is an Extrex HC)

Will I need all of these programs? Will one of them do everything I need them to do?

Thanks for any help!

 

Overview

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Paperless_Caching

 

GSAK to PPC

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cachemate_(PPC)

 

Pocket Queries to Plucker

http://ctcachers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Plucker