jikes... too many pocket queries!

[+novw.nl]

Maybe somebody over here has a better idea than me?

 

We are heading on vacation through Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, both Virginia's and Maryland. So I decided to create a "few" PQ's that cover our vacation. I filtered REGULAR caches, Small, Medium and Large, difficulty <3, Terrain <3:

 

FLORIDA:

25-12-2000 - 02-05-2004 01
03-05-2004 - 18-05-2005 02
19-05-2005 - 12-02-2006 03
13-02-2006 - 08-08-2006 04
09-08-2006 - 14-01-2007 05
15-01-2007 - 27-04-2007 06
28-04-2007 - 18-09-2007 07
19-09-2007 - 03-01-2008 08
04-01-2008 - 11-03-2008 09
12-03-2008 - 05-06-2008 10
06-06-2008 - 29-09-2008 11
30-09-2008 - 01-12-2008 12
02-12-2008 - 22-01-2009 13
23-01-2009 - 14-03-2009 14
15-03-2009 - 24-05-2009 15
25-05-2009 - 14-08-2009 16
15-08-2009 -


GEORGIA:

03-06-2000 - 29-04-2005 01
01-05-2005 - 13-08-2006 02
14-08-2006 - 20-09-2007 03
21-09-2007 - 13-06-2008 04
14-06-2008 - 11-01-2009 05
12-01-2009 - 20-06-2009 06
21-06-2009 - 

SOUTH CAROLINA:

28-04-2001 - 14-01-2007 01
18-01-2007 - 20-02-2008 02
21-02-2008 - 15-01-2009 03
16-01-2009 - 


NORTH CAROLINA:

00-00-0000 - 14-07-2004 01
15-07-2004 - 17-10-2005 02
18-10-2005 - 02-08-2006 03
03-08-2006 - 28-02-2007 04
01-03-2007 - 29-07-2007 05
30-07-2007 - 05-01-2008 06
06-01-2008 - 29-04-2008 07
30-04-2008 - 01-09-2008 08
02-09-2008 - 10-01-2009 09
11-01-2009 - 20-04-2009 10
21-04-2009 - 


Virginia's 

00-00-0000 - 06-06-2004 01
07-06-2004 - 15-10-2005 02
16-10-2005 - 14-09-2006 03
15-09-2006 - 15-06-2007 04
19-06-2007 - 25-12-2007 05
26-12-2007 - 14-05-2008 06
15-05-2008 - 05-10-2008 07
06-10-2008 - 25-02-2009 08
26-02-2009 - 12-06-2009 09
13-06-2009 - 


Maryland

00-00-0000 - 12-01-2006 01
13-01-2006 - 01-05-2007 02
02-05-2007 - 08-09-2008 03
09-09-2008 - 10-09-2009 04

 

I end up with 48 (!!!) pocket queries. Plus one for DC. Now this is not too bad, I still have time to run 5 per day, but... I can only "store" 40 in the pocket querie page .

 

I see no way to filter down to even less caches, so is there a trick to get a hold of the caches I would like to ?

[+Castle Mischief]

Geomate Jr. is one option. Caches along a route is another.

 

You may want to narrow your search my cache size even further and remove the smalls? Did you remove the non-active caches? Maybe filter out only those that contain travel bugs?

[+novw.nl]

as a bonus, how do I update the availability status of so many caches in the few seconds we have internet somewhere ?

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated !

 

PS: sidestep: Sharing GPX's that emerge from PQ's is against GC policy. How about this? mrX creates a PQ, and sets the address of the recipient to MrZ's email ?

[+novw.nl]

Geomate Jr. is one option. Caches along a route is another.

 

Did you remove the non-active caches?

 

when is a cache considered active ? I will look into geomate jr ! Thanks ! (expensive sollution)

Edited September 10, 2009 by novw

[+sbell111]

I assume that your vacation is not going to cover every square mile of all of those states. If this is correct, you don't need any where near that number of caches.

 

This is what I would do:

 

Decide which areas that you would actually visit. Run PQs centered on these areas using a radius that encompasses only the areas that you are going to be caching in.

 

Then run Cache Along a Route PQs that cover the route that you will be traveling from location to location.

[+sbell111]

Geomate Jr. is one option. Caches along a route is another.

 

Did you remove the non-active caches?

 

when is a cache considered active ? I will look into geomate jr ! Thanks ! (expensive sollution)

An active cache is a cache that is neither archived nor disabled.

[+sbell111]

as a bonus, how do I update the availability status of so many caches in the few seconds we have internet somewhere ?

I wouldn't bother.

PS: sidestep: Sharing GPX's that emerge from PQ's is against GC policy. How about this? mrX creates a PQ, and sets the address of the recipient to MrZ's email ?

Isn't that the very definition of sharing a PQ?

Edited September 10, 2009 by sbell111

[+Castle Mischief]

Geomate Jr. is one option. Caches along a route is another.

 

Did you remove the non-active caches?

 

when is a cache considered active ? I will look into geomate jr ! Thanks ! (expensive sollution)

 

A cache can exist in four different states of being: Pending, active, disabled and archived. You'll never be able to see the pending caches (waiting for reviewer approval), the active caches are up and running assumed to be available to hunt and log. Disabled caches are ones that the owner has temporarily pulled out of the game but is not available to hunt at the present time. Archived caches have been taken out of play completely (although there are exceptions) and you won't be able to search for these- but can see them in the list of other people's finds and hides.

 

The Geomate Jr does cost a little, but is less than most any other GPSr and has proven to be a great tool for people that may not have a specific travel route in mind. There are pros and cons.

[+Team Taran]

I would suggest spending more time choosing caches you want to do. Are you roaming randomly through the area or do you have a route with definite or approximate stops? What kinds of caches do you prefer? How much time to you have to cache? Are you taking a laptop? Have you tried caching along the expected route? Many public libraries offer free wi-fi often 24 hours a day. Also recently many interstate rest stops also offer free wi-fi. Create a bookmark of the must do caches. For example I'm trying to find the oldest cache in every state. I also like virtuals and earthcaches. I also tend to check bookmark lists for favorites. Do your plans include sight seeing as well as caching? I find I'm happier when I spend more time selecting which caches I want rather than creating a massive data base but your style may vary.

Team Taran

[+novw.nl]

I read "sharing GPX's is not allowed". X is not sharing a GPX. The output is only used by Z. Not by X. So they are not sharing output. (Yeah yeah, I am dutch, always looking to bend the rules ). I have flagged "active", and have narrowed the number of results for Georgia down with 1 PQ. THANKS !

 

The problem with "caches along a route" is, we are not very set on our route. We can go east or west of the Apalachians for example.

 

If only I had a month subscription on mobile internet I'dd probably be saved: I assume I know in the evening wheret I am going the next day. Than the caches along a route would be the trick to go. As it stands now: just not good enough.

[+beejay&esskay]

 

I end up with 48 (!!!) pocket queries. Plus one for DC. Now this is not too bad, I still have time to run 5 per day, but... I can only "store" 40 in the pocket querie page .

 

I see no way to filter down to even less caches, so is there a trick to get a hold of the caches I would like to ?

 

 

You don't need to save your PQs once you've run them...so since you have time, you can get all 48 of those to run. (Or buy a second membership, which is what I finally ended up doing.)

[+novw.nl]

 

You don't need to save your PQs once you've run them...so since you have time, you can get all 48 of those to run. (Or buy a second membership, which is what I finally ended up doing.)

 

prob: how about updates along the route ? Looking for a recently archived cache once is fun, twice is boring and three times is a pain in the behind.

[+Castle Mischief]

 

You don't need to save your PQs once you've run them...so since you have time, you can get all 48 of those to run. (Or buy a second membership, which is what I finally ended up doing.)

 

prob: how about updates along the route ? Looking for a recently archived cache once is fun, twice is boring and three times is a pain in the behind.

 

I think you're just going to have to deal with the risk of aged data.

 

There might be a mobile phone app that lets you pull all the cache data realtime for your local area but having never used that, I don't have any info for you.

 

How many caches are you planning on finding during your trip??

[+sbell111]

 

You don't need to save your PQs once you've run them...so since you have time, you can get all 48 of those to run. (Or buy a second membership, which is what I finally ended up doing.)

 

prob: how about updates along the route ? Looking for a recently archived cache once is fun, twice is boring and three times is a pain in the behind.

Your on vacation searching for caches in virgin territory. Look for it once. If you don't find it, look for a different cache.

[+novw.nl]

We drove cross Canada a year ago and cached along the route: just under 200 caches were done than. And that vacation was not built around geocaching. We were newbies in that time. So, I am assuming a "couple of hundred" is what we are planning.

[+Team Taran]

Are you camping or staying in motels? Most inexpensive motels and many campgrounds offer free wi-fi. When I drove cross county a few years ago and unexpectedly changed the planned route due to weather, I simply made wi-fi access one of my criteria for choosing a place to spend the night. I never had a problem finding it.

Team Taran

[+novw.nl]

actually... we are this time with a rented RV, but intend to stay many times at "uncle Walt"'s. I have also joined the guys at http://www.fon.com So I might not be completely starved off internet, but better safe than sorry...

 

Sidenote: the motels we usually stayed in have bugs. Big bugs with a sidedish of dirty carpeting. Not free WiFi

[+ecanderson]

 

prob: how about updates along the route ? Looking for a recently archived cache once is fun, twice is boring and three times is a pain in the behind.

The only way to recheck them in realtime is to check them in realtime. My own solution to this is to use my rather minimalist cell phone. I have loaded Opera Mini on it to view the gc.com site as it is, but you can also use any WAP enabled phone to access the wap.geocaching.com web site. It's rudimentary in its information, but you'll see the most recent logs there as well.

 

I assume your phone handles GSM, but it might be a bit expensive in the roaming department.

 

The alternative is to bring a WiFi enable netbook or small notebook along. We have tons of open WiFi sites here in the U.S.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

I read "sharing GPX's is not allowed". X is not sharing a GPX. The output is only used by Z. Not by X. So they are not sharing output. (Yeah yeah, I am dutch, always looking to bend the rules ). I have flagged "active", and have narrowed the number of results for Georgia down with 1 PQ. THANKS !

 

The problem with "caches along a route" is, we are not very set on our route. We can go east or west of the Apalachians for example.

 

If only I had a month subscription on mobile internet I'dd probably be saved: I assume I know in the evening wheret I am going the next day. Than the caches along a route would be the trick to go. As it stands now: just not good enough.

 

If Mr. Z is not the account holder of the account that is getting the Pocket Queries to Mr. Z is a violation of the Waypoint License regardless of whether or not Mr. X (the account holder) is using the data. Sharing in this instance does not imply use by two parties at the same time. Sharing refers to providing the third party with access to the data.

[+Team Taran]

Actually my experience is the more expensive a motel - the less likely it is to have fee wi-fi. Expensive motels charge by the day for wi-fi because business travelers put it on expense accounts.

Team Taran

[+Team Taran]

You also might want to check out this site

http://www.Waymarking.com/cat/details.aspx...ed-997ce8f8231c

Team Taran

[+Cache O'Plenty]

Many restaurants also offer Internet (IHOP is one that I found in Las Vegas).

 

You might want to sign up for a second account, just for a month - it's $3.00.

 

You might want to try using the attributes section of the PQ (sometimes it works.....) You deselected terrains <3.0 so you aren't into extreme hiking. Many of the caches in my area that require hiking are marked with Terrain's of 2.0 when, really, they are much higher. Try deleting those with the Hiking icon marked.

[AZcachemeister]

Many restaurants also offer Internet (IHOP is one that I found in Las Vegas).

 

You might want to sign up for a second account, just for a month - it's $3.00.

 

You might want to try using the attributes section of the PQ (sometimes it works.....) You deselected terrains <3.0 so you aren't into extreme hiking. Many of the caches in my area that require hiking are marked with Terrain's of 2.0 when, really, they are much higher. Try deleting those with the Hiking icon marked.

 

If you are traveling with a wi-fi laptop (or other device), open connections are easy to find.

 

Monthly accounts are no longer available the last I heard.

 

There are mobile phone applications that allow downloading of nearby caches in real time as you move around.

[+Chrysalides]

If Mr. Z is not the account holder of the account that is getting the Pocket Queries to Mr. Z is a violation of the Waypoint License regardless of whether or not Mr. X (the account holder) is using the data.

Say, are you a lawyer or something? I know what you mean, but reading that closely, it doesn't parse

[+novw.nl]

grin about the sharing. It was just a dutch idea to bend it a bit... Althoug I must say, I use max. 2 PQ's a week. For 48 weeks of the year. Groundspeak might cut me some slack just before a vacation. But thats a whole different discussion.

 

--

as for the atributes: I will deffinately try to filter for that one too. Good idea.

monthly internet no longer being available: boohoo crying !

Wifi: got that with us. IHOP is a great location to have for backup, since I hate starbucks who also have free wifi

free wifi in hotels is the same on this side of the planet: the more you pay, the less likely it is to exist. Although, in hostel type accomodation, there is often a charge.

 

Thanks for helping out !

[+dakin55]

21st century is all I can say

Free Wi-Fi in RV Parks and Campgrounds \

http://www.wififreespot.com/rv.html

Edited September 11, 2009 by dakin55

[+novw.nl]

the funny thing is (most) campgrounds are more expensive than the motels we used to stay in... It's a bit like bed and breakfasts in the US. All over the world B&B's are cheaper than hotels. In the states its the other way around: A brand hotel (Motel 6) costs $50 a night, a B&B starts at $100. Same with campgrounds: $30 for a night is a normal price. For that money I can also stay in a sleazebag motel, with a regular sized shower in my room and cable TV...

[+Team Taran]

I want to emphasize that one of the most reliable spots for finding free WiFi are public libraries which are usually included in POI databases, usually have places to sit and clean restrooms when open, and generally leave their connections open 24 hours a day. Sometimes they may be the only spot in town with broadband access. Panera Bread offers Wi-Fi and their food is better than IHop.

Team Taran

[+Castle Mischief]

the funny thing is (most) campgrounds are more expensive than the motels we used to stay in... It's a bit like bed and breakfasts in the US. All over the world B&B's are cheaper than hotels. In the states its the other way around: A brand hotel (Motel 6) costs $50 a night, a B&B starts at $100. Same with campgrounds: $30 for a night is a normal price. For that money I can also stay in a sleazebag motel, with a regular sized shower in my room and cable TV...

 

We recently did a multi-day vacation at three different camping spots (electric and water hook ups) in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. I've sent the wife an email asking about what the prices were at each spot. When she gets back to me I'll send you a PM with the information.

 

I'm 80% sure we never paid over $25 at each spot and the bath houses were nicer than most camping/RV spots we've stayed at. The first spot had cable hook-ups included and Wi-Fi.

 

Actually she just answered- GA state parks are $25 a night and SC are less. The one we stayed at for three night in SC was less than $15 a night with full elec/water. Let me know if you want the specific parks.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Castle Mischief

[+Walts Hunting]

Have you thought about using your phone to hookup to your computer. If you have one that has internet data plan you can usually tether it. Sometimes you pay a fee. Verizon has a plan for my Verizon that is $30 a month to use and can be turned on and off w/o affecting the life of the plan. I currently have it turned on since I am away the next couple of weeks.

[+briansnat]

When I do a road trip I run a caches along a route query for when I'm on the road. I limit this query to .25

mile in each direction and use 3 stars and below for difficulty and terrain. I also eliminate puzzle caches and multis along the route as I don't want to get too involved in a hunt when I'm ostensibly driving to my destination.

 

For each area that I plan to stay overnight I run a regular PQ of about 50-75 caches in that zipcode. This gives me many options if I want to head out for some caches after dinner or early morning.

 

Finally I run a full PQ of 500 for the area around my destination.

[+Markwell]

Another option would be to use the Google Earth panning ability for your trip as scoping out possibilities. Virtually "drive" your potential paths. Then you can pick and choose the items you're likely to find. As you "fly" along the potential trips, you'll see where pockets of caches exist. If you want to limit it to just traditionals, you can do that (I'd love if it did the same thing with the possibilities of terrain/difficulty, but so be it).

 

The other added benefit is that if you're traveling by interstate, you can see the exits and plan accordingly - beyond the "within the route". Take a look at this map:

 

 

This is a stretch of I-57 in Illinois near Salem. The next exit north is Kinmundy. If you notice there are quite a few caches that would be within 0.25 miles of the route where the interstate takes a dogleg to the northeast. However, they are NOT accessible FROM the interstate. If I was northbound (as this image suggests) I would have to exit I-57 at Salem and go off interstate to hit those. That's not very practical past one or two stops, and I also presume that you're not planning on taking the entire trip off interstate.

 

So - pan through your possible trips and catch the ones that look cool to you. Create a Bookmark list and add the caches to the list. Add lots - many more than you would ever want to do, but ones that match the criteria of caches that you'd like to hunt on the trip. Then the day before your trip, run a pocket query of the bookmark list.

 

This will give you the freshest data of caches that you'd like to find on the trip, as there won't be any archived caches in the PQ. You may be asking, "What about the newer ones that appeared since I did my survey on Google Earth?" My response would be: "Does it really matter than you may miss out on newer caches?" If you have more caches than you would likely find, and they are all ones that you have already weeded through as potentially good finds, the fact that there are OTHERS out there that you may or may not like to find doesn't really matter. Go out and find the ones that you KNOW you've already scoped out.

 

I've also never understood the FTF craze. So many times, I have seen bad coordinates from first time hiders or transposed numbers. I always like to try for a cache that has already been found 3 or 4 times before I go out to hunt. This method most likely will assure that the caches are still active and have already had the kinks worked out by other finders.

 

So - a summary of my suggestion:

1) Create a Bookmark list for the trip

2) Use the Google Earth KML to scope out caches along your route

3) Bookmark those caches that you'd likely want to find on the trip, making sure to bookmark more than you'd ever want to find, and taking care to watch for cache type, difficulty/terrain and access to your route

4) Run a Pocket Query of the bookmark list just prior to leaving.

5) Go find the caches!

[+novw.nl]

Have you thought about using your phone to hookup to your computer. If you have one that has internet data plan you can usually tether it.

 

 

We are from Europe: 1Mb of datatraffic will cost me EUR 10. (at current exchange rates that would be $2000 (seriously, that's $20 per Mb...)), so... big oops there...

Edited September 11, 2009 by novw

[+novw.nl]

So - a summary of my suggestion:

1) Create a Bookmark list for the trip

2) Use the Google Earth KML to scope out caches along your route

3) Bookmark those caches that you'd likely want to find on the trip, making sure to bookmark more than you'd ever want to find, and taking care to watch for cache type, difficulty/terrain and access to your route

4) Run a Pocket Query of the bookmark list just prior to leaving.

5) Go find the caches!

 

 

I like your suggestions. We rent a RV and start driving. We will try to reach Washington, DC, but when weather is bad, we might as well turn east. Or west. Or anywhere else where the sun is shining. So the route thing is not really an option. And reading 8900 caches (Florida, D<2.5 T<2.5, Reg, S/M/L,...) is a litle bit beyond my time limits .

 

 

We have a few multi's packed into a bookmarklist, so I had thought of that. Heck, come to think of it, that's one PQ I had forgotten about...

Edited September 11, 2009 by novw

[+novw.nl]

Actually she just answered- GA state parks are $25 a night and SC are less. The one we stayed at for three night in SC was less than $15 a night with full elec/water. Let me know if you want the specific parks.

 

 

From memory I know that when one statepark is $15, they are most likely to be all that price(range). We have a list with all state/national parks in the satnav gadget, so we are most likely to find campsites in parks. But pricewise nothing beats a Walmart parking area

[+Team MacKenzie]

 

 

From memory I know that when one statepark is $15, they are most likely to be all that price(range). We have a list with all state/national parks in the satnav gadget, so we are most likely to find campsites in parks. But pricewise nothing beats a Walmart parking area

 

The problem with most State Parks is that they don't have WiFi. Heck a lot of them are far enough out in the boonies that cell phones don't work either...

 

There's also Flying J which have WiFi available. The only problem with them is you most often have to get there by dinner time to find a space for the night.... , especially if you've got a larger RV.

 

Chick-Fil-A has free WiFi - Just remember you don't have to eat there and sometimes the range is good enough that you can sit in a neigbouring parking lot.

 

One of the major low price motel chains uses their zip code for a password.

 

I'm trying to think of who else's freebies I used to use, I spent a lot of time travelling in an RV and never had too much trouble finding a WiFi connection. Sometimes had to park in an adjacent lot because my rig wouldn't fit though!!

[+Walts Hunting]

Most non chain coffee shops offer free wifi. That helps them compete.