problem changing website's search radius range

[+Hoodoo]

I cannot figure out how to change the distance radius when searching for benchmarks on the Geocaching.com website. It defaults to "Within 10 mile(s)" which kind of rings a bell as a preference I set many months ago but now that I would like to extend that range parameter I cannot find an option to do so. I have browsed every Geocaching.com webpage I can think of to no avail. Would someone please inform me how or where on the website this setting can be altered.

[ArtMan]

Hoodoo,

 

I don't believe there is an easy way to do this, although IMHO there should be. (Default 10 mile radius is probably too large for urban areas, too small for sparsely-populated regions.)

 

One workaround is to append "&dist=x" to the URL of the results page, where x is an integer representing the radius distance in miles you want to search.

 

Regards

ArtMan

[Z15]

I think you add &20 (example for 20 miles) to the end of the string in the address bar?

 

Well it didn't work for me. Someone posted how to do this some time back and I was sure this was the method?

[Ruffian949]

add this to the end of the url after you have done a search to expand it to 20 miles:

&dist=20

 

BTW, the farthest out I could get it to go is 30 miles.

 

[This message was edited by Ruffian949 on July 07, 2003 at 08:50 PM.]

[+Hoodoo]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I assume this situation has previously been reported somewhere as a website improvement request. Has it?

 

I thought I had a faint recollection that the radius distance was a preference setting I opted for long ago. Guesss not. Since I live in a very rural area but travel to towns 20+ miles away quite often I was hoping to change the range to 30 miles.

[+BlueDeuce]

I am still trying to figure out everything that's available and how to use it, so I am not claiming this is the best way. What I do is go out to http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/datasheet.prl and locate the BM's by county. (There is software availble to convert and import the waypoints into your GPS.)

 

[This message was edited by Team X40 on July 07, 2003 at 12:06 PM.]

[Cracker.]

You can use 30 instead of 20. 30 miles seems to be the max, though.

 

Art

 

www.yankeetoys.org

www.BudBuilt.com

www.pirate4x4.com

[Bron Co.]

y not just put in a different zip code? You could get the benchmarks around that area, and use your gps to find out how far from you they really are.

[Ruffian949]

I like to put in a larger radius because when I'm out and about for work (rural areas) I can load a big slug of waypoints into my gps receiver in one shot. That way whenever I make a stop in a certain area I can sometimes swing by and log a few.

[+Hoodoo]

In my opinion, it is a bit of a hassle to input several zipcodes to obtain benchmark listings for a larger radius of one general area. Each time you run a new search for a nearby zipcode there is an overlapping, or repetition, of some of the benchmarks shown in previous searches run. Unless there is a better way of doing it that I haven't figured out yet, I'd have to have a list of all benchmarks retrieved during previous searches so I don't download them again. It'd be far more efficient to allow setting a larger radius so benchmarks need downloading only one time in one document.

 

Having to manually add to the search string in the address bar is also a hassle. That is why I previously wondered aloud whether this topic had been reported and hopefully taken into consideration as a website improvement.

 

In addition to the situation of running several searches for one larger radius area, if there is a way to merge several downloaded coordinate files to be read together at one time in EasyGPs, I haven't figured it out yet. I also downloaded the Watcher software but cannot get it to read coordinate files I've downloaded from the Geocaching website. But, I suppose those are topics for other forum areas.

[+gnbrotz]

You may want to try downloading them by county from the NGS site and then converting them to .gpx using BMGPX. From there you can open each county file in EasyGPS, tile the multiple tabs, and drag/drop all the waypoints into one huge file.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

[ArtMan]

Hoodoo writes:

 

quote:

---

In addition to the situation of running several searches for one larger radius area, if there is a way to merge several downloaded coordinate files to be read together at one time in EasyGPs, I haven't figured it out yet.

---

 

I haven't either, but there's nothing to stop you from loading multiple, separate files from EasyGPS into your GPSr. If there are duplicates during subsequent uploads, they will be ignored or overwritten (the result is the same).

[+Black Dog Trackers]

Hoodoo -

quote:

---

if there is a way to merge several downloaded coordinate files to be read together at one time in EasyGPs

---

Do this in a DOS window:

copy "area1.loc" + "area2.loc" "areaboth.loc"

 

The areaboth.loc file will contain all PIDs in area1.loc and area2.loc (or whatever you call them).

 

Note: I used "s in the copy example above because this is what you must do for long file names, although the file names I used in the example aren't long.

[+Hoodoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ArtMan:

I haven't either, but there's nothing to stop you from loading multiple, separate files from EasyGPS into your GPSr. If there are duplicates during subsequent uploads, they will be ignored or overwritten (the result is the same).

---

 

I'm using an older GPS that doesn't even have datata transfer capabilities. I've been compiling a list of benchmarks and printing a hard copy via EasyGPS.

[+Hoodoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by gnbrotz:

You may want to try downloading them by county from the NGS site and then converting them to .gpx using BMGPX. From there you can open each county file in EasyGPS, tile the multiple tabs, and drag/drop all the waypoints into one huge file.

---

 

I have downloaded some from NGS. I'm not fully aware of how to perform the rest of the process you suggest. I'll have to dink around and see if I can figure it out. I still haven't figured out how to get Watcher to open saved files so I can view them; which is why I'm using EasyGPS. I have been working off of individual benchmark hard copies I've printed out.

[+Hoodoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Black Dog Trackers:

Do this in a DOS window:

copy "area1.loc" + "area2.loc" "areaboth.loc"

 

The areaboth.loc file will contain all PIDs in area1.loc and area2.loc (or whatever you call them).

 

Note: I used "s in the copy example above because this is what you must do for long file names, although the file names I used in the example aren't long.

---

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind.

[+DBleess]

http://members.cox.net/dmbleess/geocache/benchmarks.htm

 

SA / PP-ASEL-I