Paperless Caching with Nokia GPS Phones (lmx Landmarks)

[chibijessi]

Hi everybody,

 

(sorry for english-mistakes, I'm german )

 

I'm pretty new to geocaching, but since i heard of it, I was very keen to get started. I own a Nokia N95, which has a GPS device inculded, but up to today I didnt get the right trick of "How to get the Geocache-Info into the phone". Of course, you can just "create new waypoint" in the phone itsself, but with a t9-keyboard, it takes its time, and long descriptions etc are just to long to type in that way.

after a long try-and-error-phase, i finaly found a comfortable way, to get all information into a waypoint-file, and i wanna share it with you!

 

So, I checked, how my N95 saves the file I created. Its saved as .lmx, which can be opend with the normal Text-editor.

 

As I'm not able to add a file here in the forum, here's whats inside the .lmx file:

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<lm:lmx xmlns:lm="http://www.nokia.com/schemas/location/landmarks/1/0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.nokia.com/schemas/location/landmarks/1/0/ lmx.xsd">

<lm:landmarkCollection>

<lm:landmark>

<lm:name>Pegeluhr Mainz</lm:name>

<lm:description> Die alte Pegeluhr in Mainz: Durch unsere Spaziergänge am Rhein entlang sind wir auf dieses Relikt analoger Zeiten gestoßen. Hier kann man bei jeder Wetterlage ablesen wieviel Wasser der Rhein gerade führt. Und ab jetzt führt zumindest die nähere Umgebung auch einen Cache Viel Spaß beim suchen und die Umgebung genießen wünschen lamima P.S. ab dem 8.7.2009 gibt es hier die Startkoordinaten für den Bonus GC1VK35 </lm:description>

<lm:coordinates>

<lm:latitude>50.00392</lm:latitude>

<lm:longitude>8.27532</lm:longitude>

</lm:coordinates>

<lm:addressInfo>

<lm:street>Difficulty: 1, Terrain: 1</lm:street>

<lm:postalCode>GC1NANX</lm:postalCode>

<lm:city>Mainz</lm:city>

<lm:state>Rheinland-Pfalz</lm:state>

<lm:country>Deutschland</lm:country>

<lm:phoneNumber>no hint</lm:phoneNumber>

</lm:addressInfo>

<lm:mediaLink> <lm:url>http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=67c27109-b2bc-492e-82cd-97d0afb50c05</lm:url>

</lm:mediaLink>

<lm:category>

<lm:name>Traditional Cache</lm:name>

</lm:category>

</lm:landmark>

</lm:landmarkCollection>

</lm:lmx>

 

To create a new Geocache-Waypoint as a nokia-compatible .lmx-file, just copy this code into the Text-Editor, insert the Information of the Cache YOU wanna find (colored parts) and save the txt-file as .lmx.

IMPORTENT: While saving it, make sure its saved coded "UTF-8" (choseable below the file-name-field in the drop-down!) or your phone wont be able to read it. (it took me an hour to find that mistake

 

note: you need the gps-coordinates in decimal coversion. just click "other conversion" next to the geo-caches-coordinates on the geocaching.com-site.

 

Now simply get the file into your phone (USB for example) and open it in your file-manager. select options, "save", and done: it you open your waypoint-manager or your nokiamaps now, the waypoint will be shown!

 

So, this is it!! You can simply find your cache online, copy and paste the data you need, get it into your phone and get startet paperless. I just saved a bunch of caches in my town, so when I have the time, they are ready to go

 

greetings from mainz,

Jessi

[+Butano]

This code looks so similar to the GPX format that pocket queries use that I wonder why Nokia just didn't use that format.

 

Take a look at GPSBabel. It allows you to convert between various formats. Included in the conversion capabilities is the LMX format (looks like it is called Nokia Landmark Exchange). With this program you will be able to import a pocket query and convert to the LMX format. That should help you convert even faster.

 

I have not tried this particular conversion, but the other conversions are very stable and are used extensively in other software like GSAK and Google Earth.

 

Good Luck!

[chibijessi]

Thanks for the hint, but if i wanted to convert a GPX to LMX, i would need the gpx file first I only have a basic membership so I dont have it.

 

greetz, Jessi

[robertlipe]

GPSBabel can read .loc which has rudimentary information and write lmx to help with the bulk of that

 

$ gpsbabel  -i geo -f geocaching.loc -o lmx -F -
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<lm:lmx xmlns:lm="http://www.nokia.com/schemas/location/landmarks/1/0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.nokia.com/schemas/location/landmarks/1/0/lmx.xsd">  <lm:landmarkCollection>
<lm:landmark>
	<lm:name>GCEBB</lm:name>
	<lm:description>Mountain Bike Heaven by susy1313</lm:description>
	<lm:coordinates>
	  <lm:latitude>35.972033</lm:latitude>
	  <lm:longitude>-87.134700</lm:longitude>
	</lm:coordinates>
	<lm:mediaLink>
	  <lm:name>Cache Details</lm:name>
	  <lm:url>http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=3771</lm:url>
	</lm:mediaLink>
</lm:landmark>
<lm:landmark>
	<lm:name>GC1A37</lm:name>
	<lm:description>The Troll by a182pilot & Family</lm:description>
	<lm:coordinates>
...

[Derick777]

Nokia is capable of opening .GPX files not just .LMX with the file manager. Valid information from GPX (what you can save as landmark) is name, cathegory, description, web adress and coordinates. The rest you can manually add if you like.

[RKrcma.ic.cz Team]

I created a free conversion tool which takes LOC files and converts them into LMX, it can also decrypt hints and store your caches in local database. It does exactly what I need since I'm geocaching with Nokia Maps on Symbian. You can download it at my homepage: http://stuchl4n3k.net/gc-converter

[+cwhlam]

The OP may want to take a look at Smartgpx <http://www.smartcaching.de/smartgpx.html>. It is free and it works on a Nokia N95.