Ideas for future PQ1K email or direct download link

[+Keith Watson]

I'm liking the download. Cut my time by 33%.

 

Just didn't want the conversation to sound one-sided.

 

I have to agree. My downloading is much quicker now as well.

[+northernpenguin]

I download them manually, and update my offline database twice per week (that's fresh enough for me). I have two premium accounts and use 10 PQs for that download.

 

Here's my process:

1. I go to geocaching.com/pocket and click the downloads tab
   
2. Five clicks later and the GPX/ZIP files are sitting on my computer
   
3. Change accounts
   
4. Go to geocaching.com/pocket and click the downloads tab
   
5. Five clicks later and the GPX/ZIP files are sitting on my computer
   
6. Open GSAK, load the GPX/ZIP files from that one folder
   
7. Delete the caches that have a Last GPX date earlier than today
   
8. Run a macro to update counties, apply a user sort based on some various queries, etc.
   
9. All done
   

I wasn't using an automated macro from GSAK to grab from my account before. So where I picked up the speed was that with GMAIL here was my process:

1. Go to Gmail
   
2. Open up e-mail
   
3. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
   
4. Click the download
   
5. Move to the next e-mail
   
6. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
   
7. Click the download
   
8. Move to the next e-mail
   
9. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
   
10. Click the download
    
11. Move to the next e-mail
    
12. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
13. Click the download
    
14. Move to the next e-mail
    
15. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
16. Click the download
    
17. Move to the next e-mail
    
18. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
19. Click the download
    
20. Move to the next e-mail
    
21. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
22. Click the download
    
23. Move to the next e-mail
    
24. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
25. Click the download
    
26. Move to the next e-mail
    
27. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
28. Click the download
    
29. Move to the next e-mail
    
30. Wait for the Google virus scanner to check it
    
31. Click the download
    
32. Open GSAK, load the GPX/ZIP files from that one folder
    
33. Delete the caches that have a Last GPX date earlier than today
    
34. Run a macro to update counties, apply a user sort based on some various queries, etc.
    
35. All done
    

 

To be fair, comparing the process of downloading via a web based email provider and a website isn't really the same thing as comparing the download process for a POP3/IMAP connection to your mail server.

 

I use GMAIL too, with PQ emails. My process is:

 

[*]Double click on GSAK icon

[*]File, Get Data via Email

[*]Click on Get Mail

[*]Go away for a while, while GSAK downloads all my PQs, unzips them and loads them into GSAK

[*]Click on OK on summary screen

[*]All done

 

That pulls in the data from 35 PQs without me doing the click on link, right click, download 35 times or resorting to "Downthemall" followed by starting up GSAK yada yada yada.

[+Keith Watson]

To be fair, comparing the process of downloading via a web based email provider and a website isn't really the same thing as comparing the download process for a POP3/IMAP connection to your mail server.

 

I use GMAIL too, with PQ emails. My process is:

 

[*]Double click on GSAK icon

[*]File, Get Data via Email

[*]Click on Get Mail

[*]Go away for a while, while GSAK downloads all my PQs, unzips them and loads them into GSAK

[*]Click on OK on summary screen

[*]All done

 

That pulls in the data from 35 PQs without me doing the click on link, right click, download 35 times or resorting to "Downthemall" followed by starting up GSAK yada yada yada.

 

If the experience is more pleasant then it doesn't matter what the old way vs new way is. I used to have my email server auto extract the files to a folder. I would have to find the files I wanted in that folder, it didn't overwrite the old files, and then copy them over to my local drive and process them. The was usually done over a VPN so the download time was actually longer than pulling them right from Groundspeak. Having a screen with only the recent copy of the GPX files and fast download no matter where I am is better then the way I was doing it.

[+northernpenguin]

 

If the experience is more pleasant then it doesn't matter what the old way vs new way is. I used to have my email server auto extract the files to a folder. I would have to find the files I wanted in that folder, it didn't overwrite the old files, and then copy them over to my local drive and process them. The was usually done over a VPN so the download time was actually longer than pulling them right from Groundspeak. Having a screen with only the recent copy of the GPX files and fast download no matter where I am is better then the way I was doing it.

 

That's kinda doing the "hey it's better for me, therefore it's better for you" thing again. Yes, the downloads are better for a lot of use scenarios. It is NOT better for my use scenario. I'm not using a VPN or web based email service to access the PQs. I'm using POP3 - drop dead simple configuration here. I'm using the PQs the way I was told they would continue to work, but Groundspeak didn't hold up that end of the deal either, by turning off all my PQs. Now I can have 5 of them today and that's that.

 

There are people who have dial up connections too, perhaps we can find a way to limit everyone's download speed to 9.6 kbps, because that 'works for them'.

[+Markwell]

I never said it was better for you. I just said it was better for me to balance out all of the people that are saying it's worse for them.

[+Hynr]

You can actually get pretty close to getting any shape polygon you want with the route PQ.

As long as you have roads you can route on. The route PQ won't go where there is no road. I still would like to see a NW/SE definition for a rectangular PQ.

Uh, Jim, take a look at the route that I posted. You think the roads in the region run this way? Maybe you need to you see some islands in your neck of the woods. I do agree that having a plain rectangle would be very nice.

[+Avernar]

Because the system does not know the difference between not downloading your PQ in the time they specify vs abandoning your PQ. It looks like they may be trying to limit the downloading of data that is never used.

That's my point. For PQ500s they can't tell so the shouldn't shut them off.

[+Avernar]

I wasn't using an automated macro from GSAK to grab from my account before.

Ah, so your speed saving came from switching from manually downloading from GMail to manually downloading from Geocaching. Yeah, downloading attachments from GMail is a pain.

 

For me, using GSAKs email download (it's not a macro but built in) is faster and I don't have to babysit it. My download macro just triggers the email download function and then adds the counties and does a few difficulty/terrain/type overrides.

[+Avernar]

I never said it was better for you. I just said it was better for me to balance out all of the people that are saying it's worse for them.

While it may be worse, it's still useful for when I don't have access to GMail or GSAK and I need just one PQ in an emergency. I prefer not to drop PQs directly on my GPS as all of my post processing is not done on them but it's better than nothing if I need a new area quick and can't go home for a reload.

[+rob3k]

Well, I'd rather they flip off the <500 PQs for "inactivity" every now and then vs. dumping e-mailing them as attachments altogether. (That sentence probably only makes sense in my head... )

 

Just checked and my <500 PQs have not been flipped off FWIW.

 

I'd have liked to switch to the larger PQs for everything, but the radius I keep updated in GSAK can be done with 10 PQs per week. Given my slower find than the local publish rate that will probably increase to 11 or 12 by the end of the year, but I still have lots of room to throw more PQs into weekly rotation.

 

Silly me got excited about paring my weekly PQs down to a number that could be run in a single day if needed when this feature was announced. Ah well.