Question for Premium Members

[twirlydoughnut]

Hi

 

am really enjoying geocaching, it is good exercise for the kids, dog and me, and also it is good for teaching the children about respecting our countryside etc, I have been looking at the Premium Membership, but before I go ahead one of the aspects which really excites me is the route part, where you put in your route and it tells you the caches along the way. Now I am in good ole UK, does this feature also work here? or is it just for the USA? (have been caught out with something similar before where I paid for a Premium membership, then discovered it didnt actually work in the UK )

 

I planted my first cache today and am really excited about it going live

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jane

[+dfx]

if google maps routing works for you, then this will work as well, because it uses google maps.

[+Merchant Adventurers]

Now I am in good ole UK, does this feature also work here? or is it just for the USA? (have been caught out with something similar before where I paid for a Premium membership, then discovered it didnt actually work in the UK )

 

I'm Canadian - I totally get that. I just ran a pocket query for a route from London to Bristol, and it very obligingly pulled up 433 caches along the route. I think you're good!

Edited August 30, 2010 by Merchant Adventurers

[+Lovejoy and Tinker]

Hi

 

We tried the route thing once, and probably won't again.

 

While it finds the caches within half a mile of your route, which is great, it doesn't recognise which roads they are on or elevation.

 

So you plan a route down the M5 and M4, and most of the caches it picks up are up on flyovers and bridges, on country lanes you have no chance of getting to without getting off the motorway and extending your journey by several hundred miles and many hours.

 

So it doesn't work well for long motorway journeys. We do this now by scanning the route on a map and looking at each cache to see if it is near a junction.

 

I imagine the system would work better when not using motorways and dual carriageways, where the opportunity to detour through the nearest village or down a B road is much greater.

 

Having said all that, route planning is not the best thing about Premium Membership - PQ's, Bookmark lists, watchlists and notifications are.

For those alone, don't hesitate, for £18 a year it's well worth having.

 

Hope that helps

Lovejoy

[+dfx]

While it finds the caches within half a mile of your route, which is great, it doesn't recognise which roads they are on or elevation.

 

So you plan a route down the M5 and M4, and most of the caches it picks up are up on flyovers and bridges, on country lanes you have no chance of getting to without getting off the motorway and extending your journey by several hundred miles and many hours.

 

So it doesn't work well for long motorway journeys. We do this now by scanning the route on a map and looking at each cache to see if it is near a junction.

 

I imagine the system would work better when not using motorways and dual carriageways, where the opportunity to detour through the nearest village or down a B road is much greater.

just for clarification: that's not a "problem" that occurs only in the UK, it's just how it works, everywhere.

 

the feature never made any promise of only returning caches that only result in a minor detour or no detour at all. it's just what it is: caches along a route. it takes the route and gives you the caches left and right of it, within a certain distance, and that's it. of course you can try picking a distance of only, say, 50 meters, but even then you'll get caches that aren't actually on the highway, because hardly any caches really are.

 

so it's up to you to filter the resulting list down to only caches that are easily grabbable, if that's what you're after. personally i have no problem with that: the GPSr has all the road maps, so i can see on the map which caches are on rest stops, just off the highway junction, etc., and that's the ones i pick. the others i can just skip.

Edited August 30, 2010 by dfx

[+lachupa]

I used it once but didn't have sense enough to put in any filters. I spent some quality time looking for a cache that turned out to be an earthcache.

[+t4e]

I used it once but didn't have sense enough to put in any filters. I spent some quality time looking for a cache that turned out to be an earthcache.

 

that doesn't make a lot of sense

 

and you didn't know in advance its and earthcache?

[+Panther&Pine]

I used it once but didn't have sense enough to put in any filters. I spent some quality time looking for a cache that turned out to be an earthcache.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that.

Recently I found a bison tube that turned out to be a throwdown at a webcam cache site (if only I'd known I would have planned better and done the webcam cache... oh well).

[+Lovejoy and Tinker]

just for clarification: that's not a "problem" that occurs only in the UK, it's just how it works, everywhere.

Exactly, that what I was trying to point out, that is how the system works, so people should be aware of its limitations and what it gives you in practical terms.

 

I was stupid enough not to realise this when I finally worked out how to do a cache route and got all excited. Till I realised that most of the results were not gettable during the journey

And that I would have to do a lot more work on the list before it became useful.

 

Thanks for your clarification, it made more sense than my wording.

[+kwcahart]

I bought a premium membership because it helps to support the hobby. The other stuff it does is just extra.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Took a look at Caches along a Route, and decided that for me, it was useless. Most of the caches we did were more than a half mile off the Interstate. I guess if I were only looking for cache and dashes it might have been helpful.

On the other fin, I love the PQs! And supporting the site.

[+michigansnorkelers]

There IS a way to get a list of all caches at EXITS along a route. It is a lot easier to do than to explain, but here is an earlier explanation.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=4439650

[twirlydoughnut]

oohh thank you everyone. I forgot to check the box for email notifications and had to find my post again to check for replies so I apologise for the late reply!

 

Your replies are all really helpful, and as it is my birthday in a couple weeks I think I will do it for then

 

I so wish I had found this hobby sooner, it is brilliant

 

thanks for all the great tips, and the link

 

Jane

[+Druce_n_Eulla]

What I do when doing routes is just search for them no more than .25 along a route. If you are taking highways there is no point unless you want to spend all day caching b4 reaching your destination. Now if you are on a minor route just hit up the caches that has a road leading to them. It is very simple and works out great. Not sure what device you have but most of the newer models tell you what kind of cache it is. It is definitely worth it. Just don't go overboard on the distance from the road and all will be fine.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Druce_n_Eulla

[+randco]

If you are using a Garmin product you can use Mapsource Maps. I use City Navigator here in the U.S. and I think that I read that there is the same equivalent for the U.K. or Europe. Become a Premium Member and create the route query. When you get the emailed file open it with GSAK then export it to Mapsource. Open Mapsource used the Route Tool then simply click on the caches in the order in which you want to search for them. When you have completed your route in Mapsource click on Transfer then Send to Device. Send the Waypoints and the Route to your Garmin product. It's very simple to do.

[+geodarts]

It's very simple to do.

 

I find it easier just to transfer the pq to my gpsr, start my trip, and stop at caches here or there. I will do a quick scan along rhe route and see if there are any that particularly grab my attention - particularly an earthcache, virtual, or letterbox - but that's about it.

[twirlydoughnut]

Hi

 

I have an iphone 3GS but I use along side it a garmin geko 201. I find the iphone app is way out at times on distance. The battery runs down much too quickly, if I want to be out all day. The Geko now I have worked it out is very accurate and simple ) Not sure about it showing caches as have only had it just over a week, so am just doing it via way points at the moment

 

Thanks so much for the info

 

Jane

[+Sol seaker]

I got the Premium membership at first because I wanted to be able to find and log all of the premium member caches.

 

Now I use the bookmarks and the pocket quieries so often, I don't know how I'd cache without them.

[twirlydoughnut]

I got the Premium membership at first because I wanted to be able to find and log all of the premium member caches.

 

Now I use the bookmarks and the pocket quieries so often, I don't know how I'd cache without them.

 

another silly question coming up, what is a pocket quiery? I keep seeing it and I think it on the iphone app?

 

thanks for the reply

 

Jane x

[jholly]

I got the Premium membership at first because I wanted to be able to find and log all of the premium member caches.

 

Now I use the bookmarks and the pocket quieries so often, I don't know how I'd cache without them.

 

another silly question coming up, what is a pocket quiery? I keep seeing it and I think it on the iphone app?

 

thanks for the reply

 

Jane x

 

quoting from the PQ page ...

 

Pocket Queries are custom geocache queries that can be downloaded from the website. They are in a format you can bring along with you on cache hunts on your GPS and/or PDA.

 

So I can set up a query for some coordinate (like home), or a zip code or a cache, for a certain distance and number of caches. You can filter for or filter out cache sized, filter for difficulty/terrain ratings, eliminate the ones you found, filter by attribute and many other factors.

 

For how to use PQ's and more detail see Markwell's FAQ.

 

PQ's are a premium member only benefit.

[+Bundyrumandcoke]

We use Caches along a route extensively. Annual holidays over the last 2 years have included close to 20000km of driving, all set up via Caches along a route. We usually filter to about 5km each side. You CAN customise which route you are going to travel on. And lets face it, for us at least, the caching and the travelling is the holiday. We choose a destination, and then find 2 different routes to get there, one for the trip there, and one for the trip home.

Edited September 2, 2010 by Bundyrumandcoke