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EGYPT & JORDAN GEOCACHING - help needed for Google Earth Maps


OzzieBear

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I will be on a guided tour of Egypt & Jordan lasting 22 days from the end of January 2011. I have chosen the caches that will be in the vicinity of my tour. Luckily there are quite a few Earth Caches at the main tourist attractions and I'm hoping to be able to log them.

 

Because I will only be able to look for a few Traditional caches, I don't want to purchase maps for my Garmin for Egypt. I haven't found anything about maps for Jordan. I was hoping I could use Google Earth (which has GPS capabilities) to locate a few caches. This is all pretty complicated for me as I haven't used this before. I have all my caches nicely in GSAK. How do I get a KML file that Google Earth wants.

 

I tried very hard to understand the instructions on How To Use the Geocaching Google Earth Viewer on geocaching.com but I just couldn't follow it.

 

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. I would hate to travel all the way from Australia to Egypt & Jordan & not be able to any geocaching because I don't have the maps in my Garmin or I'm too dumb to use Google Earth.

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Some tips on the traditionals in central Cairo - the streets can be a real maze - so they are possible using the compass only - but you can easily get lost in the small alleys looking for GZ (trust me I have - but with track back and a waypoint at my starting point it was fine).

 

Some nice caches in Cairo set by local cachers.

The ones out at the tourist destinations are easier. Also a nice set just outside Cairo in Wadi Degla (but you need a driver to take you there).

 

Jordan appears good caching - but i have not got person experience at these.

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Thank you both for replying to my query. Maybe I am worrying too much about maps for this area. However, I was able to download maps for Egypt & Jordan. I have a file called "gmapsupp.img" but not recognisable by MapSource. Does anyone know how I can turn this file into a ".gdb" file? so I can add it to my Australian maps & make a new mapset?

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Thank you both for replying to my query. Maybe I am worrying too much about maps for this area. However, I was able to download maps for Egypt & Jordan. I have a file called "gmapsupp.img" but not recognisable by MapSource. Does anyone know how I can turn this file into a ".gdb" file? so I can add it to my Australian maps & make a new mapset?

 

there is a simple reason for your problem: you need some other files too, not only the *.img

 

since you probably downloaded openstreetmap maps, I suggest that you

1. go there: http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php

2. make your choice what maps you really need to download

3. enter a valid email address

4. wait some minutes, hours, ...

5. follow the instructions given by mail

 

it worked perfectly for me and should do so for you too :-)

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Thank you very much to theplank for your input. Since I wrote that last post, I had in fact downloaded the openstreetmap maps. I have now successfully made a new mapset with my southern States of Australia plus the Egypt & Jordan maps.

 

All maps are now in my Garmin - I have all the caches that I would like to attempt while I'm on my trip ready to send to GPS just before I go. I am excited that this will be my first caching experience outside of Australia.

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You're welcome OzzieBear!

Btw, we'll be in the area too. Starting with February, 6th., theplank team

will be on tour in Syria, unfortunately just for one week ...

 

Should you go to Petra and I'm quite sure you will have a glance at it :-),

try to fetch this one more or less at the end of the valley: http://coord.info/GC282A we did it in 2008/02

and/or this one definitely worth the short hike (at the end of the valley and then up the hill): http://coord.info/GC1QGRP (hidden after our journey)

even if you don't find the cache, you'll see the end of the world (simply great!)

 

Enjoy your trip and keep on caching!

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