Iphone or Mio/Magellan

[+ForsdykeFinders]

Quick question (apologies in advance if this has been asked before). Having recently purchased an Iphone 4, is it worth using the Geocaching App? I have read many views on it ranging from innacurate to various probs. It isnt a small fortune to buy but dont want to bother if it is poor. I have bagged the free toolkit app. I currently manage with a Mio and an old Magellan. Also worried about battery life on the phone with the GPS active caching.

[+Graculus]

The App is fine for finding caches and is inexpensive. There is also a new app for the phone for Challenges (search iTunes for 'challenges'). Placing caches using the iPhone is also OK but just be aware of how the GPS works. If you are not careful you can get a very inaccurate reading of where you've placed your cache. Battery life lets the phone down and you do need a data connection for caches and maps unless you load up your PQ's into it and run offline maps.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

[+Chief301]

The app works great and with some of the new features in recent updates it keeps getting better. The iPhone 4's GPS is plenty accurate enough for caching...I used my iPhone alone for my first 50 or 60 finds with no problems. Biggest concerns are of course, battery life and ruggedness, which is why I finally did get a Garmin handheld, but I still use the phone app in conjunction with it for paperless caching.

 

If you are going to use it to hide caches, use an app like Perfect Mark (free) to average your waypoint for more accurate placement.

[+NattyBooshka]

The app's wonderful.

 

Don't listen to Graculus... don't search iTunes for "challenges"... search the App Store for "Groundspeak" as it's a lot faster, and less clogged with music!

 

The app also allows you to load up the caches you need and their maps (topo/sat/road) and photos if you like... so you don't NEED a decent data plan... it's very possible to go caching with the phone in airplane mode... or with data turned off (this is how I generally work)

 

Finally... premium is optional... the phone allows you to do everything PQs do for no money... Premium Membership for those running the official app is a "thank you" to Groundspeak rather than a way of making caching easier.

 

Perfect Mark is currently 69p on the app store... but it is quicker than a pen and paper for averaging!

Edited August 29, 2011 by NattyBooshka

[+Chief301]

 

Perfect Mark is currently 69p on the app store... but it is quicker than a pen and paper for averaging!

 

Oops, I misspoke...I thought I remembered it being free, it's 99 cents U.S.....still not bad...

[+NattyBooshka]

 

Perfect Mark is currently 69p on the app store... but it is quicker than a pen and paper for averaging!

 

Oops, I misspoke...I thought I remembered it being free, it's 99 cents U.S.....still not bad...

It's well worth the money. I think it has been fee at one time.

[+Graculus]

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

[+NattyBooshka]

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

no... that's not the bit I was referring to either... it was the search iTunes bit that was inaccurate.

 

been around long enough to have seen several placed with GPSr that make the same mistake... but that's another thread!

Edited August 29, 2011 by NattyBooshka

[+ForsdykeFinders]

Just picking p on the Premium membership piece. I am due to renew very soon and have the premium mainly for the PQs. So the app lets you do this? Can you export GPX files from the Iphone?

[+NattyBooshka]

You can download over 1000 caches at a time.

 

No export though... Then I've never found the need.

[+Moote]

Take the iPhone back, tell them it does not have multitasking as stated in it's spec, and buy an Android

[+rutson]

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris,

 

What I don't understand is why they are published then?

[+Graculus]

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris,

 

What I don't understand is why they are published then?

Because.... if the cache description is so brief it only says, "Along the road" and looking on Google maps that is where it appears to be then it gets published. It's only later they email me to update the coords because the road it is on isn't the road it's really on

 

I can only go by what information is there. Sometimes it is very obvious - like in the middle of a ploughed field or 2 miles off the coast in the sea

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

[+ForsdykeFinders]

Well...lashed out £6.99 for the App...looks good. Bit woried about the 10m accuracy but not used in anger yet and am indoors so never gonna be great. Think I will use in tandem with standard GPS.

[+metal-bijou]

Well...lashed out £6.99 for the App...looks good. Bit woried about the 10m accuracy but not used in anger yet and am indoors so never gonna be great. Think I will use in tandem with standard GPS.

 

The Groundspeak app is good for on the fly when using data. However there is another great app called geosphere that I use for offline use.

 

There'salso another couple of apps I use called iGCT and GCBuddy. The first isgood for some simple tools and the second is good if you are into multis.

 

___________________________________

[+NattyBooshka]

Well...lashed out £6.99 for the App...looks good. Bit woried about the 10m accuracy but not used in anger yet and am indoors so never gonna be great. Think I will use in tandem with standard GPS.

I regularly see 15 feet of accuracy on iPhone... Pretty much the same as GPSr... Had to switch it from French to real units though as have not used metres or kilometres since school... And thus have an eye that estimates in feet and inches!

[+PeakFault]

The app is excellent. I even used it last year when I was new to geocaching in the lake district where coverage was patchy at best but still managed 6 caches.

 

I have since bought a gps that I use most of the time (as I like multis etc) so it's easier for those types. But really for most traditional caches the iphone is absolutely fine only under dense trees have I had a problem with it but then 9 times out of 10 you can use instinct to track down where it may be!

 

And as I always have my iphone on me anyway I can log my finds in the field.

[+JimJoolz]

I only started caching in mid-July, and have only used the Iphone 3G. I have no problems with using it, the map works fine. As opposed to following the co-ords, due to inaccuracy, use the map and the description/hint to get you in the right area. Battery life is the only issue, but if you close the app when you don't need it, it's no longer running the GPS, and therefore saves battery time.

 

As for placing caches, don't use you Iphone, again due to the inaccuracy. For my cache, I found the place on foot, then when into Google maps and identified it for the co-ords. It's what the app uses anyway. And to be honest, most caches you find aren't spot on where the map displays them, or if the accuracy of the app is at about 5ft (sometimes), the co-ords don't completey match.

Nearly 300 caches and no sign of me buying GPS as yet.

 

Touching on the battery issue. I'd say it depends on how long you plan to go out for also. I've been out for 6 hours on a trail of 15 caches. the battery wouldn't last that long, so a little bit of paperwork with basic info, route from one to the next etc works fine.

[+keehotee]

For my cache, I found the place on foot, then when into Google maps and identified it for the co-ords. It's what the app uses anyway. And to be honest, most caches you find aren't spot on where the map displays them, or if the accuracy of the app is at about 5ft (sometimes), the co-ords don't completey match.

 

 

So you completely ignored this bit when you ticked the box to say you'd complied with the guidelines then?

 

2.1. Listing Guidelines that Apply to All Geocaches

 

This page is an extension of our Geocache Listing Requirements / Guidelines.

 

Technical Requirements

Listings must contain accurate GPS coordinates. You must visit the geocache site and obtain all the coordinates with a GPS device. GPS usage is an integral and essential element of both hiding and finding geocaches and must be demonstrated for all cache submissions.

 

It's nice to know you have such faith in Google maps - I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear that. In the meantime, when you eventually get around to setting a cache whose locally obtained co-ords don't quite match Google's because you're in the woods, or close enough to a building to get consistent signal bounce, will you be kind enough to warn the people looking for it with handheld GPS's ?

Edited September 29, 2011 by keehotee

[+Team Pixos]

How do you use the phone correctly for getting coordinates?

 

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

[+keehotee]

How do you use the phone correctly for getting coordinates?

 

Don't listen to Graculus...

You're not a reviewer getting a lot of new caches coming through with bad coordinates that have to be changed later. This problem can be laid squarely at the door of the smart phone! People just don't know how to use the phone correctly to get accurate coordinates. Put the box under a hedge, run the app, read off the coordinates as soon as they appear........

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

 

Switch off AGPS to start with.

Then take a set of co-ords. Make a note of them somewhere.

Take another set of co-ords. Again, make a note of them - preferably in the same place as the first set.

Then take another set.

And another.

 

When you feel you've got enough sets to be sure they're not bouncing around, and seem to be fairly steady, turn off your GPS and walk away a hundred feet or so.

 

Turn your GPS back on, then using a waypoint based at the average of all those sets of co-ords you just took and noted down, navigate back to your cache using only your phone's GPS - not by eye!

 

If your phone's GPS get's you back to the spot you thought you'd just waypointed, you're almost there. In an ideal world, you'd come back on another day and use your phone again to navigate back to the same point. But for now, after all that, you're probably about as accurate as a handheld GPS using it's onboard waypoint averaging to get a one-day/one-hit waypoint.

Smile, go back home, and write up your cache page - making sure everything else about your cache also meets all the guideline's you're about to swear you've followed

Edited September 29, 2011 by keehotee

[+metal-bijou]

For my cache, I found the place on foot, then when into Google maps and identified it for the co-ords. It's what the app uses anyway. And to be honest, most caches you find aren't spot on where the map displays them, or if the accuracy of the app is at about 5ft (sometimes), the co-ords don't completey match.

 

 

So you completely ignored this bit when you ticked the box to say you'd complied with the guidelines then?

 

2.1. Listing Guidelines that Apply to All Geocaches

 

This page is an extension of our Geocache Listing Requirements / Guidelines.

 

Technical Requirements

Listings must contain accurate GPS coordinates. You must visit the geocache site and obtain all the coordinates with a GPS device. GPS usage is an integral and essential element of both hiding and finding geocaches and must be demonstrated for all cache submissions.

 

It's nice to know you have such faith in Google maps - I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear that. In the meantime, when you eventually get around to setting a cache whose locally obtained co-ords don't quite match Google's because you're in the woods, or close enough to a building to get consistent signal bounce, will you be kind enough to warn the people looking for it with handheld GPS's ?

 

I do wish more people would check their placement in google maps even after using the GPS to get coords. Too many caches I've found that are out. Though actually really enjoy when I do find them.

 

There is even two caches near meby one owner where oneis well out still despite several needs maitenance logs and their other cache is unfound as.. well you guessed it, it's not at the coords.

[+JimJoolz]

For my cache, I found the place on foot, then when into Google maps and identified it for the co-ords. It's what the app uses anyway. And to be honest, most caches you find aren't spot on where the map displays them, or if the accuracy of the app is at about 5ft (sometimes), the co-ords don't completey match.

 

 

So you completely ignored this bit when you ticked the box to say you'd complied with the guidelines then?

 

2.1. Listing Guidelines that Apply to All Geocaches

 

This page is an extension of our Geocache Listing Requirements / Guidelines.

 

Technical Requirements

Listings must contain accurate GPS coordinates. You must visit the geocache site and obtain all the coordinates with a GPS device. GPS usage is an integral and essential element of both hiding and finding geocaches and must be demonstrated for all cache submissions.

 

It's nice to know you have such faith in Google maps - I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear that. In the meantime, when you eventually get around to setting a cache whose locally obtained co-ords don't quite match Google's because you're in the woods, or close enough to a building to get consistent signal bounce, will you be kind enough to warn the people looking for it with handheld GPS's ?

 

You can roll your eyes if you like, but the fact that GroundSpeaks own Iphone App uses Google Maps, i'd say they are endorsing it themselves as an accurate source of map to GPS co-ords correlation.