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Geocaching Map Enhancements


jri

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Updated to 57 today due to no OS maps - In both 57 & 58 I now have NO options what so ever, the stacked icon top right has disappeared and I'm on the default map...

Try manually resetting the script's configuration. Instructions here: http://geo.inge.org.uk/gme_trouble.htm#resetconfig

 

On booting up today the Icons were back but still no OS maps...

Followed the instructions from the link but still no luck, but using the cog icon bottom left reset to defaults = :DOS Maps Back !! :D

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Updated to 57 today due to no OS maps - In both 57 & 58 I now have NO options what so ever, the stacked icon top right has disappeared and I'm on the default map...

Try manually resetting the script's configuration. Instructions here: http://geo.inge.org.uk/gme_trouble.htm#resetconfig

 

On booting up today the Icons were back but still no OS maps...

Followed the instructions from the link but still no luck, but using the cog icon bottom left reset to defaults = :DOS Maps Back !! :D

 

Regarding this and my earlier post, I played around with versions 5.2 - 5.7 today and was able to precisely reproduce the grey/black background problem in 5.5 and subsequent versions. Returning to 5.4 gave me back OS maps. I then spotted some more recent comments and tried the "reset to default" advice. Hoorah!! That worked for me too on 5.7.

 

Maybe it would be worth adding a comment to your Troubleshooting Guide James.

 

But in any case, I'm very pleased to be back with the rest of you.

 

Much appreciated,

 

John.

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Someone mentioned a search facility - where is it on maps and how do you use it?

 

It's on the sidebar, where it says "Search For Geocaches". You just type something in, then press Enter or click the magnifying glass icon. :rolleyes:

 

Without the script, you can search by place names, post codes and coordinates (most things that would work in Google Maps). With GME, you can also search by UK grid reference or GC-code (e.g. GC1234), and when you use a place name, you're more likely to get one in the country you are looking at. You can also type things like 'zoom 5' to jump straight to a particular zoom level (good for zooming out quickly to move to a different region).

 

PS. If you can't see the side bar, you need to click on the grey strip on the left hand side of the map...

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New update!

 

v0.5.8 went onto userscripts.org this morning. This update gives you:

  • A route measuring tool.
  • Search by GC-code.
  • Additional waypoints and corrected coordinates display on the main map (when you click through from a cache page).

It's pretty much the same as the version I put up for testing a week ago, but both of the links from cache pages to the main Geocaching Maps page should now work with additional waypoints.

 

As ever, it's at http://userscripts.o...pts/show/109145

 

PS If there are any kiwis reading, check out this post too.

Edited by jri
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Someone mentioned a search facility - where is it on maps and how do you use it?

 

It's on the sidebar, where it says "Search For Geocaches". You just type something in, then press Enter or click the magnifying glass icon. :rolleyes:

 

Without the script, you can search by place names, post codes and coordinates (most things that would work in Google Maps). With GME, you can also search by UK grid reference or GC-code (e.g. GC1234), and when you use a place name, you're more likely to get one in the country you are looking at. You can also type things like 'zoom 5' to jump straight to a particular zoom level (good for zooming out quickly to move to a different region).

 

PS. If you can't see the side bar, you need to click on the grey strip on the left hand side of the map...

Ahh yes, I tend to push that out of the way so I can see more map. Didn't work too well for me though - I put in Hawes, a well known village in the Yorkshire Dales and got Hawes Water?, a well known lake in Cumbria. Probably takes a bit of practice in knowing what to put in there.
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Ahh yes, I tend to push that out of the way so I can see more map. Didn't work too well for me though - I put in Hawes, a well known village in the Yorkshire Dales and got Hawes Water?, a well known lake in Cumbria. Probably takes a bit of practice in knowing what to put in there.

 

hawes, yorkshire 

works

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A new test version of Geocaching Map Enhancements is available for testing at http://geo.inge.org....cements.user.js

 

New in this version:

  • Improved layout of the location info popup menu, to make it easier to measure a route.
  • The info tool now includes a link for the MAGIC map of the location, to show sensitive areas where special permission is needed for placing geocaches. It should automatically show the point you click, at roughly the current zoom level.
  • Placename search improved to give you a list of matching places, biased to the country you're currently looking at. If you put in "Hawes" you can now go to the Cumbrian lake, the Yorkshire village, or various foreign alternatives!
  • Improved display of corrected coordinates on the main map. Corrected coordinates appear with a tick and a line to their original location.
  • Support for adding more than one extra map source at a time, using JSON arrays or JSONP URLs (not yet documented - email me for details!)

On Tuesday, Groundspeak rolled out an update to the website that added Google Maps back for Premium Members, but then rolled it back again after finding too many bugs. From what I gather, GME worked while the update was active, but only if you selected to use the Leaflet Maps API. Apparently there was a button to select it at the bottom of the pop-out panel on the left of the maps. I guess that GME will continue to work if the update comes back, but who knows!

 

If I don't find any bugs in the meantime, I will upload this version to the main GME page on userscripts.org at the weekend.

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OK - I must be doing something wrong here but can't spot what I am doing wrong...

 

Just noticed today that the GC.com map is back to Google Map + Satellite. My little map stack in the corner had gone! Read the thread here and downloaded the latest version 0.5.9, checked it is enabled etc. but I do not see the stack or the cog wheel to enable changes etc.

 

Where have I gone wrong? What have I missed?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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Have you switched your default GC.com map to Leaflet? Click Set Map Preferences in the lower right left and make sure Leaflet is chosen. GME won't function with Google maps as the default.

 

edit: oops, fixed, thanks Menai Scouts

Edited by thebruce0
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GME version 0.5.10 is now available at http://userscripts.o...pts/show/109145

 

It took me longer than I had hoped to finish this version, thanks to various subtle changes to Geocaching.com since Groundspeak brought the Google Maps option back. Hopefully most of the bugs are now fixed, and the new version also makes the following improvements:

 

  • The info tool has been rearranged to make it easier to measure a route.
  • The info tool also now includes a link for the MAGIC map of the location, to show sensitive areas where special permission is needed for placing geocaches. It should automatically show the point you click, at roughly the current zoom level.
  • The placename search has been improved to give you a list of matching places, biased to the country you're currently looking at. If you put in "Hawes" you can now go to the Cumbrian lake, the Yorkshire village, or various foreign alternatives!
  • Corrected coordinate display is clearer. Corrected coordinates appear with a tick and a line back to their original location.
  • There is now support for adding more than one extra map source at a time, using JSON arrays or JSONP URLs (not yet documented - email me for details!)

One thing to remember: if you are a Premium Member, you will need to make sure that you select Leaflet Maps rather than Google Maps in order for the GME to work. You do this using the 'Set Map Preference' button at the bottom of the pop-out panel of the left edge of the map.

 

Troubleshooting tips: http://geo.inge.org.uk/gme_trouble.htm

Extra map sources: http://geo.inge.org.uk/gme_maps.htm

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I have been using GME for a while and have just upgraded to version 0.5.10 but have a problem. On this version and on the previous (I don't know about before that) the distance shown for the route for small distances using imperial measurements seems to be out. Possibly showing one tenth of the correct distance. For example a distance of about half a mile may appear as 140 feet. Metric distances seem to be fine as does larger imperial distances in miles. Has anyone else noticed this or have a solution?

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I have been using GME for a while and have just upgraded to version 0.5.10 but have a problem. On this version and on the previous (I don't know about before that) the distance shown for the route for small distances using imperial measurements seems to be out. Possibly showing one tenth of the correct distance. For example a distance of about half a mile may appear as 140 feet. Metric distances seem to be fine as does larger imperial distances in miles. Has anyone else noticed this or have a solution?

 

Yes, same here. I just measured 500m (using the OS grid lines as a guide), when set to Metric it came out at 500m, but switching to Imperial and measuring the same distance came out at 149ft, measuring 1km came out at 304ft, but measuring 2km came out at 1.2 miles (which is OK). It looks like the conversion gets mucked up for anything less than a mile.

Edited by MartyBartfast
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A digressive random suggestion ... how about the option to include miniature photos on the map, as in panoramio.com?

 

I mean, wouldn't it be nice to see at a glance what the countryside's like around the area of a potential afternoon's caching without having to open another tab in your browser to visit panoramio or similar? Just a thought.

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I have been using GME for a while and have just upgraded to version 0.5.10 but have a problem. On this version and on the previous (I don't know about before that) the distance shown for the route for small distances using imperial measurements seems to be out. Possibly showing one tenth of the correct distance. For example a distance of about half a mile may appear as 140 feet. Metric distances seem to be fine as does larger imperial distances in miles. Has anyone else noticed this or have a solution?

 

Yes, same here. I just measured 500m (using the OS grid lines as a guide), when set to Metric it came out at 500m, but switching to Imperial and measuring the same distance came out at 149ft, measuring 1km came out at 304ft, but measuring 2km came out at 1.2 miles (which is OK). It looks like the conversion gets mucked up for anything less than a mile.

 

My bad. Looks like I converted feet to metres, rather than the other way around :anicute:

 

It'll get fixed in the next update...

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A digressive random suggestion ... how about the option to include miniature photos on the map, as in panoramio.com?

 

I mean, wouldn't it be nice to see at a glance what the countryside's like around the area of a potential afternoon's caching without having to open another tab in your browser to visit panoramio or similar? Just a thought.

 

Miniature Panoramio photos, you can do already: click on GME's gear icon, go to 'Add more maps', cut'n'paste the code below into the box, and hit 'Add mapsource'.

 

{"alt":"Panoramio", "tileUrl":"http://mt{s}.google.com/mapslt?lyrs=com.panoramio.all|pv:2|tag:piles&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}&w=256&h=256", "subdomains":"0123", "attribution":"<a href='http://www.panoramio.com'><img src='http://www.panoramio.com/img/logo-tos.png' alt='Panoramio'></a> Photos are copyrighted by their owners", "minZoom":0, "maxZoom":22, "overlay":true}

That should add the Panoramio thumbnail overlay into your list of maps.

 

However, the thumbnails are very diddy, and they aren't clickable. I'll have a look at how easy it is to use their API to properly integrate Panoramio photos into a future version of the script. Failing that, it would be easy to add an option to GME's Info tool to open Panoramio at the same coordinates and zoom level as the Geocaching map (albeit in a new tab).

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jri, thanks for taking an interest. I tried your suggestion and now I think I know what I really wanted: it's that when I click on the cache icon, I get an info box that contains all the usual info plus a photo. The photo should be one specified by the CO to be shown on the map ... except gc.com supports no such option for the CO. Ah well ... whatever you can do with panoramio instead (like making photos clickable) would be a good compromise. Cheers!

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I've just noticed there is a problem (0.5.10), when I try to view the GME options all I see is a black screen. I think it's related to the recent upgrade to Opera 12 as it was fine before.

 

On another PC (also Windows 7/ Opera 12) I get a similar issue, but the 'i' menu pops up.

 

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I've just noticed there is a problem (0.5.10), when I try to view the GME options all I see is a black screen. I think it's related to the recent upgrade to Opera 12 as it was fine before.

 

On another PC (also Windows 7/ Opera 12) I get a similar issue, but the 'i' menu pops up.

 

After a quick bit of googling, this appears to be a bug in the JQuery Mobile javascript library, that has been triggered by the Opera 12 update. It seems to be fine in other browsers. See here for the gory detail: https://github.com/j...ile/issues/4521

 

At some point, the JQuery folk will built a fix into their library, eventually Groundspeak might update the version of JQuery Mobile they use on Geocaching.com and the problem will go away. In the meantime, you will be glad to hear that there is a workaround:

 

In Opera, load Geocaching Maps, then open the Dragonfly console (Ctrl-Shift-I). Click on the 'console' tab, and type in the following:

 

$.support.cssTransitions = false;

 

After that, you can close the console and the GME config dialog should pop up as normal. The downside to this is that you need to redo it each time you reload the page (if you want to use the config dialog, that is). Alternatively, you could just switch to Chrome or Firefox :P

 

I am currently working on GME v0.6.0, which will include this workaround, fix various other bugs, add some new features, and possibly even work in Internet Explorer!

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I've just downloaded this using Chrome. it's enabled in my chrome extension list but the geocaching map looks no different. What else do I have to do please?

 

On the left-hand side of the map screen, click on "Set Map Preferences". Change this from Google to Leaflet to see the map that jri's extension works on.

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I've got GME v0.6.0 nearly ready to go, but it still needs some testing. If you're feeling brave, you can try out the preview at this link: http://geo.inge.org.uk/GeocachingMapEnhancements.user.js

 

The new version should add in support for dragging and dropping GPX or LOC files onto the map for display (in browsers that support HTML5 drag'n'drop), improve display of Geograph photos, add Panoramio photos, and move the cache list function onto the i menu, rather than giving it its own icon. It will also work around the website bug that often stops geocache details being shown when you point at cache icons, as well as the Opera and distance measurement bugs mentioned in the posts above.

 

This version should also run under Internet Explorer 8 using the Trixie extension. Unfortunately, the amount of work I had to do to make it work with IE8 means that there's a fair chance I've introduced new bugs. Hence I'm posting the preview here for early adopters. If you try it, please send me a message through my profile if you do come across any bugs. If I don't come across any I can't fix, at the weekend I'll update the official version at userscripts.org to v0.6.0, and update the instructions to match.

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Not sure if it's a bug...or by design.

 

I dropped a GPX file, and it does show on the map...but it only shows the icon with no data associated with it. Clicking the icon just brings up the standard 'i' info.

It's not a bug as such, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was by design either! :rolleyes: Let's just say it's not a feature I've implemented yet...

 

When you drop a file in, you ought to at least get some information about each point as a tooltip when you hover the mouse over its marker. However, what information you get is a bit inconsistent depending on whether you dropped a LOC file (giving the name) or a GPX (giving the GC-code).

 

I'll see if I can make the tooltip more informative for this release, and maybe look at something more complicated in a future update. I'm a little wary of causing confusion between popups from points you drag onto the map, and the usual popups from the live cache data - especially when both relate to the same point.

 

BTW - you should also be drag able to drag the title of a cache from a listing page onto the map page, to display markers for it and any associated waypoints, using corrected coordinates if applicable! B)

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I have just discovered GME and it is a great add on giving me some really useful features.

However, I have a slight problem in that the Configuration icon link does not work.

I have tried re-installing and restarting the script.

 

I am using Chrome and just get a blank screen (if opened in a new tab)

http://www.geocaching.com/map/?ll=51.17054,-0.12566&z=14#GME_popup

is the link that is generated by the icon.

 

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Many thanks

Allan

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I have just discovered GME and it is a great add on giving me some really useful features.

However, I have a slight problem in that the Configuration icon link does not work.

I have tried re-installing and restarting the script.

 

I am using Chrome and just get a blank screen (if opened in a new tab)

http://www.geocachin...&z=14#GME_popup

is the link that is generated by the icon.

 

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Many thanks

Allan

 

Does the icon work if you just click on it normally (i.e. don't try to open it in a new tab)? The configuration screen is supposed to open in the same tab as the map.

 

If that doesn't fix it, post which version of Chrome you see, and whether there are any error messages in the Chrome console (press Ctrl-Shift-I). NB It's normal to have a load of error messages about viewport arguments.

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I've been using these map enhancements with Chrome for a while now on my laptop and have found them very useful. Today I decided to install the GME script on my main PC, but I got a message saying that Google Chrome has recently changed its policy and now only accepts extensions if they came from the Google Chrome webstore. There are some geocaching scripts in the webstore but not the GME, so I guess I'll have to try it with Firefox instead, unless anyone has any other ways round this problem?

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I've been using these map enhancements with Chrome for a while now on my laptop and have found them very useful. Today I decided to install the GME script on my main PC, but I got a message saying that Google Chrome has recently changed its policy and now only accepts extensions if they came from the Google Chrome webstore. There are some geocaching scripts in the webstore but not the GME, so I guess I'll have to try it with Firefox instead, unless anyone has any other ways round this problem?

 

Thanks for letting me know about this. There are a few ways round the problem. Basically, you can either use a userscript manager like Tampermonkey (a bit like Greasemonkey, but for Chrome), or install the script manually. I've updated the installation instructions on the script's homepage at http://userscripts.o...pts/show/109145 and put detailed instructions for Chrome at http://userscripts.org/topics/115329

 

Alternatively, you can try using GME with Firefox or Opera. I've even started getting the script working with Internet Explorer! :yikes:

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Hi, I've been using the GME for a long time now but in the last couple of weeks I have noticed that I no longer have the additional map overlays. I have tried removing the userscript and reinstalling it but still no joy. I am using Firefox and have Greasemonkey installed. Any ideas???

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Hi, I've been using the GME for a long time now but in the last couple of weeks I have noticed that I no longer have the additional map overlays. I have tried removing the userscript and reinstalling it but still no joy. I am using Firefox and have Greasemonkey installed. Any ideas???

 

If by "additional map overlays" you mean you can't see any of the maps added by GME, try the suggestions on the troubleshooting page. In particular, check that you are using Leaflet Maps, then resetting your GME configuration to the defaults (instruction on that page).

 

If you can see the normal selection of GME maps, and its the actual overlays that have gone (i.e. extra information displayed on top of the base map), then try re-entering them in the "Manage additional maps" section of GME's configuration screen. Failing that, you'll have to give more details of precisely what you are trying to do and what's (not) happening.

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Started having problems a few days ago, the cache name and ability to select the cache was gone when you hovered over it

on reading the article http://userscripts.org/topics/115329 I removed the original script, I installed Tampermonkey then reinstalled the script, I now do not have the map options in the top left corner, Ive tried a different script manager and also installing the script manually, without any luck, the map preferences are set to leaflet, Im having to use firefox at the moment, but do prefer chrome

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Started having problems a few days ago, the cache name and ability to select the cache was gone when you hovered over it

 

It seems this issue was caused by a Chrome update, and should have been resolved by Groundspeak yesterday, or the day before. Full thread here.

 

As of yesterday it all started working OK again for me, using Chrome with GME.

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It was fixed temporarily yesterday but they had to roll-back. Today it appears fixed again. Fingers crossed it sticks :)

 

I only found out about the OS maps, etc plugin because of this thread coming back due to the problems, so I am actually grateful for the hiccup, it made me discover a gem ;)

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