Hmm.. I'm not as techno-savvy as I thought I was

[DSchulten88]

Hi folks,

 

Name's Dustin, I came across geocaching by accident I guess. Finally got a GPS for Christmas and after looking into geocaching and reading/talking to people about it.. I've decided to join in.

 

However;

 

When I am downloading the caches in bulk to my computer... Where do I put the .LOC files to load them onto my Garmin eTrex 20? I just started downloading them one by one to my GPS initially but I found that to be rather time consuming, or am I over looking some way to instantly load bulk caches to my GPS?

 

Thanks in advance, and I hope my question makes sense and that it hasn't been answered a couple of dozen times already.

 

Happy Hunting.

[+Hasty Javelinas]

You want .gpx files for the Etrex 20. Pretty sure you can get those as a standard (non-paid) member.

 

Getting a premium membership will make bulk actions much easier by way of running PQs and loading hundreds of caches into the unit at once.

[+JATurtle]

You are not alone. I have started caching again after a three year break, and all the technology is different. I am a big Garmin fan, but I am having a hard time getting all the new gps programs to work on my mac (also new). If you become a premium member, you can run pocket queries that will let you upload hundreds of caches at one time. They also generate automatically at interval you can preselect. Otherwise, you could look for a third party program like swiss army knife that may do he same thing. Have fun.

Edited March 18, 2012 by JATurtle

[+GeePa]

You cannot get a GPX file at all unless you are a premium member. The nice thing about the GPX files is they contain almost all the cache information (description, hints, etc). LOC files only contain the coordinates so you would be missing out on all the paperless capabilities of the etrex 20. That said, you can use something like EasyGPS (free software) to load the loc file coordinates into you etrex.

[+Groovy Laura]

but once you run a PQ in gpx how do you transfer it to your device? I can't seem to figure that part out.

[+GeePa]

but once you run a PQ in gpx how do you transfer it to your device? I can't seem to figure that part out.

That depends on what kind of GPSr you have. What brand and model do you have?

[+Groovy Laura]

Magellan, i have no problem downloading them one at a time but haven't had any luck with the PQ files

[+GeePa]

Magellan, i have no problem downloading them one at a time but haven't had any luck with the PQ files

 

What model?

[DSchulten88]

I am apparently getting gpx files because I have the descriptions and hints to the caches I have loaded.. I was just wondering if there was a faster way of going about a bulk download of caches.. if I do they download as .LOC files that I'm not sure what to do with from there. For some reason I can't just hit the link to download them straight to my device from outside the thread I have to physically go into each thread and load them individually.. should I try to upgrade my plugin or something?

[+Groovy Laura]

eXplorist 310

[+GeePa]

eXplorist 310

 

The manual for your unit can be found here: http://support.magellangps.com/support/assets/manuals/OM_eXplorist_310.pdf

 

On page 17 tells how. You can download the PQ file and unzip it (if it is zipped) and then use the Drag n Drop method described in the manual to move the .gpx file to the unit. Start from step 6 as you already have the gpx file from the PQ.

[+Groovy Laura]

I am still unable to unzip it to view on my GPS, I got the file to go there. I forgot to say that I am on a Mac using the communicator

[+niraD]

I'm on a Mac too. I download the zip file, then view the zip file (e.g., 12345678.zip) in Finder. When I double-click the zip file, its contents are extracted into a directory by the same name, but without the zip extension (e.g., 12345678). When I double-click on that directory, I see two files: the gpx file with the basic cache data (e.g., 12345678.gpx) and the -wpts.gpx file with all the additional waypoints (e.g., 12345678-wpts.gpx). From there, I can copy the gpx file wherever I want.

 

Does this not work for you?

[+Groovy Laura]

i was downloading it as a GPX file not as a zip file I'll try this

[+Groovy Laura]

ok i can only save it as a gpx or a loc file, when i download the gpx and i try to open it i get an error about not having an app to open it

[+The A-Team]

ok i can only save it as a gpx or a loc file, when i download the gpx and i try to open it i get an error about not having an app to open it

You don't need to open the GPX file. Just copy it into the "Geocaches" folder on your GPS.

[+GeePa]

ok i can only save it as a gpx or a loc file, when i download the gpx and i try to open it i get an error about not having an app to open it

No need to open the gpx file (actually you can open it with Notepad if you really want to see what is inside). You just need to plug your explorist into the PC and it will show as a drive on the PC. Then copy the gpx file from the PC to the Geocaches folder on the explorist. Then the explorist will read the file and show the caches.

[+Groovy Laura]

not to sound dumb, but i did that. However, when I looked on my GPS the 1000 caches were not there. only the 18 i downloaded manually

[+GeePa]

not to sound dumb, but i did that. However, when I looked on my GPS the 1000 caches were not there. only the 18 i downloaded manually

I am sorry, but I am not familiar enough with that unit to help much more. Maybe someone out there with an explorist 310 can be more help.

 

Edit to say, I am assuming that the caches in the PQ are close to home. One thing is that many units will only show caches that are within about 50 miles of your current location on the list. So it may be reading the file fine, but not displaying them if they are far from your present location.

Edited March 18, 2012 by GeePa

[+Team Batpony]

I am apparently getting gpx files because I have the descriptions and hints to the caches I have loaded.. I was just wondering if there was a faster way of going about a bulk download of caches.. if I do they download as .LOC files that I'm not sure what to do with from there. For some reason I can't just hit the link to download them straight to my device from outside the thread I have to physically go into each thread and load them individually.. should I try to upgrade my plugin or something?

 

What I do is load my GPX PQ files into GSAK, and then transfer the whole database from there. The same should work for you, just use the LOCs instead of GPX.

[+niraD]

I'm not familiar with the GPSr you're using, but one possibility is that the geocaches in the PQ are showing up as waypoints instead of as geocaches. The problem is that most GPSrs cannot understand v1.0.1 of the GPX format. For more info, see:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=292412

 

(actually you can open it with Notepad if you really want to see what is inside)

FWIW, the equivalent app on a Mac is TextEdit.

 

What I do is load my GPX PQ files into GSAK, and then transfer the whole database from there. The same should work for you,

Note that GSAK requires MS Windows.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

 

What I do is load my GPX PQ files into GSAK, and then transfer the whole database from there. The same should work for you,

Note that GSAK requires MS Windows.

 

 

Basically, you can get cache information on the geocaching web site to your GPS in one of three ways.

 

The first is to transfer them one at a time using the "Send to GPS" feature on the web site. Waypoints are sent from the web site via the web browser to the GPS connected to your computer using a USB port.

 

The second way, and only available with more recent GPS devices, is to copy a GPX file (which can contain many waypoints) directly to a "folder" on your GPS. After the GPS is connected to the computer via a USB port it will show up as a "removable drive" (essentially just like a flash drive). It will typically have a "geocaches" folder (depending on the GPS model) and you can just download the GPX file to that location and the GPS will recognize it as a list of geocaches. In practice, you'd probably download a "zip" file containing the GPX files to your computer into a different folder, unzip the zip file, then copy the GPX file to the "geocaches" folder on the GPS.

 

The third, and best method if you want to manage a large number of waypoints, is to use a waypoint manager like GSAK. GSAK is basically just a waypoint manager. I don't know what other MAC users use as a waypoint manager but essentially a waypoint manager is an application for managing a list of waypoints (Geocache listings) and some code that knows how to transfer waypoints to/from a GPS. From the geocaching site you can download individual gpx or loc files for a specific cache, select a "page" at a time from a search results list, or up to 1000 at a time using pocket queries. The gpx/loc files are stored in a folder or folders created on your computer. A waypoint manager application can then read those files into it's internal databases or memory. The app can then transfer all or a subset of those waypoints to your GPS. The advantage of using a waypoint manager is that you can create multiple pocket queries or lists of caches in different areas and only transfer what you want to your GPS.

[+niraD]

I don't know what other MAC users use as a waypoint manager

There are waypoint managers for MacOS listed here:

http://www.geocaching.com/software/

 

I don't use any of them myself, so I can't comment. The last time I looked at the ones available for MacOS, none of them could handle corrected coordinates (e.g., puzzle solutions), so I use boulter's Geocaching Basecamp instead. It's essentially an online waypoint manager.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I don't know what other MAC users use as a waypoint manager

There are waypoint managers for MacOS listed here:

http://www.geocaching.com/software/

 

I don't use any of them myself, so I can't comment. The last time I looked at the ones available for MacOS, none of them could handle corrected coordinates (e.g., puzzle solutions), so I use boulter's Geocaching Basecamp instead. It's essentially an online waypoint manager.

 

From the screenshot on the iCaching (version 3.0) app, it appears that it supports corrected coordinates now.

[+teamGiants]

I don't know what other MAC users use as a waypoint manager

There are waypoint managers for MacOS listed here:

http://www.geocaching.com/software/

 

I don't use any of them myself, so I can't comment. The last time I looked at the ones available for MacOS, none of them could handle corrected coordinates (e.g., puzzle solutions), so I use boulter's Geocaching Basecamp instead. It's essentially an online waypoint manager.

 

From the screenshot on the iCaching (version 3.0) app, it appears that it supports corrected coordinates now.

 

Yes that's right, from version 1.1 it supports corrected coordinates