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...import a GPX file into an iPhone?


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Am I missing something? Is there no way to upload a GPX file created by a friend into an iPhone? Or one I just created from one of my own PQs that I massaged and edited down to a manageable size in GSAK? I just did this and resaved it as a new GPX file, then uploaded it to the "Saved GPX file" tab on GC.com, but my iPhone can't see it.

 

I quote a paragraph from the "Saved GPX files" tab on the GC.com website:

 

"A popular use for this feature is to first download a customized Pocket Query, followed by a massaging of the data in your preferred third party waypoint manager. Once the data is to your liking, you can upload it to the website so that it may later be downloaded by your mobile device."

 

Should it also say: "Except if you have an iPhone. This only works with an Android."

 

Is there a workaround -- other than buying an Android or using a "real" GPSr?

 

As far as I can tell my iPhone can only see raw pocket queries. Edited ones or those created by friends to lay out a specific trip are worthless.

 

I hope I'm wrong.

 

Dan

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For starters, which app do you have?

 

For my iPhone, I almost exclusively use the official app. No need for .gpx files here.

I'm starting to dabble with geosphere. It downloads the PQs from GC.com....differently thn the official app.

There's also motion x, and some others.

 

Tell us which app you have and we can work from there.

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Am I missing something? Is there no way to upload a GPX file created by a friend into an iPhone? Or one I just created from one of my own PQs that I massaged and edited down to a manageable size in GSAK? I just did this and resaved it as a new GPX file, then uploaded it to the "Saved GPX file" tab on GC.com, but my iPhone can't see it.

 

I quote a paragraph from the "Saved GPX files" tab on the GC.com website:

 

"A popular use for this feature is to first download a customized Pocket Query, followed by a massaging of the data in your preferred third party waypoint manager. Once the data is to your liking, you can upload it to the website so that it may later be downloaded by your mobile device."

 

Should it also say: "Except if you have an iPhone. This only works with an Android."

 

Is there a workaround -- other than buying an Android or using a "real" GPSr?

 

As far as I can tell my iPhone can only see raw pocket queries. Edited ones or those created by friends to lay out a specific trip are worthless.

I use Geosphere and what I do to load a PQ is to mail it to myself and then use the app to retrieve it.

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Am I missing something? Is there no way to upload a GPX file created by a friend into an iPhone? Or one I just created from one of my own PQs that I massaged and edited down to a manageable size in GSAK? I just did this and resaved it as a new GPX file, then uploaded it to the "Saved GPX file" tab on GC.com, but my iPhone can't see it.

Yes, you're missing something, but it isn't your fault. Groundspeak turned off that functionality quite a while ago, but they've left that page in place. It has confused a lot of cachers. I've pointed out to TPTB several times that this non-functioning page is misleading cachers, but they don't seem to care.

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I use Geosphere and what I do to load a PQ is to mail it to myself and then use the app to retrieve it.

 

Why do you email yourself the PQ?? Geosphere downloads it directly from the site.... I have yet to find a use for th emailed PQ. Not for the iPhone or gsak or geosphere....strange.

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I use Geosphere and what I do to load a PQ is to mail it to myself and then use the app to retrieve it.

 

Why do you email yourself the PQ?? Geosphere downloads it directly from the site.... I have yet to find a use for th emailed PQ. Not for the iPhone or gsak or geosphere....strange.

 

Emailing, for me at least, used to be useful for importing to GSAK, older versions... until I started just downloading off the site. You could say it saves you having to return to the website to deal with responding to notifications. You can also set a script to deal with email attachments, and so on... though these days it makes much less sense than to link directly to the files.

 

Yeah, ngrrfan, bookmark your Pocket Queries page in Geosphere and download them right from the website. Easier and quicker. Or, you can even directly bookmark the PQ download link if it's one you consistently run (like a close to home PQ).

 

The only thing, IMO, Geosphere doesn't have over the official app is the ability to do a live search to the geocaching database. But it's rare I ever need to do that (at most, a home PQ download per day has enough 'live' info to cache with). Plus version 3 will most likely be getting Live API support.

Edited by thebruce0
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The geocaching.com app does a most excellent job with standard PQs. That's not the issue. The problem arises when I go caching with non-iPhone friends that take PQs and edit them into a trip with a specific cache order in GSAK, with the end result being a GPX file that any GPSr (or Android phone running the official Geocaching app) can digest and use. I, too, like to trim down those globular PQs into something more manageable and targeted. Ever try to switch to map view when a PQ has 500 in it?

 

If the GC.com PQ generator had a polygon editor like GSAK this wouldn't be an issue. But all it has is a cache radius or caching along a route. Close but no cigar.

 

It's the difference between Android (no problemo) and iPhone (no can do) that bugs me. Meanwhile, the Saved GPX Files tab on the GC.com website implies that it works for any mobile device. It does not.

 

I'm pretty frustrated by this. It seems they just don't care because the first threads talking about this are going on 2 years old. I see that as odd app developer behavior when we're talking about a VERY popular device, arguably the most popular one. Also, in the mobile app world, $10 is very expensive. For that price I expect a lot.

 

Dan

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I use Geosphere and what I do to load a PQ is to mail it to myself and then use the app to retrieve it.

 

Why do you email yourself the PQ?? Geosphere downloads it directly from the site.... I have yet to find a use for th emailed PQ. Not for the iPhone or gsak or geosphere....strange.

Doh..... I got myself confused. Many times I'll take a PQ, drop it into GSAK, massage it, export it, zip it, and then email it so I can load the phone.

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I still don't get it.....

 

For the official app. I just hit a single button and get my PQs loaded.

For geosphere, I hit some mystery button(sorry, new to geosphere) and I'm transferred to the PQ page, where I click which PQ I want.

 

I still *never* need to email myself anything...

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Wait....I get why I might not get it... It's the "massaging" part I'm confused on. I'm still very new to GSAK...

Many times I need to add or subtract a cache or two, or make an adjustment to the coords, or do something else with the data in the PQ before sending it to my phone. That's what I mean by "massage a PQ".

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You think $10 is a lot? Really?

 

And I've run my PQ of a 1000. It's rough, but it can be done.

 

Soooo....I mean, the info for you to find a cache IS there... Right?

 

I totally agree. Mobile apps for 10 are expensive and I expected a lot more that I got. I do think the price is highly inflated for the value of the app. It's a nice app, but I can't get it to work with the benchmarks that are available on geocaching.com. I want to import .loc files sometimes.

 

I may try Geosphere.

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This is one of the primary reasons I dumped the Groundspeak app and switched to Geosphere. I use a Garmin and an Android app and my wife uses the iPhone and Geosphere. I create the PQ's and massage them, add waypoints and such and then send the same GPX file to all three devices. Both my Android app and Geosphere support Dropbox internally so my work flow is to work on the computer and save the GPX file to Dropbox. Then import from Dropbox on each phone directly into the app. It's great having the same exact file on all three devices when we go out.

 

I have on occasion gone the other way... Did a Live search on my phone, deleted some that I wasn't interested in, added parking waypoints and notes and then exported to GPX right to Dropbox. Go to her phone and she imports it into Geosphere. Pretty slick IMHO.

Edited by JohnCNA
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Completely agree with JohnCNA. Used the Groundspeak App for a while and then one day we all decided to do a geoart bicycle. Solved roughly 50 puzzles and decided that the easiest solution was to run a PQ to grab all of these caches, create a new GSAK database and edit the coordinates on all of them to the solved actual coordinates. Then I saved the GPX file. Could not find a way to import and edited GPX file with the Groundspeak App on my iPhone. If there is a way, I'd love to hear how. Bought Geosphere after reading about importing functionality. Put my GPX file in Dropbox/Apps/Geosphere folder and I was able to import it into an offline group of caches that I could use in the field. Cannot tell you how happy I was to see the onine view of the bicycle geoart transform into a nice line of caches in my offline cache group. I felt like I was having an equal experience to my friends with their GPSes.

 

If anyone has a similar approach for the iphone and/or Android that works, please share as we are trying to find approaches that allow smartphone users to be able to load offline PQs of unpublished caches.

 

Thanks in advance.

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