Navigator by Trimble

[+pappasky]

Not sure whose bug this is, but it has been on-going for weeks now. Moun10bike has addressed part of this issue before, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with this app. I am wondering if there is any resolution in sight or if I should just let it go?

 

There were some updates on Groundspeaks side that caused a few probs with the app I was told. I had understood that these issues had been fixed by the "engineers". Here is what I am trying to get resolved:

 

1. The app no longer recognizes caches I found years ago despite my selecting "hide caches I have found"

2. When I try to enter a GC code for a newly published cache the program says "no matches found"

3. Field notes do not get entered on my profile page

4. Notifications are not coming to me and my phone is linked to my account.

5. The overall system is abhorently slow and takes up to 15 minutes to load where it used to be less than 30 seconds.

 

Bueller....anyone?

 

thanks in advance for your attention to this. I have used this program ever since I started caching in 2008 and it has been a GREAT program. Perhaps those days are gone......................????

[+Viajero Perdido]

The gods are mad at you for

 

"Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble"

[+pappasky]

The gods are mad at you for

 

"Logged from my phone using the Geocache Navigator by Trimble"

 

The gods have been mad at me for doing far less...................just sayin'

 

It just annoys me that a company advertises on Groundspeak (and Groundspeak allows it) where the product does not seem to be playing nicely with the host and no one wants to claim any responsibility.

 

I will continue my quest for answers. No, the answer is not get an ipoop phone thank you very much.....grin

[Lesane]

Thanks for alerting us to the issues you are having. We recently moved the Trimble phones to our new API and we seem to be having some issues. Below are some of the answers to your questions that I will follow up on to get the item fixed or a better answer for you.

 

1. The app no longer recognizes caches I found years ago despite my selecting "hide caches I have found"

 

I have logs that show this issue and I will follow up with Trimble to work with them to get this fixed.

 

2. When I try to enter a GC code for a newly published cache the program says "no matches found"

 

I am trying to chase down this issue. Do you have any more details that may help such as I received a notification at noon and I looked it up at 1 pm and it is still saying it is not published? I have an idea what this may be but hard to pinpoint without more data.

 

3. Field notes do not get entered on my profile page

 

I have logs that show this issue and I will follow up with Trimble to work with them to get this fixed.

 

4. Notifications are not coming to me and my phone is linked to my account.

 

What kind of notifications? can you be more specific to give me an idea where I need to investigate to get to the bottom of this issue.

 

5. The overall system is abhorrently slow and takes up to 15 minutes to load where it used to be less than 30 seconds.

 

15 minutes to load? I am not familiar with the Trimble application enough to comment on the load times? looking at a cross section of calls into our API most of the calls are happening well under 1/10th of a second. I can follow up with Trimble and see if we can figure out what the issue may be...

 

Paul Clavier

API Development Manager

Geocaching.com

[+pappasky]

Thanks for alerting us to the issues you are having. We recently moved the Trimble phones to our new API and we seem to be having some issues. Below are some of the answers to your questions that I will follow up on to get the item fixed or a better answer for you.

 

1. The app no longer recognizes caches I found years ago despite my selecting "hide caches I have found"

 

I have logs that show this issue and I will follow up with Trimble to work with them to get this fixed.

 

2. When I try to enter a GC code for a newly published cache the program says "no matches found"

 

I am trying to chase down this issue. Do you have any more details that may help such as I received a notification at noon and I looked it up at 1 pm and it is still saying it is not published? I have an idea what this may be but hard to pinpoint without more data.

 

3. Field notes do not get entered on my profile page

 

I have logs that show this issue and I will follow up with Trimble to work with them to get this fixed.

 

4. Notifications are not coming to me and my phone is linked to my account.

 

What kind of notifications? can you be more specific to give me an idea where I need to investigate to get to the bottom of this issue.

 

5. The overall system is abhorrently slow and takes up to 15 minutes to load where it used to be less than 30 seconds.

 

15 minutes to load? I am not familiar with the Trimble application enough to comment on the load times? looking at a cross section of calls into our API most of the calls are happening well under 1/10th of a second. I can follow up with Trimble and see if we can figure out what the issue may be...

 

Paul Clavier

API Development Manager

Geocaching.com

 

Thank you thank you!! Got another message from one of the Lackey's who even tho he is on vacation took the time to respond to my frantic need to cache.....hahahahah THIS is a testament to the dedication of the Lackey staff. It does not go unnoticed

 

Answers are:

 

1. duly noted and looking forward to resolution

2. got a phone notification at 7:16 am PST of a new hide in my area (10 mile radius). Copied the GC code from the notification and pasted into the option on Navigator under "find caches" "by Cache Code" result was no match found. I was able to find the general location by using BB maps and once I was within a mile of the new hide I could find it by selecting "Quick Cache"

3. duly noted and looking forward to resolution

4. The notifications issue was on my side......ooops.....thanks. Getting them now

5. The slowness starts with accessing the satellites and then gets worse when I attempt to go between screens. It may be a carrier issue? AT&T?

 

I just started using a new program that uses the API technology as well. I don't like the program much, but I do see that it is VERY fast and seems to talk to GS easily (CacheSense)

 

Again.....thanks so very much for all the assistance. As I stated before I really like this program and as an old guy I have kinda gotten set in my ways with how it works. So far I have been able to locate 1400 plus caches using only this app.

 

Pappasky

(Sky)

Edited December 28, 2012 by pappasky

[+RizzleCZJA]

I'm having similar problems with this software which has stopped me from Caching for over a month now.

 

The initial probelms have been resolved but I'm left with a couple which are driving me crazy.

 

The problems I've been left with now are it doesn't recognise caches that I've found and also not logging my field notes to the website. Very frustrating but luckily it's raining constantly so hopefully I'll have an answer by the time the sun appears in the summer.

 

I've had no problems with this app and have found 200 cahes no problems since I started in March and like pappasky don't really want to change.

 

Will keep an eye on this post.

[TheCELTs]

I'm also having the problems of found caches showing up in the cache listing contrary to the app's settings, and being unable to create field notes from the app (even though the app happily declares "Cache has been logged !"). I've reported it to Trimble, who's response is:

 

"Unfortunately, the issue that you are facing is because of the recent changes that Groundspeak (geocaching.com) made to their system. Their engineers have been contacted and we hope to have it fixed soon. Unfortunately they have not provided us a time frame when it will be released."

 

Could someone from Groundspeak please provide an update, and if possible a timescale for a fix ?

 

Thanks !

[+JPWAVE]

Not sure whose bug this is, but it has been on-going for weeks now. Moun10bike has addressed part of this issue before, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with this app. I am wondering if there is any resolution in sight or if I should just let it go?

 

There were some updates on Groundspeaks side that caused a few probs with the app I was told. I had understood that these issues had been fixed by the "engineers". Here is what I am trying to get resolved:

 

1. The app no longer recognizes caches I found years ago despite my selecting "hide caches I have found"

2. When I try to enter a GC code for a newly published cache the program says "no matches found"

3. Field notes do not get entered on my profile page

4. Notifications are not coming to me and my phone is linked to my account.

5. The overall system is abhorently slow and takes up to 15 minutes to load where it used to be less than 30 seconds.

 

Bueller....anyone?

 

thanks in advance for your attention to this. I have used this program ever since I started caching in 2008 and it has been a GREAT program. Perhaps those days are gone......................????

 

Wow, so it's not just me?!? I've been experiencing all five of those problems since Nov 29th. I reported the issue to Tribleoutdoors several times and they confirmed a server had gone down. They fixed several other issues but these five problems continue to persist. It's as if the phone is NOT linked to geocaching.com. Even if I re-link my phone and get a successful message, it isn't actually linked. This has been painfully slow to get resolved. If they're not going to fix these issues then I do wish they would say so such that I can find another geocaching application. Did you also notice that Trimble Outdoors also removed their website/forums where you could report problems, submit feature requests and discuss other technical details??

[+pappasky]

Thanks for alerting us to the issues you are having. We recently moved the Trimble phones to our new API and we seem to be having some issues. Below are some of the answers to your questions that I will follow up on to get the item fixed or a better answer for you.

 

Paul Clavier

API Development Manager

Geocaching.com

 

Snipped for brevity of known issues.

 

So the question remains after weeks, nay months of issues with this app, is there a fix on the horizon? Never got any followup and it seems from the continuing posts that others are feeling the frustration as well.

 

I know you guys over there working on the API thing are doing a lot of work, but is there a chance in hell that my Navigator is ever going to play nice with your new system?

 

Thanks for all the work you do and hoping to hear something positive on this.

 

PS

Edited January 22, 2013 by pappasky

[+JPWAVE]

Hello. Geocache Navigator has been broken for over two months now. Is there any place I can check a status of these reported issues? Is there a master ticket number I can follow?? If I call Trimble Outdoors, the best status I can get is that they acknowledge the issue and "the engineers are working with Groundspeak directly to fix this issue". I'd like to know if these issues are ever going to be resolved or if I should switch to another application such as CacheSense. An ETA would sure be nice and/or a weekly status update. Greatly Appreciated!!

[+Tyfting]

I also have the problem with found caches showing even when i set it not to.

[+pappasky]

I am both shocked and dismayed that this topic has been posted on for months now with absolutely no updated information from Groundspeak. Really? The courtesy of some sort of response has always been my experience with any sort of problem I have had with caching and this site. On some level I guess I expected my premium membership to pay for such things.

 

I simply do not understand why it is that this topic remains without input from those who have the knowledge of what is going on.

 

C'mon guys and gals!!! If it isn't going to ever be fixed then let us know. If a fix is on the horizon at some point in the near future then a word to that effect would go a long way.

 

To continue to ignore this topic just frustrates many of us who have come to expect better from you all.

 

thanks

[Moun10Bike]

To be frank, the ball is completely in Trimble's court; they have so far failed to correctly update their application to use our current API. We have been in touch with them as recently as last week offering help to get their application working, but it is up to them to make those corrections and release an update.

[+pappasky]

To be frank, the ball is completely in Trimble's court; they have so far failed to correctly update their application to use our current API. We have been in touch with them as recently as last week offering help to get their application working, but it is up to them to make those corrections and release an update.

 

thank you thank you thank you!! It is this simple update that brings some sense of who is doing what. Until you posted this most of us had no idea who to start harassing (grin).

 

I knew someone there would renew my faith in the Lackey staff. I so appreciate this MBike and I am sure others of us who have had no idea what is going on do too!

 

PS

[+Lost On Land Again]

It's been months now and I'm getting seriously frustrated. Last weekend I went caching with a friend. Ended up refinding 4 caches I'd found 3 years ago, because the Navigator doesn't hide the ones I've found. My field notes haven't worked in months. I keep contacting Trimble Outdoor and keep getting the same pat answer that their engineers are working on it. Are there any other apps for Blackberries (other than cachesense)? Apparently the Navigator is not ever going to be fixed/usable.

[TheCELTs]

This is taking so long, it's looking like it's not a simple technical bug fix. Let me take a punt on what may be happening behind the scenes.

 

The clue is in Lesane's statement on 28 Dec "We recently moved the Trimble phones to our new API". That sounds innocuous, but it's worth having a quick skim of the Groundspeak API license agreement. Scroll right down to Schedule A at the bottom and you find some interesting restrictions on use for Basic Members - obviously the intent is to encourage upgrades to Premium. Can't really blame Groundspeak for wanting to monetise their investment, but nevertheless GCN doesn't comply with Schedule A. I know absolutely nothing about how GCN might be coded, but my guess would be that changing it to comply with the new API is not a trivial activity.

 

Now look at Moun10bike's comment of 12 Feb "Trimble ... have so far failed to correctly update their application to use our current API.". Translation: Trimble have been told to comply with the license agreement, possibly accompanied with an "or else".

 

I would hope that the Trimble suits are arguing on our behalf that a new license agreement should not be applied retrospectively to an existing application. If so, the fact that this is dragging on suggests that they are not winning. Or perhaps they are deciding whether it is worth them investing resources into updating GCN so that it complies - obviously if they can't see a commercial return on the investment there's no point in them doing it. Either GCN is about to die because it can't be modified to comply with the license, or it'll return in a form that imposes severe restrictions on non-Premium members.

All this is of course pure speculation, but it kind of makes sense to me. And it would also explain why we're getting no traction from the Trimble techies, because the issue isn't with them to resolve, it's with Trimble's commercial/legal people.

 

Anyone got any recommendations for a cache app that works with Symbian (the choice isn't huge !) ?

[TheCELTs]

Just discovered, after accidentally hitting the "Log cache as found" button in GCN, that cache logging is working again. Unfortunately the filtering-out of found caches when searching remains broken.

[+JPWAVE]

MANY thanks to TheCELTs for pointing out the Field Notes feature is working again!! Today, I confirmed it is working on my BlackBerry device as well. So, we now have a faint glimmer of hope that Geocache Navigator might actually get fixed. FYI-I was using the free 30-day trial of CacheSense but it expired. I did notice that I can still use the expired CacheSense app to list and filter out caches which I have already marked as found and then I can switch over to Geocache Navigator to make the actual find. Otherwise, I have to hope I have recently downloaded the cache to my Garmin eTrex device.

[+Andy_and_Alfie]

What appears to be happening now is :

 

1) Field Notes is working ok,

 

2) Filtering-out of found (logged) caches when searching remains broken. This doesnt appear consistent however as the other day it was filtering out found puzzle and multi caches,

 

3) When a field note is entered, then this cache is filtered out as found (never use to to this, but it is welcome improvement)

 

Andy

Edited May 9, 2013 by Andy_and_Matt

[TheCELTs]

Egad Sirs, you're right !

 

Search for caches with GCN, it finds all of them near me.

Create a field note for one of them, repeat the search - that one disappears.

Go into my account, delete the field note, repeat the search - it's back again !

 

So all we have to do is create field notes for all our found caches, don't delete them when logging, and GCN will be back to normal ! Hmmm, a few problems there, methinks.