Planning Routes: How Do You Do It?

[+Ethankwolfe]

So I've got a big tour of Columbus I'm planning, including as many caches as I can find as well as most of the puzzle caches I've solved and set aside. I'd like to make this as efficient as possible, so I'm wondering: What do you use to plan routes? Google Maps has worked pretty well in the past (and honestly, I can't imagine there's a tool out there that works better) but I'm looking for any other suggestions since it's been a bit buggy.

[+Roman!]

When I take a road trip and I've taken a few I look at a map and get a general route in mind, I then check for virtuals and the most favourite caches in the state(s) I'm driving through and adjust my route to include the ones I want to visit. I then plug my route into google earth and run caches along a route to get my gpx file(s) for my tip. Finally I go through my route on the GC website and manually add any caches I might have missed that I want to visit.

[+Touchstone]

Link for reference:

 

Trip Planner: Geocaches Along a Route

 

Some people also like using a 3rd party software package called GSAK, but I've never used it.

[+The Jester]

I've used Microsoft Streets & Trips for years for my route planning, along with GSAK to keep track of the cache data (allows me to add/delete caches easily, output them to S&T and download the route caches to the GPSr). I use the GC cache map to select individual caches along routes, PQ's and/or the Get Caches API call thru GSAK to grab areas of caches, dump all that data into GSAK, display it on the map, let S&T set a route and then manually "play" with it until it looks good. In GSAK I have the caches I'm planning on getting numbered in order and will export the caches with that number in front of the name so routing to the next cache is easy (it's not always the next closest). I often export other caches in the area, so if things change on the ground I have options (like if I'm aiming for a milestone and get a DNF).

 

Of course, no program/method is perfect. There was one time when S&T told me to drive past the roadside cache, loop thru a neighborhood to a dead end, then hike down the hill , across the road we'd just driven on, to the cache.

[+ras_oscar]

Everybody has their method. Here's mine

 

I download PQs once a month to gsak, and export to microsoft streets and trips. From there I use the MS&T route building functions to select a reasonable route, usually organized generally along a primary roadway. Then I let MS&T optimize the stops amd note the order of the GCs on a 3x5 file card that I put in my pocket, crossing off caches as I visit them.

[+SwineFlew]

Link for reference:

 

Trip Planner: Geocaches Along a Route

Some people also like using a 3rd party software package called GSAK, but I've never used it.

I am one of those and I use a "GetCachesOnRoute" macro...its the BEST! No limit... the only limit is 6000 a day for full or 10,000 for lite.

 

You can set it for 10 or 100 or more miles both side of the road.

 

The GS planning route thing is only limited to 1000 caches per time, a limit of distance of both side of the road and the total distance of the route too. Very limited and take too much time if you are doing super long distance trips.

 

Really nice for like looking just for virtual and webcam caches in the whole wide area and I will "plan" my route and set it for like 500 or 1000 miles and pick up a few hundreds out of many states at once. So much faster than GS PQ or plan a route.

[+St.Matthew]

I use GSAK as well. I create a database of all the geocaches I want to get in a particular day, and a macro will literally route the fastest possible route between them. You can even quickly create child waypoints (where to enter the parking lot etc.). Finally you can send all of these to your handheld gps AND your driving gps.

 

GSAK: spend less time planning geocaching so that you can do more actual geocaching.

[vagabond]

I've used Microsoft Streets & Trips for years for my route planning, along with GSAK to keep track of the cache data (allows me to add/delete caches easily, output them to S&T and download the route caches to the GPSr). I use the GC cache map to select individual caches along routes, PQ's and/or the Get Caches API call thru GSAK to grab areas of caches, dump all that data into GSAK, display it on the map, let S&T set a route and then manually "play" with it until it looks good. In GSAK I have the caches I'm planning on getting numbered in order and will export the caches with that number in front of the name so routing to the next cache is easy (it's not always the next closest). I often export other caches in the area, so if things change on the ground I have options (like if I'm aiming for a milestone and get a DNF).

 

Of course, no program/method is perfect. There was one time when S&T told me to drive past the roadside cache, loop thru a neighborhood to a dead end, then hike down the hill , across the road we'd just driven on, to the cache.

+1 that's how I usually do my routes

[+JL_HSTRE]

GSAK has a route planning macro but the route planning seems really buggy if many caches are in the same metro area. It probably works better for longer trips with more spread out caches.

 

I was told Alamogul recommends plotting a route that maximizes your use of right turns.

[+cghove]

The best way to plan a geocaching route is by using https://cachetur.no an official geocaching api partner.

(the start of a blog series on how to use it: https://blog.cachetur.no/2018/12/cghove-creates-a-trip-part1/ )

[+ecanderson]

My solution is a little more complicated... it all starts with my personal GSAK caching macro.  That's the key getting the core database of targets ready quickly and without any manual intervention at all.

 

After hitting the "Run" key, GSAK gets loaded up with everything within a geographic area (several rectangle searches) and it filters that to 1) a set that includes only those caches that the two of us who usually cache together have not found, and 2)  the ones each of us has not found individually.  I then include my personal database of solved puzzles and waypoints of in-progress multis, and exclude a database of any 'problem' caches that I've identified that won't get a visit until some situation is resolved.  The caches we both need are assigned their regular cache icons.  Those I need get red dots, those my buddy needs get green dots.  All of that is created and exported automatically as a *.gdb file to MapSource (yup, still better than Basecamp for my specific use model).  One click does it all for me so the only ongoing work is to keep my puzzle/multi waypoint and 'problem cache' databases updated.

 

Fire up MapSource and load the *.gdb that resulted from the above macro run.

 
From there, it's all eyeball.  Are there clusters of caches that have popped up that create a high density opportunity?  Where are the puzzles that I've got solved and am anxious to get 'found' before something happens to have them disabled or archived after a lot of brain work?  Where is that interesting cache we heard about last week?

 

And the routing is then done manually.  I zoom in enough so that I can see which side of the road some caches are on so that it is easy to tell if there's going to be a down-and-back, which ones to hit going which direction.  Will we be passing nearby a cache that only one of us needs that we can pick off along the way?  I look at D/T ratings and travel distances and get a pretty good idea of what we're likely to be able to accomplish in a day's time.  That part doesn't take much time.  As I select each one in Mapsource, I 'user check' it in GSAK as well.  And yes, I run dual displays.  I don't know how I ever lived without that.  When done, all of the user checked targets in GSAK get shuttled over to their own GSAK database, plus one COPY of that same database.  The former is for the handhelds.  The latter may get modified in the next step since it may indicate for each cache where we'll drop the vehicle, or the location for whatever goat track we'll be taking off the main road, and that database winds up as an *.ov2 file for the TomTom.

 

The I take the list of waypoints that is created from the route and (yes, it works) select and copy the GC codes from the route list and paste them into an Excel spreadsheet.  Now, what DOES take time is looking at the individual caches to see if there is anything special about routing that needs to be taken into consideration.  To do that, everything with a possibility of weirdness (typically off road) is viewed in a satellite view.  Is the cache on a dirt road?  Check to be sure one end or the other isn't gated.  Is the cache near a creek or river?  Did I route us to the correct side, or perhaps is there a bridge near road access that makes one side easier to access quickly?  What's the best place to drop the car closest to the cache? That info decides if the coordinates in the 2nd database will be modified before exporting  the *.ov2 file for the TomTom.

 

All in all, depending on the kind of day we plan, it takes about an hour to put together a full day of 25-40 caches with all of the driving/parking info, log information that might help, along with hints, and reminders to bring certain TOTT items or dry logs 'just in case', or anything else we want to remember about the cache will on site (all of that goes on the Excel spreadsheet mentioned earlier).

 

The ~hour a week spent in preparation makes it possible to visit a lot more territory with a lot less navigational frustration for our ~weekly ventures.  We tried seat-of-the-pants navigation in the beginning, but found ourselves spending more time trying to figure out how to get anywhere near many caches than we did actually searching for them.

Edited March 7, 2019 by ecanderson