Download all geocaches in an area?

[+geodudesja]

I am wondering if I can possibly download all the geocaches somehow in my area.

 

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada and wanted to download all geocaches in my province so that if I go somewhere I am always ready to cache

 

I can use the search of course and find about 14,000 results but no way to download them all other than one at a time.

 

I think I need a GPX file. I did something similar on opencaching.com but that was only 1400 caches versus 14000

[+palmetto]

You are a Premium Member, you can download caches in groups of 1000 at a time by means of Pocket Queries.

There's a group of Help Center articles on this topic, here's the first http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=117

 

You can run 10 PQs per day, 1000 caches per query, so in 2 days, with date ranged queries, you could download all 14,000 in your Province.

The key is to ask for caches by a date range that yields around or under 1000 caches per query, and not in circles - which is what people usually try.

 

All the caches in Nova Scotia arranged by date place = 749 pages, with 20 caches per page. To date range query #1, use the date on the oldest cache, and then skip back 50 pages back the date on that page, to grab 1000 caches. 06/28/2000 - 02/02/2007

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=45&lng=-63&dist=100&sortdir=desc&sort=placed

 

Repeat 14 times...

I understand that both project-gc and GSAK will generate those dates for you, but as you're asking this fairly basic question, I'm guessing that neither of those references means anything to you.

Edited September 18, 2014 by palmetto

[+T.D.M.22]

Use pocket queries. I believe on the search results there's a choice to save as a pocket query. If not, just create a new one. You won't be able to download everything once-I think the limit is 5000 caches for one day. But you can download up to the limit at once. Also keep in mind, it's probably not a good idea to do so unless you plan on updating it every week. Caches go missing, have new logs and hints, they get moved. if you put them on your GPS once and forget about them, you might be in for a few surprises.

[+geodudesja]

Thanks guys,

 

So basically, so that I don't keep the getting the same 1000 caches I should make my Pocket queries in a certain date range?

[+Bear and Ragged]

Thanks guys,

 

So basically, so that I don't keep the getting the same 1000 caches I should make my Pocket queries in a certain date range?

 

Yep. Requires a bit of work though...

Select Date Placed. start a jan 1 2000 and pick an end date.

DON'T select Day To Run, and run the PQ. A search page will tell you how many caches are in the PQ, or if it's 1,000.

 

Play around until you get under 1,000 that's your first PQ.

Second PQ select the end date for PQ 1 and add 1 day for the start date, repeat!

[Keystone]

If there are 14,000 unfound caches, you will want to set up 15 pocket queries (since you will want each query to max out at 999 caches or less, you won't get exactly 14,000 caches with 14 pocket queries). The date range for query 1 would be from the beginning of time (May 2000) to around 2005 or whenever you reach 1000 surviving caches. Each succeeding query will cover a smaller and smaller date range until your last one, which might start on August 29th and return 427 caches. When that query fills up, edit all the queries (because caches get archived, the number returned in each query shrinks over time), and add a new 16th query when needed.

 

The PQ Splitter Tool at Project-GC.com * will give you a good start on constructing your date-ranged pocket queries.

 

If you use GSAK * there are macros which help with the management of these queries, and you can "refresh" your cache database via the API with new logs (including archive and disable logs) without having to re-run the queries all the time. You would need to run your queries over two days, since you can only run 10 queries each day (that's up to 10,000 caches).

 

*Both GSAK and Project-GC.com are authorized Geocaching Live! API Partners.

[+geodudesja]

Thanks everyone, OK got that all set up, now just have to wait for my Pocket queries. Thanks again!