US membership Europe Caching

[+amberr86]

I recently paid for a premium membership. I am located in the United States. I am visiting a friend in Germany this summer. We will be traveling through Europe. I was wondering if there is a way to download the cache data for the day to an ipod, or a "dead" cellphone through wifi, then have the locations and such store to try to find through out the day while site seeing? Will my US membership be usable in Europe?

 

Thanks so much!

 

amberr86

[+TriciaG]

Membership is on all of Geocaching.com, so yes, it's worldwide membership. You aren't downloading caches from a different site.

 

I'd suggest trying to download caches here in a wifi hot spot, like you would there. It should work the same. (Or you could download the Germany caches here in the US and store them on your device, but you might not know exactly where you're going.)

 

Basically - yes, your membership is worldwide, and try to do what you want to do in Europe while you're here and don't have the time crunch. A dress rehearsal, if you will.

[+geodarts]

The advice to take a practice run is good. I am not sure what you will be using, but the first time I cached in Europe with my iPhone, I got off the plane with it still in airplane mode and nothing seemed to be working. It took me a little while to realize that the phone's GPS did not work in that mode. And if you just became a premium member, it might help to experiment with pocket queries first (if you have not done so already) so that any learning curve in downloading data for a number of caches will not be a factor,

Edited April 22, 2015 by geodarts

[+amberr86]

What is pocket quires? Im not sure how to store it to my device to use later.

 

amberr86

[+geodarts]

Pocket queries allow you to download a large amount of cache information at a time, up to a thousand caches per search. If you are traveling, and will not be using cellular data for obvious reasons, it can be handy since it gives you a lot of flexibility. You can load data for a number of caches as a single GPX file that can be transferred to your device - even before you leave.

 

The Groundspeak knowledge base section is helpful. Virtually any caching app, including Groundspeak's, support the query files - as well as most current gpsr devices.

 

What will you be using for caching in Europe? Will you be using or carrying a smart phone, tablet, or laptop? Look at the Pocket Query section of this site, and if you have any specific questions about forming searches or transferring data to your device, you can get lots of help here.

Edited April 22, 2015 by geodarts

[Blue Square Thing]

There's no need to use pocket queries with an iPhone. Simply save the cache lists to the phone. You can whack 150+ caches in a search in my experience and have no problems - and have multiple searches stored really easily. I very rarely have data even turned on on my phone and that works fine. You may or may not get maps when you use them, but the compass will always work and you usually get some form of overview map to work with.

 

And then, yes, use wifi when you can to top up/do new searches. Coffee shops, fast food chain sand libraries are good places to lurk outside to get it. Here in the UK supermarkets and department stores are becoming good sources as well.

[+geodarts]

There's no need to use pocket queries with an iPhone. Simply save the cache lists to the phone.

 

But since the OP is a premium member, the use of pocket queries may save some time. I use them in traveling to search for caches along a route or do blanket searches for the type of caches I am most interested in finding - in my case, earthcaches and virtuals. When we unexpectedly changed our traveling plans last weekend, I did a pocket query using my iPad for the new route (hotel wifi) and then downloaded the result into the caching app I use on my phone. I was good to go in a few minutes. I would not have wanted to do a series of individual searches covering the next 300 miles.

 

This is not to say that a spur of the moment search using wifi is not a good idea. On the same trip mentioned above, we decided to take yet another detour when we had breakfast in an area that seemed particularly interesting. I had used a very narrow route for the query because I did not anticipate going out of the way. A quick search at the cafe turned up a virtual and earthcache where we were headed.

 

The two methods can be used together and if you have the capability to do pocket queries, it can be a great tool.

Edited April 23, 2015 by geodarts

[+geodarts]

You may or may not get maps when you use them, but the compass will always work and you usually get some form of overview map to work with.

 

With the Groundspeak app, of course, you can save OSM maps offline when saving lists, but it has always seemed rather slow to me. Before heading out, or during a break at a wifi hotspot, I "cache" the internal maps where we will be traveling by looking at the area where we will be. That usually works.

 

I also use offline maps, such as pocket earth or gaiagps - both can be easily be saved to my iPhone or iPad. Pocket Earth in particular has been helpful when in Europe for general offline mapping. If you have done a pocket query, you can import the results (gpx file) into either of those maps. The caching app I use interfaces with them nicely so that I can focus on one cache at a time rather than load the entire gpx file. But in any event it might give you a faster alternative if you have not already saved the maps in the Groundspeak app.

[+geordiell]

I'm English and living in Germany at the minute the only problem I'm having is translating German to English!!!! Seriously Groundspeak need to get some sort of auto translate into this "worldwide" craze???!!!!! But enjoy Germany there is some fantastic caches and beautiful cities here I wish you safe travels and happy caching

Edited April 24, 2015 by geordiell