Pocket Queries Content Times Out

[+MMGeoGeezer]

Not a really big problem, I'm sure, but once again, the Classic app did it just fine.

 

Searched the forums and didn't find anything addressing this.

 

We have just found that, unlike Pocket Queries downloaded in the Classic app, in the new app, the cache data disappears from the list when the PQ has outlived its week of existence.

 

We have PQ's in the Classic app downloaded for our December trip to Atlanta for the Washington Huskies' ill-fated bid for the College National Championship. The data is still there.

 

Just this afternoon when my wife checked for caches in a downloaded PQ, the new app told us that we had not saved any caches to the list, and proceeded to provide a list of nearby chaces. The data was all there yesterday, but today is the 8th day after the list was generated. Could have been a real inconvenience if we had headed out to geocache and THEN found my wife's non-cell-leashed iPad Mini no longer had PQ data. Fortunately, we were still at our friend's house so I regenerated the PQ and was able to get the contents back by refreshing the list on all our devices. (Except my Garmin which can ignore the stupidities of the new app.)

 

Using week-old data has, in the past, led to wasted time when the cache for which we were searching was retired the day after our list was generated, so I suppose they are doing us a favor.

 

But the purpose in using downloaded PQ's is to not be a slave to an internet connection, or at least to have cachedata when a connection is not available.

 

It may not happen often, but a scenario we could have easily run into is traveling in China or the Amazon for 2 weeks with unreliable and spotty wifi access. We could have gotten a connection 8 days after leaving home, opened the app to upload Field Notes, but not check for caches until the next day when the data is gone and our next wifi access is 3 days away.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the point of an Pocket Query is to generate needed data ahead of time and have it available when needed -- the next day, or two weeks later.

 

Sure, now that I know it, I can just set my PQ's to regenerate every week until I get home, but this unnecessarily increases the load on the server when every Pocket Query has to be regenerated for multiple weeks. But then, that's not a problem for Groundspeak, since they felt it necessary to replace a perfectly good app with a dumber little brother.

Edited March 13, 2017 by MMGeoGeezer

[+noncentric]

From what I've seen with experimenting with the new app:

-- The app shows PQ's that were generated in the past week, mirroring the PQ's that are 'Available for Download' on the website's Pocket Query page. PQ's have a "Last Generated" date listed above their name in the app.

-- The app shows Bookmark Lists created at any time, regardless of whether that list has been used for a PQ. Lists have a "Last Modified" date listed above their name in the app.

-- The app allows PQ's (generated in the past week) and Bookmark Lists to be downloaded for offline use. Once downloaded, a PQ/List is available indefinitely. A list of caches I downloaded offline to the app in January still shows on my app when it's in airplane mode.

 

So, for the OP's example of a 2-week trip without reliable wifi/data service, I think the intended solution is for the cacher to download the data for offline use and that data will thereby be available throughout the 2-week trip. Of course, the data could be stale because it's a point-in-time snapshot of cache info/activity.