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Site v. App


DynamicDavisDuo

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As a new cacher, I'm muddling my way thru.  I'd like to know if people use the app or site more for logging?  For those of you who use the site, do you just jot down on paper your logged caches for the day then come back to your desktop/laptop and log them in later?  I paid for premium so that I can log on the app, but not sure its as versatile as the site.  Maybe I just haven't tinkered around with it enough...

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I use drafts (formerly known as field notes). When using an app, I write brief reminders to myself and publish them as drafts, rather than as finished logs. When using a handheld GPS receiver, I connect the GPS receiver to my Mac and upload the drafts to the geocaching.com site.

Then I use these brief reminders to produce real logs while sitting at a real keyboard.

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We usually write wordy logs, and old fingers and tiny tapping on a phone didn't work for me.  Even the rare time I'd use a phone at a (to me) lesser hide, I'd wait 'til home to log.

Enter most caches into a hand-held GPSr manually anyway, so I take brief notes on a note pad, and  can take my time on that log with a coffee next to me.  :)

I paid for premium to sorta help with costs on maintaining the site for long-time basic members who use GPsrs too.

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I rarely use the app (and when I do it's mostly to place a field log for an FTF), preferring my trusty old Garmin 62S for my caching. I rarely do more than two or three caches in an outing (more often it's just one as I tend to go for the higher terrain rated ones) so remembering my trials and tribulations on the way to the cache(s) isn't too hard. I also take lots of photos, both to upload with my log and to remind me of things I wanted to mention. That said, for someone wanting to take field notes, the "drafts" option in the app is probably a good solution, allowing quick notes to be taken in the field and fleshed out afterwards on the website.

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4 hours ago, niraD said:

I use drafts (formerly known as field notes). When using an app, I write brief reminders to myself and publish them as drafts, rather than as finished logs....

Then I use these brief reminders to produce real logs while sitting at a real keyboard.

This is exactly what I do.  I only began geocaching in March of this year, and I use the official app with my phone (Android) as a GPS device.  I'll tap Found it (or DNF, or whatever is appropriate) and jot a few keywords to help me remember the specific cache, and save it as a draft.  That timestamps the log, so when I go back to log it, it's all in order.

I prefer to use my laptop and the website to type the actual log, and from my drafts created via the phone app, it works well.  Once I submit a log, the "Return to Drafts" takes me to my drafts list, and I scroll down to the next in order of finds; I write that log, submit, "return to Drafts", and continue until I'm all caught up.

When I first began caching, as a basic member (hubby had a premium account so he could see the PMO and higher rated caches on his official app), I used another (unmentionable) app.  We discovered this other app would timestamp things oddly - I'd log a find and it would log it on the official app 11 hours before his log, even though we'd log it at the same time.  I don't use that "other app" much anymore, and have since upgraded myself to premium for a variety of reasons.  Logging accuracy is one factor, and with the recent improvements to the Android app and my premium membership, it works well for me.

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Caching with an Oregon600 and after getting home I import my "logs" (just GC code, time, logtype from geocachingvisits.txt) into GSAK. I then write my logs (offline), enter TB logs and add images if needed. When completely done I hit "publish all" and let GSAK post all logs via the API without any further interaction until all is done.

When on holiday I use GDAK (android) on my tablet to write logs (offline) and when done I just hit "send" and all logs are posted to GC in one go.

I never log "in the field".

 

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19 hours ago, nextlogicalstep said:

I prefer to log on the go. Occasionally, I'll go back and edit to add more detail if I think of something I left out.

That's how the other 2/3rds used to do hers, until this old fart told her that the CO doesn't get any notification on what ever changes (more detail)  she made later.   Never realized that, and since then she writes her logs in one shot when she gets home now too.   :)

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16 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:
20 hours ago, niraD said:

I use drafts (formerly known as field notes). When using an app, I write brief reminders to myself and publish them as drafts, rather than as finished logs....

Then I use these brief reminders to produce real logs while sitting at a real keyboard.

This is exactly what I do.  I only began geocaching in March of this year, and I use the official app with my phone (Android) as a GPS device.  I'll tap Found it (or DNF, or whatever is appropriate) and jot a few keywords to help me remember the specific cache, and save it as a draft.  That timestamps the log, so when I go back to log it, it's all in order.

I prefer to use my laptop and the website to type the actual log, and from my drafts created via the phone app, it works well.  Once I submit a log, the "Return to Drafts" takes me to my drafts list, and I scroll down to the next in order of finds; I write that log, submit, "return to Drafts", and continue until I'm all caught up.

Me three.

I utilize Drafts (Field Notes), either via my GPSr or the official app on my phone.  Then I'll go to the Drafts page on the website via my laptop computer to write full logs and submit those logs. The only exception is for the rare time that I get an FTF. In those cases, I'll submit a 'Found It' log via my phone and edit it later if necessary.

To the OP, when using the official app, there's a "Draft" slider at the bottom right. If that is turned on (slide to the right) then the action button at the top right will change from "Post" to "Save".  That 'save' label means that log text will be saved as a draft log, which you can then edit (via the app or your computer) before submitting/posting the log.

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16 hours ago, noncentric said:

I utilize Drafts (Field Notes), either via my GPSr or the official app on my phone.  Then I'll go to the Drafts page on the website via my laptop computer to write full logs and submit those logs. The only exception is for the rare time that I get an FTF. In those cases, I'll submit a 'Found It' log via my phone and edit it later if necessary.

Me four?

Only I still use Geosphere (pre-ios11), and that still allows me to submit individual special logs like NM, with log text, rather than only by posting it as a secondary log with a note via the web.

In the app, I mark a cache as found (this creates a field note in the app ready to upload). If there's anything to make note of when I post the full log, I'll add it to the text. Once done or ready, a batch upload sends all those field notes to the "Drafts" (grr) composition page on the web, where I compose each log separately (yep, even if it's a high count day, or there's a backlog of logs)

The odd occasion I want to post something immediately to the cache page, I'll set it to upload and post immediately from the app.  The nice thing is there's some flexibility. So say I've got 50 unsent field notes, then I get an FTF.  I can either unset all those notes for upload, then post the FTF log live, or upload all those notes to Drafts and set the FTF log to post immediately. I tend to favour the latter, except the odd occasion where I might want to compose the others in the app itself and upload (like if I won't be at a computer for some time, a road trip maybe).

My only pet peeve is I keep forgetting to visit my personal TBs when I post logs directly from the app :P

Edited by thebruce0
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I'll contribute to this because I'm all over the place.

I primarily use a handheld GPSr to navigate and find the caches.  However, I also use an app and the site depending upon use.

On weekdays, I look at a PQ on the site to locate the day's target.  Since I work a good distance away from where I live, the area is a little outside to my closest 1000 caches.  I take a picture of the site's coordinates while I'm still at work.  Other times, I might have to retarget on the go, so I use the app.  Eventually, the coordinates are manually entered into my GPSr.  If my day's target is closer to where I live and I have the cache on my GPSr (I update it every two months or so), I won't need to enter the coordinates by hand.  After finding the cache, I use the app if the cache is not in my GPSr.  Sometimes I make a field note and log it a week or month later.  Other times, I might use the app to log the cache right there.  If the cache is in my GPSr and I have other caches found noted in the GPSr, chances are I'll mark it as found in my GPSr and import the field note file whenever I get around to it.  Other times, I might log the field note on the app so I can write the log at work or whenever.  Still other times, I might still write a log in the field.

On cache runs, I almost exclusively use the GPSr and import field notes later or use a program I created to log the caches.  For caches not in my GPSr, I'll use the app and manually load the coordinates and make a field note for logging later.

I'm flexible.  Whatever works.

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5 minutes ago, signcouple said:

Can anyone tell me why the logs for my hides show up on the site but not the app? 

Are you using the official Geocaching app?  iOS or Android?

Two of your hides have logs and I can see those logs when I look at your caches on the official app in my Android phone. Perhaps your app hasn't refreshed since the logs were submitted?  Are you seeing logs for other caches that you don't own?

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On 9/28/2017 at 6:25 AM, thebruce0 said:

Only I still use Geosphere (pre-ios11), and that still allows me to submit individual special logs like NM, with log text, rather than only by posting it as a secondary log with a note via the web.

Regarding NM/NA logs. I have used the official app for those, where the Report a Problem option allows for 'old style' logging of those statuses.  I try to log those from the app because I want the date on those logs to be immediate, rather than waiting until I submit my corresponding Found/DNF logs for those caches.

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8 minutes ago, signcouple said:

Can anyone tell me why the logs for my hides show up on the site but not the app? 

You'll have to provide more information before we can give you an answer. Can you give us an example, like a specific cache and which logs are an issue? Do you see the reviewer's publish log on any of the caches, or there aren't any logs at all? Also, which app?

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I do both.  I will occasionally log find from the field (but always write a sentence or more) when finding caches with my phone but prefer to write logs using my laptop from the web site.  I haven't used a notepad or field notes  to keep track of what I've found in a long time but I don't find more caches in a day than I can remember.  I just bring up a map of the area where I went geocaching, select the caches that I found (in the order that I found them)  and write my log.  

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