GSAK databases a fundamental question

[+ras_oscar]

I know I should slide over to the GSAK forum. However, that does not seem very active since Clyde stopped development. 

Question:

I open GSAK, create 3 databases and pour a GPX into each database. Backup all and exit the software.  When I come back the next day and open GSAK, the 3 databases are there, just the way I left them.

 

Does anyone know whether GASK opens the original GPX files,  or the backup, or keeps a third internal file it loads?

 

I'd like to slim down the files I generate and maintain. If GSAK loads the GPX file each time it opens, I should be able to merely slip a new GPX file into the directory with the same name and GSAK would be none the wiser. If its either of the other 2 scenarios, I'd have to delete all caches from the database and reload the fresh GPX file, which is what I have been doing to date.

[+on4bam]

1. GSAK forums are very well alive.

2. When you import a GPX file it's content is written in a database so no, you can't just put a GPX file in a directory.

 

There's absolutely no reason to delete all caches and the load a new  GPX files. unless you don't care about any cache data.

 

I keep databases with all caches in Belgium and the Netherlands which are updated weekly with PQ's and API. I even keep archived Belgian caches in another database. Then there's the found database with my finds and all data collected in order to find a cache.

I also work on mysteries from within GSAK and keep corrected coordinates there, not on the GC website.

 

In short, I'm using GSAK a lot more than the website for just about everything.

 

[+MartyBartfast]

And you don't need to create a separate database for each GPX, you can "pour" 3 GPX files into the same database and manage/view them all in once place; I only use the Default database and I have ~50,000 caches in it, including active,  unfound, found, archived etc., the only time I use a second database is when I want to experiment in GSAK and don't want to risk trashing my real database.

 

You can delete caches from the database that  you're nolonger interested in, and you can subsequently add new caches to the same database.

[+ecanderson]

GSAK creates its own SQL database from any *.gpx that you load.  When you open GSAK again, it is looking at its own databases in whatever form you left them when you were done playing around the last time.  Backup is only if something goes wrong with the databases, and you have to recover.  GSAK never re-reads any *.gpx.  Once imported, again, what you see is GSAK's own database files.

 

[+ras_oscar]

so when you do your weekly country update, you pour the new GPX on top of  the pre existing data?

[+Viajero Perdido]

You can do that. Logs will accumulate over time, which can be good or bad. Caches can be archived without you realizing it; no new updates from newer GPXs, just older data lingering. I had a process for pruning those; can't remember now.

[+MartyBartfast]

1 hour ago, ras_oscar said:

so when you do your weekly country update, you pour the new GPX on top of  the pre existing data?

Yes, that will add new caches to the database, it will also update any caches which are currently in the database with new data from the GPX e.g. if a cache has new logs, been moved, been disabled/enabled,  etc.

 

One thing to be aware of is that the GPX files won't get details of archived caches, so over time your database might  accumulate caches which have been archived but don't show as such in your database and just becomes stale. You can avoid that by periodically filtering caches in GSAK which haven't been updated for a while (how long depends on how often you update the GPX files)  and doing a refresh of them through the GSAK API, which will change them to archived in the database - there's probably an existing GSAK macro to do that for you automatically.

 

 

[+on4bam]

1 hour ago, ras_oscar said:

so when you do your weekly country update, you pour the new GPX on top of  the pre existing data?

 

I have "placed date" selected PQ that run weekly. The PQ data is merged with the data already in GSAK. The cache status is also updated. After all the PQs are imported I run a filter "not updated in the last 7 days" and those caches are then updated by API and are usually caches that were archived in the last week. I move these to the "archived" database (I solved mysteries where data from archived caches was needed).

When I see the size of the database get to large I can purge logs, selecting to keep xx logs and the published logs and logs by certain people.

 

BTW, importing PQs can be done from within GSAK, just "download PQ's" from the menu.

 

[+ras_oscar]

ok, so your intent is to maintain all your found caches in the database. I understand now.

 

Once I have found a cache i prefer to have it removed from the map at the next update. For me mapsource and GSAK is about planning future cache runs. 

[+ras_oscar]

I now have  better understanding of how GSAK works under the hood. Thanks.

 

What about Mapsource and Basecamp?

 

My sense is Mapsource simply loads the GPX file each session, because the load tabs shows a list of recently loaded files, whether the files still actually exit or not. also there is not option to open, save or close a particular database.

 

My sense is Basecamp, by contrast,  maintains internal databases similar to how GSAK is described above, because it offer options to load particular GPX files into particular databases.

Edited July 10, 2020 by ras_oscar

[+MartyBartfast]

13 minutes ago, ras_oscar said:

Once I have found a cache i prefer to have it removed from the map at the next update.

Within GSAK you can filter caches by many criteria, one of which is found/unfound so one would use that to filter only unfound caches to send to your GPS/Mapsource/basecamp/whatever so the finds don't appear on the map(s).

 

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by MartyBartfast

[+Atlas Cached]

2 minutes ago, ras_oscar said:

My sense is Basecamp, by cobtrast,  maintains internal databases similar to how GSAK is described above, because it offer options to load particular GPX files into particular databases.

 

Nope.

 

BaseCamp has one central database, where each waypoint, track, route, etc. are stored one time only. Each Folder List in BaseCamp can reference any of this data, and group items as the user desires, but the actual data is not stored in each list, just a placemarker.

 

GSAK can have as many unique databases as the user desires, and every geocache loaded exists independently in each database, with unique information, depending on the load time and most recent refresh time for each geocache.

 

 

[+on4bam]

You can't compare Basecamp to GSAK. It's like comparing a kid's tricycle to a Harley Davidson

 

I see GSAK as the offline GC website. Easy filtering, working on mysteries, planning which caches we want to do... I use Basecamp just to create routes along caches and waypoints to see distances and where we will walk or bike.

 

[+ras_oscar]

3 minutes ago, Atlas Cached said:

 

Nope.

 

BaseCamp has one central database, where each waypoint, track, route, etc. are stored one time only. Each Folder List in BaseCamp can reference any of this data, and group items as the user desires, but the actual data is not stored in each list, just a placemarker.

 

GSAK can have as many unique databases as the user desires, and every geocache loaded exists independently in each database, with unique information, depending on the load time and most recent refresh time for each geocache.

 

 

The point is Basecamp stores the cache data internally whereas mapsource does not.

 

In a perfect world there would be one app that sucks in all the cache information, allows me to see the data on a map, plan store and download routes to my GPS, edit and file logs, and update status on the map. I have accomplished those functions historically using: GSAK, Mapsource, Basecamp and, until recently, Microsoft Streets and Trips. I have abandoned MST without loss of function. The biggest reason I'm clinging to Mapsource is because, while Basecamp will allow me to click on a cache and see all information, including description, last 5 logs and hint,  ( invaluable information when planning a cache run) It also displays the cache name next to the icon, clogging up the map and making it illegible at all but very close zoom levels.  I can instead load a GDB file and display symbol and GC code, making the map legible, but i loose all but the basic information, meaning I have no more info than Mapsource displays by default.

 

Is there a way I can get GSAK to update Basecamp ( or Mapsource) when I use it to file found-it logs? Simply looking to change the symbol to cache found.

[+Atlas Cached]

38 minutes ago, ras_oscar said:

Is there a way I can get GSAK to update Basecamp ( or Mapsource) when I use it to file found-it logs?

 

No. GSAK can not edit or alter databases for MapSource or BasceCamp.

 

But you can export a GPX file with fresh log information from GSAK, and then import that file into BaseCamp if desired.

 

However, everything you want to do can be done in GSAK alone.

 

I suggest doing more research at GSAK website and carefully examine available GSAK macros for added functionality.