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GPS location played through speakers, App?


Orange W

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Looking for a smartphone that would announce the distance to a specified GPS point periodically through the speakers.  That way, you don't have to look at the GPS display during the approach to the GZ.  Essentially, it would be a phone app that plays the "warmer, colder" game with you.  Has anyone heard of an app like that?

 

This would help me out a lot.  My problem is that I will neglect checking my phone.  I'll see that I'm a mile away from the GZ, then I huff it down the trail and zone-out, as one does.  By the time I come back to reality, I'm a mile past the GZ.  At that point I don't bother turning back.

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43 minutes ago, Orange W said:

I'll see that I'm a mile away from the GZ, then I huff it down the trail and zone-out, as one does.  By the time I come back to reality, I'm a mile past the GZ.  At that point I don't bother turning back.

 

I don't know of an app that does what you're looking for. My solution, since I'll also not have the phone on constantly, is to use a fitness tracker with GPS, note the distance to the cache, and then check my watch from time to time to see how close I'm getting.

 

The official app will vibrate when one is close to a cache, but that's I believe within 30 feet or so. I don't know if there are other apps out there that have a customizable proximity alert. I believe my Garmin GPS receivers had a setting for proximity alert and would emit a loud "beep" when a certain distance from the goal, which could be adjusted. But it's been a while since that was my primary means of caching.

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2 hours ago, Orange W said:

Looking for a smartphone that would announce the distance to a specified GPS point periodically through the speakers.  That way, you don't have to look at the GPS display during the approach to the GZ.  Essentially, it would be a phone app that plays the "warmer, colder" game with you.  Has anyone heard of an app like that?

 

One of the most basic GPSrs (etrex 10 IIRC) has a proximity alarm.

Heck, even my 17yr old 60csx has a proximity alarm, and "accuracy" is still equal to most of today's models.

If that's all you're really interested in, a GPSr on ebay would be cheaper than most of today's smartphones...

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4 hours ago, Orange W said:

Looking for a smartphone that would announce the distance to a specified GPS point periodically through the speakers.  That way, you don't have to look at the GPS display during the approach to the GZ.  Essentially, it would be a phone app that plays the "warmer, colder" game with you.  Has anyone heard of an app like that?

 

This would help me out a lot.  My problem is that I will neglect checking my phone.  I'll see that I'm a mile away from the GZ, then I huff it down the trail and zone-out, as one does.  By the time I come back to reality, I'm a mile past the GZ.  At that point I don't bother turning back.

 

Who are you... Forrest Gump running all the way across the country?!  Even he turned back.  :blink:

 

I walk right past caches a lot, too.  But they're also not placed on the trail, they can be 100 feet or more off trail.  At the closest point along the trail, a phone App will tell you that there's still 100 feet to go.  If it doesn't go to "Zero", how would you know when to stop?  You'd need a phone App to warn you about your phone App.  :anicute:

 

I don't often zone out a mile away, but when I'm 300 feet away (for example), I sometimes make a mental note of how many steps that is and count them.  That also works when entering a spot with a bad signal.

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On 9/12/2022 at 5:27 AM, Orange W said:

the "warmer, colder" game

 

I use Locus, as suggested above.  (It's a map+caching app.)  But the increasing-frequency option, boop boop baap bap bap bip bip bip beep beep beep BEEP BEEP, is comically like a geiger counter (or dork detector), and the epitome of poor stealth; it turns heads.  I used it exactly once.  :lol:  Luckily there are many other options; 3 beeps at 50m works for me.

 

Edited by Viajero Perdido
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12 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

 

I use Locus, as suggested above.  (It's a map+caching app.)  But the increasing-frequency option, boop boop baap bap bap bip bip bip beep beep beep BEEP BEEP, is comically like a geiger counter (or dork detector), and the epitome of poor stealth; it turns heads.  I used it exactly once.  :lol:  Luckily there are many other options; 3 beeps at 50m works for me.

 

 

Would it work better if you select the "Text To Speech" option?  Or does it still say "boop" instead of a pronounced number? 

What happens if a cache is not very close to the trail?  Seems like the OP still must backtrack when the dork detector again begins to beep less frequently.  I've never had a problem walking along a trail, or even a loop.  It's when switchbacks are close to each other, that's when it gets tricky when there are no suitable trail maps.  A cache at 150 feet is likely closer to the trail if I keep following that trail.  But again the distance increases until I'm on the closer switchback.

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I misspoke.  It's been years since I tested it out, and I remembered the other meaning of "frequency".  So it really goes BEEP ... BEEP ... BEEP ... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEPBEEPBEEP EEPEEPEPEEPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  It really sounds like an emergency, like the phone is about to explode.

 

On "repeated alert" with text-to-speech, it says, "Point right, 7 metres at 10 o'clock".  I'm not sure about the "point right" part, especially if it's actually to the left, and regardless of the point's name, it always says that.  (Bad translation?)  And how useful is the "10 o'clock" if you keep changing the direction you're facing?  I remember I tried that option in the field once, and gave it up almost as quickly as the panic beeping.

 

Oh, there's also a vibration option, scroll to see it.

 

Edited by Viajero Perdido
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23 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

And how useful is the "10 o'clock" if you keep changing the direction you're facing?

 

Stop changing the direction. Just walk straight and it will be useful. I have found this text to speech feature very useful. You can use it two ways: during navigation to the selected waypoint and general point alert which activates when there is a cache nearby.

Edited by arisoft
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I sometimes use the official app when geocaching, and that goes PING really loudly when I approach GZ. It always startles me and is sure to draw attention if there's people around. I always decide I need to turn that off, but then I never do.

 

When it's raining heavily I want to take out my navigation device as little as possible. Same when it's cold, to preserve battery and avoid freezing my fingers off. Then it would be useful to get audio feedback, but on the other hand I don't want anyone else to hear it or run around with earphones. Maybe the vibration option would be the best for this situation.

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