Guest timp Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 QUOTE> Is there anybody here who is dissatisfied with the current solution as provided on the Geocaching.com website ? Does anybody see a need to change Geocaching.com other than the usual progress of a website (rather than to meet his software)? Or, Perhaps he wants "to provide a more elegant and neater solution" for his own software. I wonder which [This message has been edited by timp (edited 30 October 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest JasonW Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 The only thing about the mechanics of the website that's missing from my perspective is the ability to download all the caches returned by any given page in one hit to my GPS (saves doing multiple EasyGPS downloads) Quote Link to comment
Guest timp Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 Ok, That sounds reasonable. I guess Jeremy will take note. Perhaps this could be a good opportunity for us to give some feedback. I'm sure it will be appreciated. Tim Quote Link to comment
Guest LazyLeopard Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 The one thing I'd like to see is a way of downloading locations using a format that is non-proprietary, and preferably "standard" in some way or other. I've not been using GPS long enough to know whether an open standard format exists though. (Does NMEA cover that sort of thing?) EasyGPS is all very well if you happen to have access to a Windows machine, but the download format's not much use otherwise. Same would go for GPSS, GPSUtil, MapSource, and the rest. Even a plain-text flat-file download would help. Quote Link to comment
Guest blscearce Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 quote:Originally posted by JasonW:The only thing about the mechanics of the website that's missing from my perspective is the ability to download all the caches returned by any given page in one hit to my GPS (saves doing multiple EasyGPS downloads) You can get all the caches from a single page in one download: on the search page in question, hit the "download" checkbox (underneath "details") for each cache, then hit the "download to EasyGPS" at the bottom of the page. You don't need to go to each detail page and download from there. You can "only" get 25 caches at a time like this, but it's better than one at a time. Brian Quote Link to comment
Guest JasonW Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 Oops my mistake - what I meant was all the caches returned by any given search (so bypassing the 25 cache per page thing) Quote Link to comment
Guest jeremy Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 What's so machine specific of the format we use on the site? It's XML. As for the downloads of multiple waypoints, I have some worries about people downloading all the waypoints and offering them for download elsewhere. Because of the organic nature of the game, I'd rather have people go to the site for updates on the most current waypoints available. That way if caches are archived you don't go searching for them. As for a one click download per page, I will be adding the javascript for that. I personally download the waypoints the same way as everyone else, and downloading 250 waypoints in the state of Washington wasn't a huge effort. Jeremy Quote Link to comment
Guest JasonW Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 OK then, the 'second best' addition would be to be able to download all the caches on my "watch list" - if you needed to you could limit this watch list to something reasonable to prevent easy abuse - say 25 caches. Quote Link to comment
Guest bunkerdave Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 It is actually but a small matter to add all the new caches in your area to you GPS with one quick download. Then you can download all the Caches on your GPS to a new EasyGPS file, and there you have them. I have not figured out how else to get all the caches I have not found in my area on ONE EasyGPS file, without first getting them ALL on my GPS. It is a little tricky, requiring multiple interfaces, but works for me. I guess that is the reason I have not worried about figuring out a better way. Quote Link to comment
Guest LazyLeopard Posted October 31, 2001 Share Posted October 31, 2001 quote:Originally posted by jeremy:What's so machine specific of the format we use on the site? It's XML. Ah! I see what's happening! The data as downloaded from geocaching does come down as XML but the default file name is "geocaching.loc". It gets shoved into EasyGPS, and if it gets saved from there it goes into a file with the same extension (*.loc) which is in a proprietary binary format. Unfortunately, because the extension is everything to Windows, both types of file _appear_ to be EasyGPS format unless you look at them with something like NotePad... I'd tried to decipher a number of them, but they'd all come onto my system via EasyGPS, so they were all mucked up... Sorry, I was blaming you for something that's really Bill Gates' fault. I should have known better... ------------------ -- Purrs LazyLeopard Quote Link to comment
Guest LazyLeopard Posted October 31, 2001 Share Posted October 31, 2001 e to get all the caches I have not found in my area on ONE EasyGPS file, without first getting them ALL on my GPS. No merge two files option. No copy/paste waypoints... EasyGPS simply lacks the essential functionality. It's a common problem with free programs that are out there mainly to convince you to pay for the version that actually does something... ;> ------------------ -- Purrs LazyLeopard Quote Link to comment
Guest LazyLeopard Posted October 31, 2001 Share Posted October 31, 2001 quote:Originally posted by LazyLeopard:The data as downloaded from geocaching does come down as XML but the default file name is "geocaching.loc". It gets shoved into EasyGPS, and if it gets saved from there it goes into a file with the same extension (*.loc) which is in a proprietary binary format. That said, I do think XML is a slightly bizarre choice. There must be some sort of navigation system standard for text representation of data out there... ...but this discussion probably belongs elsewhere. ------------------ -- Purrs LazyLeopard Quote Link to comment
Guest rediguana Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 quote:Originally posted by LazyLeopard:No merge two files option. No copy/paste waypoints... Have you actually tried it? Open the two files you want to merge, and you get two file tabs down the bottom. Click Window->Tile. Click on one of the caches in the list you want to merge to the other. Ctrl-A. Now they are all blue and selected. Drag them into the waypoints in the other window. Save file. Waypoints merged. Its really easy And EasyGPS is actually pretty functional considering IT'S FREE And re the XML option, EasyGps are starting to work with other vendors and are trying to develop an open XML standard for GPS data. Check out details here http://www.topografix.com/xml.asp Seems pretty kosher to me! Of course there is an equipment communication standard, NMEA, that is used especially in marine equipment to communicate information over wires - but also works for moving maps on laptops. Kind of networking standard vs file format standard. Check out a basic thread with links on it here http://forums.Groundspeak.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001281.html Actually I read somewhere that quite a few networking standards are starting to be redeveloped in XML. And no, I don't have any interest with EasyGPS/geocaching.com other than I like caching Cheers Gav [This message has been edited by rediguana (edited 02 November 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest rediguana Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 quote:Originally posted by LazyLeopard:No merge two files option. No copy/paste waypoints... Have you actually tried it? Open the two files you want to merge, and you get two file tabs down the bottom. Click Window->Tile. Click on one of the caches in the list you want to merge to the other. Ctrl-A. Now they are all blue and selected. Drag them into the waypoints in the other window. Save file. Waypoints merged. Its really easy And EasyGPS is actually pretty functional considering IT'S FREE And re the XML option, EasyGps are starting to work with other vendors and are trying to develop an open XML standard for GPS data. Check out details here http://www.topografix.com/xml.asp Seems pretty kosher to me! Of course there is an equipment communication standard, NMEA, that is used especially in marine equipment to communicate information over wires - but also works for moving maps on laptops. Kind of networking standard vs file format standard. Check out a basic thread with links on it here http://forums.Groundspeak.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001281.html Actually I read somewhere that quite a few networking standards are starting to be redeveloped in XML. And no, I don't have any interest with EasyGPS/geocaching.com other than I like caching Cheers Gav [This message has been edited by rediguana (edited 02 November 2001).] Quote Link to comment
Guest rediguana Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 quote:Originally posted by bunkerdave:I have not figured out how else to get all the caches I have not found in my area on ONE EasyGPS file... Check my post above, you could have a file called found, and another called tohunt, and once you've found one, just drag the individual waypoint from one window to another. You just have to open both files at the same time, and the tile the windows! Cheers Gav Quote Link to comment
Guest LazyLeopard Posted November 2, 2001 Share Posted November 2, 2001 quote:Originally posted by rediguana: Have you actually tried it? Yep. I'd tried everything I could think of. Just about every other spreadsheet-type GUI application I've ever used will show "Cut,Copy,Paste,Delete" options in a pop-up when you've highlighted something if such actions are possible, but EasyGPS doesn't. Experience suggested that it didn't because it couldn't. quote:Click Window->Tile That was the one critical bit of information that wasn't in the least bit intuitive. Thanks for pointing it out. It's a pity you can't select and cut or copy, then tab another sheet and paste though. The tile view gets pretty messy once you get more than two or three files open. quote:develop an open XML standard for GPS data Open standards are the right way to go, but they need to have support from a majority of data sources and manufacturers. In this case, the important folks to have on board (from an end-user's point of view) are the developers of programs like AutoRoute, MapBlast, MapSource et. al... Well, pigs might fly... ------------------ Purrs LazyLeopard Quote Link to comment
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