+lohroffc Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 I'm heading to Alabama in a few weeks and I am trying to come up with a way to find all caches within 2 miles of the route I am taking. Any thoughts on how to accomplish this? Someone please Markwell me if necessary. dyslexics of the world, untie. Quote Link to comment
+fizzymagic Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 As far as I know, there is no way to do it with the stuff available on geocaching.com right now. I am working on this capability for GPX files, but it's not yet ready for prime time. It's a very complicated problem, actually. You might have a mapping program that can do it for you. Download all the cache coordinates into the mapping program and see if it can find ones near a route. Otherwise, for right now, you're kinda out of luck, I think. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 A route is nothing more than line segments with rest stops. Rest stops are cache locations. Check online for caches at good break points. That simplifies your quest. Wherever you go there you are. Quote Link to comment
+writer Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 If a route is defined by cache locations, it could take a long time to get anywhere... Quote Link to comment
+Breaktrack Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 The kids and I took a 17 day trip to Yellowstone last summer and hit caches all the way up there and all the way back, and all the virtuals that existed in the park at that time. I simply used the state maps showing all the caches and followed my intended routes. I looked up a number of caches around my intended stopping points and even a few in between. I printed out the sheets and put them in a notebook along with putting the coordinates into my GPSr. Addtionally I put the info in my palm pilot for a whole BUNCH of other caches as well, but, my palm bit the dust somewhere in Wyoming and wouldn't work for the rest of the trip. Luckily I had the printouts of the ones we really wanted to hit. We wound up hitting caches in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah on that trip. I think we had 17 in all, which I realize was only one per day average, but it was a great trip all the way around. "Trade up, trade even, or don't trade!!!" My philosophy of life. Quote Link to comment
+Cachetrotters Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 While some features are nice to have when requesting a sort on a cache list, I think we could go too far. If someone is in such a big hurry that they need to find caches along a corridor of a route they plan to take that they can't do the "legwork/homework" themselves, then how in the world will they have time to go caching during their trip? How UNFUN this all sounds. Could've planned half the trip in the time it took to create the topic.... don Quote Link to comment
+lohroffc Posted January 26, 2003 Author Share Posted January 26, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Cachetrotters:While some features are nice to have when requesting a sort on a cache list, I think we could go too far. If someone is in such a big hurry that they need to find caches along a corridor of a route they plan to take that they can't do the "legwork/homework" themselves, then how in the world will they have time to go caching during their trip? How UNFUN this all sounds. Could've planned half the trip in the time it took to create the topic.... don I don't understand your point. I have carefully planned my caching trips once I reach my destination, but I'm looking for a way to find caches along the way. I'm not asking anyone to find the caches for me, I'm looking for an effcient way to do it myself. FUN is spending your time outside looking for caches. UNFUN is spending hours in front of my computer trying find where they are. But what do I know, you're the one with a whopping 18 finds... dyslexics of the world, untie. Quote Link to comment
+Waterboss Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 We did the same thing on our vacation from Yakima Wa, to sacremento CA. And all I did was look on a map and picked out citys along the way and looked up the zip code on UPS.com or something, Then downloaded them all about 15-20 mile range from each city. Then went back through my GPS and edit it down to what I needed. Takes about an hour or two but it's the only way I found. Contact me if you have any problems or questions. Waterboss Quote Link to comment
+georgeandmary Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 I tried starting a thread on the local forums that dealt strickly with caches along one main interstante (I-5). Since the locals know which caches are along I-5 I just asked them to list the caches they KNEW were along the highway. Since there is not actual way, yet, to seach caches along a route it may be one of the easiest ways to generate a listing along a route. I got quite a few posts. http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000938983&m=8640908345 I was hoping to start a series of threads on different highways. george Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more. Quote Link to comment
+Majormd&PUNditOK Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 My suggestions: 1) Go to the appropriate regional fora and ask for suggestions for caches close to whatever rodas you're planning to take. 2) Go to the geocaching home page. In the upper right corner where you might normally enter your zip code, click on a state you're going through. the first line on the state page is a link to a map with major highways and caches. Click on a cache dot, and you'll be taken to the cache's page. Decide if it's one you want to do or not, and check out another one. - Sue Quote Link to comment
Lefty Skywalker Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 From the main page pick the state you're going through (it's the next option under the zip code search). You'll get page with a list of caches. At the top of the page there'll be a link for a map. The map has all the caches in the state shown on it. Zoom & pan in on the route you're taking. Set the map to "detail" and click on a cache. It'll bring up a flag with the name of the cache, and there will be a link to the cache page below the map. If there are a bunch right together it'll give you several flags and links. If it's a multi-day multi-state trip the problem is probably too big... What Would Yoda Do? Quote Link to comment
+lohroffc Posted January 27, 2003 Author Share Posted January 27, 2003 Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I took ideas from several of the posts and came up with the following solution. 1. I created a pocket query for all the caches with a terrain and rating of 3 or lower. 2. I used GeoBuddy to convert the results into a MS Streets and Trips CSV file. 3. I imported that CSV file in Maps and Trips and then zoomed into my expected route. The nice thing about this is if we decide to take a different route after we leave, I still have all of the data in my laptop for reference. In addition to the .loc file, the pocket query also included a .prc file which I will download to my Palm Pilot. This will eliminate the need to print out a bunch of cache pages before I go. Thanks for the help guys. I'm looking forward to a better solution should one arise, but this is good enough for now. dyslexics of the world, untie. Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted January 27, 2003 Share Posted January 27, 2003 That's how I did it (and would do it again) Cache_Cows. The only problem is if you are going on a really extended trip (+500 miles). You might have to break up the queries into different days/regions. If we could somehow define parameters of Lat/Lon and get a rectangle instead of a radius, that would be perfect for this (and a lot easier to calculate from the database, I would expect). Going to fire off another e-mail to Elias/Jeremy and see that can be implemented. Markwell Chicago Geocaching Quote Link to comment
+lohroffc Posted January 27, 2003 Author Share Posted January 27, 2003 I actually did my pocket queries by state. I'm only driving through 3 or 4 states, so that worked out for me. I have discovered an interesting thing with PQ's. If you create a new one and select the current day of the week as one of the delivery days, you get the query response within a few minutes of submitting it. I was able to generate queries for Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia and get the results I needed within about 30 minutes. dyslexics of the world, untie. Quote Link to comment
+Markwell Posted January 27, 2003 Share Posted January 27, 2003 You must not have been driving through Illinois. We currently have 794 Geocaches in our lovely state, with more pending - and tons just waiting for temperatures above freezing. With the PQs max-ing out at 500, you'd have to do something like a north/south split and hope that you get everything in an overlapping pair of queries. Which brings a question to mind (I think it may have been answered previously): When you select criteria that would normally encompass 501 caches or more, the query tops at 500. How does it decide which caches to eliminate? Markwell Chicago Geocaching Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted January 27, 2003 Share Posted January 27, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Cachetrotters:While some features are nice to have when requesting a sort on a cache list, I think we could go too far. If someone is in such a big hurry that they need to find caches along a corridor of a route they plan to take that they can't do the "legwork/homework" themselves, then how in the world will they have time to go caching during their trip? How UNFUN this all sounds. Could've planned half the trip in the time it took to create the topic.... don I disagree. Late last week, I found out that I was going to be spending my weekend in sunny southern California. I had no time to adequately plan my trip. I downloaded some caches and was able to find about 20, but I did not have time to plan the caching adventure that I could have had. If there was an easy way to pull caches along a route, we all could have better last-minute adventures. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again. Quote Link to comment
+Web-ling Posted January 27, 2003 Share Posted January 27, 2003 I just look at the state maps and Buxley's maps, then select the ones closest to my route. Quote Link to comment
+lohroffc Posted February 1, 2003 Author Share Posted February 1, 2003 Well, I thought I tried this before posting the message, but apparently I didn't. I accidentally found the solution today. You can do with Streets and Trips. Import a list of caches and create your route. Then use the Find Nearby Places search. Use the Search Along Route option and select the distance you want to include from the route. It works like a charm! VERY cool! I am planning a trip to Birmingham next weekend and I will have a list of all caches and Geodashing points within 1 mile of my route for some quite side trips. dyslexics of the world, untie. Quote Link to comment
+Man In The Wild Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Cache_Cows:You can do with Streets and Trips. Import a list of caches and create your route. Then use the Find Nearby Places search. Use the Search Along Route option and select the distance you want to include from the route. It works like a charm! VERY cool! I'm glad you found a way to make this work. I used something similar in past trips (only I went 5 miles out to give me more variety along the way--they were shorter trips probably.) ExpertGPS has a similar feature where it'll show you caches within a certain distance of your route. This worked a lot better when MapBlast worked better with Geocaching.com. Now I use pocket queries and my PDA to handle things a state at a time. Quote Link to comment
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