PDA Mapping

[Guest Byron]

I recently purchased my first PDA, Palm m105. I'm looking for PDA software recommendations that might enhance my geocaching? Note I only have 8 meg of memory and it is not a wireless unit. Thanks.

Happy Geocaching

[Guest dan_edwards_1966]

ion http://forums.Groundspeak.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000500.html If you do a search on AvantGo you will get many others.

 

A better solution at the moment is "blscearce"'s striped down web pages by zip code or location. Instead of being 200K for 25 caches, it's 37K for 100 caches. Not only that but he includes the Hint as a separate link, so if you need the hint, just click the link and there it is. You can find out more here...

http://www.pathetique.com/geocaching/expl.html

 

Hope that gets you started.

 

Dan Edwards

[Guest TresOkies]

Avantgo is easily the most useful tool for me for geocaching. I use a PHP script similar to blsearce's that compiles an index of caches around a zip code.

 

I also use a program called JunglePort. JunglePort is a map, yellow pages, and travel directory in one. The client app is pretty large (350K) and so is the data (~500K per city), so you _need_ an 8MB device. You visit their web site, create one or more "safaris", and Hotsync them to your Palm via a custom conduit. It's pretty cool. I don't have any commercial mapping software for the Palm, but JunglePort works in a pinch when I don't have my GPSR with me.

 

There is also a neat hack that copies text, does the ROT13 decryption for the cheats, and pastes it into the notepad. I don't remember it's name, but look in the old forum topics for discussions about Palm.

 

Welcome to Palm OS. As a Palm employee, let me be the first to thank you for not buying a PocketPC

 

-E

 

 

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N35°32.981 W98°34.631

[Guest bunkerdave]

I am not that good with computers, but here's what I do know:

 

I haven't had a ton of luck with Avantgo for Geocaching, although others swear by it. If you are like me, you might do the old copy/paste of the geocache data into your memo pad on your palm. I have over 300 caches in mine, and I have a category for found caches and not found caches. I just move each cache over as I find it.

 

One nice thing about this is that my GPS map screen shows the GC---- notation, but no cache names. When I do a "nearest waypoint" search, or one comes up on the map close to my position, I can just do a search in my memo pad for that waypoint name, and if it is in there, it finds it for me. Then I know which cache it is, and all the hints.

 

DEFINITELY get the hint decoder. There is a thread for it, so you can find that easily. Sure, using hints might seem like cheating to some, but when you do decide to use it, it's nice not to have to sit there for 10 minutes (wasting precious hunting time) decoding the hint.

 

Another nice thing about this is that when you meet another cacher with a Palm OS PDA, you can do them the favor (as I have many times) of beaming the whole database to their palm, saving them lots of work.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Olar]

I know absolutely zip about PDA's so this may be a stupid question. Can you download a Mapsource map to the Palm mainly for storage purposes and then to your GPSR when necessary?

I've been thinking of getting a lap-top but a good Palm would be a lot less $$.

Thanks, Olar

[Guest blscearce]

quote:

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Originally posted by Olar:

Can you download a Mapsource map to the Palm mainly for storage purposes and then to your GPSR when necessary?

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No. MapSource maps need the MapSource software to put maps into your GPSR.

 

But you don't need a laptop to use MapSource, either. A Wintel desktop computer will do. The maps are injected into your GPSR, and they stay there until you remove them. You don't have to do field updates.

 

Brian

[Guest embi]

Here is a Hint decoder link

 

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It's out there...let's go get it!

 

[This message has been edited by embi (edited 05 December 2001).]

[Guest Byron]

quote:

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Originally posted by embi:

Here is a Hint decoder link

 

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Thanks embi I Got it

[+rschoolf]

GeoClipping

 

Use this application to clip information from the cache pages at Geocaching.com, formatted for the MemoPad application of your Palm.

 

The cache information will be cleaned up, and formatted to read nice in MemoPad. The content will be truncated to 4k, so it will fit one memo.

 

License to use is hereby granted to the GeoCaching community, released to the public domain.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~rschoolf/geocaching.htm

[+VentureForth]

Looks like the title of this topic was "PDA Mapping".

 

I use Mapopolis. The program is free, but the maps aren't. You can get annual subscriptions between $15 and $45 depending on the level of detail and features you want.

 

All maps have a feature called "Maplets". It's tedious, and some day I hope they will integrate waypoints, but for now, I turn on the "Show Coordinates" in the options menu, zoom into the coordinates of a cache, and manually input the cache data.

 

Like I say, though, it IS tedious!

 

But the street maps on it are high quality, and the GPS enabling is well worth it.

 

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Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

[jfitzpat]

quote:

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Originally posted by VentureForth:

 

Like I say, though, it IS tedious!

 

But the street maps on it are high quality, and the GPS enabling is well worth it.

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For what it is worth, I've promised Daniel at our office that I will do a Palm version of his SkyEye (as well as add Magellan support to his program) as soon as I'm done with my current project.

 

SkyEye is PocketPC only, and Garmin only. The program is $10, but you can generate free topo and aerial maps directly at http://www.lostoutdoors.com (yes, I had inside information ).

 

The mapmaker at LostOutdoors will let you add markers, either by clicking on the maps or by entering coordinates - and those markers are transferred to the SkyEye map. (So you can seek on them, measure distance to them, etc.)

 

I guess I should have given the link above: http://www.etree.com is where you can download a 30-day trial of SkyEye.

 

-jjf

[rghermes]

Awesome thread on the use of Avantgo, Dan. I need to try that. I havent sync'ed with avantgo in a while and their website has completely changed. I need to figure it out!

 

"I am umbilically connected to the temperate zone. It's brought me life. It's brought me love, I never have outgrown"----J. Buffett