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GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)


ClydeE

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How about the ability to filter BMs against GCs within a giving distance? Say .1 mile or so. In other words, just show me the immediate BMs around a GC. Obviously it'd be CPU intensive and you'd only want to run specific times (like, uh, when you know you're planning to go after a handful of caches). Maybe even have it tied to the user-selected button.

Some great ideas, elmo-fried. I'd suggest we discuss this is some more detail over in the benchmark forum. Clyde has given me a good tip on using the states field for user-desired purposes.

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Clyde,

 

Not exactly a bug or anomaly, but one more nice tweak to the smartname convention would be to have the smartname use the same number as the original, ie zzzzzzzzzz73 = zzzz73 instead of zzzzi5. Very minor point, but something to put on the list if its not too much.

Shouldn't be too hard to do.

 

Would you be able to send me a GPX file that has said cahces so I can test this out.

 

I know I could just create a few myself, but I would rather have a look at "actual" cache names so I get a better understanding of how this should work.

 

Thanks

I will send one your way here shortly!

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Clyde

 

In some future version could you add file export to cetus and gpilots Palm PDB files.

 

Cetus in particular has added the ability to import cache data that includes full geocache descriptions and the hints as described in this forum post. It also supports sorting by distance with reference to the current location or one of the positions in the list. This almost replaces (but not really) the need for Plucker.

 

Currently these functions require the beta versions of both Cetus and GPSBabel so getting it on your "ToDo" for now would be great. I can become the "squeaky wheel" later if necessary <_<:D

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Ok really dumb question. I have a Legend now, and a Vista on the way. As long as they are both Garmins can I use the same cable to load waypoints from GSAK? <_<

 

Same difference, all the eTrex use the same cable. Gilsson lists their cable as compatible with "Compatible Garmin GPS Models eMap, Geko 201, Geko 301, eTrex, Camo, Venture, Mariner, Legend, Summit and Vista."

 

http://www.gilsson.com/page5.html

 

BTW, they've got really cheap Garmin-compatible cables and accessories. I've bought a bike mount (used on my motorcycle), windshield mount, and dual cigarette/data cable from them.

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Clyde,

Just to prove that I really do look at the help file, here is a minor spelling change.

In the Index "G"onfiguration , should be "C".

 

Thanks for all your hard work!

 

Gary

Edited by GLM
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Hi ClydeE.  Slight little problem.  Clicking on 'clear all user flags' will only clear one at a time.  I inadvertantly 'set all user flags' in my attempts to figure it out and now I have approx. 1500 to clear one by one.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Thanks, Olar

Never mind. Found a solution. Reversing the display order, decending to ascending, of flag column allowed me to clear all.

Whew! Had me worried there for a while.

 

Cheers, Olar

Olar,

Can you reproduce this. It sounds like a bug, and I would like to know how you got into this position in the first place.

 

When you click on "Clear all user flags" it should always clear every one. I have tried all sorts of combinations but can't reproduce this problem.

Ok I finally figured out how the problem occurs. Open GASK to your default database and click a user flag on half a dozen caches at random. Now click on the blue check mark icon at top of the user flag column so that all those caches checked are now at the top of the list. At this point trying to 'clear all flags' will only delete one at a time. Sorting the same list by waypoint name or distance from home etc. will now allow clearing all flags however.

I suppose it would be considered a bug and could be a problem for anyone using the flags extensively.

Hope that helps you ClydeE.

 

Cheers, Olar

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Ok I finally figured out how the problem occurs. Open GASK to your default database and click a user flag on half a dozen caches at random. Now click on the blue check mark icon at top of the user flag column so that all those caches checked are now at the top of the list. At this point trying to 'clear all flags' will only delete one at a time. Sorting the same list by waypoint name or distance from home etc. will now allow clearing all flags however.

I suppose it would be considered a bug and could be a problem for anyone using the flags extensively.

Hope that helps you ClydeE.

 

Cheers, Olar

Thanks Olar, that is exactly what I wanted to know.

 

I can reproduce the results here. Whatever fancy term I might like to use, it still boils down to the fact this is a definite bug.

 

Fixed in beta2 - out soon :blink:

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GSAK 3.00 Beta 2 is now ready for download. This version is mainly a bug fix to address issues reported in beta 1.

 

Changes in this release:

 

Fixed comma as decimal separator crashing edit/add of waypoint (my humble apologies to our European users)

Fixed mystery cache being updated as a multi cache.

Fixed "User Data" not being loaded from a GSAK generated GPX file

Fixed Filter "NONE" to behave as if you clicked the cancel filter button

Fixed error on smart name length - smart names must be set to at least 4 characters

Fixed Wisconsin-WI should be Wisconsin=WI in abbreviations. Note: must refresh abbreviations to see this.

Fixed Lockup on arc/line/poly filters for win95/98/me

Fixed problem if you inadvertently set your filter.cds file to read only

Fixed problem where data base was not being updated to version 3 if you selected the database when loading a new GPX file

Fixed a problem with the "Clear all user flags" option

Added option on filter to select "equal to", "not equal to" for state

Add option to html generation to list hints on same page (speeds up plucker by allowing depth to be set to 3 rather than 4)

Smart Names, now smarter, especially for waypoint names that contain numbers

 

Download here

 

Cheers

Clyde

Edited by ClydeE
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Still noticing that it takes for ever to send wp's from my receiver to the program.  Sending to the receiver works as fast as always.....

 

Depending on the receiver, the definition of "forever" and so on, this may be a perception problem.

Ok not forever but takes longer than I expected. Tried sending 104 wp's to Easygps and it took 42 seconds. It took guess how long in GSAK? 42.. :blink:

 

It's only 7 seconds sending to the receiver so I was thinking it would be somewhere in the same first time I did it. Not a big deal and with the two way transfers in GSAK that's all I could ask for. Besides all the other stuff... :bad:

 

Thanks Robert and Clyde

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GSAK 3.00 Beta 2 is now ready for download.

Changes in this release:

 

Fixed "User Data" not being loaded from a GSAK generated GPX file

 

Cheers

Clyde

Downloaded and installed Beta 2.

Went to my "Default" database, selected a couple of entries(Some with user data/some without) and marked with user flags, Filtered on User Flags, exported to a test GPX file. Then opened a new database and imported the gpx file.

 

The User Data never showed up in my new database. Double checked that I was running Beta 2.

 

Is there a checkbox I missed or something????

 

Gary

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Went to my "Default" database, selected a couple of entries(Some with user data/some without) and marked with user flags, Filtered on User Flags, exported to a test GPX file. Then opened a new database and imported the gpx file.

 

The User Data never showed up in my new database. Double checked that I was running Beta 2.

 

Is there a checkbox I missed or something????

 

Gary

I tried the exact same steps but couldn't duplicate the problem. All user data was intact.

 

Are you sure when you export the GPX file you are checking the "Include GSAK extra fields in export"?

 

Are you sure the data is not there (try reverse sorting in the user data column)?

 

If you still think there is a problem, please email the GSAK generated GPX file, and identify the records that should have user data in them.

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:blink: Bug: When exporting to HTML, the filename specified in the index.htm link for "Index by Distance from ..." is "Dist1.htm" but the file generated is "dist1.htm". While Windows may not care about case, when I upload it to a linux system it does care.

 

:lol: Feature request: I'm using the exporting to HTML option to easily show off what caches I've found (using the appropriate filter first). It'd be cool when exporting to HTML if the "Index by Found" could be toggled to be by the "Date Found By Me" data (in other words, so folks could see the order in which I found the caches).

 

Here's an example of what I'm doing (just edited the "Dist1.htm" link to be "dist1.htm" and nuked/edited some other text):

http://jason.roysdon.net/geocaching/found/ :lol:

 

Note that I added linkage to the GSAK text. :lol:

 

:bad: Bug: Same case problem as before for "archived.gif" vs. the file is "Archived.gif". For now I've solved this with:

$ ln -s Archived.gif archived.gif
$ ls -la *rchived.gif
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           12 Mar 19 04:42 archived.gif -> Archived.gif
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          232 Jan  5  2003 Archived.gif

My advice when it comes to case sensitivity and filenames is to just keep it all lower-case.

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Just a thought....

 

Double-clicking on the archived count on the status bar sets a filter to show only the archived caches. I never want to see this list. However I often want a list less the archived caches. Would it make sense to change the function from filter to show only archived to set filter to hide archived. I understand that this would make the "polarity" of this tool opposite to that of the found and not-found selectors, but for me, at least, it would be more useful that way. As it is now, one can double-click on the "not-founds" but then has to go to the filter page anyway to hide the archived/disabled. Or maybe I'm just overlooking something (again).

I think I missed this post, so sorry for the late reply.

 

I'm not convinced this is the logic everyone would like for this. I do think this could be very confusing as the behaviour would be so different to the others.

 

My suggestion here is to make up a filter that meets your requirements, then save it. You can then select and activate this filter right from the main screen without having to open the filter dialog and set it up all the time. Not quite as easy as the double click, but a close second.

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Went to my "Default" database, selected a couple of entries(Some with user data/some without) and marked with user flags, Filtered on User Flags, exported to a test GPX file.  Then opened a new database and imported the gpx file.

 

The User Data never showed up in my new database.  Double checked that I was running Beta 2.

 

Is there a checkbox I missed or something????

 

Gary

 

Are you sure when you export the GPX file you are checking the "Include GSAK extra fields in export"?

 

Clyde,

 

Eating crow now. Little tough, but isn't too bad.

 

I thought the include extra fields was associated with the export of loc files and not gpx. My BAD, as my son would say. I didn't realize that include notes, and extra fields boxes were associated with either loc or gpx.

 

Thanks,

 

Gary (spitting bones out now)

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We're wondering if there is a way to limit or add to the generated html pages that gsak produces... Some we're not interested in, and one we would miss that we have with spinner is "index by cache type". Does anyone know if this is possible?

 

With spinner you can customize the look by changing the templates right? Can't seem to find anything like that in gsak's folders..

 

Thanks for any help!

Team Flushingrouse

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Possible bug in the CacheMate export facility?

 

When attempting to export a CacheMate PDB file I have been getting the following errors -

 

Error sending Waypoints:

Parse error at line xyz:

not well formed (invalid token).

 

I've investigated this and it is caused by having an ampersand (&) character in the 'User Notes'.

 

I suppose this may be a GSAK bug or a command line CMconvert bug.

 

Edited to include missing word B)

Edited by Motley Crew
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Possible bug in the CacheMate export facility?

 

When attempting to export a CacheMate PDB file I have been getting the following errors -

 

Error sending Waypoints:

Parse error at line xyz:

not well formed (invalid token).

 

I've investigated this and it is caused by having an ampersand (&) character in the 'User Notes'.

 

I suppose this may be a GSAK bug or a command line CMconvert bug.

GSAK bug.

 

The correct syntax for the & in the generated GPX file should be &

 

I am surprised this has not been picked up before as the bug is not V3 related and would have existed since user notes were introduced. Also it applies to ALL programs that read GPX files.

 

However, GSAK does not choke on a GPX file that has a lone & inside the data, and I suspect other programs are also more forgiving than CMConvert.

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Possible bug in the CacheMate export facility?

 

When attempting to export a CacheMate PDB file I have been getting the following errors -

 

Error sending Waypoints:

Parse error at line xyz:

not well formed (invalid token).

 

I've investigated this and it is caused by having an ampersand (&) character in the 'User Notes'.

 

I suppose this may be a GSAK bug or a command line CMconvert bug.

GSAK bug.

 

The correct syntax for the & in the generated GPX file should be &

 

I am surprised this has not been picked up before as the bug is not V3 related and would have existed since user notes were introduced. Also it applies to ALL programs that read GPX files.

 

However, GSAK does not choke on a GPX file that has a lone & inside the data, and I suspect other programs are also more forgiving than CMConvert.

Hi Clyde

 

I've noticed this one for some while but was unsure what was causing it.

 

I initially suspected it was caused by some imported 'home edited' GPX files of my archived caches (not proper gc.com pq's). I didn't want to trouble you with what I thought was probably my bad manual editing of gpx files B) .

 

It was only today that I'd finally tracked the problem down to the '&'.

 

With hindsight perhaps I should've flagged this one earlier.

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I'll third that request as I have to "Babel" my waypoints to send them to Delorme Street Atlas 2004 Handheld. CacheMate and GSAK would be all that I have (or need) in my bag of tricks.

Thanks, this is what I like to see.

 

Users duplicating a post for a particular feature might seem like waste of resources. However, it does give me an indication that the said feature is in demand and will be used. (The squeaky wheel syndrome)

 

As GSAK grows, I really don't want to add esoteric features that very few people will use. It will just end up becoming bloat ware that will be too daunting or unfriendly to use.

 

My current policy: Unless obviously useful to most users, one off requests are unlikely to be added to the GSAK feature set.

Edited by ClydeE
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We're wondering if there is a way to limit or add to the generated html pages that gsak produces...  Some we're not interested in, and one we would miss that we have with spinner is "index by cache type".  Does anyone know if this is possible?

 

With spinner you can customize the look by changing the templates right?  Can't seem to find anything like that in gsak's folders..

No, not at the moment. It is currently a one shoe fits all operation. This is not to say it can't be done in a later release. Please see my comments on feature addiditons in my previous post here

Edited by ClydeE
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Thanks for the reply ClydeE! It's not that we're not using it because of that one issue... I've already dumped the rest of the other 1/2 dozen progs. we used to have to use...

 

We'd just like to say thanks for everything to this point... It must be really gratifying to create something like this that so many others are getting soo much use out of... It amazes us the amount of time you've put into this and how far it's come... We've been watching from the very beginning...

 

Thanks again!

 

Team Flushingrouse

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Hi all -

 

Currently using Version 3 Beta 2 - I've been unable to export Streets & Trips pushpins since I've upgraded to version 3.

 

Settings I'm using:

Waypoint name %Smart

Max Characters 6

Problem Characters blank

Cache Desc Format %Name

 

When I run the export, the file is always blank

 

Any ideas?

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Hmm. I am still able to get S&T csv file that import pushpins ok from v3Beta2. I even changed my parameters to duplicate yours.

 

Do you get output if you choose html or gpx/loc?

Sorry, I posted incorrectly. I'm trying to export Pocket Streets PSP file. I like to export the pushpins directly, so that I don't have to first import a CSV to Streets and Trips, resize maps (endlessly) so that I get the right size that will fit under the Pockets Streets file size limitations.

 

All I've needed to do in the past was to export the list in PSP format, rename the PSP file (if needed) so it matches the Pocket Streets map file name, and I was ready to go. I've not needed to export any maps from Streets and Trips to my pocket PC in quite some time.

 

My GPX exports work fine - no problems at all.

 

My PSP export of 300+ pushpins always has a file size of 1KB - when I open in notepad it only appears there is a header record. My filters are always set correctly before I export.

 

Burt

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My PSP export of 300+ pushpins always has a file size of 1KB - when I open in notepad it only appears there is a header record. My filters are always set correctly before I export.

 

Burt

Thanks Burt, you are doing nothing wrong.

 

I can duplicate the problem here too.

 

This is a bug that crept in on the V3 tree.

 

At this stage my plan is to leave Beta 2 out there for about a week before releasing the next beta, or more likely go final.

 

If you need a fix for this now, send ma a private email and I will build a preview release you can download.

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Feature request: I know we can drag and drop .ZIP files, but I'd like to be able to just open them from within GSAK so I don't have to navigate to the directory first with explorer.

Me, too. I really don't use drag and drop that often, it's just too much work. GSAK will already show the zip files in the file open dialog, but won't open them. I tried it after learning that GSAK will open zip files, but it didn't work that way, only drag and drop.

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Feature request: I know we can drag and drop .ZIP files, but I'd like to be able to just open them from within GSAK so I don't have to navigate to the directory first with explorer.

Me, too. I really don't use drag and drop that often, it's just too much work. GSAK will already show the zip files in the file open dialog, but won't open them. I tried it after learning that GSAK will open zip files, but it didn't work that way, only drag and drop.

Somewhere in this 12 page discussion thread is ClydeE's directions on the easiest drag-n-drop method. Perhaps you missed it. It describes the dragging of the zipped PQ file directly from your received email to the minimized GSAK icon on your task bar, holding for a second or two, and then dropping the gpx file on the GSAK screen.

Just to give you an idea how easy and fast it is I timed the dragging of my 5 weekly zipped PQ's directly from Outlook Express. It took 2 minutes and 15 seconds to drop in 1563 caches. It can't get much easier than that.

 

Cheers, Olar

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My PSP export of 300+ pushpins always has a file size of 1KB - when I open in notepad it only appears there is a header record.  My filters are always set correctly before I export.

 

Burt

Thanks Burt, you are doing nothing wrong.

 

I can duplicate the problem here too.

 

This is a bug that crept in on the V3 tree.

 

At this stage my plan is to leave Beta 2 out there for about a week before releasing the next beta, or more likely go final.

 

If you need a fix for this now, send ma a private email and I will build a preview release you can download.

Thanks Clyde - its a rainy weekend in Ohio... I can wait for Beta 3 :blink:

 

Thanks much for the program - it really is a great piece of work!

 

Burt :

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I upgraded to Beta 2 from the prev 2.03 (I think) release. I modified the default URL when viewing in online mode to add &decrypt=y to geocaching.com url so double clicking always did the decrypt of the hints.

 

Now it seems, though I modifed it in the HTML for geocaching.com, the default online view doesn't use it and I don't see a way to tell it to use the custom geocaching.com url for the default behavior of a double click.

 

Am I missing something or is it no longer possible? If it's not possible, I'd like to request that it somehow be added back. Maybe even making the default double-click execute a custom URL would be fine.

 

I'm loving the program though - no need for all the others I had loaded!!

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On Version 3.0 Beta 2, I can't seem to get more than 8 characters either in Mapsourse, NG Topo or when I download directly into my Garmin Vista. waypoint set for %smart and 10 set for max characters; Cache description format set for %typ (%Dif/%Ter) %By %name; problem character apostophe only '

 

Alan

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On Version 3.0 Beta 2, I can't seem to get more than 8 characters either in Mapsourse, NG Topo or when I download directly into my Garmin Vista.  waypoint set for %smart  and 10 set for max characters; Cache description format set for %typ (%Dif/%Ter) %By %name; problem character apostophe only '

 

Alan

try %smart=10 Hehe thanks Clyde

Edited by Volwrath
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On Version 3.0 Beta 2, I can't seem to get more than 8 characters either in Mapsourse, NG Topo or when I download directly into my Garmin Vista.  waypoint set for %smart  and 10 set for max characters; Cache description format set for %typ (%Dif/%Ter) %By %name; problem character apostophe only '

 

Alan

Yes, basically what Volwrath said.

 

This one does tend to keep coming up a lot. As the help file is not yet up to date, I really do urge everyone to at least read the release notes for version 3.

 

This is also covered fully here but I guess this thread does tend to move quickly, so I can understand if you missed it.

Edited by ClydeE
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My PSP export of 300+ pushpins always has a file size of 1KB - when I open in notepad it only appears there is a header record.  My filters are always set correctly before I export.

 

Burt

Thanks Burt, you are doing nothing wrong.

 

I can duplicate the problem here too.

 

This is a bug that crept in on the V3 tree.

 

At this stage my plan is to leave Beta 2 out there for about a week before releasing the next beta, or more likely go final.

 

If you need a fix for this now, send ma a private email and I will build a preview release you can download.

Thanks Clyde - its a rainy weekend in Ohio... I can wait for Beta 3 :blink:

 

Thanks much for the program - it really is a great piece of work!

 

Burt :

Of course if the rain does stop and you need to get out now, there is a work around.

 

1. Generate a filter of your required caches

2. Export to fugawi (this step needed to build the correct file for babel)

3. Open up the file babel.bat with a text editor (eg notepad will do). You will find this file in the install folder of GSAK

4. Replace the word "fugawi" to "psp" in the follwing line: gpsbabel -i xcsv,style=gsak.stl -f babel.txt -o fugawi -F "C:\temp\test.txt"

5. You will also want to change "c:\temp\test.txt" to your required .psp file

6. Run the file babel.bat (i.e. just double click in windows explorer)

 

Done :D

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I upgraded to Beta 2 from the prev 2.03 (I think) release. I modified the default URL when viewing in online mode to add &decrypt=y to geocaching.com url so double clicking always did the decrypt of the hints.

 

Now it seems, though I modifed it in the HTML for geocaching.com, the default online view doesn't use it and I don't see a way to tell it to use the custom geocaching.com url for the default behavior of a double click.

 

Am I missing something or is it no longer possible? If it's not possible, I'd like to request that it somehow be added back. Maybe even making the default double-click execute a custom URL would be fine.

 

I'm loving the program though - no need for all the others I had loaded!!

Each waypoint now has its own URL (which you can edit).

 

When you load a GPX file, it also contains a URL for that waypoint. This URL is automatically placed in the GSAK field and is used when you show a waypoint online, or double click on a waypoint (if that is your default action for double click)

This way, when you double click on a benchmarking waypoint you get the benchmark URL. When you double click on a cache you get the geocaching.com URL. When you double click on a user created waypoint you get that URL, and so on.

 

So in effect what you are asking is not possible (but, you can still get this result from the custom URL menu, just one more click away).

 

I could allow configuration to override this behaviour so that a custom URL is used regardless of what the waypoint URL is. However, it does worry me that this could be one of those changes that just adds confusion.

 

I think I would need more user feedback on this one to warrant the change.

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For those who are using USAphotomaps, and want to import waypoints into it:

  • As discussed previously, USAphotomaps won't import gpx files over a certain file size direct from GC.com
  • Therefore you need to trim them down to remove data that photomaps does not use
  • You can do this in GSAK by exporting your waypoints into a loc file - I used the tags to create a useful waypoint name. This drops most of the extra data
  • Start a new database in GSAK, and import the loc file
  • Export this as a GPX file (which is what photomaps wants). Set the waypoint name to %code as you have already changed the name.
  • Import into photomaps - I imported 1500 waypoints in with no problems (though photomaps may have a max number that I have exceeded - don't know about this)

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This URL is automatically placed in the GSAK field and is used when you show a waypoint online, or double click on a waypoint (<b>if that is your default action for double click</b>)

This way, when you double click on a benchmarking waypoint you get the benchmark URL. When you double click on a cache you get the geocaching.com URL. When you double click on a user created waypoint you get that URL, and so on.

 

Clyde I am probably missing something but where do we set our "default action for double click"? It used to be in the options dialogue box but it is no longer in this beta version.

 

Thanks, Olar

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Clyde I am probably missing something but where do we set our "default action for double click"? It used to be in the options dialogue box but it is no longer in this beta version.

 

Thanks, Olar

Must be old age creeping up with you :D

 

It is still there (Tools=>Options)

 

About the second item down that says "Default action when you double click...."

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Clyde I am probably missing something but where do we set our "default action for double click"?  It used to be in the options dialogue box but it is no longer in this beta version.

 

Thanks, Olar

Must be old age creeping up with you :D

 

It is still there (Tools=>Options)

 

About the second item down that says "Default action when you double click...."

Egads! Better get my bifocals checked. Now where did I put that cane of mine?

 

Thanks, Olar

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