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New Pocket Query Page


byonke

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Wow! I love it.

 

The ability to create 20 PQs is a huge plus. This will allow PQs covering entire cross-country road trips to be created and queued to run 5 per day for four days. It also will help those people who sometimes don't receive a PQ because they set it to run every day and it gets too low in the queue. They can simply create identical PQs to be run on successive days.

 

Being able to run a PQ on-line will enable people to do quick and dirty searches for shorter stays. For instance, a while back I had to go to Boston, but I was only going to be there for a few hours. I could do a search on just micros and virts in the downtown area. (Did I mention that searching by size of container is a great bonus?) Since I would have a very limited time in the area, I would not get more than twenty, so I could just download a .loc file of the first 20.

 

The ability to auto-delete the search after running is terrific. This will allow me to keep my PQ list clean and current while planning for trips.

 

Kudos!

 

Now if I could only search by archived caches... Just kidding, sort of. :) I guess this makes the point that it is better for us not to know what's to come. :)

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It is a much nicer layout out and I think it is not as confusing.

 

I would only add two things:

 

1) Would it be possible to add a delete link on the page that lists the PQs? This way you don't have to access the PQ and then click the delete button from that page.

 

2) Do you all have any idea as to the percentage of people that request .loc or .gpx files? If more people are requesting .gpx it might be better to have that as the default selection.

 

Not bitching here just suggestions. I think overall it is a vast improvement.

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It looks as if everything that was asked for (and more) was added to the new PQ page.

You still can't select the number of cache logs you want included. As an esteemed caching friend noted...

 

Jan 6  Found from bills coords

Jan 5  Found from bills coords

Jan 4  Found from bills coords

Jan 3  Found from bills coords

Jan 2  Found from bills coords

Jan 1  Dude, your coords suck.  Found 670 feet away at...

 

No to mention that cache owners often want all logs to keep as a permanent record of their caches.

 

-Rick

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And if I can add two more things.

 

Would it be possible to add the country in front of each entry where states/provinces are selected? For example: USA:Alaska, Canada:British Columbia, etc. That way they could then be alpha order by country and then state. It might make some of them a little easier to find and select.

 

And if the radio button could change from all cache types to selected cache types if certain cache types are checked. Right now the default is all cache types and if you click say just traditional the all radio button stays selected and does not change to selected. My guess is that if one does not also change that radio button the query will go and select all and not just traditional. And making that change seems pretty easy to overlook.

 

Just a thought.

Edited by GrizzlyJohn
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Good work GC - I like the new look and functionality.

 

Some questions:

 

1. Do PQ's run on the search page go against your count?

2. Is the 5 queries/24 hours based on an individual time clock, or is it simply midnight to midnight Pacific time, or something else?

 

I can't wait for archive caches to show up so that I can get a PQ with all of my finds.

 

Thanks for all of your hard work,

 

Team Geo-Jedi

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One change that may clear up a little confusion: At first, I was a little reluctant to click the "Run" link on the query list page because I wasn't sure if it meant that I would be submitting that PQ to be emailed to me that day, when in fact it only brings up the preview as a list of caches. Especially since the text at the bottom of the same page states that,"...a maximum of 5 queries can be run each day." (emphasis mine) Maybe two different terms could be used to make it more clear what action I am about to preform, say a query is "Run" when it is generated and sent to me by email and "previewed" when it is viewed as a list of caches.

 

Also, I second GrizzlyJohn's suggestion that a delete link be added to the PQ list.

 

Overall, I love the changes! Very nice!

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I love the new interface as well. But I am continuing to have a problem with one of my queries. Every time I try to click on it do delete it, I get "Server Error in '/' Application". I've been trying for the least hour or so. However, when I click on any of the other queries I have, they immediately go to the query page. What's up with that?

 

I also second the nomination to be able to delete from the main query page as opposed to going to th query then deleting it.

 

Scott of Team GeoDillo

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Got to agree with everyone else....great stuff!

 

I especially like the grid approach for seeing which queries run on which days, and the Last Generated timestamp.

 

One thing that would be nice is to get a .gpx file (if it was chosen in the PQ) instead of a .loc file when you choose to run the query immediately.

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the turnaround time for the now PQ's seems supppppper fast, GREAT JOB Jeremy. A delete opion I agree would be great. Also if you make it more clear what the RUN button does that would be cool. I was hesatant to click it at first and use one of my pq's

Maybe the new feature should be called "Preview Pocket Query" instead of "Run Pocket Query". Running a PQ should send it through email as normal.

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New PQ's is great...

It would be nice if we could enter a nic-name on the query setup, and the files would be generated with that name. Be much easier to remember what file has what query.

i have a set of unix tools i use on my pq's when they arive. I run them via a shell script.

 

1) checks what fies exist

2) checks if an old pq exists and deletes it if neeeded

3) renames the pq's based on the predetermined numbers

4) makes sure the files renamed properly

5) converts the files for my gps.

 

all the while it gives a verbose log of what is happening

 

im on osX and it is fairly user specific BUT if someone is interested and has a little terminal experience I can send it to you and give some useful info for the conversion stuff and what is required and where.

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It is a much nicer layout out and I think it is not as confusing.

 

I would only add two things:

 

1) Would it be possible to add a delete link on the page that lists the PQs? This way you don't have to access the PQ and then click the delete button from that page.

 

2) Do you all have any idea as to the percentage of people that request .loc or .gpx files? If more people are requesting .gpx it might be better to have that as the default selection.

 

Not bitching here just suggestions. I think overall it is a vast improvement.

I really like the new layout and new features, too. ;) And 20 queries? I'm in hog heaven ... of course by next week, I'll have hoarded 20 queries that I can't live without, and I'll want MORE! :)

 

I'm hoping the delete function will be added as a checkbox, like those for waypoints you want to download, with a "delete selected queries" button down below. That would be the most streamlined way to handle it.

 

I would also be interested in knowing the percentage of .loc requests vs .gpx ... We are now using the extra information provided by the .gpx files, and educating our local cachers about them, as well. Geocachers who are also programmers have made it a VERY easy transition! :)

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WoW. It feels like Christmas. The one thing I always wanted when it came to PQs was the ability to DL them instantly. Now I can and that is awesome. No more cluttered email and PQs when I want them, not when they come in email at random times.

 

Thanks a ton.

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One thing that would be nice is to get a .gpx file (if it was chosen in the PQ) instead of a .loc file when you choose to run the query immediately.

I agree 100%

 

Is this something we will see in the future? I do have the format setup for .gpx but it spits out the .loc for the instant run.

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What does it mean if the "Last Generated" date next to a query is in bold? Three of my queries which I had set to run today have bold dates (ex 1/29/2004 12:57:56 PM), although I haven't received them yet. Does this mean that a query will be run or that it already has been run that day and I should have received it already?

Edited by DavidMac
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The new query page is a major step up! I really do like it.

 

A couple of suggestions to throw out:

 

- USA in the country list so only one query for all locationlesses. I don't do them anymore, but still it would be nice.

 

- Still don't see a way to get only those caches that have been updated and/or logged (not just found) in the last 7 days. I can only get the ones that have been updated or found. In other words, it's missing the ever important DNF and other logs.

 

On a side note and I'm sure you've already thought of it, but I'm going to throw it out to see if I get a response. Would presenting "canned" GPS files lower server load? I mean, run your own set of queries everyday and break them into states or regions and let client programs handle the rest. You could probably reduce server load considerably. They would still need to download, but would eliminate multiple queries of just about the same thing. Just a thought.

 

Kudos on the new PQ page.

 

CR

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I love the changes. As someone else stated, the site just keeps getting better all the time.

 

I have one request:

On the "By Coordinates" search option, it would be nice if our home coordinates showed up by default (If we have input them into our profile).

 

Keep up the good work.

RM

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I have one request:

On the "By Coordinates" search option, it would be nice if our home coordinates showed up by default (If we have input them into our profile).

Not sure how I feel about that one. Seems like the PQ centered on my home coords was a one shot deal. Set it and forget it. Every other PQ I've ever created after that has been centered on some location other then my home.

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It isn't an unreasonable request. It's probably better than defaulting to zero.

Certainly not unreasonable. Just not sure it's useful or not, or better then zeros, for that matter.

At least (for me) the zeros give an easy to read indication that the field is null. I might even suggest invalid characters like "x" or something might be better yet. This way, if the search by location is checked off and no coords are entered, the user can be kicked back to an error screen, rather then waste a query.

Or not.

On the other hand, I bet search from home coords is the single most popular PQ, so maybe default IS a good idea.

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