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Downloading Waypoints To Pda


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If it's the cache details you want to carry around on the PDA...

 

This is my method.

 

I subscribe to be a premium member as this gives me pocket queries. The search then gets sent to me in GPX format.

 

Upload this to GSAK (free software).

 

Refine the search in GSAK and export the results again a GPX format.

 

Copy this to the memory card of my Pocket PC PDA (you might be using palm PDA so the next bit might vary)

 

I use GPXsonar on the PDA (I gather many people use cachemate on the Palm) to read the details.

 

Sounds fussy when written out, but really simple once you have done it a few times.

 

I actually carry around a number of different searches from GSAK on the memory card for the various areas I am likely to be in. Choosing to load a small database covering the area I want is a lot faster than loading one large one.

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I do much the same as kbootb, but as I'm using a Palm the last part is slightly different. When I've used GSAK's filter (search) to get the caches I want, I then save them as a Cachemate (.pdb) file and then do a hotsync to send that to the Palm. Cachemate does the rest.

Edited by Bill D (wwh)
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I began to use Goetoad (http://geotoad.sourceforge.net/index.php), it seems to be quite interesting (although there is apparently some legal dispute between the authors and Groundspeak - I looked at Groundspeak's usage licence and am not sure why tjhis would be so... maybe because you can enjoy features otherwise only enjoyable by becoming a premium member??).

The user interface is good old character based, though - but this should not deter you. Great searche engine, with the option to output results in myriads of different formats. I use HTML, and load the HTML file into my SonyEricsson P800 (should work with any device that has a web browser and can browse local files...)

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Well, they don't offer a service. Geotoad is a program that you run yourself (against the geocaching.com website) in order to extract information. I am out of my depths of legal knowledge if this still falls under robot or scraper... but I agree it is an "automated means", as it runs on a computer! But so is my web browser...

Whatever the legal situation, a tool like this is extremely useful for geocachers, and probably more useful than the premium membership. This is hard for Groundspeak, I agree, but it is at least as hard for all geocachers if their hobby is completely at the mercy of a commercial organisation! Whjat if they decide to shut down their servers? What if they decide geocaching can only be done when you pay for it? After all, all caches have been placed by geocachers, and all information on the website has been supplied by geocachers... I cannot see much of intellectual property (as in content on their website) supplied by Groundspeak themselves...

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The license covers the use of the application used to generate queries and pages - and that application is interlectual property. Geotoad works by automating the running of database queries (just like you do every time you look at a cache page) but does so many times to provide you with the info you want. It then scrapes information from the HTML that is generated. It displayes to you the info it scrapes, but in doing so, it has forced Geocaching.com to generate loads more pages than you could have generated yourself without the iuse of automation.

 

That is why it is in breach of the terms of use. The terms of use are there to ensure everyone can have reasonable access to the info. If everyone was trying to scrape the entire country (as some idiots would try and do) it would bring GC.com crashing down. On the otherh and I see that Geotoad claims ot use some sort of P2P data sharing which would reduce the load, but does not get completly round the the fact that it automates queries and scrapes.

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I'm unclear as to why it's against the Groundspeak Terms of Use for the authors of GeoToad to make it available for downloading on Sourceforge. :huh:

 

Clearly anyone who runs the program is in violation of section 5 but that, like placing a cache without permission from the landowner, or lending a music CD to a friend to listen to, is surely up to the conscience of the individual cacher?

 

Is it illegal to provide people with the tools to commit copyright offences? I'm not saying that it isn't - I'm genuinely curious!

 

Looking at the GeoToad source code, it doesn't seem to use P2P as I understand the term. Looks more like a good old fashioned client-server setup to me. Nevertheless, it does mean that if just one idiot scrapes the entire country, all the other idiots get it "for free", with next to no load on the GC.com servers.

 

Perhaps the reason that it's referred to as "P2P" is a red herring to prevent GC.com from going after the owners of the central server which, like Google, is breaking section 3 of the TOU. I don't know if Thomas is a premium member but if so, like the author of GSAK, he has broken the Waypoint License Agreement.

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Who / where would that be? The ToU states that "You consent to jurisdiction of and venue in the courts in King County Washington, U.S.A. in all disputes". But I'd have thought that things start to get more complicated where multinational copyright lawsuits are concerned? Especially if it's relevant that the Swedish-written but internationally-hosted program is not itself in breach of the ToU, but any 3rd parties using it (possibly in a separate country altogether) would be!

 

Wonderfully messy stuff, law, isn't it?!

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Thanks ktoobp. I have just followed your instructions on GSAK and GPXsonar and all has worked well. I did also become a premium member just to do it. If I had all that info on my PDA this summer I could have done more caches. Another question. I now also have Memory Map sections on my PDA SD Card. Can I overlay these waypoints I have downloaded on to the map in PDA?

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