City Select Cache Autorouting

[+timmetro69]

I think I know the answer to this one, but I wanted to ask anyway:

 

I have a Legend C and I'm expecting City Select 6 to arrive any day now. If I have a City Select map loaded for an area that I have cache waypoints loaded for, can I select a cache and have the Legend C direct me to the location via the appropriate roadways (as opposed to the straight line you get w/o city select)?

 

I realize it may not get me all of the way to the cache, but I'd hope it gets me as close as is possible in a vehicle.

 

Am I way off here, or isn't this exactly what's supposed to happen?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[+horsegeeks]

I don't remember our Legend auto routing but our 60C does. I think only certain GPSrs auto route. I'm sure someone will reply soon with more details. Whoops missed the fact that it is a LegendC. Please disregard my reply

Edited August 31, 2004 by horsegeeks

[+Team DEMP]

My understanding from the Garmin page on your model is that it now does auto routing. Assuming you have City Select, yes it will route you where you want to go. Just select the cache waypoint, press Go to and select Fastest route. (or whatever the words displayed on your unit show).

 

Just be warned that with caches located in the middle of parks, it might not take you were you actually want to park, so sometimes so thought ahead of time, making a waypoint for the parking area for caches in MapSource and then uploading that waypoint too is helpful.

[+Night Stalker]

This is one of the best things about City Select and the new 60C or CS. I used to spend an awful lot of my time just trying to find my way to the jump off spot for a cache. Now with City Select and my new GPS I just do a find on a cache. It will ask me if I want to go by road or off-road (User setup to ask this question). If I say by road it starts the auto-routing program and starts me on my way. There have been a few times when the GPS has been mislead by the maps, but not very often so far, and it has saved me a lot of time.

[Neo_Geo]

When you get out of the car, recalculate the route for off road navigation. Otherwise the "Lock on Road" feature of autorouting will cause problems. If I'm not mistaken, if autorouting to a cache, the special geocaching mode will not activate? This was a problem with the 60s when they first came out - don't know if it's still a problem or if it was addressed in a firmware update...

 

Oh, and the cache has to be represented by the closed geocache icon.

[Neo_Geo]

I don't remember our Legend auto routing but our 60C does. I think only certain GPSrs auto route. I'm sure someone will reply soon with more details. Whoops missed the fact that it is a LegendC. Please disregard my reply

Legends won't autoroute, but the new color eTrex Legend® C will.

[+Oleg]

Actually I had many failures coming to a cache set as a destination point of a route. Few times I came to wrong side of a river, few times I had to climb up on steep hills with no paths. The way I use autorouting now is to locate a nearest parking spot first and then set it as an end point of a route. Not 100% working method, although it set to start position better while seaching for a cache.

[+Searching_ut]

In response to the original post, it should do exacly what you want. I've got the Vista C, and use an older version of metroguide which autoroutes and it will do exactly what you describe. It routes you on roads as close as it can, then jumps straight line from there to the cache. Just remember, the nearest spot isn't always the best place to park and may not be a good spot to approach from. Also, when you get out of the car, make sure you tell the unit to navigate you off road or it might behave a bit strangely until you get a fair bit away from the road.

 

As for the new color etrex units, for those who haven't played with them, operating system wise they are virtually identical to the 60C series, having all the same whistles and bells, just less memory. The display resolution is actually just a hair higher. I spent a big part of the last couple weeks teaching friend how to use his 60 CS. Having covered quite a few miles in the backcountry watching both units closely, I'd have to say that reception wise, the Vista C and 60CS are about a dead match. The new color etrexs are quite noticably more sensitive in the crud than the old eTrex's were. There is a downside to this however, as I've noticed over time that Vista C tracks show positional errors in the tracks when in the crud more than the older eTrex's did. Not quite as bad as the splits I'd come to expect from my sportraks, but noticably worse than my Legend, or what I've been getting with my Forerunner. (I've been comparing tracks in steep canyons, heavy treecover)

[+Muirwoody]

You have to be careful with autorouting and caches. I have looked for caches that happened to be near an interstate and the autoroute (on road) kept telling me to get on the interstate when I knew i shouldn't. Some times if a street backs up near the back side of a park where a cache is hidden the autoroute will send you to that street. It doesn't recognize the parks parking lot 1 mile from the cache. It thinks the neighborhood street is better and closer. These problems usually happen when I am out caching "cold" with no research beforehand. Has caused me lots of headaches!!

[+Team DEMP]

I *usually* add waypoints for many caches to indicate the parking area or park entrance and route to that, for reasons mentioned by others in the thread.

 

What really amazes me is for those without auto routing, how much time must be spent figuring out how to get from A to B. Some times, I have no idea where I am, but I don't care as the GPS will get me there (and home) without much thought (which is perfect for me )

[+Renegade Knight]

The cache location relative to the roads will impact how autorouting works. Addresses are along roads by defintion. Caches are not.

 

So a cache in a park butted agaisnt the interstate will route you to the interstate as the closes access point when the park parking lot is 0.28 miles away from the cache.

 

The answer is "Mostly" within the limitations of the autorouting software. Like someone pointed out, when you get close change your navigation mode to off road and it will work like a charm.