Caches Along A Route

[caverspencer]

 

We're looking for feedback, so have at it!

 

Maybe this has already been brought up since I have not read all the posts.

 

It would be nice to be able to set the distance from the route to something less than 1 mile. 1/10ths of a mile would be realy nice.

[+Ollivander]

First, let me say THANK YOU for this really nice feature. I played with it a bit and think it is fabulous. Of course, something a nice as this spawns even more ideas:

 

I agree with other posters that I would like to see ranges smaller than a mile.

 

There is one routing feature in GSAK that is very helpful in major highways - instead of doing a polyline filter, do a "poly-point" feature - i.e., caches that are within a specified distance of a number of points. This is handy for major highways because you could build a list of exits and rest stops and only search for caches near those. There are alot of caches that are within a mile of a highway, yet you may need to travel several miles from the nearest exit before you can get near the cache.

 

Again, thanks for this really great new feature!!

[+RebelJedi]

Never mind fiqured out problem. Thanks any way.

Edited June 23, 2006 by RebelJedi

[+MotorBug]

This is a teriffic feature!

 

I'm leaving next week on a 10 state, 5000 mile, month long trip. This will save me an enormous amount of time from creating detailed routes in Streets & Trips, many, many queries and a GSAK database of thousands. Thank you very much!

 

EDIT: OOPS! I posted a question here (now deleted) on my first query. I discovered I made the difficulty level 3 PLUS instead of 3 MINUS. Looks like you get what you ask for!

 

Thanks again!

Edited June 23, 2006 by MotorBug

[+geosync]

Re: Route Caching

 

Anyone having trouble uploading a GPX file from MapSource ? File appears after clicking upload but system will not allow you to save route or preview. Keeps popping up message to "save route" which is what can't be done. Using Mapsource 6.11.1 Interestingly, did the same thing yesterday with older mapsource version and it worked but only once. After that it did not work either.

[+Kaslo]

After uploading the .kmz, I get this:

 

 

There's your problem. .kml files only from GE

 

Duh!!! Yes, uploading the proper file type makes a world of difference! Now that I've done it properly, it actaully works! Go figure! Very cool feature! I generated a route from Opelousas LA to Houston TX with no probs.

 

Great work everyone!

[+5Tucks]

So far I think the new feature works very well. Thank you!! Thank you!!

 

I would like to see it expanded a bit to take other GPX files besides the one created from Google. I use MS Streets and Trips and then use the ST2GPX converter to change my file to a GPX. When I upload one of these files the process does not recognize any of the points in the file.

 

The reason for the S&T file is that I can make side trips in between the start and end point, Google maps doesn't let you select multiple point on a route (or at least I haven't figured out how to do it yet).

[+geosync]

Working now with Mapsource, must have been operator error on my part. Great feature !!! Really appreciated.....

[+StarBrand]

So far I think the new feature works very well. Thank you!! Thank you!!

 

I would like to see it expanded a bit to take other GPX files besides the one created from Google. I use MS Streets and Trips and then use the ST2GPX converter to change my file to a GPX. When I upload one of these files the process does not recognize any of the points in the file.

 

The reason for the S&T file is that I can make side trips in between the start and end point, Google maps doesn't let you select multiple point on a route (or at least I haven't figured out how to do it yet).

It works fine with S&T

 

Download the newest beta of GPS Babel and process the S&T file through that instead of st2gpx. Be sure to specify the output as GPX 1.1

[+alexrudd]

[...]From my understanding with the from and to search it geocodes the address or state or city/state and searches for routes begining or ending within a specified range of the coords the geocode returned. [...]

Is this true?

It doesn't sound like it, otherwise the website would support searching by addresses, right?

[+Markwell]

Have you looked at the Google Maps page? It's got a US Geocoding search on it...

[+MotorBug]

It works fine with S&T

 

Download the newest beta of GPS Babel and process the S&T file through that instead of st2gpx. Be sure to specify the output as GPX 1.1

 

Need some help with this. I can make it work fine with GE so I have the concept, but no luck with S&T.

 

I am using S&T 2006 which is not listed in the GPSBabel beta drop down menu, but it appears to convert okay. I have created a route with about 70 turns and selected Route, then selected GPX 1.1 in the output section.

 

However, it will not upload to the gc caching along a route site. No error message, just nothing.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

[+Cache Viking]

Wow and thanks. I just tried the GPX method for a trip from Columbus, Oh > Litchfield, MI > Saugatuck, MI > South Bend, IN. Total route length was 413 miles created with Garmin MapSource and saved out the four waypoints as a GPX. Using the max of 500 points and 5 miles of route I got about 250 points. Looking at the points when the PQ arrived they appear to be very adequate for my needs in a couple weeks.

[+N9PPA]

Can someone give me a 1,2,3 easy way to do this?

You mean like this?

 

THATS IT. I MISSED IT. THANKS

[+clan_Barron]

SWEEEEEEET!!!! Y'all did a great job. I'm on vacation right now and I was planning my route home for today. 3 minutes, a couple of easy clicks and only 1 PQ later (instead of 20 ) and I had all 413 caches along our 483 mile route home. Thanks!

[darwinmay]

It works fine with S&T

 

Download the newest beta of GPS Babel and process the S&T file through that instead of st2gpx. Be sure to specify the output as GPX 1.1

 

Need some help with this. I can make it work fine with GE so I have the concept, but no luck with S&T.

 

I am using S&T 2006 which is not listed in the GPSBabel beta drop down menu, but it appears to convert okay. I have created a route with about 70 turns and selected Route, then selected GPX 1.1 in the output section.

 

However, it will not upload to the gc caching along a route site. No error message, just nothing.

 

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Are you using the freeform tool to draw over your route?

 

I don't think msroute in the newest version of babel supports that. st2gpx does.

 

I've found a way to make this work.

 

Do everything in Streets and Trips, and draw over your route with the freeform tool. Make any corrections needed to the points laid out by the freeform tool. Run this file through st2gpx, then run the resulting gpx through gpsbabel with

gpsbabel -i gpx -f foo.gpx -o gpx,gpxver=1.1 -F foo2.gpx

You're not done yet, because you still have your start and end points. Edit this file with notepad (or nano, or gedit, or emacs, or whatever you use) and look a few lines down for something like this:

<rte>
 <name>Journey</name>
<src>Extracted from main Journey</src>
 <rtept lat="39.056774000" lon="-95.677490000">
<name>Topeka</name>
 </rtept>
 <rtept lat="37.042248000" lon="-100.922325000">
<name>Liberal</name>
 </rtept>
</rte>

Remove all that (you may have more, depending on whether you've included stops or not. Just remove the first <rte> tags and everything in them). If you don't, your route will also include these points with straight lines connecting them. In the example I gave, there would be, in addition to my route, a straight line from Topeka to Liberal, which goes all the way across the state. You don't want this, because that line will also be used to find caches.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Blue

Edited June 24, 2006 by BlueNinja

[+budd-rdc]

 

We're looking for feedback, so have at it!

 

Maybe this has already been brought up since I have not read all the posts.

 

It would be nice to be able to set the distance from the route to something less than 1 mile. 1/10ths of a mile would be realy nice.

 

Based on experience (driving through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, and of course California), 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile increments should work well, but no smaller. Many rest stop caches might be placed a bit farther than 0.1 mile from the highway. Keep in mind that the route itself will have some errors.

[+thedeadpirate]

You know, it pays to view the "Premium Member Features" tab every once in a while. I've been waiting for this feature for a long time now. It seems to work great. I'm still trying it out, but.... WOW!

[+Hynr]

You know, it pays to view the "Premium Member Features" tab every once in a while. I've been waiting for this feature for a long time now....

Curious...I don't see that on my screen. Where are you seeing the link?

[+thedeadpirate]

You know, it pays to view the "Premium Member Features" tab every once in a while. I've been waiting for this feature for a long time now....

Curious...I don't see that on my screen. Where are you seeing the link?

 

I'm sorry, it's just Member's Features, not Premium. But it does show premium features.

 

Anyway, try logging in and going to this address:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/my/subscription.aspx

 

I hope that link works.

[+The SuzyQs]

Ok, I was going to post about my route query that didn't work, but then I read some more and found that it was just too long. I will break it down into 500 mile legs and re-run it.

 

Thanks for all the work you guys are doing on this feature.

[+g-o-cashers]

I've been playing around with this feature for the past two days and I've been able to get this to work well with Google Earth's routes. When I base the route on a GE .kml file I get lots of intermediate points along a route and a nice well defined route. The problem with GE is that it's very hard to setup intermediate "via" points along the route to force the route to take a certain road. Since I have Mapsource and its relatively easy to do that in Mapsource I decide to try that approach.

 

However, when I use Mapsource (v6.11.1) and create a route using the route tool between two points I don't get the same level of detail with the route. The process I use to create the route is to select the two endpoints with the route tool and create the route. Then I "Save As" the file to a .gpx file and import that file. When I import the file into the Create User Route interface I can see that it only has two points (the endpoints) and no detail in between. This really doesn't work for a 200-300 mile route which zig-zags around a bit (take the endpoints of the Maine Turnpike (I-95) as an example).

 

If I look at the .gpx file produced by Mapsource it appears to be version 1.1. It contains two "rtept"'s which are the endpoints (see code below). Under the <extensions> section of the first <rtept> are what looks like the detailed route information, literally several hundred sets of coordinates (again see example below).

 

   <rtept lat="43.093259" lon="-70.765281">
  <time>2006-06-26T13:21:19Z</time>
  <name>I-95N</name>
  <cmt>I-95 N</cmt>
  <desc>I-95 N</desc>
  <sym>Waypoint</sym>
  <extensions>
	<gpxx:RoutePointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd">
	  <gpxx:Subclass>0100e9304c000d002f00ffffffffffffffff</gpxx:Subclass>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.093259" lon="-70.765281">
		<gpxx:Subclass>0100e9304c00449601002116000050068001</gpxx:Subclass>
	  </gpxx:rpt>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.093400" lon="-70.764999"/>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.098249" lon="-70.756288">
		<gpxx:Subclass>0100e9304c00449601001f0019003f315109</gpxx:Subclass>
	  </gpxx:rpt>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.098249" lon="-70.756288"/>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.098507" lon="-70.755858"/>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.100953" lon="-70.752211"/>
	  <gpxx:rpt lat="43.103786" lon="-70.748477"/>

   [hundreds of similar lines deleted]

  </extensions>
</rtept>

 

My question is this:

 

When you say this feature supports version 1.1 gpx files does it pull the detailed route information above or is only going to use the rtept's as points?

 

GO$Rs

[+pazooter]

Works great on a simple route. But high on my wish list is the ability to concatenate multiple routes into one PQ. Reason is that GE doesn't always plot the course as desired, so one must break it down into segments. Right now I'd have to run 5 PQs for my planned trip route through WA.

[+fo2gra4]

This function sounds great, I was wondering if it could be done. What I have been doing is picking places and then making multiple pocket queries that would cover my direction. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks again.

[Jeremy]

Works great on a simple route. But high on my wish list is the ability to concatenate multiple routes into one PQ. Reason is that GE doesn't always plot the course as desired, so one must break it down into segments. Right now I'd have to run 5 PQs for my planned trip route through WA.

 

As I understand it there will be an option to merge multiple routes that are uploaded in the same file. As long as they are in the proper order from start to finish it should work ok.

 

In the meantime if you are feeling frisky you can open the routes in notepad and using some proper cutting and pasting you can combine them all into one route.

[robertlipe]

If I look at the .gpx file produced by Mapsource it appears to be version 1.1. It contains two "rtept"'s which are the endpoints (see code below). Under the <extensions> section of the first <rtept> are what looks like the detailed route information, literally several hundred sets of coordinates (again see example below).

Well, isn't that special....

 

The interim routepoints you're showing aren't in the standardized gpx routepoint space; they're in the Garmin extensions to GPX. That, as you're now learning, interoperates poorly with other software. Interoperability, of course, was one of the main points of GPX, so it's unfortunate they did it this way...

 

One option is to add interim turns and stops as points in the route in Mapsource so they're really stored in the route. You can see an example of this (albeit with different s/w, the technique is the same) at http://www.gpsbabel.org/tips/arcmap.html

 

Another option is to bribe Raine to read the Garmin namespace (it looks pretty trivial) to get the high res routes.

[robertlipe]

In the meantime if you are feeling frisky you can open the routes in notepad and using some proper cutting and pasting you can combine them all into one route.

Or use programs to do the merge so that things like bounding boxes are preserved.

[+The Cheeseheads]

Works great on a simple route. But high on my wish list is the ability to concatenate multiple routes into one PQ. Reason is that GE doesn't always plot the course as desired, so one must break it down into segments. Right now I'd have to run 5 PQs for my planned trip route through WA.

 

As I understand it there will be an option to merge multiple routes that are uploaded in the same file. As long as they are in the proper order from start to finish it should work ok.

 

In the meantime if you are feeling frisky you can open the routes in notepad and using some proper cutting and pasting you can combine them all into one route.

Yep, and I can vouch that it works. This route is made up of 21 different segments to I could force it to follow along the road I wanted.

 

If you use Wordpad to look at the KML file that Google Earth generates, it looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<Document>
<name><i>"32 Mid"</i> to <i>"32 End"</i></name>
<open>1</open>
<Snippet maxLines="2">
<![CDATA[<font size=+1><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=45.6809220963%2C-88.952468803&daddr=46.1593819162%2C-89.2054962953&hl=en&ip=152.72.174.17&ie=utf-8">Printable view</a></font>]]>	</Snippet>
.
.
.
<Placemark>
	<name>Route</name>
	<open>1</open>
	<description><![CDATA[Distance: 45 mi (about 1 hour 5 mins)<br/>Map data ©2006 NAVTEQ™, Tele Atlas]]></description>
	<styleUrl>#roadStyle</styleUrl>
	<MultiGeometry>
		<LineString>
			<coordinates>
-88.95251,45.68128,0 -88.95289,45.68126,0 -88.95602,45.68111,0 -88.95667,45.68109,0 -88.95684,45.68110000000001,0 -88.95684,45.68110000000001,0 -88.95729,45.68111,0 
.
.
.
-89.20592000000001,46.14703,0 -89.20581,46.15025,0 -89.20581,46.15025,0 -89.20560000000002,46.15639,0 -89.20556999999999,46.15735,0 -89.2055,46.15938000000001,0 </coordinates>
		</LineString>
	</MultiGeometry>
</Placemark>
</Document>
</kml>

I made all the KML files numbered in order. I opened up the first one and resaved it with a new name. I then opened up the second file and copied everything between the <coordinates></coordinates> tags. I went back to the first file and scrolled down to the end of the coordinates section. The last set of coordinates, in this case, -89.2055,46.15938000000001,0, will be the same as the first set of coordinates in the second file. This should be the case if you used the same point to end the first segment and start the second segment.

 

Highlight over the last coordinate and paste in the data you copied from the second file. Note the format: longitude, latitude, zero, and a space.

 

Close the second segment file and open the third file. repeat the above until you are finished. Don't worry about altering the data above the coordinate tags. When you import the file into the route tool, it seems to be mostly ignored except for the name which you can change anyway.

 

I'm going to bet that either there's a piece of software out there that can do this automagically, or there will soon be one. Until then, this method works like a charm!

 

That said, it would be nice if you could append a route to an existing route right here in the tool.

[+Hynr]

Raine, Jeremy,

 

I am testing the facilty and much of it works great. I have a few suggestions that, I think, would add significant power to this tool. In the User Route PQ set-up tool:

1. I like the fact that the name of the PQ is the name of the Route before I edit the PQ name to be what I want. I don't think that after I edit the name, that the label in front of the editbox should still read "Route Name". That label should be "Route Pocket Query Name".
   
2. I cannot find anywhere on this tool where I can change the saved user route to which the PQ is linked. This seems like something that is needed. Perhaps this could be done with a drop-down list so users don't mess with the URL codes.
   
3. The max search distance on either side of the route of 5 miles is too small, especially in remote areas. Remove the limit (or set it to the 100 miles). The minimum distance of 1 km is not small enough for me. I routinely use 0.5 miles now.
   
4. Please make the search distance on either side of route a real number to be entered rather than an integer with a drop-down box. If you are afraid of decimal points/commas then just give us two additional alternatives for units: meters and feet. We need the ability to fine-tune the distance because for example: when you go from 1 mile to 2 miles you might exceed the 500 point limit, while nudging up to 1.2 miles might be OK.
   
5. It would be a great enhancement to allow us to specify whether we want the points within a distance all along the route or just around the node points of the route. This would be fantastic to allow us to use a list of interstate highway exits and only get points within some distance of the exits.
   

At the bottom of that screen you may want to review the "tips" to see which text is still needed and to identify text that will need to be added. Here are a few things that I think users will be looking for:

1. a link to the route creation page, perhaps to open that in a separate tab or window for "side-by-side editing/manipulation
   
2. since it will be very common that the user's selected max number of points will be exceeded, I suggest identifying how the returned list is composed and sorted. In fact, what IS the method? - I don't see the pattern. It is not distance from the start or end point; it does not seem to be by GCcode;... I can't figure it out and that is a problem since I have to break PQs into route segments and cannot tell where along the route I am maxing out. (I would suggest limiting by radial distance from the first point of the route).
   

I have no problem with the opinon (in the tips on that page) that "Less is more!" but it is opposite my observations as to what is good advice for setting up to cache along a route (which I do all the time). I have found that users who go on a trip will find that "Get every Traditional cache within a reasonable distance from your route!" is much better general advice. I have no problem coping with the 500 point limit (although I would prefer a 1000 cache limit), but I would encourage the development of some tools to help users who may be less savvy at dealing with this issue to cope with this limitation. For instance, after the user "submits" the page, it currently reads:

Thanks! Your query has been modified You can preview the search on the nearest cache page.

at the top. Why not calculate how many records meet the currently specified criteria and add the sentence:

If run now, then this PQ would return data for ___ geocaches.

I think you will find that including this calculation will save quite a bit of bandwidth because the use of this Route PQ creation tool will require a considerable amount of trial and error by the user.

[+Markwell]

Interesting.

 

The max search distance on either side of the route of 5 miles is too small, especially in remote areas. Remove the limit (or set it to the 100 miles). The minimum distance of 1 km is not small enough for me. I routinely use 0.5 miles now.

 

Holy cow. Living in cache-rich California, you can't see the problem? As it is now, people are killing the PQ machine with putting in 1,000 mile routes. Letting the caches be within 100 miles of the route is, IMHO overkill. That would mean that there would take you up to 3 hours off of your route, depending on the roads and the speed you drive. I don't think this can be considered "along the route". Increasing it to 10 miles as a possibility might be nice, but before I would make that suggestion, I'd want to know how quickly that would kill the machine.

 

If run now, then this PQ would return data for ___ geocaches.

That predicates a run of the results for every time you submit the query criteria. Sometimes I'm just changing the name of the PQ. I don't need to know how many are in the results.

 

I do agree that a change in wording on all PQs would be nice, but I'd rather see.

Thanks! Your query has been modified. You can preview the results by either clicking here or by going back to the pocket query list and clicking "preview" next to the query's name. This will show you how many caches would be returned, and give you the chance to download them as a LOC file. The GPX file will be sent to you via e-mail when you select a day of the week to run.

That would solve most of the user errors and questions I get in the Getting Started forum (and some that are e-mailed to me privately).

[+darus67]

It looks like the ability to preview a pocket query based on a route is broken right now.

 

I get the following when I try:

 

Server Error in '/' Application.

Column 'Latitude' does not belong to table Table.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

 

Exception Details: System.ArgumentException: Column 'Latitude' does not belong to table Table.

 

Source Error:

 

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

 

Stack Trace:

 

[ArgumentException: Column 'Latitude' does not belong to table Table.]

System.Data.DataRow.get_Item(String columnName) +121

Groundspeak.Web.PocketQueries.GeocacheQuery.BuildSqlQuery() +10372

Groundspeak.Web.PocketQueries.GeocacheQuery.ReturnResultList() +34

Geocaching.UI.geocaching_nearest.Location_PQLoaded(Object sender, EventArgs e) +386

Geocaching.LocationPanel.GetQueryParms() +4543

Geocaching.LocationPanel.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +108

System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +67

System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +35

System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +98

System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +98

System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +744

[+darus67]

If I try to preview a regular pocket query, it works fine.

 

Hopefully the route I just uploaded didn't break the system.

Edited June 27, 2006 by darus67

[+Raine]

You didn't.. I was making some adjustments about the time you were doing this.. try it again now.

 

-Raine

[+Kealia]

Umm.....you guys rock!

 

I'll echo the desire to drill down below 1 mile a well. Sometimes when the family is in the car, it's nice to be able to only have short jaunts off the road. I'd be happy with .5 and .25 options.

 

But again, overall - this is GREAT!

[+Markwell]

Of course, in the meantime - you can take the resulting GPX from the PQ and plug it in to Streets and Trips, and it will sort them by distance from the route...

[+darus67]

I may not have broken the system, but the route I uploaded doesn't seem to work right when run as a PQ.

 

I created a route that circumnavigates a largish lake here in MN. The start and end points of the route are nearly the same. The route displays correctly on the Google map, but when run as a PQ only finds the caches within the specified distance from the start/endpoint.

There should be a dozen or so caches within 5 miles of this route.

 

I made the route public, titled "Circumnavigate Mille Lacs"

[+MotorBug]

Of course, in the meantime - you can take the resulting GPX from the PQ and plug it in to Streets and Trips, and it will sort them by distance from the route...

It will? That would be useful. How is that accomplished?

 

BlueNinja provided a detailed process a couple of days ago for doing a route in S&T, but I'm still trying to figure that out. Prior to that I was making the route totally with waypoints instead of the freeform tool. Have to get back to his method..... a 4 week/ 5000 mile/10 state trip starts day after tomorrow!

[+Giga&Goochem]

I may not have broken the system, but the route I uploaded doesn't seem to work right when run as a PQ.

 

I created a route that circumnavigates a largish lake here in MN. The start and end points of the route are nearly the same. The route displays correctly on the Google map, but when run as a PQ only finds the caches within the specified distance from the start/endpoint.

There should be a dozen or so caches within 5 miles of this route.

 

I made the route public, titled "Circumnavigate Mille Lacs"

 

I have almost the same problem.

I made a route from Delfgauw, NL to Holwerd, NL and tried to make a PQ. But there is no cache near the route and I know there are a lot there.

 

I made the route also public, search Keyword: Delfgauw

[+darus67]

I may not have broken the system, but the route I uploaded doesn't seem to work right when run as a PQ.

 

 

Ok, so I've determined that the gpx routes I created using the GMapToGPX bookmarklet from www.elsewhere.org/GMapToGPX don't work. They seem to upload and display fine, but when run as a PQ, they only find caches around the endpoint of the route.

[+PMaholm]

Try it again now Darus, I was having the same problem but it seems to be fixed now.

[+darus67]

Try it again now Darus, I was having the same problem but it seems to be fixed now.

 

Yup. It works now.

I was worried that i was somehow creating bogus routes.

[+Markwell]

Of course, in the meantime - you can take the resulting GPX from the PQ and plug it in to Streets and Trips, and it will sort them by distance from the route...

It will? That would be useful. How is that accomplished?

 

BlueNinja provided a detailed process a couple of days ago for doing a route in S&T, but I'm still trying to figure that out. Prior to that I was making the route totally with waypoints instead of the freeform tool. Have to get back to his method..... a 4 week/ 5000 mile/10 state trip starts day after tomorrow!

 

Open the GPX file in GSAK

Export it to Street and Trips

Import it into Streets and Trips (not open, import)

Plan the route

Right click the route and "Find Nearby Places"

 

The panel on the left will show the caches within X distance from your route, and they'll be sorted by either name or distance.

[+Hynr]

The max search distance on either side of the route of 5 miles is too small, especially in remote areas. Remove the limit (or set it to the 100 miles). The minimum distance of 1 km is not small enough for me. I routinely use 0.5 miles now.

Holy cow. Living in cache-rich California, you can't see the problem? As it is now, people are killing the PQ machine with putting in 1,000 mile routes.

I think you exaggerate about "killing the machine". If anyone is able to kill the machine with numbers then something is wrong with the programming of the internal safeguards. From the elegant way in which this is clearly programmed, it is clear to me that Raine is aware of how to trick out this system for maximum capability without crashing or hanging when someone pushes it past reasonable limits.

 

I would agree that 100 miles is not useful most of the time for many (but not all) geocachers. (Note that this value is the default value for the radius of the traditional PQ radius and it is not killing anything at this point). My suggestion is to not set an upper limit. That way the tool can be used in settings where it is OK.

If run now, then this PQ would return data for ___ geocaches.

That predicates a run of the results for every time you submit the query criteria. Sometimes I'm just changing the name of the PQ. I don't need to know how many are in the results.

Good point. Maybe a button somewhere on the form that just returns a pop up with the information. It would sure save a lot of processing for the way I use the preview function to be able to have it return only that number.

[+Raine]

Ok Hynr, where do I send your payment for that 'elegant' sentence?

 

-Raine

[+Hynr]

No really. I mean it... I manage a group of scientists where we do quite a bit of programing of complex systems. So I know an elegant system when I see one. Tricking out systems (for performance or cool featurs) in elegant ways is the difference between just doing the job and having fun. I have the sense that you are having fun. Keep up the great work.

[+webscouter.]

Today I added routes for the major routes leading to Kansas City. Hope they help someone out.

[+HumveeDad]

 

I tried uploading a KML track (but this is one I downloaded off the Internet, NOT one I created myself, so that is probably the problem), and I got this error message:

 

Server Error in '/' Application.

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated ...

 

[i]I had this problem and it was because I edited the route in Google Earth, inadvertently leaving out the starting point. As soon as I put back the starting point it worked fine. (Hurry up PQ machine, as soon as my new query gets here I can leave work! "NO dear I’m still tied up at the office, I should be leaving soon...."

 

 

Who ever made this work deserves the Geocaching Technical Award for the year! This is absolutely incredible!

[/i][font=Tahoma][size=5]

[+geohiker55]

All right. One of the most popular requests ever has been to have a list of caches along a route. I've been in discussion with a mapping provider as a possible alternative, but maps can be verrry expensive. Cost prohibitive, in fact, so I've pretty much tossed that one out as an idea.

 

So I'm creating this topic in the hopes that we can have a technical discussion about how to ultimately create a feature everyone (including me) wants.

 

My first thought was using the arc filter capability available in GPSBabel and folks could submit their own arc files of possible trips. I could update the PQ Generator to run against those filters and return a list of caches based on your additional filters, like type and terrain.

 

The shotgun approach I'm working on is allowing you to do a degree range, and ultimately a region (upper left and lower right coordinates) but that is still a poor solution.

 

Thoughts welcome.

I love the new cache along a route feature, is there anyway to book mark the results or generate a goggle map showing the results of a new route??

Geohiker55

[+Raine]

Our next release will have the ability to map out a PQ's results to a google map.

 

-Raine

[+The Cheeseheads]

When you do a keyword search, I seem to be able to only do OR searches (by putting in commas as suggested). Is there a way to do AND searches as well to help narrow down the search results?