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GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife)


ClydeE

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Apologies if this has already been covered.

 

In my script, I bring in various files and then export my hitlist (all user flagged caches) to GPX. Then I use GPX to maplet to get that GPX into Mapopolis and put the GPX on my PDA.

 

I usually check a filter I've set up to identify new unfound, unflagged caches and click watch and user flag them. Then I re-export the hitlist. But it would be nice if this would happen automatically (watch and userflag all caches in a particular filter after the caches are loaded and before the hitlist export), so that my hitlist is always and automatically updated for these types of caches.

 

Is there already a way to do this in GSAK?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Cade

No, you currently cannot do this in a macro.

 

The new global replace option will go along way to making this easier for you.

 

However, updates to the macro language in version 4.3 should make this possible.

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Alright this might be a stupid question, but I'm having a heck of a time getting my Vista to show the waypoints. I updated the software from Garmin so I know that the USB to Serial adapter is working, and it also sent a single waypoint to the Vista, but since then I have had no luck getting it to do it again, I get alot of DLE error messages, so I reinsert the data cable then send the waypoints again. It says that it did send them and everything is OK, but when I goto Find, waypoints, by name, the screen is blank (I deleted everything in the directory just in case it was creating names that were already there) I just plain can't get it to work for me. Everyone else seems to have no trouble so I know I'm just doing something wrong. HELP!!!

 

Thanks from a newbie in advance.

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One feature I'd like to see is the ability to sort by the number of logs. On the main database screen, there could be a column for "Logs" (and alternatively "Finds," "DNFs," "Other) which would display the number of logs for that cache in your database.

 

As I've been keeping a database for a couple of months now, and I know other folks have been doing it for much longer, some of the caches in my database have 10, 12, or more logs. Eventually, some caches will likely have 30, 40, or more logs. It'd be interesting to see this number.

 

Jamie

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One feature I'd like to see is the ability to sort by the number of logs. On the main database screen, there could be a column for "Logs" (and alternatively "Finds," "DNFs," "Other) which would display the number of logs for that cache in your database.

 

As I've been keeping a database for a couple of months now, and I know other folks have been doing it for much longer, some of the caches in my database have 10, 12, or more logs. Eventually, some caches will likely have 30, 40, or more logs. It'd be interesting to see this number.

 

Jamie

Added to "the list"

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Here's one for you...How can you find say 500 caches around a certain point? If that is not a feature possibly add it to the list. The reason is that I can only fit 500 waypoints in the gps and I would like to load them from around a certain point such as a city or set of coords or zip etc...

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Here's one for you...How can you find say 500 caches around a certain point? If that is not a feature possibly add it to the list. The reason is that I can only fit 500 waypoints in the gps and I would like to load them from around a certain point such as a city or set of coords or zip etc...

Fist set your centre point.

 

Then, just sort on distance (click on the kms/miles column) then when you send to your GPS enter from 1 to 500 in the appropriate boxes before clicking on the send button.

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Can't get WP's to upload to my yellow Etrex. I've set GSAK up for it, but no go. Is there something I'm missing?

We really need more information.

 

What error message are you getting?

 

Have you tried with other software (EasyGPS) to rule out hardware problems?

 

Do you have a PDA with hotsync software? (must disable)

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Can't get WP's to upload to my yellow Etrex. I've set GSAK up for it, but no go. Is there something I'm missing?

We really need more information.

 

What error message are you getting?

 

Have you tried with other software (EasyGPS) to rule out hardware problems?

 

Do you have a PDA with hotsync software? (must disable)

1st time to try and upload WP's to a Garmin for me. Found out that the connection from cable to unit sucks. :o

 

Thanks for quick response tho. :)

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ClydE,

 

I have some questions regarding filters. I want to make sure I understand the differences between an Arc/Line filter and a Points filter.

 

With an Arc/Line filter each waypoint is connected using a straight line and caches that fall within the distance of that line are selected, right? Assuming that's correct the more waypoints you have the better.

 

With a Points filter each waypoint is treated individually and caches within the proximity of that waypoint are selected, right? Assuming that is correct the it would be possible using a Points filter to select caches from multiple geographic locations. For example if I have caches from Georgia and South Carolina in my database I could set a point for downtown Savannah and select all caches in that area and another point in Myrtle Beach and select caches in that area in the same filter.

 

Hopefully I understand them correctly :o

 

Zack

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ClydE,

 

I have some questions regarding filters. I want to make sure I understand the differences between an Arc/Line filter and a Points filter.

 

With an Arc/Line filter each waypoint is connected using a straight line and caches that fall within the distance of that line are selected, right? Assuming that's correct the more waypoints you have the better.

 

With a Points filter each waypoint is treated individually and caches within the proximity of that waypoint are selected, right? Assuming that is correct the it would be possible using a Points filter to select caches from multiple geographic locations. For example if I have caches from Georgia and South Carolina in my database I could set a point for downtown Savannah and select all caches in that area and another point in Myrtle Beach and select caches in that area in the same filter.

 

Hopefully I understand them correctly :o

 

Zack

Zack,

 

Thanks for your post - I am sure others will benefit from it.

 

You have also pointed out the fact that the points filter is not just for highway exits

 

Your understanding is perfectly correct :)

Edited by ClydeE
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Is there a way to filter using multiple separate polygons at once? For example, I have a list of all Washington State caches in my database and a shapefile containing all Washington State Parks. I can convert the shapefile into a single text file defining the borders of all of the parks and would like to be able to filter using it to find all caches located within the State Parks system. Is this possible? Since there are 114 State Parks in Washington, doing each one individually is a bit of a pain!

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That's it. I can't stand it anymore, I'm registering. After 3 weeks of using this I find it invaluable.

 

How do you seasoned users find the best way to use GSAK with other software?

 

Let me put out there a way of working I find really effective;

Note: this doesn't stricly require a geocaching.com membership but it PocketQueries are the way to go so I'll describe using that method

 

-First I run 4 or 5 pocket queries around my area where I'm even remotely likely to be. 10-15 mile circles around a position seem to work well for me. I use MapSource to get a lat long and ranges by clicking on the map. You can do this with a variety of different software.

 

-Next, import them all into a single database on GSAK, the load folder function is VERY handy as is the ability to choose .ZIP files as targets. Add any solved puzzle waypoints, etc. If you have a Palm device, buy CacheMate for $8 and export them all into this, don't even mess with the ebook idea.

 

-Then Export the whole lot to MapSource - this will show you ALL the results on a map, other tools will work too. It will really show you what you areas don't want included.

 

-Wow, well there are a lot of these I don't need - so setup a fanny-tastic GSAK filter, get rid of the founds, the archived, the 4.0-5.0 treks, and the KEY to me is the ARC/POLY tab on your filter settings page. This is still a pain for me since the routes, and waypoint formats which Mapsource produces aren't directly readable by GSAK, but you know, do it once and remember to SAVE the filter. It's a godsend.

 

- Export to MapSource again and see that you're getting the caches you want and not the ones you don't. Load up that GPS.

 

Now the great thing is all new information is very very easy to regularly update.

 

Rerun the pocket queries, and upload to GSAK, pull down that filter you saved. And you can get a very very tight list of caches which fit what you're realistically going to use. For me that means downloading 50 waypoints not 800 to my GPS. It means that my maps are uncluttered. Removing clutter this way also means that you can add back some more possible caches further away from your home base.

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Is there a way to filter using multiple separate polygons at once? For example, I have a list of all Washington State caches in my database and a shapefile containing all Washington State Parks. I can convert the shapefile into a single text file defining the borders of all of the parks and would like to be able to filter using it to find all caches located within the State Parks system. Is this possible? Since there are 114 State Parks in Washington, doing each one individually is a bit of a pain!

I'm guessing this is a tad outside the scope of GSAK, but a suitably determined person can do it with GPSBabel, a little bit of scripting, and "enough" host computer power. Two options come to mind: looping through the set of polyline and building a honkin huge invocation that would be a poster child for the new 'stack' filter.

 

For the first, break each park into a polygon file then pass it through each one in succession. For the second, The second is (matter of scale aside) almost a verbatum example in the 'STACK' section of http://www.gpsbabel.org/readme.html

 

Now with that said, I'll confess I'd be tempted to pre-process it. Compute a crude geographic center of each park. Note the approximate radius (rounding large) of your largest. For each submitted cache, bounce it through the radius filter with a value larger than your largest park to return just the list of parks that it MAY be in. Now you'll have substantially less than all 114 to compare. (The poly filter - esp. if you've done no smoothing on the boundries - can be pretty slow on large data sets.)

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Wow, well there are a lot of these I don't need - so setup a fanny-tastic GSAK filter, get rid of the founds, the archived, the 4.0-5.0 treks, and the KEY to me is the ARC/POLY tab on your filter settings page. This is still a pain for me since the routes, and waypoint formats which Mapsource produces aren't directly readable by GSAK, but you know, do it once and remember to SAVE the filter. It's a godsend.

 

Yes, GSAK does support the routes and waypoints from Mapsource (though must be in MPS format and not the new GDB format). Just use the "Load from file" button when in the arc/line filter.

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I'm guessing this is a tad outside the scope of GSAK, but a suitably determined person can do it with GPSBabel, a little bit of scripting, and "enough" host computer power.

I guess I'll stick to using ArcGIS for this then. I can export the caches in my database into a shapefile and clip this against the State Parks shapefile relatively quickly. The main drawback to doing that is that I don't have the option to output a Pocket Query, but the list should be small enough to manually create. Thanks!

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Is there a way to filter using multiple separate polygons at once?  For example, I have a list of all Washington State caches in my database and a shapefile containing all Washington State Parks.  I can convert the shapefile into a single text file defining the borders of all of the parks and would like to be able to filter using it to find all caches located within the State Parks system.  Is this possible?  Since there are 114 State Parks in Washington, doing each one individually is a bit of a pain!

I'm guessing this is a tad outside the scope of GSAK, but a suitably determined person can do it with GPSBabel, a little bit of scripting, and "enough" host computer power. Two options come to mind: looping through the set of polyline and building a honkin huge invocation that would be a poster child for the new 'stack' filter.

 

For the first, break each park into a polygon file then pass it through each one in succession. For the second, The second is (matter of scale aside) almost a verbatum example in the 'STACK' section of http://www.gpsbabel.org/readme.html

 

Now with that said, I'll confess I'd be tempted to pre-process it. Compute a crude geographic center of each park. Note the approximate radius (rounding large) of your largest. For each submitted cache, bounce it through the radius filter with a value larger than your largest park to return just the list of parks that it MAY be in. Now you'll have substantially less than all 114 to compare. (The poly filter - esp. if you've done no smoothing on the boundries - can be pretty slow on large data sets.)

Actually beleive it or not it works! It would work better if GSAK didn't check to make sure that the end point matches the begin point.

 

I found this out by accident when using the County Shape files available from the Babel site. Many of them include multiple polygons when there are islands or for counties split by a body of water.

 

I did have to add one point at the end to make the end match the beginning so that GSAK would accept it.

 

If I could make a suggestion, how about giving the user a chance to overide that error? I beleive as long as all the polygons are closed it should work.

Edited by Right Wing Wacko
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Is there a way to filter using multiple separate polygons at once?  For example, I have a list of all Washington State caches in my database and a shapefile containing all Washington State Parks.  I can convert the shapefile into a single text file defining the borders of all of the parks and would like to be able to filter using it to find all caches located within the State Parks system.  Is this possible?  Since there are 114 State Parks in Washington, doing each one individually is a bit of a pain!

I'm guessing this is a tad outside the scope of GSAK, but a suitably determined person can do it with GPSBabel, a little bit of scripting, and "enough" host computer power. Two options come to mind: looping through the set of polyline and building a honkin huge invocation that would be a poster child for the new 'stack' filter.

 

For the first, break each park into a polygon file then pass it through each one in succession. For the second, The second is (matter of scale aside) almost a verbatum example in the 'STACK' section of http://www.gpsbabel.org/readme.html

 

Now with that said, I'll confess I'd be tempted to pre-process it. Compute a crude geographic center of each park. Note the approximate radius (rounding large) of your largest. For each submitted cache, bounce it through the radius filter with a value larger than your largest park to return just the list of parks that it MAY be in. Now you'll have substantially less than all 114 to compare. (The poly filter - esp. if you've done no smoothing on the boundries - can be pretty slow on large data sets.)

Actually beleive it or not it works! It would work better if GSAK didn't check to make sure that the end point matches the begin point.

 

I found this out by accident when using the County Shape files available from the Babel site. Many of them include multiple polygons when there are islands or for counties split by a body of water.

 

I did have to add one point at the end to make the end match the beginning so that GSAK would accept it.

I experimented initially to see if it would work and I got definite "errors" - i.e., it included hundreds of caches that were clearly not in the State Parks. It seemed like it included everything that would be incorporated if you connected the state parks to one another as one big polygon. I'm guessing that this behavior is not so apparent when you are talking a county which is relatively compact in terms of the locations of its "parts", or in which cases the included areas contain mostly water where there are few if any stray caches.

 

Anyway, this is getting off topic! :laughing:

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Yes there are two ways to indicate the caches have been found by you.

 

1. After logging your founds at geocaching.com do the exact same Pocket query as before and when you get the GPX file from GC.com, load into the same database. All your finds will then be automatically updated.

 

2. Some users don't want to wait until they get the GPX file from gc.com (they could be on the road or only log finds once per week). In such cases you can log your find manually:

 

First make sure you have the found column visible in the grid display (if not add it via Tools=>Options=>Display)

 

Now just mouse click in the found box for the caches you want to update as found. When you do this GSAK updates the status of the cache to found, and the Found by me date to the current date. If you don't want the found by me date to be the current date, then double mouse click in the found box and GSAK will open up the edit screen with a calander you can select the date from.

OK, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I actually like to keep separate databases for "found" and "not found'. Can I copy the waypoint info from "not found" to "found" - I can't seem to figure out a way to do this. It's the only thing I have any issue with right now - otherwise, I'm loving your program - well worth the $$.

 

Thanks,

Gayle

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OK, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I actually like to keep separate databases for "found" and "not found'. Can I copy the waypoint info from "not found" to "found" - I can't seem to figure out a way to do this.

No, you are not crazy, :laughing: and you are not the only one who does this.

 

The bad news is that you can't automatically do it.

 

The good news is that:

 

1. There is a work around for you right now.

2. The feature will be added in the next release (4.3)

 

The work around is to first export your waypoint(s) to a GPX file (File=>Export=>GPX) then load load that GPX file (File=>Open) into the other database.

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If I may answer this one for Clyde in my role as Chief Babel-Head...

 

I can recall only two folks that have tried it with Quest. Neither succeeded. One reported enough debugging information that I basically know how to make it work but am awaiting a loaner/eval unit, funding to buy one, or the stepping forward of a programmer type that's willing to do the work with ready access to the hardware. Alternately, I could *probably* develop/debug it remotely if you were able to attach one to, say, a Linux system that I could ssh/telnet into. This is how the Foretracker/Forerunner support was done; someone put in a fresh set of batteries, cabled it up, and let me ssh to his box for the development/test cycle.

 

Someone has said they'll loan me a 2610 (2620?) in Early/Mid Dec. That work may or may not help Quest.

 

As with the 60C/76C/VistaC work, I'll pony up the programmer time to sling the bits if there's enough interest to help get the hardware in my hands, even on loan...

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No, you are not crazy, :o  and you are not the only one who does this.

 

The bad news is that you can't automatically do it.

 

The good news is that:

 

1. There is a work around for you right now.

2. The feature will be added in the next release (4.3)

Thanks! Some would argue that I am indeed crazy :rolleyes: (and I might not argue back :rolleyes: ), but it's good to know that it's not because of this!

 

Thanks for the tip on the work-around, I'll try it out this morning (sounds straightforward), and even MORE thanks for thinking of a fix for the next version. I have only been using GSAK for just over a month and I can't tell you how pleased I am.

 

GSAK has allowed me to get rid of alot of extraneous programs and to streamline processes in my paperless world. This will also tun out to be great for my father who has all the hardware for going paperless, but no software yet. I'm supposed to "help" him when I visit at T'giving. This will be the perfect solution since it's one-stop shopping (it would have been WAAAAAY too confusing for him to do it the way that I used to do it before getting GSAK, and he would have given up and told me that it's easier for him to print pages and manually type in waypoints :laughing:). So I'll be registering a copy for him soon, and getting him started. I think he'll actually be able to handle it this way!

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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Yes, GSAK does support the routes and waypoints from Mapsource (though must be in MPS format and not the new GDB format). Just use the "Load from file" button when in the arc/line filter.

 

Tried it, it works.

 

Can I get an Amen!

 

Now it's easy and WYSIWYG to have the most ridiculous looking polygon inclusions added to your filters. Oh man. :laughing:

 

-t-

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Fist set your centre point.

 

Then, just sort on distance (click on the kms/miles column) then when you send to your GPS enter from 1 to 500 in the appropriate boxes before clicking on the send button.

Can this handy feature be added to the Magellan SD card export function?

I will add this one to "the list" - but there is a work around.

 

Firstly make sure your waypoints are in the correct order that you want (That is, just click on the column heading of your required sorting sequence. Then:

 

1. Clear all user flags (F7)

2. Set user flags for next 500 (Userflags=>Set for next nn records)

3. Set filter on user flag = set

4. Export to Magellan SD card

 

Might seem a little long winded, but don't forget you could also set this up as a macro, then all you would need to do is File=>Macro (Or Ctrl-M) to run it.

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I have enjoyed learning how to use GSAK v 4.2.1 build 18. It is a powerful tool. I am planning to use it on our next vacation trip. I have developed routes in Mapsource 6.3 (arcs) for our trip and can get a filtered list along the lines. Great, no more paper. From GPX pocket queries I made 6 individual state databases. To make things easier I made a single database of 6 states with 3800 records. I then d/l the filtered points (all 121 of them from 4 states) to my GPS V. I wanted to export this same list to to a Mapsource MPS files so we could look at the location on the "big screen". GSAK creates a mps file but I get a not a valid mapsource file and cannot be opened error message when I try to import this file.

I can create LOC and GPX export files that can be opened in ExpertGPS. But even a mps file created in ExpertGPS via the GSAK file returns the same error.

 

I use the same symbols as I download, have %code in waypoint name, 10 max characters and %name in cache description after the defaults did not work.

 

The funny thing is if I only use the database for one state, the mps file export works. So I could run the same filter through all 6 states.

 

I could also work around this by uploading the filtered files from the GPS V back to mapsource.

 

Any ideas?

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What is the correct way to get GSAK to see that a cache was found and also update the geocaching.com?

 

I was hoping for some way that I could plug my 76c and bring in all found caches over the USB, and it would automatically update the GSAK database, and then update geocaching.com as well.

 

Can someone please fill me in on the "optimal" procedure? Or is it all manual?

 

Thanks,

 

TheHFamily

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I wanted to export this same list to to a Mapsource MPS files so we could look at the location on the "big screen".  GSAK creates a mps file but I get a not a valid mapsource file and cannot be opened error message when I try to import this file.

 

Any ideas?

The "not a valid file" is not very helpful is it?

 

However, in just about all cases (other than an actually corrupted file) I have seen this error message is because there are duplicate waypoint names in the generated file.

 

How can this happen?

 

An example of how this could occur is if you use something like %des or %name for the waypoint name and have maximum characters set to 10

 

This means that if the first 10 characters of the waypoint description are the same you will have duplicate waypoints and that is the error you get when you feed MapSource a file with duplicates.

 

You must use at least one %tag that will yield a unique waypoint name (%code, %smart, %drop2 all give unique names). please see "Using special tags" in the help file or online here

Edited by ClydeE
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What is the correct way to get GSAK to see that a cache was found and also update the geocaching.com?

 

I was hoping for some way that I could plug my 76c and bring in all found caches over the USB, and it would automatically update the GSAK database, and then update geocaching.com as well.

 

Can someone please fill me in on the "optimal" procedure? Or is it all manual?

 

Thanks,

 

TheHFamily

To update the found status please read this post a little while back in this thread.

 

Currently Geoacching.com do not allow for any automatic update - you have to log in and do this manually (one by one)

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What is the correct way to get GSAK to see that a cache was found and also update the geocaching.com? 

 

I was hoping for some way that I could plug my 76c and bring in all found caches over the USB, and it would automatically update the GSAK database, and then update geocaching.com as well.

 

Can someone please fill me in on the "optimal" procedure?  Or is it all manual?

 

Thanks,

 

TheHFamily

To update the found status please read this post a little while back in this thread.

 

Currently Geoacching.com do not allow for any automatic update - you have to log in and do this manually (one by one)

Thanks for the quick response -- as always. Do you live on this forum? :unsure:

 

As a side question based on your answer: Can you save off pocket queries? In other words, I make a pocket query, download via GSAK and MapSource, then go out find a bunch of the caches, update geocaching.com, then is my pocket query still there? Or do I need to recreate it? It seems based on your answer that it would be a lot easier if the pocket query still existed. I am not a premium member yet, that is why I am still a bit clueless on the pocket query..

 

Thanks,

 

TheHFamily

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Well, If you are getting the pocket Querys automatically generated at a set schedule and you don't mind waiting, the next GPX file will update your "found" list.

Example- let's say I set a pocket query to give me all the caches within a 50 mile radius of my home. I set it up to be delivered to me daily. Now let's say I get my paocket query, update GSAK with it and see that there is a new cache near my house. I run out and find the cache ( hopefully an FTF :unsure: ) and come home and log my find on GC.com. The next day's pocket query ( assuming I log my find before it generates) will update my "found" collum assuming I've set up GSAK properly.

If it was a cache off of a "one time only" pocket query ( Ie. I'm going out of town for the day and just wanted to find caches in the area I was visiting) you will have to start GSK and update the found list yourself.

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As a side question based on your answer: Can you save off pocket queries? In other words, I make a pocket query, download via GSAK and MapSource, then go out find a bunch of the caches, update geocaching.com, then is my pocket query still there? Or do I need to recreate it? It seems based on your answer that it would be a lot easier if the pocket query still existed. I am not a premium member yet, that is why I am still a bit clueless on the pocket query..

 

The pocket query does still exist.

 

However the "pocket query" is really just a static file that is now sitting on your computer. You can load it again, but it will just load the same stale information again.

 

If you want the lastest information with all your new finds (and other new information like other peoples found logs) you will need to reg generate the pocket query.

 

However, Groundspeak do make this fairly easy so you can elect to have that pocket query automaticlly sent to you every day if you want this. Many users just opt to get their pocket queries only once a week though.

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OK. Maybe a stupid question. GSAK does such a better all around job than MapSource at just about everything. The one thing I find I am doing that actually requires MapSource is to look at the locations of the geocaches on a map. With all the powerful things it does, this does seem to be the singular glaring omission. So I have to ask... has anyone asked for this as an enhancement?

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OK. Maybe a stupid question. GSAK does such a better all around job than MapSource at just about everything. The one thing I find I am doing that actually requires MapSource is to look at the locations of the geocaches on a map. With all the powerful things it does, this does seem to be the singular glaring omission. So I have to ask... has anyone asked for this as an enhancement?

MapSource is not the only program that does mapping - there is a lot of competition in this area. OziExplorer would actually be my preference for a mapping program and GSAK has very strong links with this program (automating things like saying "show me this cache in OziExplorer")

 

For a one man band such as myself to get into the mapping side of things, well I just can't justify it. It would take a huge amount of my time and resources - plus there are so many mapping programs out there that already provide this functionality. This would mean very little time would be spent on the actual geocaching side of the program - but this is where I feel users want the most support/features.

 

However, don't forget GSAK does make good use of the free mapping resources on the Internet to show your caches on a map. Just right click on a cache, then select any of the mapping resources from the custom URL option. You can also add your own custom URLs if you have some pet Internet mapping program you like to use.

Edited by ClydeE
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"Blah" was replaced shortly after with the most recent release with

 

- fatal("blah");

+ GPS_Serial_Error("SetupDiEnumDeviceInterfaces");

+ warning("Is the unit powered up and connected?");

 

I considered also making it ask if you had the Garmin drivers successfully installed; if Mapsource or Trip & Waypoint manager won't talk to it, neither can we.

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ClydeE

 

Thanks for the quick response to my export to Mapsource question. I switched to %smart and that fixed it.

 

I like the mapping links inside of GSAK, and use them often at home. I am going to use Mapsource while I am on the road away from the Internet and any "hot spots" I may come across. This also allows me to download detailed maps, since my GPS V only holds 19+mb and will not hold my entire trip.

 

The way ExpertGPS "stiches" the maps together and saves them offline combined with the filtering, offline powers and Geocaching specifics of GSAK would be an awesome combination.

 

Thanks for a great program and excellent support!

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OK. Maybe a stupid question. GSAK does such a better all around job than MapSource at just about everything. The one thing I find I am doing that actually requires MapSource is to look at the locations of the geocaches on a map. With all the powerful things it does, this does seem to be the singular glaring omission. So I have to ask... has anyone asked for this as an enhancement?

MapSource is not the only program that does mapping - there is a lot of competition in this area. OziExplorer would actually be my preference for a mapping program and GSAK has very strong links with this program (automating things like saying "show me this cache in OziExplorer")

 

For a one man band such as myself to get into the mapping side of things, well I just can't justify it. It would take a huge amount of my time and resources - plus there are so many mapping programs out there that already provide this functionality. This would mean very little time would be spent on the actual geocaching side of the program - but this is where I feel users want the most support/features.

 

However, don't forget GSAK does make good use of the free mapping resources on the Internet to show your caches on a map. Just right click on a cache, then select any of the mapping resources from the custom URL option. You can also add your own custom URLs if you have some pet Internet mapping program you like to use.

I understand you not wanting to take away from what you feel is most important. It is a decision every developer has to make, and I have no problem with sticking to a philosophy, and perhaps reviewing it now and again to be sure it is still the right decision.

 

The right click thing works for mapping a single cache. What I really use the map most for is to visualize where the caches are. Just looking at the list and the distance sort give me an idea where any single caches is, but I may have two that are 5 miles from home, but 10 miles from each other. Sure the direction helps, but putting symbols on a map is just easier.

 

I did notice the arc / point filters for looking at a list based on a route, etc, and that is close to what I use the visual thing for, but somehow I stick to the "picture is worth a thousand words" attitude and I like the map.

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain your philosophy on the issue. It helps.

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For those that like free mapping (Topo, Photo) of single points, you can add this to your GSAK HTML list (Tools->Options..HTML)

TerraViewer=http://www.yvanovich.com/geocaching/?coord1=%lat %lon

It uses marky's TerraViewer interface to the terra server and will work with any cache selected in GSAK. I've been testing it for a day and I like it better than TopoZone now;

it's faster

it let's me customize the map size, download and print easily.

it let's me add other points to the map (and control the icon)

it let's me switch to photos.

 

Needless to say you can customize that HTML description to have the viewer do what you want - looks like image width, height, type (topo, photo,color), p (pin type), and center all can be specified.

 

for multiple points;

On the other thread I mentioned how I plot several cache locations pretty simply using GSAK print preview and marky's bookmark javascript link to terra viewer. It's pretty cool. And it's all free (except you're gonna buy GSAK, right?)

Edited by twilliams
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twilliams it should be noted that that link doesn't seem to include any views for any Canadian located caches, and I suspect nothing outside of the USA. It did however give some nice views of caches in the US that I tried to just see how they would work.

 

What? People are living outside the United States? Why doesn't anyone tell us these things. Sheesh.

 

I think you can actually get thin regions of Canada along the border, but yes it sucks that a lot of the mapping sites seem to be very slow in adopting other countries. TopoZone seems to have the same problem (USGS source maps)

 

But the brightside is that they eventually get it. Look MapQuest can now give you door to door driving directions between Salzburg and Paris! Slowly but surely.. Sorry I didn't even think of that limitation in my original post.

 

-t-

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was there something wrong with the gsak download page the other day? i tried to download and each time it got near the end my systm went into terminal shock and i ended up with a screen that had multi coloured lines on it. the only thing i could then do was shut down. was it my system or gsak or not??

 

please tell me it was gsak or it's going to be costly!!

system works fine apart from that prob.

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was there something wrong with the gsak download page the other day? i tried to download and each time it got near the end my systm went into terminal shock and i ended up with a screen that had multi coloured lines on it. the only thing i could then do was shut down. was it my system or gsak or not??

 

please tell me it was gsak or it's going to be costly!!

system works fine apart from that prob.

To my knowledge the GSAK site has been up and running fine of late.

 

I have no other reports of kind of problem.

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I think you can actually get thin regions of Canada along the border, but yes it sucks that a lot of the mapping sites seem to be very slow in adopting other countries.  TopoZone seems to have the same problem (USGS source maps)

Don't blame us! We've had a standing offer for nearly five years now to provide free TopoZone coverage of Canada. All the Canadian government has to do is provide topographic maps to us under terms and conditions comparable to the ones the USGS provides.

 

In the US, Federal government publications are in the public domain, and (after paying the USGS for them) we're free to do whatever we want with the US topo maps. In Canada the topographic maps carry a crown copyright and Natural Resources Canada wants to be paid a license fee every time we display a map for free. That's a darn quick way to run yourself out of business.

 

The US is unusual in having such a policy concerning its topo maps; that's why you don't see Canadian or other topos on TopoZone or on other mapping sites.

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