Info About Pocket Queries Please...

[+CuplaKiwis]

Well, after some :ahem: rather vocal opinions about premium membership in the past, I am now vaguely considering coming to the Dark Side.

 

Before taking the plunge, I 'd like to know a few things - there isn't a heck of a lot of information on GC.com about what you actually get...

 

1. I get the idea that the PQ returns cache information based on a specific set of criteria that you specify, ie location, found status, cache type yada yada. What else do you get? Descriptions? Hints? Logs?

 

2. If you get descriptions, how do you sort these? Do they come as a different file, or do you upload the lot to GSAK or similar and go from there?

 

3. Can I upload data to my Smartphone? I mean, I can already access GC.com and cache information online from my phone easily, but would be better (and cheaper) if I could do this offline.

 

To summarise: Ideal situation for me - I get my PQ, plug in the GPSr, upload all the waypoints. I then sync my Smartphone, which uploads all the desriptions etc to some kind of third party text viewer (or to my web browser, offline). I then am a happy paperless cacher!

 

Am I dreaming!?

[+Paul G0TLG]

You're not dreaming, that's exactly what PQs can do for you.

 

Every week when I get my PQ, I load the supplied file into Waypoint Workbench, which strips out all the intermediate points on multis and creates seperate GPS waypoints for them.

 

I then load the original PQ file into GSAK where it provides info on type of cache, last logged, type of last four logs (note, found / not found etc).

 

Obviously the above two are features of the software rather than the PQ, but the PQ is providing all the info the software needs to do these things.

 

Then I load the original PQ file into my PDA, where GPXView gives me a copy of the original cache page, with last four logs, hints, the works. The only thing I fdon't get is any pics that are on the cache page, but that's because the PDA isn't connecting to the net.

 

In short, PQs are capable of giving you exactly what you're after

[+CuplaKiwis]

OK, sounds great. Anyone know of Symbian60 software that will read PQ (presumably .gpx) files?

[+-Phoenix-]

Try looking at the output formats in GSAK, see if you can find one thats comatable with your Symbian Phone, I use CacheMate, which is great cos GSAK even sends the file to Hotsynch

[markandlynn]

Have a look at the guide on our webpage it shows screen dumps of the PQ generator, gsak etc. Remember to right click and save as. For a sample PQ check out our geohike Birthday in brewood which has some cut down PQ information in a download file.

[+Learned Gerbil]

fundementally, the Pocket Query system allows you to define a very flexible and specific search. This can be repeated at regular intervals automatically and mailed to you.

 

The result of the search is a GPX file that containes the same info as the cache pages themselves. Tools like GSAK then allow you to manage, convert, manipulate and whatever you want etc with that data. It is well worth the £1.90 or whatever it costs per month.