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Gsak And New Magellan Explorist 400, 500 & 600


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Wondering if anyone knows if GSAK supports new file formats for Explorist?

Grab the latest GPSBabel bete and drop it in the GSAK program directory. GSAK uses GPSBabel to write the Magellan SD Card stuff. The .gs geocaching file isn't supported directly by GSAK (yet), but I'm having no problems exporting the .upt waypoint files.

 

Right now I'm typically using GSAK to pick my 200 geocache waypoints and then I export a GPX file from GSAK, and use GPSBabel manually to convert it to .gs format for the geocache manager.

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Wondering if anyone knows if GSAK supports new file formats for Explorist?

Grab the latest GPSBabel bete and drop it in the GSAK program directory. GSAK uses GPSBabel to write the Magellan SD Card stuff. The .gs geocaching file isn't supported directly by GSAK (yet), but I'm having no problems exporting the .upt waypoint files.

 

Right now I'm typically using GSAK to pick my 200 geocache waypoints and then I export a GPX file from GSAK, and use GPSBabel manually to convert it to .gs format for the geocache manager.

I'm using the custom export in GSAK to write directly to the .gs file, although I think I have a beta version of gpsbabel that supports the maggeo option (.gs file) for output.

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No rocket science here, but thanks to the power of GSAK's macro capabilities, I've finally got what feels like a solution to the 200 POI limit on files in the eXplorist geocache POIs. The macro does what macros are best at: repeating a tedious task as long as you want it to. With it, I can upload 7 gs files with a single click. (This particular set took about 40 seconds to execute).

 

As described at the beginning of the macro, there is some one-time setup required. You would have to set up and save a filter based upon a strategically chosen centre point for each file you want on the GPS. You have to set a radius that limits the number of POIs in the filter, and I think it's a good idea not to crowd the 200 limit since new caches fitting the filter parameters could push you over the limit, resulting in not all the caches being included in the transfered file.

 

Then you have to save the settings for the export dialog to go with each filter (I'm not sure if that was necessary, but since I decided to save the uploaded file name in the export settings that was the way I went).

 

Since I live in a relatively rural setting surrounded by several cities--and most of the caches in my area are concentrated in the cities--I set up a series of filters for each of the cities such that they encircled my home coords. Then I set up on central filter for the close-to-home caches. It doesn't matter if they overlap, since you repopulate the files with the macro after removing found caches in GSAK.

 

# This rather simple macro sets a series of filters, loading

# each in turn into an Explorist GPS.  However, it takes some

# preparation.  For my filters, I entered coords for each

# city of interest in Tools/Options/Locations.  A filter was

# created and saved with each city as a centre point, and with

# a radius distance that allowed for less than 200 records

# (it's good to leave room for new caches to be added within

# existing settings).  Then, for each filter a setting was saved

# in the export dialog that would send the filtered records to

# the GPS in eXplorist .gs format.  The macro loads your filter

# and exports the POIs to the gps. 

#

# You may elect to name the destination file in the EXPORT command;

# I saved the file name with the export settings.

#

# Make sure your explorist is attached in data transfer mode before running this

# macro.

#

FILTER Name="GCAdams 22r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Adams"

#

FILTER Name="GCFrederick 10"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Frederick"

#

FILTER Name="GCHagerstown 13r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Hagerstown"

#

FILTER Name="GCHarrisburg 10r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Harrisburg"

#

FILTER Name="GCShippensburg 27r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Shippensburg"

#

FILTER Name="GCWestminster 20r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs Westminster"

#

FILTER Name="GCYork 14r"

EXPORT Type=MAGSD Settings="Explorist gs York"

 

My filter names include the radius miles. If I change the distances and the filter names, I'll have to edit the macro, too. That may not be a smart way to go.

 

Oh, and FWIW after running this macro I see that--for the first time--my 500 has stuck on the Communications screen and requires the battery to be removed or NAV + MENU + PWR to accomplish the same thing. :D

 

Edit: well, I ran the macro again without things getting stuck. Time will tell.

Edited by embra
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So I'm assuming the 10r or 22r is the mileage radius? Sounds like you're in MD or PA... Thanks for the tip. Always trying to look for a way to load mass data to my new eX600. I have a 1GB SD but it is pointless with a 200 cache limit. Oh well, maybe I'll dump the entire world map on there when I get the mapping software.

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You can also send 500 caches to the POI folder using GSAK. Just send using the SD card or new explorist upder export. This goes into the POI folder and not the Geocache folder. only drawback is you dont get all the detailed info as the geocache folder. in the POI you only get the first 200 caches listed with the detailed name,

 

smokey

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You can also send 500 caches to the POI folder using GSAK. Just send using the SD card or new explorist upder export. This goes into the POI folder and not the Geocache folder. only drawback is you dont get all the detailed info as the geocache folder. in the POI you only get the first 200 caches listed with the detailed name,

 

smokey

The coolest feature of geocache mode is the appropriate icons on the map. You don't get that with the POI files.

 

Of course I'd love to take it one step higher and get the appropriate found icons included with the not founds.

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