[Az-Geocaching] a better way!!

Wed Sep 28 08:31:22 MST 2005

I use Watcher, a FREE program for manipulating the .gpx files and prepping
them for transfer to CacheMate and eventual download to the PDA.  Watcher
allows you to look at GC, name, coords, difficulty, as well as see the
status of the last 5 finds by icon.  You can call pretty much all the
information up in smaller windows if you want cache page description, etc,
and the GC links directly to the gc.com page for the cache itself.  You can
filter by direction/distance (I believe on the latter), and difficulty as
well to tailor the results to suit your needs.  It saves the updated .gpx,
then CacheMate is used to convert it to a .pdb file for download to the PDA.

The choice to convert to paperless was easy.  One week, I printed over 40
pages of cache info to go out and find.  Another week I printed another 50.
Then I started looking for a way out of that, because it would get too
expensive too fast.  Now, I couldn't be happier.  Two pieces of electronic
equipment are my staples now, along with trinkets/water/talking sticks, but
all much less cumbersome than all that PLUS paper.

Brian

Team A.I.

  _____  

From: az-geocaching-bounces at listserv.azgeocaching.com
[mailto:az-geocaching-bounces at listserv.azgeocaching.com] On Behalf Of
AZcachemeister
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 6:50 AM
To: listserv at azgeocaching.com
Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] a better way!!

You will need to become a 'premium member' ($3/Month or $30/year) of
Geocaching.com to receive .gpx files either individually for each cache
page, or in groups via Pocket Queries. The .gpx file contains all the
information found on the first page of a cache listing, including the five
most recent logs. 

Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) is an awesome program, available for a 30
day free trial, and now $20 to register (still WAY worth the $20!)  With
GSAK you can sort, weed through, manipulate, view, arrange, and modify cache
listings into manageable groups for upload to your GPSr and/or PDA (you
could probably get a decent PDA off EBay for $25, or you could spend $350
for the latest model) .

For the PDA, you will need a copy of CacheMate (also has free trial,
currently $8 to register) to view the information uploaded from GSAK. Again,
you will have the co-ordinates, difficulty, owner comments, and the first
five finder logs as well as a space to record the date, time and your
comments for your find on the cache.

Once registered both GSAK and CacheMate include free upgrades for life. Both
developers are constantly improving their products to include user-requested
features.

No trees are killed in this process, but a bunch of electrons are highly
inconvenienced!
Cache On!

Azpaul1 wrote: 

Since you mentioned mapsource, I am assuming that you have and using a
Garmin gps unit. The only gps that I know off that lets you download all the
page info. is a Garmin I-Que.

Until just recently, I too used your method of entering waypoints and in the
last couple of months have, with some help of close friends, I have gone
paperless. The answer sounds very complicated, but once everything is set up
it is a snap to use.

First, I set up a series of pocket queries that I run weekly. I then load
them into a waypoint management database called GSAK (the best $8.00 I have
spent, I might add).

GSAK , allows me to load the waypoints into my 60C and the page info. into a
PDA.

Like I said earlier, it sounds complicated, but once everything is set up it
is a snap to use. With the PDA, I don't have to carry a clip board full of
printout's to rummage through for the info that I need and I can enter notes
about the cache I just found.

I hope this helps,

Paul aka "AZPAUL"

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Debbie <mailto:maillade at cox.net>  

To: az-geocaching at listserv.azgeocaching.com 

Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 9:02 PM

Subject: [Az-Geocaching] a better way!!

I haven't posted much but I have been lurking for a long time. I know there
has to be an easier way to have the caches in my gps with the info from the
pages. Right now I put them on my mapsource as waypoints and download them
into my gps when I am going somewhere. I also print out the page from the
website to take with me.

Can anybody tell me if there is an easier way to do it??

Hope this makes sense!!

Thanx

Maillade

  _____  

____________________________________________________________
Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv at azgeocaching.com
To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching

Arizona's Geocaching Resource
http://www.azgeocaching.com

  _____  

____________________________________________________________
Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv at azgeocaching.com
To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching

Arizona's Geocaching Resource
http://www.azgeocaching.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserv.sequoia.net/pipermail/az-geocaching/attachments/20050928/43ebd35d/attachment.htm