Android Devices & GeoCache Mapping

[akhillbillies]

I'm not really sure how everyone else goes about caching, or planning where their going to go caching. It seems like I either target a specific cache, or I head in a general direction and look around as I go, trying to decide on a cache whose description fits into my current plans. For my GPSr I use a Garmin that receives both US and Russian satellite signals, its a nice unit, topo AK chip and all. For every other aspect, other than entering coordinates and following the arrow, I use an Android Device running the Locus Pro app. Locus is a GPS enabled mapping app, and with the addon app Geocaching4Locus, I have every single cache from Denali to Valdez thru to Seward and Homer in my phone. It downloads and stores basically all the information that is on the Geocaching.com website, including cache information, its listing to include its attributes, the last several logs, and the hint. I have every caches in the areas information downloaded and at my fingertips. Because we never really can plan where we will have the time to cache this app makes it easy. Say you just left a jobsite, your headed home, you want to grab your daily cache, but your not familiar with the area and your tired, you just fire up locus, enable the gps, and start scouting ahead of the car, at a click i can see its difficulty vs terrain rating, one click more and i see its winter friendly arrtibute and that the last few log entries were all smileys, if it looks good i switch to satellite map to look over GZ from above, if its still a go i look where the gps has us on the map and start navigating us for a driveby, if it still looks good we park, type the coordinates into the gps and hit the fetch button. I like the locus app so much i just spent $30 and got a chip that converts my nook color to an android device. The nook isnt gps enabled so i just got an app that tethers it to the gps signal from my android phone. As soon as i finish downloading caches it will be up and running. Not that i'll ever go caching everywhere i have the caches downloaded for, but its nice knowing i can head and direction i want and i already have all the info i need, currently on 3,746 individual caches. You can filter a search too, say you only want an easy png, set the filter to below 2,2 and the map will only show caches with a rating of 1/1 thru 2/2. If you want to target a specific rating like a 4/3.5 or the like it will just show caches with a 4/3.5 rating on the map...etc. I only know this app, theres probably several other comparable ones out there, and i am interested in hearing about them.

[SSO JOAT]

I used to do the two-device shuffle, but I was getting tired of the dance, not to mention the need to keep running current PQ's through a conversion and upload process to store the data in the non-GPS device. So, I upgraded to the Garmin 62stc and I haven't looked back.

Using GSAK, I download my PQ's (I have 6 of them setup to grab every cache in the state of Alaska) to GSAK where I have a few filters setup to whittle the 5500+ caches down to a chunk around the region I'm in and shave off the attributes or ratings that I don't want. I usually end up with a couple thousand for the SouthCentral region. A quick click to export GPX and I have a file with all the caches I might be interested in. Plug the GPS into the computer and drag that file over, just like copying something to a thumb drive. Now all the caches are in the GPS complete with the cache listing info that is contained in the GPX file.

On the road, every cache in the GPX file shows up on the map display. A quick cursor move and click on a cache box gives you the cache listing right on the GPS. The only thing missing from the listing is the attributes, which is why I use GSAK to filter by attribute prior to loading up the file to the GPS. Right now, I have GSAK stripping off all caches that have the "not winter accessible" attribute set. If you only want caches that the CO has tagged as winter accessible, the list will be much shorter (there are still a lot of people who don't set the cache attributes... Lord only knows why not), but you'll get a list of known winter accessible caches and none of the ones which are not.

And the best part is, I only have to carry 1 device to do it all. Greatest geocaching investment ever.