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POI
Sept 29, 2006 20:39:05 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Sept 29, 2006 20:39:05 GMT -9
I remember reading about someone using the Points of Interest (POI) software to load additional waypoints to a card. The limit of 500 waypoints on the eTrex may cause me to have to drag my laptop on a vacation just to add new caches to my GPS.
Anyone tried the POI software for adding waypoints to their memory cards?
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POI
Sept 29, 2006 21:09:39 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Sept 29, 2006 21:09:39 GMT -9
I remember reading about someone using the Points of Interest (POI) software to load additional waypoints to a card. The limit of 500 waypoints on the eTrex may cause me to have to drag my laptop on a vacation just to add new caches to my GPS. Anyone tried the POI software for adding waypoints to their memory cards? I use the Garmin Etrex Vista C "minus" the x. Question: The memory card in the "plus" x model is designed to only hold maps?
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POI
Sept 30, 2006 18:42:16 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Sept 30, 2006 18:42:16 GMT -9
Yes, seemingly Garmin has limited waypoints to the built in memory. You can save active routes and of course maps to the memory card, but not additional waypoints . I'd like to load about 1000 for a 3 state trip, not because I plan to do that many caches but because I'll have to select the ones that just happen to show up where we are.
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POI
Sept 30, 2006 19:19:37 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Sept 30, 2006 19:19:37 GMT -9
Yes, seemingly Garmin has limited waypoints to the built in memory. You can save active routes and of course maps to the memory card, but not additional waypoints . I'd like to load about 1000 for a 3 state trip, not because I plan to do that many caches but because I'll have to select the ones that just happen to show up where we are. I have the same problem when visiting large cities. For example, Phoenix, AZ has more the 500 caches in a 15 mile radius, and that’s just regular caches alone. So I just use my PDA, which has the caches already downloaded to it for paperless caching, look up the lat-lon and enter it manually into my Garmin. It’s the only way I know of.
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POI
Sept 30, 2006 19:41:52 GMT -9
Post by ladybugkids on Sept 30, 2006 19:41:52 GMT -9
I have a couple of suggestions that may or may not work for people's different situations that worked very well for me when I went to New England for a week in July. 1. Use the "new" caches along a route feature to build a series of pocket queries for the areas you'll be visiting. This feature is available only to "Premium" members (well worth $30/year). You'll also need to download Google Earth to generate the KML file the Pocket Query feature needs. I specified caches within two miles of my routes to keep the number of caches reasonable. 2. Upload the Pocket Queries from #1 above into Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) and set your filters according to the type of caches (regular, multi-, virtual, etc.) you are interested in as well as the terrain and difficulty level. I filtered on only regular and virtual caches that had four or more consecutive "Found Its" to enhance my chances of success. The above process let me filter down to a list of about 370 caches for a loop through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine which easily fit into my Magellan SporTrak that will hold a maximum of 500 waypoints. I've also been to Tucson and Phoenix since the geocaches along a route feature became available. I was able to filter those areas down to less than 300 caches within ten miles of my parents' place in Tucson and my brother's place in Phoenix and those caches along I-10 and the beltways around Phoenix. As an ultimate backup in case one deviates from one's predetermined routes, one can also do like New Yorker mentioned, and stuff every single cache into a PDA and do manual entry as necessary.
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POI
Oct 1, 2006 7:22:23 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Oct 1, 2006 7:22:23 GMT -9
Thanks LBK, In AK there was only one instance (mentioned before) that I ran into 500 waypoint max limit. Now that I’ll be traveling between AZ, AK, OK, & IL, I’ve been running queries on the cities I’ll be visiting in those states and running into the 500 waypoint limit. Taking your suggestions to include downloading Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) (don’t know why I didn’t before) I experimented with it last night (Great handy utility). I just have to fine-tune the queries and Problem solved! I hope this works for Cozimoto. Now if only I could just add ALL 317512 active caches into my GPS! ;D
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POI
Oct 1, 2006 9:08:41 GMT -9
Post by oleruns on Oct 1, 2006 9:08:41 GMT -9
First you have to know what kind of caching you want to do. I like to go to parks with a little hike and see the area plus parks that have a number of caches in them. So this last trip I went to Pittsburgh and my plan of attack was to go Settlers Cabin Park (Green Jeep) Plus it had I think five or six caches. Seems easy enough but two were multis and without local knowledge it took a lot of time. Another plan was the “Rails to Trails” caches. These are old railroads that have been turned into bike paths or other trails. The one in Pittsburgh had many roads that crossed the trails so it looked to be a way to get a bunch of caches and get my trail fix. Even though there were caches along the trail, you couldn’t get to them from the trail, so again I wasted a bunch of time with nothing to show for it in my caching stats. BUT, I DID SEE SOME GREAT COUNTRY ON THOSE TRAILS! So if you are looking to get a bunch of caches, you could look for parking lot caches like magnetic key holders on light pole micros. I did put three of those type caches on my list because they were close to trailheads. Two out of the three had hypodermic needles all over the area and I didn’t feel like digging around so I passed on those two. So I would suggest that you do some research and read the logs of caches on the way. Ladybug Kids is right, you can narrow it down with multiple finds in GSAK (I love it) and that will help avoid the gross caches.
I guess if you know your way around those towns, load up the GPS and go for it. If you don’t know your way around those areas, you should do some research by reading logs would be my advice.
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POI
Oct 1, 2006 19:37:00 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Oct 1, 2006 19:37:00 GMT -9
I think I was making the process too hard. I ran several pocket queries, renamed the GPX files to something recognizable (i.e. Orlando +30 miles) and dropped them all in a folder named POI. I then attached my eTrex (Cx version) and pointed the POI software to that folder. I successfully dropped 1000+ geocache waypoints onto the memory card from the 4 pocket query GPX files in that folder. I have yet to see them on the GPSr screen unless I select a "MAP" or "GO TO" but the POI software did let me set up proximity alarms. Not perfect, but I'm getting there. , going to check out the GSAK idea too.
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POI
Oct 1, 2006 22:05:09 GMT -9
Post by Malcore on Oct 1, 2006 22:05:09 GMT -9
I have read a little about the POI software that lets you add thousands of more points to the memory card of the garmin's but there are some draw backs. first is that it will only save them as 'Points of interest' which don't work the same as cache waypoints. They can't be set with the cache icon, which means you can't mark them as 'found' after you find them. Also they are put in a different list when you are trying to look up waypoints. Now it does depend on how much memory you have in your unit and how much memory is taken up by maps, so the amount of extra points you can store will verie. Although if you have a 1gb card added you should be able to add ten's of thousands extra points as long as you don't store to many maps. People have been beggin garmin to change there firmware so that you can add cache waypoints to the memory card but they have not tryed to yet.
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POI
Oct 2, 2006 8:59:39 GMT -9
Post by ladybugkids on Oct 2, 2006 8:59:39 GMT -9
How memory intensive are Garmin's maps?
I'm able to pack a rectangle roughly bounded by Delta Junction to Denali to Fairbanks (okay, three points makes a triangle, but I can only drag rectangles in Magellan's Mapsend Topo software) plus a rectangle from Palmer/Wasilla to Anchorage to Portage plus another big chunk of real estate around Valdez into my Magellan's relatively meager 6 MB of memory.
To put that into lower 48 perspective, I was able to load my SporTrak with most of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, eastern Connecticut, New Hampshire, and western Maine.
With 1GB of memory, I would imagine one could upload most of the lower 48 and still have room for more waypoints than one could possibly sort through.
Any thoughts on the above? We're thinking a getting a second GPS for the family and were wondering how much functionality getting a GPS with memory stick capability would add.
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POI
Oct 2, 2006 14:54:37 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Oct 2, 2006 14:54:37 GMT -9
With my eTrex Legend C I am limited to 24 MB for maps. It's capable of storing Topo maps from the border of S. AZ, East & West to Vegas that’s it. With the “CX” or memory model one can purchase the Topo Cards (Preprogrammed microSD cards). But if you already own Topo CDROM version, you can upload the whole lower 48 states into 1gig Sd with no problem. However, I wonder if the software would let you do it as the Maps is split into three CDs: EAST, WEST, and Hawaii & Alaska.
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POI
Oct 2, 2006 17:59:17 GMT -9
Post by Malcore on Oct 2, 2006 17:59:17 GMT -9
I just pulled up the map program and slected all maps and this is what I got. Alaska 182 mb Hawaii 2.2 mb West USA 649 mb East USA 658 mb
Random selections of single rectangle shows that they range in size from 50k to 300k each.
So with those numbers you couldn't get everything on a 1gb card but you would have to travel a large area to have to put more then the capacity of a 1 gb card.
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POI
Oct 2, 2006 19:41:33 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Oct 2, 2006 19:41:33 GMT -9
1gb card will hold a ton of maps. I have both Topo and City Navigator maps loaded for areas I frequently visit around the L48 and most all of Alaska. Card is less than half full.
City Navigator maps are in much larger selections than Topo, Alaska is two parts (north and south) vs. little chunks Topo is divided into.
Hopefully Garmin will find writing additional waypoints to the memory card a worthwhile effort for the next firmware update.
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POI
Oct 3, 2006 3:07:29 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Oct 3, 2006 3:07:29 GMT -9
1gb card will hold a ton of maps. I have both Topo and City Navigator maps loaded for areas I frequently visit around the L48 and most all of Alaska. Card is less than half full. City Navigator maps are in much larger selections than Topo, Alaska is two parts (north and south) vs. little chunks Topo is divided into. Hopefully Garmin will find writing additional waypoints to the memory card a worthwhile effort for the next firmware update. Then and only then that would convince me to upgrade from eTrex Vista® C to eTrex Vista® Cx.
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POI
Oct 3, 2006 6:58:05 GMT -9
Post by New Yorker on Oct 3, 2006 6:58:05 GMT -9
BTW, Garmin is offering a $50 rebate on certain models till the end of the year.
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POI
Oct 4, 2006 11:33:53 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Oct 4, 2006 11:33:53 GMT -9
From the Garmin web site:
Q. How many POIs can I fit into my unit? A. There is no set limit on how many POIs can be loaded into the Garmin device. This depends on the size of the POI files and the space available for POIs. The size of the loaded POIs will depend on the amount of text included with each POI and the size of any included bitmaps. Since POIs can be loaded into internal memory or onto SD cards, the space available will vary widely. Typically, the user should be able to fit more than 3000 POIs onto a unit. If the available space is exceeded, POI Loader will tell the user how much space is available in the device and how much space would be required to fit all the POIs that were chosen.
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POI
Oct 4, 2006 13:30:48 GMT -9
Post by oleruns on Oct 4, 2006 13:30:48 GMT -9
GSAK will download right into pocket excel on my PDA. I don't get all the information so puzzles are out but I can do 99% of the rest of the caches. Just another option if you are looking to put the whole database into some sort of file. Information overload! Good Luck - Ole
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POI
Oct 4, 2006 17:01:44 GMT -9
Post by ladybugkids on Oct 4, 2006 17:01:44 GMT -9
GSAK will download right into pocket excel on my PDA. I don't get all the information so puzzles are out but I can do 99% of the rest of the caches. Just another option if you are looking to put the whole database into some sort of file. Information overload! Good Luck - Ole Odd about the puzzles...what gets left out? The photos/graphics? If so, there is a GSAK check box on the File, Print, menu that if left unchecked, will NOT "Remove Pictures." That will give you all the html and graphics associated with most puzzle pages unless an external webaddress is required.
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POI
Oct 6, 2006 11:38:01 GMT -9
Post by NorthWes on Oct 6, 2006 11:38:01 GMT -9
Here's how I beat the 500 waypoint limit (doesn't eliminate a laptop, however!)...
Between GSAK & Cachemate, I'm able to load my modest ($95 on ebay including accessories & shipping) Zire 71 PDA with a huge slug of caches & benchmarks (no maps - I use google.maps on the blackberry phone to supplement the City Navigator maps on my Garmin). Info includes all cache data plus a few prior logs; in the case of benchmarks, I'm still learning how to 'automate' the file transfers (I edit the .loc files downloaded to GSAK for benchmarks manually - which lets me 'soak up' the info in advance to avoid the issues oleruns addressed earlier in this thread about which points to target & which to avoid). I load by area, so (for example) when I'm north of Las Vegas everything I'm seeing is related to that area. Can't 'transfer' the info from PDA over to the Garmin Vista C directly. However, I carry a laptop while traveling, and the same database (sorted by target area) that I use from GSAK to transfer to the PDA is used to transfer maps & caches (& most importantly of course the benchmarks!) over to the GPS for each day's 'hunt' (I run it through the Mapsource program first, so I get an actual map of the area I can look at). At the end of the day, I download the day's info from the GPS, wipe its memory, and upload the next day's fun. In the case of a route - I develop a 'route-pak' of caches that sometimes duplicates 'area databases' I have, but that targets the travel zone.
A more capable & costly PDA might be able to replace the laptop (which was cosimoto's original point in this thread!), but I use the laptop to download photos to, link to the web (when in a web-friendly area; Vegas has gotten costly for web service lately!), and to use as a hockey puck in the TSA-operated security zones at the airport.
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POI
Oct 19, 2006 3:23:52 GMT -9
Post by Cozimoto on Oct 19, 2006 3:23:52 GMT -9
Just wanted to report back that using POI software worked very well for getting around the 500 waypoint limit on the "x" model (with expansion cards) Garmins. I did three pocket queries for three towns +20 miles and did three routes with google maps, dumped the resulting GPX files (around 1300 waypoints) in a folder and loaded them with the POI software. I had set up a 1500' alarm which wasn't too bad for driving but would get you a little excited when walking only to find it 3 blocks in the opposite direction you needed to go (I was traveling with a non-cacher, had to sneak them in when I could .... some people just don't get it ). PS - Also loved the GSAK software several of you recommended, I know where $20 of my PFD is going.
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