The Geocaching. com Web site lists the caches by name. Click on the "details" link to see a cache's location by latitude and longitude, clues to help you find the cache, and a log of the previous visitors. Some of the logs reveal prizes in the cache, which can include erasers, key chains, Blockbuster video cards, CD's, and a lot more. When you log your cache experiences on this site, it keeps a record of them for you. You can also have notifications about certain caches sent to you—for example, when logs entries are added—so that you can be aware of the activity.
Finding the cache can take you to fascinating places that you probably would not have experienced otherwise. The prize exchange is rewarding, but some visitors leave something without taking anything, or just fill out the logbook—the thrill of discovery is enough for them.
The logbook is usually full of entries about prize exchanges and about the experiences the visitors had finding the cache. Some caches contain a disposable camera, which is to be used by visitors to take photos of themselves. The cache owner may post these on the Web at some point.
Besides all of the rewards of discovering inspiring places and gadgets, geocaching can be rewarding for the environment as well. Geocachers are encouraged to carry trash bags so that they can "cache in and trash out" as part of their adventures or at organized events.
GpxView
As mentioned previously, you get location and log information about individual caches from the "details" link on Geocaching.com. To take this information with you, you can print it out on a piece of paper or cut-and-paste it into a Word document and sync that with your Pocket PC. Premium members of Geocaching.com can also use a program called GpxView (http://strandberg.org/gpxview) to download information about sites to their Pocket PC. A "Pocket Query" feature on Geocaching.com lets Premium members search for caches by specific criteria (date created, type of cache, etc.) and download the results of the query to their Pocket PC. GpxView lets you view these downloaded queries on the Pocket PC (Screens 2 and 3).
Screen 2 (above): GpxView allows you to carry your clues and the details of each geocache easily. You simply double click on the name of the cache to see its information. (See Screen: 3)
Screen 3 (above): GPXview allows you to view clues and details for individual caches. (Note that I've changed the latitude and longitude on this screen to protect the location of this cache, which is available to Premium or Charter members only.)
The Pocket Queries service alone is worth the $30-per-year price of the Premium membership. Premium status also gives you access to caches reserved for members only, lets you track user posts on the Geocaching.com forums, and places a premium member icon next to your name in the forums, recognizing your support of the site.
A favorite geocache discovery
One of my most memorable experiences with geocaching took place in the San Francisco Bay area in California, using an HP iPAQ h5450 equipped with Teletype GPS WorldNavigator. My friend and I input the latitude and longitude of the cache which we had obtained from Geocaching. com, hopped in the car, drove as close to the destination as we could, and parked. We then walked the rest of the way following the moving arrow on WorldNavigator's map, which represented our current location in relation to the final destination (Screen 4).
If you have Tools > Navigation > Streets turned on, WorldNavigator displays the distance between your current location and the cache destination at the bottom of the display (Screen 4). This is the final cache destination that you entered at the beginning of your journey. (The street turns and voice guidance may not be accurate once you are off road, but enough information is still available to locate a cache successfully.) We excitedly watched the distance decrease as we drew closer to our cache or increase if we strayed further away. This especially helped us zero in on the cache near the end of the trek.
Screen 4 (above): Teletype GPS WorldNavigator's display of your trace (black line indicating your path) your position indicated by a red arrow, distance to your destination, and latitude/longitude. The top of the screen indicates a 500 foot zoom level, which means as viewed from a 500 ft above the location.
We used standard street maps to find the cache. For extra topographical clues, which let you avoid hills, trees, streams, etc., you can use topographic and aerial maps from the Microsoft Terra Server. These can be used with any Teletype GPS bundle for no extra charge. The files containing these maps occupy quite a bit of storage space. If that is an issue for you, the regular street maps will do fine.
I ran the last 60 feet to the cache. It was like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or discovering a treasure chest—I was instantly hooked on geocaching!
My first action was to fling open the cache—a flat heavy-duty plastic container with a watertight lid (Screen 5).
Screen 5 (above): Geocaches come in different sizes and shapes, but they usually have watertight lids and contain a logbook of visitors.
In addition to, or instead of, the usual container, you may discover a "webcam cache" that records your picture, or even a "virtual cache" (no container; just a beautiful location). One of the most prized geocaching discoveries you can experience is a "Travel Bug." A Travel Bug is an object that is placed in a cache with a task or set of goals associated with it. For example, one small gargoyle travel bug's goal is to travel to the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to have its picture taken with its friends (the other gargoyles) before returning to its home near Atlanta, Georgia. Another geocacher placed a model of the space shuttle Columbia in a cache with the stated goal of honoring the astronauts lost when it exploded. When someone visits a cache and finds a Travel Bug, they try to further the stated goal. This usually involves moving it to a cache closer to the Travel Bug's final destination. A gallery of Travel Bugs is on the Geocaching.com Website (www.geocaching.com/track/).
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Using Teletype GPS WorldNavigator to find a geocache
As mentioned, I used the Teletype GPS WorldNavigator on my iPAQ Pocket PC to locate my first cache. The instructions in this sidebar are specific to WorldNavigator, but they are generally similar to those used with other GPS solutions.
Add the latitude and longitude viewers to the main display: I set the continuously updating latitude and longitude viewers to be displayed on the main screen through the following menu: View > Preference > Display > Modify (Corner Windows). I chose LAT and assigned it to the lower left part of the screen and then configured the LON to be visible in the lower right (see Screen 4). This allows me to monitor the changing latitude and longitude, especially when nearing a cache. If you keep your cache's coordinates in mind, this information can sometimes help you make decisions about which trails to take. (Teletype appears to be the only Pocket PC GPS navigator with the ability to add this information onto the main GPS screen.)
Enter the coordinates of the geocache into the navigation program: I used Tools > Waypoints to open the Waypoint menu. Then, I created a new folder that I named "limeridge." I tapped on it to keep it highlighted, indicating that it is active. Next, I tapped and held on a random spot on a map to add a new waypoint. After that, I entered the latitude and longitude of the geocache into the waypoint's fields and re-named it "limeridge" (See Screen 6). Entering the cache's coordinates moved the new waypoint to the location of the cache. A link on the Geocaching.com page for the specific cache automatically converts the latitude and longitude from the Degree Minutes Seconds (DMS) format used on the Web site to the Degree Decimal format used in the Teletype GPS WorldNavigator. The Ostia mapping software used with Pharos GPS solutions accepts coordinates in the DMS format used on Geocaching.com. Whichever GPS program you use, make sure you use a coordinate format it accepts.
Screen 6 (above): WorldNavigator's Waypoint menu lets you enter the latitude and longitude of your starting point and your geocache destinations. You must have at least two waypoints in a folder to use the routing button function.
Enter the starting point: I used the Tools > Find > Address menu to insert a startin
g waypoint. (Make sure you have the folder with your destination points highlighted beforehand so that the new waypoint appears in it and so that you can route them together. If you have other points in the folder they will be included in the routing. Their order determines the order they will be routed in.
Create a route to the geocache: Lastly, I tapped on Teletype's routing button to create the route between my starting point and my treasure cache's destination. I also opened the Tools > Navigation > Streets menu to see the distance displayed in feet. (It will display miles when the number of feet is high.)
You are now set to go GPS high-tech adventuring!
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Shawna Kelly is the Manager and an Editor of SFMMUF.org, the San Francisco Macromedia Users Forum (www.sfmmuf.org). She is also a Co-Manager of the Northern California Mobile Computing SIG (www.mobilecomputingsig.com) Shawna has a passion for mobile devices and GPS. She is a Flash and multimedia developer at Artzest (www.artzest.com) who also redesigns Web sites for Pocket PCs. Shawna is certified in multimedia and has a BA Degree in Creative Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She can be reached at [email protected].
Discovering Fun with Geocaching!
by Mike Hagen
I've always been fascinated by hidden treasure, but I doubt I'll ever find a sunken Spanish galleon or a lost Peruvian city. Fortunately, I can still enjoy the thrill of discovery with geocaching. It's true that I won't find gold doubloons in a geocache and that their location is given in precise coordinates, not in cryptic drawings on a faded map. But discovering a geocache is almost as much fun as finding Bluebeard's treasure!
Finding our first geocache
A few weeks ago I took a large group of people out on a geocaching adventure. We logged onto the Geocaching Web site (www.geocaching.com) and typed our zip code into the site's geocache locator. Surprisingly, there were over 25 caches within a few miles of our home. We picked two of the most interesting looking ones and printed off the clue sheets for our intrepid group of explorers.
I chose to use my HP Jornada Pocket PC loaded with MapTech topographical software (www.maptech.com). This moving map software shows your current location and your destination, superimposed on a topographical map. The GPS unit I used was the Magellan GPS 310 (www.magellan.com.au), which was attached via a serial cable to the Pocket PC.
Our group split up into two teams and set off in separate cars to find the first geocache. Using my GPS-equipped Jornada and the Maptech software I was able to quickly pick the best roads to get there. The first geocache was located in a 368-acre park next to a popular walking trail. Based on the clues from the geocaching Web site, we knew the geocache was located in the brush, so we all began hacking around in the weeds to find it. After about 30 minutes of searching, we found the little box and opened it up to see what was inside. There was a small toy horse, a thimble and a plastic disk from a toy gun. I took the toy horse and left one Japanese yen. The group of us signed the logbook, and then carefully re-hid the box where we found it.
Participants on the geocache adventure. From left: Doug Hagen, Scott Hibbs, Heather Hibbs, Dan Frohlich, Matthew Hagen, Teresa Frohlich, Stephanie Hagen.
The second geocache was located in the middle of a city. We chose it because we knew that it would take some cunning to find it. The two teams took off in hot pursuit of the treasure. We arrived at the same parking lot and eventually found the tiny cache in the middle of the parking lot. It was a film canister with rice and a quarter in it. I took the quarter and left another Japanese yen. This cache was too small to have a logbook.
Correcting for GPS error
After finishing our adventure, we went home and logged back onto Geocaching.com to post our comments on the caches. We wrote about what we took and what we left, and about our experiences. The neat thing about geocaching is that it's a community experience.
We didn't know it until later that day, but all three of the GPS units we were using, including my Magellan GPS 310, displayed slightly different locations for the same coordinates. This made the search even more difficult because everyone thought that their GPS was correct. This problem could have been eliminated by "calibrating" the GPS units beforehand. This involves going to a well-known landmark (i.e. the Space Needle or a prominent mountain top) and comparing the actual latitude and longitude of the landmark with the ones displayed on your GPS unit. The SwopNet Waypoint DataBank (www.swopnet.com/waypoints/) and the Waypoint Registry Database (www.waypoint.org/gps4-map.html) list the coordinates of such locations in the U.S. and around the world. Once you find your GPS error, you can add or subtract latitude and longitude values so that your GPS is accurate.
To locate the position of the geocache I used an HP Jornada Pocket PC equipped with MapTech topographical map software (shown here). The Pocket PC was attached to a Magellan GPS 310 receiver.
Geocaching around the world
As I mentioned earlier, geocaching is a worldwide phenomenon. A quick search on Google.com will bring up geocaching sites in Germany, the UK, Turkey, Canada, and Australia. You can count on there being geocaches just about anywhere you go. For example, Geocaching.com listed 225 geocaches in Italy. Spice up your next European vacation by planning to visit a geocache or two.
Scott Hibbs inspecting the geocache and his Pocket PC. Teresa Frohlich (background) was one of the geocache adventure participants.
Geocaching is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon or even an entire vacation. It's an adventure for the young, the old, and everyone in between. You probably won't find a pirate's treasure, but you will find a lot of fun.
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Geocaching resources
Here are some Web resources to check out before you begin your geocaching adventure:
The Geocaching Web site (www.geocaching.com) is the premier online resource for geocaching. It includes a geocache locator, guides, events, a glossary of terms, a guide to buying GPS units, and a lot more.
Geocaching Worldwide (http://geocachingworldwide.com) began as a site devoted to Australian geocaching, but now has a worldwide focus. The site can notify you when a cache is created within a user-defined distance from your house, or from any other point on Earth.
NaviCache (www.navicache.com) is another geocaching Web site.
The Degree Confluence Project (www.confluence.org) has the goal of having someone visit each intersection of latitude and longitude degrees in the world. The site posts pictures and stories associated with these visits.
Geocoins (www.geocoins.ca) is a site that sells and tracks custom-minted and individually numbered coins that are designed to provide geocachers with collectable, tradable, and trackable cache items.
Geocaching with Kids (www.eduscapes.com/geocaching/kids.htm) is a site devoted to using geocaching as a learning experience for children.
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Mike Hagen is an owner of Grinder Gear (www.grindergear.com), a company focused on PDA protection. Mike is an engineer, a professional outdoor photographer, an avid climber (rock and ice), and a mountain biker and hiker. Contact Mike at [email protected]
You Can Take It With You!
How to format, copy, and stream music to your Pocket PC
by Diane Dumas
The Pocket PC is a very functional personal information manager, but it does double duty as a portable entertainment center. The built-in Windows Media Player not only lets you view .asf or .wmv formatted video, it lets you listen to .wma or .mp3 audio. Current Pocket PCs have stereo headphone jacks, and card slots that let you add storage capacity for your music files. All in all, the Pocket PC is a great way to take your favorite music with you wherever you go. But first you have to copy your music over to your Pocket PC. The latest version of Windows Media Player for the desktop PC can help you with this.
Using Windows Media Player 9 to format and transfer music to your Pocket PC
Even though you can add file storage to your Pocket PC, you still need to conserve space. After all, the more space
you conserve, the more you have available for music. Windows Media Player 9 helps you do this by allowing you to change the bit rate of a music file when you copy it to a Pocket PC or a memory card. The higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality of the music and the larger the size of the music files. Generally, the lower bit rate files sound fine played through the Pocket PC's built-in speaker or stereo headphones. You may have to experiment with bit rate settings to fine an acceptable balance of file size and sound quality. In addition, Windows Media Player 9 saves the transferred files in Media Player's .wma format, which is more compact than the .mp3 format. Windows Media Player 9 for the desktop PC can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's Web site (www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp).
Once you've downloaded and installed WMP9 on your desktop PC, sync your Pocket PC and launch WMP9 on your desktop PC. Click the "Copy to CD or Device" button on the left side of the player and the "Select items to copy..." screen pops up. The left side of the screen shows the songs available to copy (Screen 1). Use the drop-down menu on the left side of the screen, below "Items to copy," to select the music you want transferred.
Pocket PC Magazine, November '03 Page 18