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I think the hardest thing about positing photos in the forum for POTM would be how to tally “likes.” Any ideas?
Over the border in Minnesota, we started a geopic of the month contest. Participants submit a picture taken while geocaching in MN during that month by the 25th. From the 1st to the 7th of the following month, members vote on their favorite pic. Our intention is to create a 2019 calendar of the winning pictures. If your forum format doesn’t allow polls, you could conduct one with google forms and post a link to it in the forums. Here is a link to our January voting thread: http://mngca.freeforums.net/thread/223/january-vote
When I was working on Jasmer, I appreciated all of the older caches in my area… still had to travel as far as Phoenix to finish the challenge, but all the closer ones made the challenge easier (and cheaper). I think it is up to the cache owner to decide whether or not to archive a cache… and at this point, I am very protective of my oldest caches even if all the “locals” have found them. Cache “freshness” is going to happen anyways as new people enter the game and others leave. No need for any one cacher to dictate that an area needs to be cleared out to make room for new….
Filtering out by cache type/found caches/etc is actually easier on the Pocket Query page. You simply take about 10 seconds to select the criteria you want to see and all others are automatically off your query. Pretty simple, eh? It’s a whole lot faster than going through GSAK and checking off the caches one by one and then deleting them from the list. I timed myself one day, and it took me over 10 minutes to remove a bunch of puzzles from that list. At least I stopped counting at 10 minutes. The Happy Hodag!
This is quicker than 10 minutes for me on GSAK… under geocaching.com, click on get “get geocaches”. Select out what you want or don’t want, then run it. What I like about this vs geocaching.com, is that you can also select “google map” and put your center point right where you want it… but maybe gc.com allows this now? (been a while since I’ve done it through the website). Also, if you have puzzles you haven’t solved on a query, load all of them, filter down to puzzles, then delete the ones that you haven’t solved. A lot better than having all the puzzles loaded in, when you only have some that you have solved and want to load.
In the last class we did, I discovered a way to circumvent the 3 day wait on gc.com to run “my finds” and add them to my cache stats database in gsak. Refresh the cache data in the database in gsak that you used to do your cache run with after you send you publish your caches from your gps to gsak, select the found caches (mine are the yellow ones), then under “database”, move those caches to your cache stats database. No more needing to do a my finds pq!
What I started playing with lately, is adding pictures when I publish logs via GSAK. I had gotten away from posting pictures, because it is such a hassle to do it on gc.com. Having to go back to a log, edit it, and upload a picture. If I had a lot of pictures, and/or a lot of caches, it was very time consuming. Using GSAK to do it is so slick! I take the pics right off my ipod and attach to the log as I go along. Now, I can work on increasing the level of the pictures posted gemstone on project-GC!
Actually, I mentioned it in my last response. Yes, publishing logs is also great for power trails, which is what I have used it for so far… in addition, it is great for road trips when you sporadically have internet service and need to get your logs on GSAK now, so you can reload your gps for the next state or country… Our last GSAK class on Thursday in Cloquet will focus on publishing logs (and all the assorted items to go with it, like awarding favorite points, logging TBs and so forth)… not that I am an expert by any means, but it seems like cachers who have attended so far have learned a thing or two. https://coord.info/GC6XZGP
It is nice that you can now correct coordinates right on gc.com now and keep them forever on there. Helps for when you have a paf looking for verification on a cache that you did years ago. Now that I’ve done some power trails and power rivers, the dipping of all trackables and being able to write one log and apply it to all finds on GSAK is a real time saver! I’ve only used it a couple of times, but after 9 hours on a river, I sure appreciate it. You can still modify a log here and there as you like, but that function really takes the bull work. I’m going to Finland in August and will have limited internet, if any. So utilizing GSAK with the different databases of where I am traveling and being able to log my finds on GSAK to transmit once I do have internet will be great. For those of you interested, I’ve been coordinating GSAK classes on Thursday nights at 7 pm in Cloquet. We only have 3 classes left: tools, geocaching.com access, and publishing logs. https://coord.info/GC6XZG4
Prior to going on a trip, I would load/build several databases mainly because my gps only can store 2k. Once they are in GSAK, you don’t need internet to access them and upload them to your gps. There would be macros, like google maps that require internet to open, but the databases you put in stay there. You also wouldn’t be able to link GSAK to GC.com without internet to update the cache databases, but then again no internet, no gc.com anyways.
That’s great! You would think something like that would be easy for gc.com to do. Hopefully, they will keep working to make it user friendly for the pqs. I’m too much into using the databases on gsak and being able to reorganize the cache info for what I want to focus on along with developing specific databases for challenges to be able to give it up. It’s also nice on gsak to be able to create the databases someone wants prior to a long distance trip and to then be able to upload to the gps on the road without needing Wi-Fi.
So my windows did a major update the other day, and last night I went on to create a new pq in case I travel out a little further. Went to save it to my downloads on my laptop, but when I went to load it into the new database in GSAK, it wasn’t showing up… grrr. But, messing around with it, found the “download pocket queries” under the geocaching.com access. Checked off the ones I needed and I was set! So much easier (and quicker!) than trying to find the pq on my laptop. I’m sure everyone else that uses gsak knew that option was there… I’m a slow learner, lol.
Something I played with in GSAK last week was “Get Geocaches”. I wanted to update an old PQ but knew there would have been Archived and new caches published since I ran it years ago. Tried out the Get Geocaches under the Geocaching.com Access on the top bar. Instead of going to gc.com, finding a cache near where I wanted and then run my PQ off of that I clicked on the map that opened, clicked where I wanted the center of caches to be using the cords…BAM. 2800 caches. Got much more than I wanted but it was perfect for the 1st time using it. I didn’t know where I was going to end up while in Indiana so I had many choices. I can probably improve on how I use this the next time it is ran but I was surprised at how well it worked.
You just helped me delete 11 pqs from gc.com for one of my challenges. Much easier doing right in GSAK. Thanks!!!!
Good point. I also use GSAK to put in corrected coordinates for letterboxes and when the original coordinates are a bit off and someone posted better ones… esp since I only load the last 7 logs and the better coordinates might be further back than that.
Lately, I’ve only been using GSAK instead of gc.com to plan my weekend and extended trips. I’m working on a couple of d/t challenges, and now that I have my databases built up, I can update the caches right in gsak. The map macro for me is the most useful for planning excursions, as the visual of a map is easier for me to plan, rather than a list. I get the notifications for new caches, and if they are the d/ts that I need, I just add them to my databases. It really makes it easy to focus on what I want to accomplish.
I’m not an expert, but I can find my way around it, lol. I did put on a couple of classes last year with the help of Eskoclimber and Jeepers Creepers. In addition to GSAK, we also covered Project GC (which was a lot of territory for 2-3 hours). If there is enough interest, we would probably do it again this winter, but it would be in Cloquet, MN. There were a couple of cachers that attended from WI last winter. I did put together a “cheat sheet” for the class for both programs… feel free to use, copy, improve:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1waOz-r85XsZZDTJwDhFb8qxl1BIwu9D9D36G1x0f0U0/edit?usp=sharing
The Fireman series in Kiel is also a great one to do either on ice or by canoeing.
What’s a GC # of one of them?
Thanks… I was hoping they would be closer to me 🙁
The Fireman series in Kiel is also a great one to do either on ice or by canoeing.
What’s a GC # of one of them?
Funny thing. I read this to my wife and she said APPLY (she wants to live in Seattle). I said, “I don’t think they would pay what I make now.” Checking into the listings, they don’t even give a whisper about compensation or benefits.
I think they pay you in geocoins 😉
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