GSAK and Cachemate
Papa_Bear Left (Ian) has been the inspiration for me to change to almost total paper free caching (exception listed below) and for this I thank him for his help and advice.
However, there is another method that is similar but is easier (and slightly cheaper - always a bonus) to use than PBL's technique using iSiloX (PC program) and iSilo (Palm OS PDA program). This method also uses the well-known and increasingly useful GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) but this time with a program called Cachemate. There are now 2 versions of Cachemate for PDAs. One is for the Palm OS type and the other is for Pocket PC type. I write this article mainly from the Palm OS perspective, for that is the PDA type I own.
Cachemate registration costs US$8 (or NZ12.44) from www.smittyware.com. There is a demo version of Cachemate available from the above address, but this will only permit records of 10 caches to be kept and manipulated. By all means go and try it. Once the registration fee has been paid and your registration code has been entered into the program the restriction is removed. Cachemate displays all the important text information that is available on the geocaching.com web pages, including cache description, hints, and past logs together with provision for you to append details of the date & time of your visit, your swaps and personal notes.
GSAK (latest version at time of writing is Version 7.0.1.18) has a Cachemate export button that creates the database file ready for hot synching to your Palm or Pocket PC. This makes the transfer of cache details very, very simple - just push the hot-synch button! Recommendation before hot synching delete any existing cache records stored in the PDA. Whilst in the Export Cachemate PDB (Palm) file dialog page for Waypoint Name insert '%smart=6' and Maximum characters '6' if your gpsr can only handle 6 character cache names. If your gps can handle waypoint names greater than 6 characters then set appropriately. This will enable you to easily see/sort your alpha list of caches in Cachemate and at the same time match the names of the caches in your gps. You can also set the number of log reports you want transferred to the PDA.
The cache exceptions for which paper printouts of caches are required are those caches containing photo clues. Photos cannot be transferred easily to the PDA.
So to sum up to go almost completely paperless:
- Become a premium member of www.geocaching.com so that you can obtain pocket queries in GPX format (US$30 per annum).
- Get a Palm OS PDA or a Pocket PC PDA. It doesn't need to be an expensive model - but do make sure to get a model with at least 8 Mb of memory. You won't need all of that memory for caching but you will have room to add some of your favourite programs and games. Cachemate with 409 South Island caches (as at 23/07/2004) takes up approx 1.2 Mb of storage in a Palm. Double that if you want to store a similar number of North Island caches as well. Most any old Palm PDA is suitable. They can be obtained fairly cheaply from www.trademe.co.nz. (I am not familiar with Pocket PC's so can't offer any comment on those.)
- Purchase Cachemate registration (NZ12.44) from www.smittyware.com
- Obtain GSAK from www.GSAK.net. Whilst GSAK can be obtained free you will be nagged after 21 days so please be sure to register your copy (US$25) with Clyde in recognition of this great work he has created. He will thus be encouraged to keep improving this absolutely first class program - afterall it's how he makes a living. His support of the program is 1st rate, often answering/solving problems within just a few minutes.
- Keep a spare set of batteries for your PDA in your caching bag, if the PDA uses those.
- If your PDA has a serial port and your gps has limited storage capability for waypoints and tracklogs then get the appropriate GPS to PDA serial cable for your equipment. Keep this in your caching bag so you can transfer data out in the field using GPilotS (Palm OS program). Leave your hot synch cradle at home permanently coupled to your PC - it's too big and heavy to cart around in the field!
Other freeware Palm OS PDA programs that you may wish to add to help you caching ranked, IMHO, in order of importance:
- GPilotS (Palm OS program): Manages, retrieves and sends waypoints, routes, and tracklogs to/from Garmin GPSr's. If you are getting near the limit of your gpsr's tracklog memory (eg my Garmin old 12XL can only store 1024 tracklog points before overwriting the first points) whilst out caching, mountain biking, tramping etc you can download your tracklog to the PDA, clear the gpsr's tracklog and start afresh. You can do this any number of times - just remember to give each download a different name. These can be uploaded later back into your gpsr and stored in your PC's mapping program when you get home to display where you went. You can also view your tracks, waypoints and routes in greater detail on the PDA than is possible on either your gps screen or the PC's mapping program by using the zoom function. Want to see where you did a U turn and travelled on different sides of the same road? You will need the Garmin to PDA serial cable appropriate for your GPS and PDA to use this out in the field. These can be obtained from various sources.
- TotalTrig: Makes trigonometry calculations very easy.
- Calcul-8!: Scientific calculator. Very necessary for those math caches!
- CacheLog Cache logbook program: I've never used this as Cachemate has this facility built in.
