[ale] Geocache update

[Dow_Hurst]

Here is an update on what I've done so far with Geocaching.

I looked for and found a Garmin Etrex Venture HC with the Topo 2008 map package as a bundle.  That gave me the base topo maps for the U.S. I needed.  The Garmin has a USB port so will talk to a computer.  The Topo 2008 map package would run inside the VMware 6 Workstation with WinXP as a guest OS and talk thru USB to the Garmin.  I got the base maps I wanted downloaded to the Garmin that way.  I looked for opensource base maps but none exist yet for my area.  If you were in England or the UK you would have better luck since that is where the main opensource project for base maps was started.  It is a cool project that with user support could eventually have the world mapped out.  It requires a lot of work to produce the data needed so the project is growing very slowly.

To find and get geocaching data into the Garmin as waypoints I ended up using a Google Maps function integrated into the www.geocaching.com.  Had to download from Garmin the latest USB driver package for WinXP and install it inside the VMware guest.  Then I used IE 7 in the guest OS to login to www.geocaching.com and search for geocaches.  Once I found geocaches within 2 miles of my house, I elected to locate them with the google maps function.  I could select a waypoint shown on the map and the little flag that pops up would have an option to download directly the waypoint info into the Garmin.  Worked like a charm!  Now, if you pay money and upgrade to a premium membership on geocaching.com, you can develop a list of waypoints via multiple searches and then download them all at once.

There are ways to use gpsbabel to achieve much of the same thing.  GPSBabel is an opensource package that will talk to the Garmin.  I haven't taken the time to figure the process to pull all of totally opensource solution together.  It was hard enough to just figure out what I've done so far since information on downloading waypoints is not explained for specific GPS units.  If I do get a Linux solution hacked together, I'll post what I did.  I'm just happy that I've figured out the current process!  Garmin does support Firefox in WinXP so I think I can use it instead of IE, however, all their support is focused on Windows with some Mac OS/X included.  There is no mention of opensource or Linux on the Garmin site except for where the protocols to talk to the GPS units they sell was freely released to developers that wanted access.
Best wishes,
Dow


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