Geocaching In The Cloud

Lately I've been playing around with a cool little application called, Dropbox. It provides a very simple and convenient way to store, share and access your files across multiple platforms. Any files or folders inside your personal Dropbox folder will get synchronized to Dropbox's servers, and to any other computer linked to your account. Thus, you basically have access to the files you store in your Dropbox folder from any computer with an internet connection.

What I really like about Dropbox, however, is a feature that can give files a unique URL address, or internet link. This allows you to send files to other people in e-mails, IMs, blogs, etc. without requiring those people to sign up for Dropbox. This is also a great way to host Google Earth KML and KMZ files, including network links. In other words, if you keep and update KML files in a designated Dropbox folder on your computer at home, these files will automatically update on the web in a fully scalable fashion.

So for example, if you frequently generate Google Earth KML files from your geocaching.com pocket queries (using either GSAK, GPSvisualizer, or another tool), you can then store those KML files in your public Dropbox folder so that the most recent version of the file will load every time you launch Google Earth; no matter where you launch Google Earth from.

To set this up, all you have to do is right-click on the KML file once it's in your public Dropbox folder, and select"Copy public link" under the Dropbox menu:


Then open Google Earth, go to "Add", then "Network Link", and paste the link you just copied into the Link box:


That's it. From this point on, as long as you continue to replace old KML files with new versions, you'll have instant access to your latest geocaching KML data every time you launch Google Earth; from anywhere!

For more information about Dropbox, take a look at this tour; or, to see Dropbox in action, check out this video. Note that Dropbox is still in beta, so use at your own risk. Even so, I've been using it for a while now, and never had a single problem (and I'm good at breaking things).

Enjoy, and Cache On!

New Year's Cacholutions

Okay, Okay, I know geocaching is not about the numbers, it's about the location. But let's face it, when a new year rolls around, it's hard not to look back on lasts year's find statistics in order to set goals for the coming year.

For example, let's say you found 250 caches in 2008 (well done if you did). Is it so wrong to resolve to get 365 finds in 2009 (which equates to one find per day)? After all, that just means you'll be spending less time in front of the TV and computer, and more time outdoors getting exercise - and there's nothing wrong with that!

Looking back on 2008, I'm happy to report that I did achieve a couple of the geocaching goals I had set for myself, including:

• Average at least one find per day. I ended up averaging 1.3 finds per day in '08.
• Beat my previous personal best of 49 finds in one month. I did this on three separate occasions.
• Complete my first challenge cache. I found the Bay Area Quadrangle Challenge on December28th.

As I look ahead to 2009, here are some of my cacholutions for the new year:

• Practice CITO at every opportunity.
• Increase my cache hides-to-finds ratio.
  
• Learn how to use UTM coordinates (All the expert navigators tell me it's way better than the lat/long system).
• Don't copy and paste my cache logs. Give each log it's deserved individual flavor.
• Do more challenge caches.
  
• Find 500 caches in '09 (beating my previous 2008 record of 457 finds).
• Go after more 5-star caches.
• Get better at solving puzzle caches.
  
• And finally, don't get hurt (easier said than done sometimes).
  

Let me know if you have made any geocaching-related resolutions for 2009. I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, and happy caching in 2009!

Thank You, Santa!

Was Santa good to you this year? He was very good to me, that's for sure. The only thing I specifically asked for was the Garmin Topo U.S. 24K West - California and Nevada - Micro SD Card
for my GPS receiver; and Santa delivered. But Santa was also kind enough to get me some other geocaching-related items that I didn't even tell him I wanted.

For instance, I also scored a fabulous LED headlamp. I've never been a big fan of night-caching, but I tried it last night with my new headlamp, and man did that thing light up the trail. This should also come in handy for those early morning bike rides this time of year.

Santa even found time to have his elves manufacture a GPS screen protector kit for me. Man, I must have been a good boy this year.

And on top of that, all my friends and relatives seemed to get me REI gift cards this year. I guess the word is out - I'm a geocachaholic.

So, were you all good boys and girls this year too? What cool geocaching gear did you find under your tree? Please share your favorites in the comment section below.

Thanks, and happy caching!

Changing User Names

So I've been geocaching for a few years now (5 years and 2 months, to be exact), and I fear my geocaching.com user name is in need of an overhaul. For one thing, "Teampipperice" just has way too many characters in it. So many, that it takes up an entire nano cache log sheet.

Not only that, but the moniker is just nonsense to anyone outside of my family. See, I started geocaching about the same time we got our dog, and my children could not agree on what to name her. One wanted Pippi, and the other wanted Licoricise, thus, Pipperice was born. So be warned, this is what happens when you let your kids come up with names for pets and geocaching id's. By the way, you can see Pipperice in one of the photos in the upper right corner of this blog.

So I recently began my quest for a new user name. I started by searching the Groundspeak forums and found this post on the subject. The first thing you have to do is make sure the user name you want is not, nor has ever been, registered. You can do that with this lookup tool. Of course, my first choice for a new user name was "GeoJoe", but that name was taken long ago, as was every possible related version of it:

GeoJoeMama??? So, it looks like this is going to be trickier than I thought. Time to expand my search radius. I've always been partial to the name Moe, or anything with "Mojo" in it. But alas, every possible iteration and combination of these names are already taken as well, including MoeJoe, MoJo, Geomojo, Mojojo, and even GeoHobo. It appears, however, that "geohobojoe" might be available, but then again, that defeats the whole purpose of coming up with a shorter user name. Oh well, maybe I'll just hang on to Teampipperice for a while longer.

I hope you all are happy with your geocaching user names and won't ever have to worry about changing them.

Cache On!

Geolocate Your Blog Posts

For those of you geocaching bloggers that use Google's Blogging application, Blogger, did you know there is a draft version available for your use as well? It's called Blogger in Draft, and includes certain "beta" features that have not yet been added to the regular version. A recent addition to the Blogger in Draft application that will no doubt be of particular interest to us cachers is the ability to geolocate your blog posts using the new 'add a location' button!

Clicking the button opens a small Google Map. To enter a location it is possible to just click on your location on the map or use a search box to find your location. When the post is published, a geotag is displayed below the blog post as a link, which will open up Google Maps. The location is also included in the blog’s RSS and Atom feeds using GeoRSS.

Since today's blog post is not location-specific, I used the add location tool to link the post to the top of Mount Diablo, a local landmark. I've also geolocated last week's blog post to the North Pole (well, North Pole, Alaska) since it had a Christmas theme.

Cache (and geolocate) On!

Merry Cachemas

Not sure what to get that special geocacher on your Christmas list? Have no fear, as the fine folks at Geocaching Podcast have taken all the guess work out of that chore by providing a Geocaching Gift Guide, with items sorted by price range. You can also listen to their gift guide podcast by clicking on the "Show Audio" link, where each item is discussed in more detail. I definitely plan to send this link to all my friends and relatives.

The only item I would add to their list would be Garmin's 1:24,000 TOPO Maps. They cover various regions of the U.S. and I understand have routing capabilities as well. The files come loaded on mini SD cards, so they can only be used on compatible Garmin devices, such as the GPSmap 60csx. While this item retails for $99.99, I've seen it selling in the $70 range on other online reseller sites.

And if that's not enough, Groundspeak offers a slew of gift ideas for the discerning cacher. See their shopping site for all sorts of geocaching accessories, containers, clothing, and stickers. For the geocacher who has everything, how about a Signal The Frog Antenna Ball?

Here is a list of other sites that carry numerous items for the geocacher in your life:

• Geo Gear Store

• GeoCacheStash

• Geocaching Gear
  

• My Geocaching Store
  

And finally, don't forget, on Christmas eve, you can track Santa's flight on the Norad Tracks Santa web site. If you go there now, you'll see a count down till take off, plus video from last year's flight. You can also add the countdown widget to your iGoogle page and a Santa tracker for your mobile phone.

Happy Holidays and Happy Caching!

Geocaching Hodge Podge

For this week, thought I'd post links to recent posts from other sites that I've found helpful:

How to Load Maps on Garmin GPS Units
Nice, brief tutorial (with pictures) from GPS File Depot.

Batch and Reverse Geocoding
For those of you always looking for free and simple geocoding tools, here's a nice choice as described by our friends at the Free Geography Tools blog.

Downloading USGS Topo Maps in GeoPDF Format
Another great post from the Free Geography Tools blog. This is especially handy for nabbing quad challenge caches. Note: there is a new USGS link which is different than what was listed in the above post.

Norad Tracks Santa
The Santa tracking web site opens Dec. 1. Read all about it, and some interesting history, in this Google Earth Blog.

Driver Follows GPS Into Lake
Don't try this at home.

Finally, I'll leave you with a Bay Area Backroads TV segment from many years ago featuring some local geocaching icons. A bit dated, as TeamAlamo has recently eclipsed the 30,000 mark; well beyond the 4,800 finds he had way back when. Nonetheless, still fun to watch: