Cache Database Processing Procedure

Note: this information is obsolete. I'm using GSAK and 
CacheBerry now,and will update this page soon.

This is what I do when I receive an email containing new Pocket Query results. See the bottom of the page to see what has to be in place before these steps can be done for the first time. The procedures on this page assume that all the necessary software is already installed on the PC and PDA.

Note that I am using both CacheMate and Plucker. This is somewhat redundant, and I may quit using Plucker if I keep using CacheMate.

Receive and save Pocket Query data

Step 

Action 

1

Save the GPX file from the email into the appropriate folder. On Suchmann's system, the folder is C:\Documents and Settings\ld209916\My Documents\_ab\Per\Geocaching\waypoints.

Get data into Plucker on PDA

Step 

Action 

1 Drag the GPX file onto the GPX Spinner icon. The folder "Caches", containing the HTML for all the cache pages, will be created in the folder containing the GPX file.
2 Open Plucker Desktop and click the "Geocaching" channel to highlight it. Click the "Update selected channels" icon.
3 OPTIONAL: Hot-sync the PDA, unless also updating the CacheMate database. Now all the cache pages are in the PDA.

Get data into CacheMate on PDA

Step 

Action 

1 Drag the GPX file onto the CMConvert (Windows GUI version) icon. The file will be opened in CMConvert.
2 Press Ctrl-A to select all waypoints.
3 Click "File" and "Export PDB..." (or press Ctrl-S) and select the destination and filename for the PDB file..
4 Select the appropriate PDA user name.
5 Hot-sync the PDA. Now all the cache pages are in the PDA.

Get data into GPSr

Step 

Action 

1 Drag the GPX file onto the "GPXtoMPS" icon to have GPSrBabel the GPX file into Garmin MapSource format.
2 OPTIONAL: clear out the previous data in the GPSr:
  1. Upload waypoints, routes, and track logs into MapSource, then save the file.
  2. Delete all waypoints and clear the current track log.
3 Open the MapSource file and download the waypoints to the GPSr.

Note: I could use EasyGPSr to load the waypoints directly into the GPSr from the GPX file, combining steps 5 and 6. I go the extra step through MapSource so I can use MapSource to view and print maps on my PC.

Prerequisites 

The procedures on this page assume the following:

  1. You have premium membership on www.geocaching.com and a Pocket Query has been set up to email you a GPX file.

  2. GPX Spinner has been installed.

  3. Plucker has been installed on the PC and PDA and a conduit and channel called "Geocaching" configured.

  4. GPSrBabel has been installed and a batch file called "GPXtoMPS" set up with an icon as described here. The batch file converts the input GPX file into the format required by your GPSr. In my case, that is the Garmin MapSource format.

  5. CMConvert (companion program of CacheMate) has been installed on the PC and CacheMate has been installed on the PDA..