iGeoCacher User Guide/Videos

Version 2.5 is current in the App Store. (I know, next up I need to update all of the following docs. I'm working on it!)

You can now load unzipped geocache data files (.GPX, .LOC) directly from email attachments! Just have your pocket queries sent to an email account accessible from your device and/or send your files to yourself. No other servers or PC required! Just open the email, touch and hold the attachment and select iGeoCacher from the options menu that pops up. iGeoCacher will open and you can select "Open Email Attachment" on the Import Data page. Watch a movie showing how to load from email.

Important note: GPX files can be large and the email client in the iPhone will not typically download them from your mail server until asked by your touching the attachment first. You can tell if the attachment looks like this:

When it is fully downloaded it will look like this:

Make sure that you have fully downloaded it into your email client on the iPhone BEFORE you try to load it into iGeoCacher.

So, new users, please take the following with a grain of salt. The info is still useful but it is now getting dated. I hope to have new videos up this week. Stay tuned. By all means drop me a line if you are confused by anything. The Yahoog group is great for support as well.

Version 1.18 Ad Hoc SQL Query Tutorial

Version 1.18 Quick Start PDF

Come join the Yahoo group for tips from the community.

Feature requests from users and status

How to Make a Pocket Query

Loading Geocache Data onto your iPhone/iPod Touch.

Check out the new HSI Compass Display

Locally serving files on your home network.

Mac Users:

Setting up your personal web server video on your home wireless network.

Note: Some MAC users get a "403 Forbidden" error having upgraded to Leopard from Tiger. See

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306884

for the fix. (Thanks for the tip Steve!)

My notes on this fix.

Windows XP Users:

Setting up a personal web server video using shttpd on your home wireless network.

Firewalls and Other Security Software

Be aware that firewalls and other security software you might be running on your target PC may prevent your iPhone/iPod touch from successfully reading the GPX/LOC file with the inbound port 80 request. If you are having connectivity issues you may want to temporarily disable this software just to see if it is the culprit blocking you. Most such software has the ability to tailor access by authorized outsiders and you may have to so designate your iPhone if you find that it is being blocked.

Using the web portal server

First, to use the web portal translation server you need your own account. You can easily get an account right from withing iGeoCacher. Just select the Data tab then the Ayefon server option. Enter a valid email address in the field next to the "Get ID" button and press it. In a minute or two you will get a confirmation email to that address that your account is set up with some helpful URL info you may want to save. If you have any trouble with that just email me (d o n @ b a b c o c k . o r g) and I'll gladly set you up.

If you use one of the other methods for getting your data imported to your iPhone/iPod Touch, you don't even need an account. This is just a free service I provide to make things as easy as possible for folks in terms of network setup.

Watch a Quicktime demo movie.

Existing web iGeocacher users can use their existing cache assets on the web portal by entering the following url in the igeocacher download URL in the settings for the app on the iPhone:

http://www.ayefon.mobi/geo/igeocacher3.cfm?id=<your current web portal id>

Notice that the only difference between this and the old web portal address is the "3". This one sends you your data as XML instead of HTML. The native app uses XML.

If you never had a web version account and would like one just email me. You're entitled as part of the purchase of the native app.

Using your me.com account

This from one user that uses his me.com account:

"Good news! I've successfully managed to load GPX files from my public iDisk. It took a little experimentation. URL of the form

http://public.me.com/username/caches.gpx

don't work but I suspect this is due to a redirect not being handled by the mechanism used by iGeocacher.

However, if you use the following format

http://idisk.mac.com/username-Public/caches.gpx

it works."

Using Groups On iGeoCacher

Downloading to groups video demo.

Moving caches from one group to another video.

On the translation server.

Uploading to groups on the translation server (video.)

More coming.....

Known Issues June 20, 2010

There is a bug that will cause a looping display of warning messages if you inadvertently de-select all of your groups AND you happen to be in position sort (Auto Sort) mode. To escape from that you have turn turn at least one group on. The problem is that the loop time is so short (5 seconds default) that it is difficult for most users to switch to the groups tab and turn one on before the next sort triggers another round of messages. To fix this, exit the app and go into the settings for your iPhone, scroll down to iGeoCacher and change the Auto Sort interval to something long (like 50 seconds.) Then when you start iGeoCacher back up you will still get the message about not having any groups selected but you'll then have 50 seconds to correct that after dismissing the message pop-up.

I'll fix this one shortly. Fortunately, most folks haven't stumbled into it as it makes little sense to have no groups selected. But it's there and I appreciate the fellow that found it. It will be "shot" with the next update.

Older issues:

Transfer Server Issues - 500 error

Somehow, GoDaddy (who hosts my sites) is having trouble keeping my .mobi site on the air. So I've duplicated the transfer server functions on my .com server. So you should be able to just change the ayefon.mobi references in your iGeocacher iPhone settings to ayefon.com and use the duplicated upload pages on the .com site to do your transfers. Let me know if I missed something in the duplication.

Frankly, I've about given up hope that GoDaddy really understands the problem as it recurs every couple of months. This appears to only happen with the .MOBI server which is Linux based. My .COM server is Windows based. It seems like every time they patch/service the Linux servers they mess up some permissions which causes uploads to fail.

So if you've switched over to the the .COM server and it is working well for you, just stick with it. Now that iOS4 is out, I'm working on your being able to open your pocket queries directly from email when sent as an attachment. If I can get that working as advertised in the API then I think the vast majority of you will switch to that method because it will mean that you can simply email your PQ's right to your phone and load them by simply clicking on the attachment.

Tips

Tip to check connectivity:

To check your download URL for connectivity and service apart from the iPhone/iPod touch, just put the URL in your browser. This is the same URL that shows up in the download acknowledgement alert (if you have alerts turned on in settings.) Your browser should display the XML data from the cache file. If that works you know you got the connectivity and URL right.

Use screen shots for offline map access

For maps when you know you will likely be "off line" without the connectivity that the Google Map app requires, use the built in "screen shot" capability to just store the maps you think you'll need in your iPhone/iPod Touch photo album before you go. Then you can easily refer to them when you are out in the field. How do you take a screen shot? It's easy. Just bring up the screen you want, then hold the top button (the on/off button) and while holding it momentarily press the home button. The screen will flash and its image will be saved in your photo album.

Take advantage of the "Mark" button on the GPS display

When you need to enter ad hoc coordinates in the WPT display, chances are they aren't too far from where you are at the moment. Just hit the "Mark" button on the GPS display and your current location will populate the WPT fields. Then just tap the fields and back out the last few digits in the lat and lon as needed and change them to your target. Change the title also if you wish. That minimizes keystrokes and entry errors for the second and third stage coordinates.