Geocaching abroad?

[CubbieBlue10]

I own the US/Canada/Mexico map and will be in Ireland and England next month. I want to try geocaching there but don't want to buy the maps. I'm sure I could find the general area using Google Maps but would want GPS to find the specific point. What does the TomTom do when it's out of its map range? For example, if I typed in a latitude/longitude, would it show a blank screen with my relation to it?

I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense; I'm not quite sure how to explain it.

 

[dhn]

You would see the car icon on a blank screen.

 

[canderson]

I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense; I'm not quite sure how to explain it.

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Might be one of the few ways you can use your TomTom for geocaching without being the victim of "road snap". Understand that your TomTom will try to tie you to a road position (it is, afterall, a road nav unit) if you wander off the road a ways. At some point, it will give up under normal circumstances - I'm not sure how many feet off a road you need to be before it does this, but a few hundred, it seems. UNTIL then, the coordinate data that is displayed on the satellite page is that of the nearest road position, not your position! Very inconvenient for caching.

If you're so far off the map (i.e., on another continent!) that no road is an issue, you'll actually get real coordinate data on the satellite screen all the time.

The downside of caching with your TomTom, even where road snap isn't an issue, is battery life. You don't say which model TomTom you own, but if it's one that accepts a standard USB cable, you might want to look at a gadget like this or something similar with a cable to give you more juice in the field:

Amazon.com: Ultrabattery 2200MAH Rechargeable USB Power Bank: Electronics

You also don't say how you will get the cache data into your TomTom. If you have a premium membership, let me know and I'll shoot you a quick explanation of how to convert Pocket Query information into TomTom OV2 POI files so you won't have to enter stuff by hand.

 

[CubbieBlue10]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Might be one of the few ways you can use your TomTom for geocaching without being the victim of "road snap". Understand that your TomTom will try to tie you to a road position (it is, afterall, a road nav unit) if you wander off the road a ways. At some point, it will give up under normal circumstances - I'm not sure how many feet off a road you need to be before it does this, but a few hundred, it seems. UNTIL then, the coordinate data that is displayed on the satellite page is that of the nearest road position, not your position! Very inconvenient for caching.

If you're so far off the map (i.e., on another continent!) that no road is an issue, you'll actually get real coordinate data on the satellite screen all the time.

The downside of caching with your TomTom, even where road snap isn't an issue, is battery life. You don't say which model TomTom you own, but if it's one that accepts a standard USB cable, you might want to look at a gadget like this or something similar with a cable to give you more juice in the field:

Amazon.com: Ultrabattery 2200MAH Rechargeable USB Power Bank: Electronics

You also don't say how you will get the cache data into your TomTom. If you have a premium membership, let me know and I'll shoot you a quick explanation of how to convert Pocket Query information into TomTom OV2 POI files so you won't have to enter stuff by hand.

Thanks for the quick response! I only started this about a week ago. I know an auto device isn't ideal, but it's what I've got. I have an XL 340-S, and I do have a USB cable for it - if I really get into caching, maybe I'll investigate a charger like that.

I only have a basic membership, so I've been loading the caches onto my device using GSAK. It seems to be working well so far! I'm considering installing the mod that can disable static navigation, which seems necessary for walking (though it will probably suck up the battery).

 

[canderson]

Thanks for the quick response! I only started this about a week ago. I know an auto device isn't ideal, but it's what I've got. I have an XL 340-S, and I do have a USB cable for it - if I really get into caching, maybe I'll investigate a charger like that.

I only have a basic membership, so I've been loading the caches onto my device using GSAK. It seems to be working well so far! I'm considering installing the mod that can disable static navigation, which seems necessary for walking (though it will probably suck up the battery).

The GSAK OV2 export is definitely the lick. I'm attaching a little .bmp file you can use if you don't already have one. If you're calling your GSAK output geocaches.ov2, then you're fine with my little geocaches.bmp icon. If not, rename it.

I'm unfamiliar with the "mod" you are describing, but I'd be interested to hear about it. There's a 3rd party application that seems to be working called off-road-navigator.

 

[canderson]

Lost track of the attachment there...

Slide that right into your map folder with the OV2 file.

 

[CubbieBlue10]

Lost track of the attachment there...

Slide that right into your map folder with the OV2 file.

The one that showed up on my device was a treasure chest, but that one's cool too!

The thing I was referring to is described on this post. I haven't tried it yet though, and can't decide between that and the off-road navigator (or both). Thanks for your help!

 

[Arno]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Might be one of the few ways you can use your TomTom for geocaching without being the victim of "road snap". Understand that your TomTom will try to tie you to a road position (it is, afterall, a road nav unit) if you wander off the road a ways. At some point, it will give up under normal circumstances - I'm not sure how many feet off a road you need to be before it does this, but a few hundred, it seems. UNTIL then, the coordinate data that is displayed on the satellite page is that of the nearest road position, not your position! Very inconvenient for caching.

If you're so far off the map (i.e., on another continent!) that no road is an issue, you'll actually get real coordinate data on the satellite screen all the time.

A not so elegant work around would be to make screen dumps of the GPS Status screen. Just tried it with my W&CE map, still showing my current Toronto coordinates.

Unless an OCR programme can handle that, there would be an awful lot o manual data input after the trip.

 

[mikealder]

Turning the Static Navigation on/ off is applicable to the SiRF-III receivers, are you sure the device you have is using a SiRF-III receiver as I have a funny feeling the One/ XL devices used the Global Locate Hamerhead receiver in the device - Not 100% on this but it might be worth checking before you try running the hack on the device - Mike

 

[gatorguy]

OH, very good catch Mike!

Yes, it's a Hammerhead I believe.

 

[CubbieBlue10]

Turning the Static Navigation on/ off is applicable to the SiRF-III receivers, are you sure the device you have is using a SiRF-III receiver as I have a funny feeling the One/ XL devices used the Global Locate Hamerhead receiver in the device - Not 100% on this but it might be worth checking before you try running the hack on the device - Mike

Shoot, good point. I have no idea how to tell which I have, so maybe I'll just try the off-road navigation thing for now.

 

[cacherjoe]

Do you guys actually use your TomTom's for geocaching? I would think that would be tough, then again I have an Oregon 450t, the only option it doesn't have is a hand to sign the log for me. I love it.

 

[canderson]

Do you guys actually use your TomTom's for geocaching? I would think that would be tough, then again I have an Oregon 450t, the only option it doesn't have is a hand to sign the log for me. I love it.

As you can imagine, a lot of us use them for gross navigation to the location and then pull out our handhelds for the close-in stuff. (Why'd you pay for the "T" with all of the great maps out there? Check out GPSFileDepot - Custom Maps, Ximage hosting, tutorials, articles and more for your GPSr for topos and Worldwide routable Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap for routeable maps. All free, and the topos are 24K (7.5 minute) - not 100K!)

I tried finding my first few with my TomTom, but as there is no way to defeat the road snapping feature (pedestrian mode just ignores one way streets and the like), you have to get far enough off road to break out of that mode before you start seeing real coordinate data. So no, it's not the most practical device in the world for this - at least not anywhere near a road.

 

[mikealder]

Just select the Guam or Canary Isles map depending upon what you have on the device and this should put you far enough away from any roads that the snap to road is disabled.

I have used the TT for geocaching but to be honest I tend to use my Satmap active10 or a PDA in an Otter Box depending on where I am going - Mike

 

[canderson]

A lot of folks here will kill off the Guam map to save a little more space, but that's a fine idea if there's an alternate map available.

Maybe it's just me, but I really think it's dumb that TomTom ever shows the bogus snapped coordinates when you're on the satellite page. I understand the necessity for road snap - a lot of the road geolocation is pretty awful - but what purpose is served by not showing the real coordinates when the user wants them?

 

[cacherjoe]

As you can imagine, a lot of us use them for gross navigation to the location and then pull out our handhelds for the close-in stuff. (Why'd you pay for the "T" with all of the great maps out there? .

I use my tomtom the same way, follow the roads until I'm close then switch to the Oregon from there. I was picturing someone trying to use the tomtom to get up to the cache.

I paid the extra for the "t" because I wanted the 24k topos, I thought it was worth the extra. I do a lot of hiking and could use those. I know there are free maps out there, I have a set of the free topos, but wanted these ones. I'd be interested in knowing where other free (non pirated) maps are also. One other issue, although a bit off topic is how do you get mapsource now without a purchased cd. it won't install unless you have a bought version. I have some road maps for my old 60 but I can't find the cd.

 

[gatorguy]

Try some of the 3rd party maps at GPSFileDepot. Most are 24K, and some are downright excellent.

 

[cacherjoe]

Thanks Gatorguy,

I'm downloading some now. I also found a way to get Mapsource to install. Now to find the lost CD.....LOL.

J

 

[gatorguy]

Garmin's BaseCamp will be the better choice for your Oregon. Plus sat images can be downloaded and used in your route planning within BaseCamp from Garmin's BirdsEye service. No subscription needed if you don't want to send those sat overlays to your device. Another bonus? BaseCamp will read the pre-loaded maps on your Oregon, allowing their use on your computer.

 

[cacherjoe]

Garmin's BaseCamp will be the better choice for your Oregon. Plus sat images can be downloaded and used in your route planning within BaseCamp from Garmin's BirdsEye service. No subscription needed if you don't want to send those sat overlays to your device. Another bonus? BaseCamp will read the pre-loaded maps on your Oregon, allowing their use on your computer.

I find Basecamp is WAY too slow, especially on my net pad. I haven't really tried it on my wife's laptop yet. I have a birdseye subscription so I know how that works. $30 is a great price especially if you want to add some roads to the topo maps. Also I heard that you could view your pre-installed maps on basecamp, but I haven't seen that happen yet.

I like mapsource because it's simple, Basecamp seems to have evolutions to go through in order to get it to where it can complete with Mapsource.

I downloaded some maps this morning. When I look at them in mapsource, I can see the individual maps squares, but there is no graphic of the map visible. Even when I choose to view the highest detail.