Geocaching Australia

Obviously my NSW database isn't a good guide as it has almost 4 years of logs in it. But the 7 PQs I used last weekend to generate all of North Island for a holiday next week (so there is no old history, just the last 4 logs for each cache) created a 28 MB SQL database. How that relates to what data comes down I don't know, not knowing much anything about SQL data format.

Just saw someone say in the GSAK forums that archived caches are showing up with null co-ords.

I requested all caches around my home coords including archived directly from geocaching.com. The archived show up, but the coords are all N0° 00.000 E0° 00.000.

Richary wrote:Just curious - if it uses the API to get the data direct from the server to update caches you already have in GSAK - does that mean you can now automatically get the data for archived caches that don't appear in PQs?

Yes, tested this earlier tonight. Identified caches that hadn't updated, filtered them and using "Refresh cache data" option and logs updated and status changed to Archived.

caughtatwork wrote:Oh, it's easy alright.


Just grabbed the entire state using the API. Nice.
It runs about 1.2 caches a second (that's what I'm getting) or about 80 caches a minute.
PQ's are faster as they are canned on the server, but it's still a nice touch.

How do you run the entire state through API? Doesn't it cut off at a certain radius or cache number?

OK as a GSAK total newbie what are API and why is everyone so excited about it/them???????
I am still on GSAK 101 and taking things very very slowly.

Renroc wrote:OK as a GSAK total newbie what are API and why is everyone so excited about it/them???????
I am still on GSAK 101 and taking things very very slowly.

The API (Application Programming Interface)is a way that other programs can access data from a website or service in a controlled manner

GC have finally allowed selected developers (including ClydE who does GSAK) to use this to get data from the site.
What this means is you wont have to rely on using PQs to populate your GSAK. You still will need to be a Premium Member.
It's a good step forward for the site,a nd will be a great addition to GSAK.

Just found that there is a limit of 6000 caches you can pull through the API in a day, and 2000 in an hour. Though I didn't seem to get hit with the 2000 limit when I ran a refresh on my state DB which has about 6000 caches in it.

I guess that means with Pocket queries and the API I could access 11000 caches in a day, and assuming it's a US day, I could get 11000 in the morning and 11000 in the afternoon.

Pretty sure that 22000 caches a day will be more than enough most days.

The new version update is nicer too.
A notification appears in the bottom right corner and you just click to update.
No visiting the website to click on the new version download, and you don't have to kill GSAK first either.

Here are the menu items using the new api.

Most of them give you a choice between getting data for the selected cache, or all caches in the filter.
Get Geocaches - similar to an instant PQ
Refresh Cache data - like getting a GPX for a cache, or many caches
Download Pocket Queries - automates loading PQs you have ready to download at gc.com
Get Logs - Gets any number of logs for each cache or caches in the filter
Status Check - Gets the Available, Unavailable, Archived status for cache/caches
Favourite Points - self explanatory
Update User Info - Gets your user details, home location from gc.com into GSAK (setup procedure)
Publish Logs - Haven't used this, looks like it will grab listings for you enter logs based on filter, GPS visited_caches file, or a separate file
Add to Bookmark list .. - helps manage bookmarks on gc.com
Get Another Access Token - Not too sure, it brings up a gc.com login screen, perhaps you can have two logins simultaneously

CraigRat wrote:

Renroc wrote:OK as a GSAK total newbie what are API and why is everyone so excited about it/them???????
I am still on GSAK 101 and taking things very very slowly.

The API (Application Programming Interface)is a way that other programs can access data from a website or service in a controlled manner

GC have finally allowed selected developers (including ClydE who does GSAK) to use this to get data from the site.
What this means is you wont have to rely on using PQs to populate your GSAK. You still will need to be a Premium Member.
It's a good step forward for the site,a nd will be a great addition to GSAK.

Thanks for that CraigRat. Makes the muddy water a fair bit clearer. Guess I will upgrade. But I want to get my stuff organised first.

Just because I like pushing buttons to see what they do I asked gsak to update the logs for my Vic database. Set it update 5 logs only but for the entire database.
It worked away for more than an hour then bombed out with a sook about reaching the limit of 2000 caches that can be updated. A check of "last updated date" showed that 2000 had been updated but the rest had not.

Will have to find a better way to update the entire state and, as I live on the border, I'll need to do the same for NSW.

WazzaAndWenches wrote:Will have to find a better way to update the entire state and, as I live on the border, I'll need to do the same for NSW.

I think the better way will be to treat this like a pocket query. Build a filter that has 2000 caches, and refresh that. Probably by date range.

I've also found that the 6000 daily limit doesn't refresh at midnight US time. Also found it's not reset at local midnight, so I guess it'll be 24 hours since the last refresh.

Is anyone else having trouble with the refresh cache data function? A lot of the time it's not working for me (but sometimes it does, either on individual caches or complete filters)...

Select 1800 caches, hit refresh, the API circle thingy comes up and then I'm presented with: Cannot open file C:\Users\eddie.chapman\AppData\Roaming\gsak\apilog.txt

Any ideas? Haven't seen any mention of such an error on the GSAK support website for the beta version so wondering if it's just something I'm doing wrong.

Permissions?
Do you run it as an administrator?

Happy Chappies wrote:Is anyone else having trouble with the refresh cache data function? A lot of the time it's not working for me (but sometimes it does, either on individual caches or complete filters)...

Select 1800 caches, hit refresh, the API circle thingy comes up and then I'm presented with: Cannot open file C:\Users\eddie.chapman\AppData\Roaming\gsak\apilog.txt

Any ideas? Haven't seen any mention of such an error on the GSAK support website for the beta version so wondering if it's just something I'm doing wrong.

Could it be your trying to find the wrong file. When you go to the refresh screen what settings are you running? Is it the default? It may be defaulting to a previous load.

My file when I run a refresh is stored somewhere like. ..../GSAK8/TEMP/????.GPX It is not a text file.

I don't have my computer here in front of me at work. Finally don't forget this is Alpha software so it may just be a bug that you need to report to GSAK