Geocaching Australia

Excuse me for not inserting this into the GSAK thread. Now that I'm a Garmin person, I need to be a more thoughtful user so want to hear how others organise their Finds/To be Founds etc.

I am using 3 databases:

1) My founds - simple really, download Pocket Query with my founds.

2)To be founds - started with several pocket Queries - When I find a cache, I put in found date and pat myself on the head.

3) To be Founds - invasion type - new geographic area.

and this doesn't seem like an efficient way to do business! Over to you

I keep one DB with everything in it.
GSAK solves all my problems by clicking on the colored boxes, bottom right, to filter to found, unfound, archived and blue.
To send to y Garmin, I double click yellow, then run the send to my GPS macro.
For me, simplest method available.

To be honest you can work the database a number of ways, but perhaps the easiest is as you have described that way when you load your PQ's you can delete and Load to avoid archived caches.
when I started I use to use just one database, which was easy but required just a bit more clicks when I was searching the GSAK database.
Note when your generating statistics etc you just need to be aware to point Finds at your selected database etc..

Note I have a macro which copies Finds to the database.

Also another trick is when you download you found PQ you can use this to mark all caches in both database you just need to load your-finds twice, onces for you Unfound and the next time to your find database.

My favorite topic!

I use a single database and manage everything from there using macros. I'm on side of the road at the moment once I get home I'll give you some more detail. Once question what Garmin unit are you using?

mtrax wrote: Also another trick is when you download you found PQ you can use this to mark all caches in both database you just need to load your-finds twice, onces for you Unfound and the next time to your find database.

Would you mind repeating this in Aussie ????

Big Matt and Shell wrote:My favorite topic!

I use a single database and manage everything from there using macros. I'm on side of the road at the moment once I get home I'll give you some more detail. Once question what Garmin unit are you using?

Oregon 450t

I have 3 databases, but generally just use one. I have the My Found one that I only update occasionally.

I have Default which generally contains all NSW & ACT caches found and unfound, generated over 2 nights of PQs. I get the whole state as I can end up anywhere from Goulburn to Newcastle with little warning for work, with occasional day or overnight trips further afield. I then have saved filters to export all unfound (into Ozi) or all unfound except mystery (for the TomTom and GPS). Archived caches are selected by running a quick filter on last GPX update date, and deleting anything that hasn't had an update.

The third ones is called Work Trips and is only used when I have an interstate trip coming up, which could be anything from a day to a week. I will create a special query (or queries) for the place I am going. After the trip it gets ignored, and next trip I delete the old data as I do the next import.

I currently have 16 databases...
I tend to create a new one at a whim. However the main ones are:
1. My Finds (including corrected coords for multies/puzzles)
2. My Hides (including final coords)
3. Unfound nearby caches (gets deleted/rebuilt frequently)
4. Ready to find (contains caches where I have solved the puzzle, and 'corrected' the coordinates, but havent found it yet...
5. GCA - Unfound Geocaching australia caches
6. temporary databases of cites that were to be visited! (Cleared regularly).

I'm another one in the "everything in one database" camp.

I'm surprised so many are running separate databases, GSAK's query tool is very powerful and seems to cope with most things.

I have all of South Australia in my database, including GCA & GC caches. Both found and unfound. I can filter on puzzles/multis with corrected co-ordinates, and they even export with a different icon for my TomTom so I know if I'm driving past a solved puzzle.

Every week I refresh all my PQ's for SA. Then sort the database by LastGPX, and any unfound caches at the top of the list with an old date must be archived (or gnomes moving outside SA ).

I export GCA & GC caches separately to the TomTom so I get different icons for them so I know which is which, however they all go together into my Garmin Colorado.

I tell a lie - I have a 2nd database (forgetful me). Called "My Trackables". I use a macro to manage every trackable I've found in this database.

Three databases.
Unfound (populated from PQ's. Caches not updated by PQ/GPX are automatically deleted after 21 days under macro control.)
Found. (Finds are logged in the unfound database, updated via gpx and then moved to the found database.)
Placed. (All the caches I have placed.)


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Two macros you will find handy (although you may already know this):
Field Notes Import & Log
Garmin Export

All those databases sound confusing. I only have one database and I have a number of saved filters that give me what I want (unfound near home mainly). But I can easily make a new filter in a minute for any trip I'm going on. Just turn on the correct filter (or make a new one) and then export to the gps. So easy.

This is all good. So, if I go for the one database, there are no problems with me importing the "my finds" query ? It seems that would make life easier !

I run 2 main databases.

The main one has every cache that has ever been placed in Queensland. This is updated daily using 3 PQ filtered for "updates in the last 7 days". I import these using a macro which checks for 5 new logs on the caches . This gives me a report for ones which exceed the 5 limit. I download a 20 log Gpx file for these few caches from the GC site and load these files.

Monthly I run a series of PQ which gives me all the current caches in QLD and use these to check for archived caches which I have not picked up from other sources.

I also upload all these PQ's and Gpx files to GCA to help keep it updated.

To load my 550 and my Nuvi I run a filter on the database which excludes my caches, found, archived and disabled caches. This gives me about 3000 caches for the whole of Qld which both GPSs handle easily.

When planning a hit on an area I use the google maps macro to locate a cache dense area and then modify my db centrepoint and radius to give a list of caches that are then my target.


The second database contains all my finds.

I also have a database of NSW caches which I keep up to date by weekly PQs and a number of other databases for overseas areas which I intent to visit. These are updated by PQs weekly.

I run one database, and have a string of PQs running every night which results in the caches being frequently updated with new logs, and status (except if they're archived).
I use filters to come up with a set I'm interested in which I load into my Oregon using the Garmin Update macro. The Oregon 550 will hold about 5,000 caches.
The Polygon filter is very useful for defining an irregular area you might want, such as a road trip or a trip along the coast etc.
Late last year I drove from Melbourne to Wagga, Sydney, Canberra, Cooma, Lakes Entrance and back to Melbourne and loaded up the caches along the way using the polygon filter. I think it was just under 5,000.

The only problem I have is that archive logs are not included in PQs so I use the GCA updates to catch the Vic ones, and occasionally I put some time in to check the disabled ones from other states, or caches which haven't been updated for over 6 or so months using the Status Check button in GSAK. A macro to do that would be good but would violate the terms of use of GC apparently.

Bottom line is, the filters and other features of GSAK are so good that you can do every you need or want to do with one database.

We have 4

1) Default - All caches via PQs (Trads close to home unfound, Other unfound, found, GCA unfound)
2) Hides / Our own POIs (not caches) (home, mum/dads place, etc...)
3) GCA Moving
4) Temp (trips away)

I download to my Oregon300 and also to Nuvi from different filters - the filters exclude caches not updated in the last 14 days. I also limit the nuvi to trads (default db+Our Own).

I actually am cutting out the emails with the PQs in effect just downloading them as needed - all into default db. I am still trying to work out how to treat moving caches - how do others do it.