Free .GPX files?/Confused by geocaching data format

Byrd · Post by **Byrd** » 04 April 07 11:58 pm

Hi,

I'm new here - have dabbled in geocaching a little with my brother some years ago, but it's only now that I've my own GPS device (ETEN G500). My claim to fame is creating "The Billabong" cache some years back in Bulleen that appears to be one of the more popular caches in Melb! Although, for all those years I never owned a GPS myself, until now!

I'm confused with putting waypoints onto my GPS, running BeelineGPS for geocaching. I can download basic .LOC waypoint files from geocaching.com, but obviously you need to pay a fee to obtain .GPX files from their site.

Seems like .GPX files make geocaching a lot easier and paperless, and I'd like to try these, but no-where can I find some relevant Melbourne geocaches with downloadable .GPX files. Does anyone know where I can obtain these?

Then there is this software called "GPX grabber" which I'm assuming is not entirely legal to use?

Thanks,

JB

Post by **CraigRat** » 05 April 07 12:08 am

As you noted, you will need to pay a fee to geocaching.com to use their GPX files, and technically cachers who pass them to you are in breach of the terms & conditions of that site.....It's probably not a good idea to ask how to circumvent the system...

Caches hosted at this site (Geocaching Australia) are available to you free of charge, but there are a lot less available than on geocaching.com.... to get these, just click on the Banner at the top of this page then click on the caches tab, and pull up your state in the selection box and then select the GPX link.

Good luck with your caching!

Team Piggy · Post by **Team Piggy** » 05 April 07 12:11 am

http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/GPX

Byrd · Post by **Byrd** » 05 April 07 12:13 am

Thanks Craig, will check them out. By all means I'd be happy to one day pay the gc premium subscription, but would like to test out some .GPX files before I buy.

PS. I'm browsing this site through Firefox (latest version) and while the edited post appears to be fine, it does not format properly when it is posted (I'm using paragraphs). I'm assuming this is a bug in the forum software; excuse my hard-to-read posts in the meantime, will try OS X later on.

JB

Post by **CraigRat** » 05 April 07 12:27 am

Byrd wrote:By all means I'd be happy to one day pay the gc premium subscription, but would like to test out some .GPX files before I buy.

Trust me, I'm not one to pimp gc premium memberships (this site has no affiliation with geocaching.com).... just trying to cover our butts by pointing out the legal bits.

That said, the link Piggy provided has some interesting stuff right at the very bottom

Byrd · Post by **Byrd** » 05 April 07 12:43 am

No worries - understand completely.

PS. toads are pretty cool

JB

Horus · Post by **Horus** » 05 April 07 12:49 am

Byrd wrote:PS. I'm browsing this site through Firefox (latest version) and while the edited post appears to be fine, it does not format properly when it is posted (I'm using paragraphs). I'm assuming this is a bug in the forum software; excuse my hard-to-read posts in the meantime, will try OS X later on.

JB

Not a bug, it's part of the forum software, just tick the "Disable HTML in this post" box before you post and it'll all look nice for you - you can edit your existing posts and tick that box to test it if you like. Play around with it, you can't hurt anything. . . . . I don't think