Geocaching

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Wishes warning! This article or section documents one or more OpenMoko Wish List items, the features described here may or may not be implemented in the future.

Contents

Overview

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value.[1]

An application for geocaching guides you to a cache with direction and distance, of course. But it should also be possible to download additional information like description, logs and hints for a cache.

Use Cases

  • Download caches nearby current position
  • Download additional information of a cache
  • Alert me, if I'm (unintentional) nearby a cache
  • Log caches offline
  • Distance and direction to a cache
  • Support for Wherigo cartridges (However, it seems that the file format isn't open.)

Layout Components

(TBD)

Architectural Details

Spider

Since www.geocaching.com doesn't have a documented API, a spider has to retrieve indormation from the website. Maybe the spider of CacheWolf might be a good starting point. However, it is written in Java.

I just noticed that it isn't allowed to automatic download content from www.geocaching.com: Terms of use agreement (Section 5)

DBUS

I don't know much about D-Bus. It would be nice to have a D-Bus interface so send the details (e.g. coordinates) to other applications. This way,

  • TangoGPS could display the cache on a map,
  • Navit could route to a cache,
  • a compass application could point to the cache,
  • a location based ToDo list could make an alert.

So the Geocaching application don't have to provide all these functionalities.

Questions and Answers

(TBD)

External Information

  • GeoToad: Ruby implementation for paperless caching. Not maintained.
  • Rick Richardson's Linux tools for geocaching: Various tools for geocaching. Some are designed to turn the clickly-clicky-scroll-clicky-clicky messes that are geocaching.com and navicache.com into a set of tools which you can use in a batch or cron mode to establish your normal caching routine, backup your caches and cache logs, etc. Others are used to enter new waypoints, a free geocoder, create custom maps of waypoints, etc
  • tangoGPS Import of gpx Files, support for OpenstreetMap Files
  • [2] Import loc files (geocaching format) in TangoGPS

See also

  • Cachewolf. Java software for paperless Caching. It uses a spider to retrieve the information from www.geocaching.com. Only in German.
Personal tools
Wishes warning! This article or section documents one or more OpenMoko Wish List items, the features described here may or may not be implemented in the future.

Overview

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value.[1]

An application for geocaching guides you to a cache with direction and distance, of course. But it should also be possible to download additional information like description, logs and hints for a cache.

Use Cases

  • Download caches nearby current position
  • Download additional information of a cache
  • Alert me, if I'm (unintentional) nearby a cache
  • Log caches offline
  • Distance and direction to a cache
  • Support for Wherigo cartridges (However, it seems that the file format isn't open.)

Layout Components

(TBD)

Architectural Details

Spider

Since www.geocaching.com doesn't have a documented API, a spider has to retrieve indormation from the website. Maybe the spider of CacheWolf might be a good starting point. However, it is written in Java.

I just noticed that it isn't allowed to automatic download content from www.geocaching.com: Terms of use agreement (Section 5)

DBUS

I don't know much about D-Bus. It would be nice to have a D-Bus interface so send the details (e.g. coordinates) to other applications. This way,

  • TangoGPS could display the cache on a map,
  • Navit could route to a cache,
  • a compass application could point to the cache,
  • a location based ToDo list could make an alert.

So the Geocaching application don't have to provide all these functionalities.

Questions and Answers

(TBD)

External Information

  • GeoToad: Ruby implementation for paperless caching. Not maintained.
  • Rick Richardson's Linux tools for geocaching: Various tools for geocaching. Some are designed to turn the clickly-clicky-scroll-clicky-clicky messes that are geocaching.com and navicache.com into a set of tools which you can use in a batch or cron mode to establish your normal caching routine, backup your caches and cache logs, etc. Others are used to enter new waypoints, a free geocoder, create custom maps of waypoints, etc
  • tangoGPS Import of gpx Files, support for OpenstreetMap Files
  • [2] Import loc files (geocaching format) in TangoGPS

See also

  • Cachewolf. Java software for paperless Caching. It uses a spider to retrieve the information from www.geocaching.com. Only in German.