MotoDroid, Geocaching, C:Geo

[JP 5.56]

Tried c:geo for the first time this weekend after reading this forum thread. It was great! We had always wanted to try geocaching but didn't want to shell out for a handheld GPS. For the most part, the Droid/app led us straight to the cache (although we had some issues with snow cover). It was a little frustrating, however, that sometimes it would get confused and the GPS would be way off. I have been having trouble with my GPS accuracy lately, however, so I don't think I can blame the app. I was disappointed that the map feature in the app didn't work, however. That would have been incredibly helpful. I don't know if it's broken for everyone or just me. The experience was really, really fun though! We'll do it again for sure.

I've noticed that the built-in GPS on the droid is pretty much dead-on accurate, however it seems that it can go nuts and not be accurate at all.

Download an app called GPS Status. Fire that up, and let it get a good fix on some satellites. Spin around a few times with the droid held flat (screen facing the sky), then do it a few times with the droid on its side, and then again with the top (where the lock button is) facing the sky. This seems to work the same as the calibration mode that can be found on many standalone GPSr units.

I also noticed that it seems like my accuracy is worse if I have turned off GPS and then turned it back on a few times. To fix this, reboot the phone with GPS on.

I was getting 7+- yard accuracy on Saturday under heavy cloud cover. My dedicated GPS hardly ever gets that accurate under optimal conditions!

Geocaching itself is very fun. I am glad you enjoyed it. Be sure you read all the getting started information that can be found on geocaching.com

 

[bristolcat]

Download an app called GPS Status. Fire that up, and let it get a good fix on some satellites. Spin around a few times with the droid held flat (screen facing the sky), then do it a few times with the droid on its side, and then again with the top (where the lock button is) facing the sky. This seems to work the same as the calibration mode that can be found on many standalone GPSr units.

Thanks! This is pretty much exactly what I did. I love GPS Status and had read about the spinning thing somewhere else in this forum. It helped, but I just wonder if the cell signal fluctuating was throwing it off. When we were having the worst problems, I was watching my phone blink back and forth between no service, 1x and 3G. We were on the border between two states, a place where I often lose calls, so I suppose that had something to do with it.

When we got to other areas, I was able to get +-7, too. It was amazing. I literally walked right up to a cache that I would never have seen otherwise. It was also frustrating when it led me straight to an area where there SHOULD have been a cache, but there wasn't anything that we could find. :huh: :tongue:

 

[JP 5.56]

Download an app called GPS Status. Fire that up, and let it get a good fix on some satellites. Spin around a few times with the droid held flat (screen facing the sky), then do it a few times with the droid on its side, and then again with the top (where the lock button is) facing the sky. This seems to work the same as the calibration mode that can be found on many standalone GPSr units.

Thanks! This is pretty much exactly what I did. I love GPS Status and had read about the spinning thing somewhere else in this forum. It helped, but I just wonder if the cell signal fluctuating was throwing it off. When we were having the worst problems, I was watching my phone blink back and forth between no service, 1x and 3G. We were on the border between two states, a place where I often lose calls, so I suppose that had something to do with it.

When we got to other areas, I was able to get +-7, too. It was amazing. I literally walked right up to a cache that I would never have seen otherwise. It was also frustrating when it led me straight to an area where there SHOULD have been a cache, but there wasn't anything that we could find. :huh: :tongue:

Heh, a lot of times the cache is right there in front of you and you just don't see it.

One of the caches I located on Saturday was this way. Droid brought me right to the coordinates. The hints on the cache page confirmed I was in the right area. It still took a half hour or searching to finally spot something right under our noses!

 

[solorca]

Nice! I tried GeoBeagle and hated it, so I went back to just using my old Garmin. I'll give this a try the next time we go out.

 

[bristolcat]

Heh, a lot of times the cache is right there in front of you and you just don't see it.

Yeah, the odds were stacked against us, I think. We were looking for a blinkie, while at the time we didn't know what a blinkie looked like. There was also two feet of snow on the ground and it was almost dark. Oh well, LOL. This thing will be really fun to play with in the spring.

Maybe there should be a Droid geocachers group?

 

[tucripper]

I used Geobeagle for a while and found it cumbersome C:geo is a very good geocaching app I use my Droid more for geocaching than my Garmin now lol. Finding the cache after you have gotten to the coordinates is the most fun part of the hunt. I would be all for a Droid Geocachers Group.
If any of the members out there have not tried Geocaching, it is very addictive lol and a great way to spend some quality time with family as well as learn a little about your surrounding area since a lot of the caches are located around geographic or history related locations.

 

[JP 5.56]

Heh, a lot of times the cache is right there in front of you and you just don't see it.

Yeah, the odds were stacked against us, I think. We were looking for a blinkie, while at the time we didn't know what a blinkie looked like. There was also two feet of snow on the ground and it was almost dark. Oh well, LOL. This thing will be really fun to play with in the spring.

Maybe there should be a Droid geocachers group?

There is! http://www.droidforums.net/forum/groups/geocaching.html

 

[bristolcat]

Thanks! Joined!

 

[Murz]

I have never heard of Geocacheing before but it sounds really fun!! I think my seven year old son would love it. I'm going to register for the DroidForums group, download the app and register on the actual Geocache site.

Thanks for the info guys! Cant wait to get started.

 

[JP 5.56]

I have never heard of Geocacheing before but it sounds really fun!! I think my seven year old son would love it. I'm going to register for the DroidForums group, download the app and register on the actual Geocache site.

Thanks for the info guys! Cant wait to get started.

Murz, it is a great hobby for spending time with family and friends. Its also a great way to get to know your surrounding areas. I know Tucson extremely well. You can name some unheard of small residential street and theres a 90% chance I can tell you approximately what part of town its in, if not tell you exactly how to get there. Even with my knowledge of this city, Geocaching has lead me to things I would have otherwise never seen. A few great parks, awesome bits of history, etc.

 

[rusray]

I went out and found three caches yesterday. c:geo is wonderful for geocaching, the only thing I wish it had was a way to get and save your cords. Does anyone know a program to do that? I'm looking to create a few more caches in my home area!

EDIT: Scratch that, the Compass app by Snaptic will note your gps coordinates and if your compass is off (mine was) it tells you and shows you how to fix it! (basically wave it in a figure 8, but still cool that it can tell)

 

[Brokn68]

I love to geocache, I will have to compare the Droid to the Garmin 60.

 

[kamileon]

I went out and found three caches yesterday. c:geo is wonderful for geocaching, the only thing I wish it had was a way to get and save your cords. Does anyone know a program to do that? I'm looking to create a few more caches in my home area!

I use a free app called compass. It tells you your current grid and allows you to save it.

 

[rvnwlf]

Great Geocache program group

I've found (by reading comments in the market place) a great group of programs that work very well together.
Geobeagle (free), Find Geocaches ($1.99), GPS Status by EclipSim (free).
Between these 3 programs and an account on geocaching.com it will let you search for caches at your current location. Takes you to the detailed info on a specific cache on the geocaching.com web site. Using SMS you can log your finds on geocaching.com (after setting it up). Let's you use Navigator on the driod or google maps to give you directions to the location. Will give you a detailed Radar or Long / Lat on where the cache is and your current location. Aside from having to "hunt" for the final location this combo has everything you need to search for caches, get up to the location, and log your finds.

 

[hookbill]

So rather then embarrass myself by asking what geocoaching is I googled it. So you're all playing high tech hide and go seek!

Have fun.