OtherSearches.txt

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Using GeoToad for searches which are not built in
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Table of Contents:
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 - Searches along a given track/route (issue 103)
 - Parsing bookmark lists (issue 227)
 - Removing mystery caches from GPX
 - Merging riddle solutions into GPX
 - Modify GPX files to be accepted by BaseCamp (issue 238)
 - Get an approximate overview map of caches in a whole large area (now defunct)

_Note: Tested with Debian Linux and bash. Adaptions may be necessary._



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"Proximity" search around an existing geocache
----------------------------------------------

There has been a request for "proximity" searches:
Sometimes, you plan to attend an event, or want to visit one of the
"geocaching legends" as "${my_country}'s First", and you don't want
to miss the little D1/T1 traditional around the corner.

Here's a suggestion how to accomplish this (you will have to
add your credentials, and modify some other search parameters,
but you'll get the idea):

  #!/bin/bash

  CENTER=GC77       # or whatever should be the center of your search
  DISTANCE=2km      # radius around $CENTER

  # extract coordinates for $CENTER cache
  geotoad -q wid -x list -o `pwd`/$CENTER.list $CENTER

  # get coordinates from list
  COORDS=`awk '{printf("%s,%s\n",$2,$3)}' $CENTER.list`

  # now run the real query
  geotoad -q coord -x gpx -o `pwd`/$CENTER-prox.gpx "$COORDS"

----------------------------------------------
Searches along a given track/route (issue 103)
----------------------------------------------

The following script will suggest a geotoad command line,
not run geotoad itself:

  #!/bin/bash

  input=input.gpx # some file you picked up at e.g. openrouteservice.org

  error=0.25k     # Douglas-Peucker tolerance
  distance=1.25k  # interpolation distance
  circle=1.00km   # search radius

  # note: error/circle ~ 1/4, distance/circle ~ 5/4 will give you
  # an approximate coverage of about 2/3 circle radius

  # for a half-mile wide corridor along your route: 
  #error=0.2m
  #distance=1m
  #circle=0.8mi

  # simplify input with Douglas-Peucker,
  # then interpolate for point distance,
  # output as series of coordinates suited for geotoad

  searchargs=$(
  cat $input |
  gpsbabel -i gpx -f - \
      -x simplify,crosstrack,error=$error \
           -o gpx -F - |
  gpsbabel -i gpx -f - \
      -x interpolate,distance=$distance \
           -o csv -F - |
  tr ',' ' ' |
  awk '{printf("%.3f,%.3f|",$1,$2)}'
  )

  echo complete \(with your credentials etc.\) and run:
  echo geotoad ... -y$circle -q coord \"$searchargs\"

Note the number of decimals in the "printf" command -
it will limit center point precision to about 100 metres
which should be sufficient in most cases.

The values for "error", "distance" and "circle" have to be adjusted by hand.
The ratio distance/circle obviously has to be smaller than 2 ;)

----------------------------------
Parsing bookmark lists (issue 227)
----------------------------------

With issue 228 resolved, this has become easier:

  #!/bin/bash

  # example: Berlin/Brandenburg area night caches
  listguid="cbb21edf-fb9e-45b5-9b27-c51fd6453cbf"

  # extract list of guids from KML file
  GUIDS=$(
  lynx -source "http://www.geocaching.com/kml/bmkml.aspx?bmguid=$listguid" \
  | perl -ne 'if(/\?guid=([0-9a-f-]+)/){printf("%s:",$1)}'
  )

  # now run the real query
  geotoad -q guid -x gpx -o `pwd`/list_$listguid.gpx "$GUIDS"

--------------------------------
Removing mystery caches from GPX
--------------------------------

Do you use a handheld for actual geocaching, and a navigation system to
reach your targets? If so, you probably don't want mystery caches to be
shown on the screen while driving. Running the same search with and
without cache type "unknown" is time-consuming and error-prone.

The following Ruby scriptlet gpxdemystify will strip "Unknown" caches from
a GPX file produced by GeoToad:

  #!/usr/bin/env ruby
  puts $stdin.read.split(/<\/wpt>/).map { |fragment|
      (fragment !~ /<groundspeak:type>Unknown Cache/m) ? fragment : nil
  }.compact.join("</wpt>")

to be run as follows:   gpxdemystify <input.gpx >output.gpx

---------------------------------
Merging riddle solutions into GPX
---------------------------------

Similarly, it is possible to merge a list of "solved" mysteries, or
already reached multi-cache stages, into an existing GPX, using
gpxsolutions as follows:

  #!/usr/bin/env ruby
  # merge solved mysteries into GPX file

  # first read solutions (WPID lat lon) from table
  solutions = Hash.new
  begin
    File.foreach(ARGV[0]){ |line|
      columns = line.upcase.split(/\s+/)
      name = columns[0]
      lat = columns[1]
      lon = columns[2]
      gcid = "GC" + name[2..-1]
      wpnr = name[0..1]
      case wpnr
      when /GC/
        type = 'Traditional Cache'
      when /\d./
        type = 'Multi-cache'
      end
      solutions[gcid] = {'wpnr'=>wpnr, 'lat'=>lat, 'lon'=>lon, 'type'=>type}
    }
  rescue
    $stderr.puts "Cannot read #{ARGV[0].inspect}, will not modify anything"
  end

  # now merge into GPX (UNIX filter!)
  puts $stdin.read.split(/<\/wpt>/).map { |fragment|
    if fragment =~ /<name>(GC.*?)<\/name>.*?<groundspeak:type>(Unknown Cache|Multi-cache)/m
      gcid = $1
      if fragment =~ /<groundspeak:name>(.*?)</m
        name = $1
      end
      solution = solutions[gcid]
      if solution
        wpnr = solution['wpnr']
        lat = solution['lat']
        lon = solution['lon']
        type = solution['type']
        fragment.gsub!(/lat="[\d\.-]+"/, "lat=\"#{lat}\"")
        fragment.gsub!(/lon="[\d\.-]+"/, "lon=\"#{lon}\"")
        fragment.gsub!(/(Unknown Cache|Multi-cache)</, "#{type}<")
        fragment.gsub!(/<groundspeak:short_description[^>]*>/){ |s|
          s.gsub(/>/, ">[+#{wpnr}]=")
        }
        $stderr.printf "Modified %7s: %s = %s %s \"%s\" -> %s\n", gcid, wpnr, lat, lon, name, type
      end
    end
    fragment
  }.join("</wpt>")

to be run as follows:   gpxsolutions solved.txt <input.gpx >output.gpx

with a solved.txt file listing points by name, lat, lon (where point names are
constructed the same way as "normal" waypoints) as in the following fictional list:

  gcqmea  02.012345 53.987654
  gcwpgf  13.543210 41.456789
  0113r5p 22.555555 33.444444
  0116d4t 32.888888 23.555555
  0018k6k 42.010101 13.101010


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-------------------------------------------------------
Modify GPX files to be accepted by BaseCamp (issue 238)
-------------------------------------------------------

BaseCamp 3.3.1 reportedly doesn't like GroundSpeak's GPX extensions (what they call
"GPX 1.0.1"), and refuses to show cache details.

Since extensions are essential for attribute support, GeoToad GPX output is (and will
continue to be) 1.0.1 compatible, but it's rather easy to mangle a GPX file to look
like a 1.0 one:

  cat geotoadoutput.gpx \
  | sed 's~http://www.groundspeak.com/cache/1/0/1~http://www.groundspeak.com/cache/1/0~g' \
  > basecampinput.gpx

It's not even necessary to remove the "groundspeak:attributes" section.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get an approximate overview map of caches in a whole large area (now defunct)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This doesn't work anymore since 2013-05-07 and is kept for historical reasons only

For obvious reasons, one doesn't want to fetch thousands of caches to get an impression
what would be possible in the area where you're planning your next holiday trip to.
Issue 213 tries to address this - by evaluating only search pages, while skipping the
fetching of the cache details pages. This reduces your access count by a factor of 20!

Here's what I'm using (bash again):

  # -Y option skips cdpf fetch
  # qlist template gets distance and azimuth angle

  geotoad \
    -u $USERNAME -p $PASSWORD \
    -Y \
    -x qlist -o $(pwd)/all.qlist \
    -y $DIST \
    -q coord \
        "$LAT $LON"

  # use geo-project from Rick Richardson's geo-* tools http://geo.rkkda.com/
  # to project from the center of the search, write output in "list" style

  cat all.qlist \
  | while read guid d1 d2 cdate dtp type dd other
  do
    d=${dd%@*}
    dd0=${dd%=*}
    a=${dd#*=}
    latlon=$(
    geo-project -e $LAT $LON $d $a \
    | awk '{print $3, $4}'
    )
    echo $guid $latlon $cdate $dtp $type $dd0 $other
  done \
  > all.list

(More to be added. Suggestions welcome.)_