Geocaching and GPS Stuff

Here you'll find topics related to Geocaching and GPS.

Nüvi Converter (Offline Version)

This is the offline version of the Nüvi Converter.
With this Java programm you can directly manage the pictures for photo navigation on your device.

This is done in a few easy steps:

1. Run NuviConvert (double-click on the jar file)
2. Connect your Nüvi as Mass Storage Device to your PC
3. Select your Garmin Folder on your Nuvi (now you should see all pictures for photo navigation in the left panel)
4. Drag and drop a new image to the bottom panel
5. Fill in the fields. If the picture contains already GPS data these will be filled automatically
6. Press save button to store the picture on your Nüvi

Language support: English, German
Programming language: Java

The software can be started by double-clicking on the NuviConvert.jar file after the ZIP file has been extracted.

 Download NuviConvert 0.1

Greasemonkey Panoramio/Geocaching.com Script

Scripts for the Firefox extension Greasemonkey that allow direct image conversion from Google Panoramio and Geocaching.com for Nüvi and Oregon Garmin devices.

Imges for Garmin Oregon can be directly copied to the device.

For Garmin Nüvi a ZIP file conatining a JPEG image and GPX file is returned. Just copy these files to the Garmin/JPEG and Garmin/GPX folder of your Nüvi and the image should be available for Photo Navigation.

 Download Panoramio Script  Download Geocaching.com Script

Nüvi Image Converter

 Start Application

Garmin's Nüvi supports Photo Navigation.
According to Garmin to only way to convert images is to use Panoramio via the Garmin photo site. Unfortunately the Garmin plugin is needed to transfer the photos to the Nüvi. So bad luck for all the Linux/Unix users. Apart from that not everyone is keen on sinding all his photos to Garmin's website.

This online applications converts photos and images to the appropriate format which can be used for Photo Navigation on the Nüvi. GPS coordinates can be specified, but this is not necessary if the photos or imagey are already geo tagged. The application will return a ZIP file conatining a JPEG image and GPX file. Just copy these files to the Garmin/JPEG and Garmin/GPX folder of your Nüvi and the photo/image should be available for Photo Navigation.

* all images are deleted after image conversion.

Oregon GeoTagger

 Start Application

Garmin uses a strange format to add EXIF GPS Data to images.
Just adding GPS information to an image won't work.

This online application adds geo information to images suitable for Garmin Oregon devices.
Specify an image* and GPS coordinates and the application will add them to the image along with a thumbnail.
After transferring the image to the Oregon, the GPS position of the image can be displayed on the map.

* all images are deleted after image conversion.

Wherigo und Linux

Jochen Rühl

 Der Artikel als PDF  Download GPS Shell Skript

Wherigo ist eine nette Abwechslung zu den traditionellen Geocaches. Es hat jedoch den Nachteil, dass es es offiziell nur auf Windows Mobile und einigen Garmin GPS Geräten läuft.
Dieses kleine HowTo zeigt, wie man Wherigos unter Linux unter Zuhilfenahme von OpenWig zum Laufen bekommt.

GCTool - Geocaching Tool

Der Geocacher stolpert unweigerlich immer wieder über ähnliche Aufgaben: die Hints zu jedem Geocache sind mit Rot13 verschlüsselt, oft wird der Buchstabenwert eines Wortes verlangt - und letztens musste ich sogar einen Text "spiegeln", eine Art von "Verschlüsselung", die mir bis dahin noch gar nicht untergekommen war.

Um mir diese immer wiederkehrenden "Berechnungen" zu vereinfachen, habe ich mir die eine oder andere Klasse geschrieben und diese nun in diesem "GC-Tool" vereint.

Sprache: Deutsch

Der Quellcode befindet sich in der jar Datei.

Das Programm ist in Java geschrieben und kann durch einen Doppelklick auf die Datei GCTool.jar gestartet werden.

Programmiersprache: Java

 Download GCTool 0.1

WCam - Webcam Tool

Webcam Caches are somehow tricky to do, because somebody else is needed to save the image from a web page.
There are several possibilities which range from calling a friend to calling a web service from a cellular phone.
WCam was created to simplify the saving of web page images.

WCam is a Webcam tool that allows you to periodically save images from webcams.
This is useful for webcam caches.

In case the webcam image is not directly accessible because the link to the image changes a regular expression can be specified to filter the image URL from the web page.

Resizing of images is also supported.

The settings can be saved to a file to be reloaded later or shared with others

Language support: English, German

The Sourcecode is provided in the jar file.

The software is written in Java and can be started by double-clicking on the WCam.jar file.

Programming language: Java

 Download preconfigured configuration files...

 Download WCam 0.35

ROT13

On Geocaching sites spoilers and such are often ROT13 encoded so that they are not directly readable.

ROT13 is a very simple algorithm which shifts the input character values by 13. Characters from A-Z and a-z will be encoded. Other characters will not be changed.

Because the  algorithm is symmetric, the same code can be used for coding and decoding.

You can try the ROT13 coding/decoding by yourself by inserting text in the text box on the right and pressing the ROT13 button.

For those interested the JavaScript source code can be viewed here.

Text Sum

For some Geocaches it is necessary to sum up character values, starten from A=1 to Z=26.

Type the text into the textbox on the right and press the = button.
All characters that do not match A-Z or a-z are ignored.

For those interested the JavaScript source code can be viewed here.