Pocket Queries
From GotWiki
Generating Pocket Queries (PQs) requires PremiumMembership on http://www.geocaching.com, which currently costs $30 / year. Membership provides a variety of useful features, particularly for paperless caching. In addition to Pocket Queries, you can also receive notifications of new caches being published (or ANY activity: finds, archival, DNFs, etc) within a specified area, and... well, you can read all the features for yourself at the link above. Without this ability, you are left downloading the caches directly, no more than 20 at a time, either directly from the cache pages, or from a search results page.
Members can define and manage their Pocket Queries at the following link:
http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/
From the pocket query page, you can create a new PQ. There are a LOT of options on this page - and here is one of several places where overall processes may vary, depend on how you define your PQs. There are pros and cons to the different option sets - so I'll merely describe my methodology, its strengths and weaknesses - and look forward to your feedback.
First, let's take the simple example of the 500 active caches closest to your home, that you haven't found (and don't own). Defining the PQ is as simple as checking the respective boxes and buttons - but it's a complex form, and it's easy to make mistakes.
A bit on naming conventions: Of course, you can name your PQs whatever you like - but you might find that a little structure/syntax can go a long way towards automating your processes. For example - I prefix each of my Not Found caches with a:
"N_"
And similarly, my Owned caches with "O_", and temporary PQs I define for upcoming travel with "T_". As you'll see later, this allows me to use regular expressions to pull JUST the PQs I want out of my email.
I leave it to the reader to decide which days to run - and whether they should run each week, or only when the user has proactively checked the box. For my "Home" PQ, I run it three times a week, and "don't uncheck the box after it runs". For most others, I DO uncheck the box - and only run them 'on demand' when I think I will be in the area or want to refresh the data.
You'll most likely want 500 caches, and I opt for Any Type, Any Container. In the next section, I select That:
- I haven't found
- I don't own
- Is Active (this will preclude archived and disabled caches)
I select "Within" my home state (CA), and then "From Origin" By Coordinates, and entering my home coordinates in the input boxes provided. Theoretically, you could just select "My Home Coordinates" - but I've seen this be problematic, so I just 'hard-code' it to my home coords.
Depending on the cache density where you live, 500 caches may cover a 5 mile radius circle, to perhaps hundreds of miles - and likely, somewhere in between. Setting the radius to some ridiculously large number, like 500 miles, ensures you'll get 500 results (or at least, distance won't be the limiting factor.).
Personally, I opt to have the PQs delivered in compressed (.zip) format: Saves bandwidth, as well as mail server and disk space - and the .zip files work nicely in my processes. Others may opt to have them delivered as GPX files, so that they can just 'double-click' on the attachment from within email to automatically launch GSAK and import the file. As you'll see below, I've automated this process to some extent.
So, now you've got one PQ, with the 500 caches closest to home - but what if you want more than that? I mean - your GPSr can likely hold 1000 waypoints, so it would be nice to have at least THAT many. For those who live in and around the greater San Francisco Bay Area, you realize that even 1000 caches is just a tiny fraction of those available in the area. According to today's information - there are 7,374 active caches within just 50 miles of my home.
Here's where the 'art' comes in: Formulating PQs that cover the desired area, without TOO much overlap, or gaps. I have approximately 15 PQs defined around the Bay Area, that give me pretty comprehensive coverage. That collection has grown and evolved over time, and is an ever-moving target: As more and more caches are deployed, PQ radius' continue to shrink - I was out caching with MartianRabbit recently and found myself in a 'deadspot' - a one-mile wide gap between data sets - when I didn't have any information. This is one of the places I use MS Streets and Trips: It's pretty easy to center on a location (coords, cache, etc) and then draw a circle of a radius that matches the PQ. Do this for each of your pocket queries, and you have a visual representation of what territory your PQs cover.
If you're headed to a new place - whether it be a city just a few exits down the freeway, or another state, or a foreign country - just build the PQs similar to what is described above. A useful tip, which may help prevent you from running bogus PQs which return no (or incorrect) data: Always be sure to preview them, before actually running them. That means, *DON'T* check any of the 'day of the week' boxes when first building the PQ, and then, after submitting, go back to the list and check the "Preview" link - and confirm that the caches shown are in the area you are interested in.
So, now you've got a collection of pocket queries, containing all the (active, only) caches you are interested in tracking. More on what to do with these PQs in the processes sections to follow.
On to GSAK Data
Back to Data Management
