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Thread: What's the best way to get this information?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    Default What's the best way to get this information?

    Is there any way to take a list of coordinates and find all caches within a mile of each coordinate? Or would I have to go through and look up each coordinate individually?

    To put my question in to context...

    My husband and I are really in to lighthouses. We'd like to have caches at some of the best viewing spots for various lighthouses in Maine that are typically hard to find so that others can see lighthouses that they may not have seen otherwise.

    For example, Whitlocks Mill Lighthouse is on private property. However, about a mile away there is a rest area that provides a great viewing spot. We'd like to put a cache at that rest area.

    Or, Indian Island Lighthouse is offshore but it is possible to get distant views from the shore. At the Maine Lighthouse Museum there are directions to a spot with a really good distant view but it involves parking on the side of the road in Rockport (or Rockland? I forget, lol) and going through a wooded area. We'd like to put a cache there.

    I'd like to generate a list of all lighthouses that already have nearby caches. That way I know which lighthouses to ignore. I obviously can go through and manually look up each lighthouse's coordinates... but if there were a way I could run a query to generate the list it would be awesome.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
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    5,965

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    Quote Originally Posted by benandtina View Post
    Is there any way to take a list of coordinates and find all caches within a mile of each coordinate? Or would I have to go through and look up each coordinate individually?
    Well, I see that this request has been viewed 17 times so far without a comment, so I might as well jump in...

    To answer your question: no, I don't think so - not multiple coordinates at once.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Bangor, ME
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhereRWe? View Post
    Well, I see that this request has been viewed 17 times so far without a comment, so I might as well jump in...

    To answer your question: no, I don't think so - not multiple coordinates at once.
    Ah, Bruce, you newbie! - so much to learn!

    In GSAK you can choose filter - Select the Arc/Poly tab, set the filter type to points, Enter in all the coords for your points, specify a radius from each point and there ya have it!

    You won't know which caches go with which coords, however. But that could be done with a macro.

    The initial setup would take a few minutes, you would have to know the coords for all the lighthouses, but you could share that list with the site!
    Last edited by brdad; 05-11-2009 at 02:12 PM.
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  4. #4
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    Solon, Maine
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    Quote Originally Posted by brdad View Post
    Ah, Bruce, you newbie! - so much to learn!

    In GSAK you can choose filter - Select the Arc/Poly tab, set the filter type to points, Enter in all the coords for your points, specify a radius from each point and there ya have it!
    Sheesh! Maybe I misunderstood the question - I was thinking of doing it with a pocket query from GC.com. GSAK is OK, but only if all the areas covered by the coordinates you want to enter are included in the database.


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Brunswick, Maine
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    548

    Talking

    you could do the searches in Gsak and set one up for each lighthouse and save it. Not sure if you can output the results in sections though. Where is the Stats People when you need them

  6. #6
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    May 2009
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    Orlando, Florida
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhereRWe? View Post
    Sheesh! Maybe I misunderstood the question - I was thinking of doing it with a pocket query from GC.com. GSAK is OK, but only if all the areas covered by the coordinates you want to enter are included in the database.

    Nah, you didn't misunderstand my question! I didn't think to ask about GSAK since I assumed my solution would be a pocket query. I didn't think to ask about running my queries on my GSAK database. My GSAK database has 3887 Maine caches in them - basically everything except the 30ish that I've already seen.

    Rather than using the coordinates of each lighthouse, I decided to use the coordinates for each of my favorite lighthouse pictures since that's where I'd want to put my caches. I did a filter to find caches within .5km of the coordinates.

    I created a bookmark list of the caches in my result that either mention a lighthouse or I can that I can tell from the map/my memory that the lighthouse will most likely be viewable from the cache. As we get in to this and place our own caches I'll be able to make the list more accurate!

    Here's the list:
    http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/...f-4ecd0e66bae1

    Thanks again for all the tips!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Maine
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    1,972

    Lightbulb Maine Challenge

    When I wanted to find the caches placed nearest to the DeLorme Unique and Natural, I used my Garmin Mapsource software. I located the areas on Mapsource and then it was easy. Right click on the area and select " find near caches on geocaching.com ". The search box opens in your browser and lists the caches for you.

    If you want to create a new database in GSAK, ( call it lighthouses ) you can check the caches you wish to visit from the Maine caches. One of the default filters in GSAK is user flagged, choose it and the only waypoints that will show are those that were checked. Then select, Database in the tool bar and Move/Copy waypoints. Send them to your new database and then you have listed all of the " must see " finds. All in one place.
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Bangor, ME
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhereRWe? View Post
    Sheesh! Maybe I misunderstood the question - I was thinking of doing it with a pocket query from GC.com. GSAK is OK, but only if all the areas covered by the coordinates you want to enter are included in the database.
    I didn't pay as much attention to the question as I did the desired result! And, GSAK is my first instinct since I have all Maine caches loaded there anyway.

    Quote Originally Posted by benandtina View Post
    Here's the list:
    http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/...f-4ecd0e66bae1

    Thanks again for all the tips!
    Great job on the list! If you get enough data perhaps you can create something for the articles section about caching near Maine lighthouses so it is easily accessible. As FFJ suggested, it would be something of interest to many visitors and residents to the state. If you get to that point and would like to supply a map, I'd be glad to whip one up. In fact, I think if you made a separate GSAK database of the lighthouses I could make a map showing those locations.

    The possibilities are endless.
    Thanks for contributing to the site. Members make the site what it is!
    Last edited by brdad; 05-12-2009 at 06:39 AM.
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  9. #9
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    May 2008
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    Huntersville, NC
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    Default

    Though it would be a cool idea.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Gainesville, Georgia
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    Default

    Might I suggest to do a Pocket Query with the word Lighthouse in the cache name. You might be surprised with what you come up with.
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