Geo Caching with Prius??

I geocache with the kids all of the time. I sometimes use the nav system to get me near and to a good parking spot, but you need a handheld (and compass) to make the final mile.

you hang out at www.geocaching.com too?

 

You could design a combination road rally geo cache event where each cache was accessible by the driver and or passenger with out getting out of the car. Stuff like mail boxes, window ledges, I don't know where ever you could put them for the day. There is a screen that shows position and you would flip back and forth between that and the map page. Only question is if you allow any paper maps?

 

I use my Prius' NAV but only to get close (to park the car). I then use my handheld GPSR to get to the actual cache (usually requiring a short hike).

My only problem with the Prius' NAV is that (as far as I know) you can only enter coords in D/M/S format while the geocaching sites typically use DD MM.MMM format. To get around this I download the geocache waypoints to my handheld GPSR and then let it convert the coords to D/M/S so I can manually enter them into the Prius's NAV.

Other than that the Prius is a great geocaching vehicle.

Cheers,

-- Ian

 

As long as you go to each site several time with you prius and write down the coordinates that are on the car you should get every one close. I would ban paper maps. It would add to the fun. A timed event, with best mpg, all the sites visited etc. It would be a gas (pun intended). Add clues for each site, but be obtuse. They get close and then hone in with the GPS data and clue. That’s what I was thinking about a combination road rally and geo cache, both and neither! Ideal for the Prius. You could allow non Nav equipped Prii with a paper map and GPS. Make sure that the paper map is not better than the Prius map. :lol: Dave are you out there?

 

Geocaching in the Prius is why I have a Garmin Streetpilot instead of the factory NAV unit - or at least a good part of the reason. I cache too much to type in each location even within 10 miles of me.

I'm a premium member, and have downloaded the lists of caches, used the Geocaching Swiss Army Knife software to sort them, and uploaded them to my GPS. I'm now alerted when I drive within 1 mile of an unfound geocache - I have my handheld with me all the time. The Prius serves admirably - I've not found a dirt road yet that shook her any worse than I did in my Camry.


Also, GSAK (the software) converts all of the coordinates for you, I would bet that it'd spit out what the Prius requires.

 

Hi there inventor00. My Geocaching handle is Amtraker. I use my Prius Nav to navigate the streets to a cache location and my handheld Garmin GPS V to actually find the cache.

As a fellow member of the OC Prius club, I've noticed that most of the members do not have the Nav option so not sure this would make for a good event. As someone else mentioned, Geocaches are listed on geocaching.com in DD MM.MMM format but the Prius only takes DD MM SS and no fractions of second. I load the caches into my Garmin GPS V and set the Garmin to display locations as DD MM SS.SS so that I can enter the coordinates into my Prius.

SalsaMike

 

I use my Prius all of the time when I geocache (I'm also "CHART" on geocaching.com)
You can use the DD and MM from the DD MM.MMM page found at geocaching. Just multiply the decimal .MMM portion by 60 to get the seconds.

 

Just discovered the sport. I wonder how long I can get along without caving and buying a handheld. Google maps seems to get you awfully close for city seeking.

 

They now have Bluetooth GPS's the size of flash drives. Pair 'em with your bluetooh smart phone, and turn on your google map software on the smartphone ... BOOM, game over.

 

Furthering that thought, new pocket computers like the Nokia N810 already have built-in GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Too bad it doesn't have a built-in EDGE or EVDO modem yet.
http://www.nokiausa.com/A4626058