Explorist .fnd Format - Anyone Studied It?

[robertlipe]

When the recent Explorist firmware bumps that included the ability to mark caches as found, I cast my sceptre of judgement upon it.

 

Now that it's been in the hands of the masses for a while, I'll ask if anyone has had a swing at studying the *.fnd files.

 

If I take the example files shown in the post above and convert the first four non-obvious bytes to the number of seconds since 1-1-1970 (the beginning of time, according to UNIX tradition) I get a number that's almost exactly ten years and one week from that post. Armed with the knowledge that there are 7 leap days between 1-1-1980 and that post, it doesn't seem unreasonable to assume the first four bytes are the number of seconds since 1-1-1980 from when the cache was marked found.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

 

Has anyone surmised what the last four bytes per record would be?

 

The ability to return found caches - with timestamps - to the host PC would give Magellan a leg up on the competition. The Garmins offer no way to return timestamped 'found it' times to the PC to the best I can determine.

[docdigit]

[+embra]

Um, we watch with interest.

[+Guitar4Him]

The entire Geocache manager system is pretty lame. Typical useage would be to create a .gs file using either the Magellan Geocache manager or GSAK. Once you mark your first cache as found, the .fnd file is created. As many have discovered, you can't "unfind" a cache. If you happen to accidentally mark a cache as found, it's too bad....non-reversible.

 

Now, here's where the fun begins. Let's say you've finished a day of geocaching. You have, let's say, 6 caches out of 100 marked as found. As has been pointed out earlier, you can't return this information to the PC. Now, we're setting up to go geocaching tomorrow. Probably, what we will do is to go online and mark those 6 caches as found. Then, later, another pocket query will arrive with those 6 caches not appearing in the group and 6 new ones replacing them. We then create a new .gs file to load onto the Explorist. It doesn't make much sense to create a completely new named file to load since we wouldn't be likely to use the old file already on the Explorist, so we use the same name. Then, when we load the file to the Explorist, we overwrite the original file. Now, remember that those 6 caches that we found are no longer in the new file. If you try to look up on the Explorist the 6 caches you found yesterday, they won't be there. Apparently, the .fnd file has pointers that are associated with the 6 found caches that are supposed to still be in the .gs file. What a system!

I've found the Magellan Geocache Manager to be next to worthless. Every time I load up a new set of files, I always create a .gs file and load it in the Explorist. And everytime I find a cache, I mark it in the Geocache Manager, but it's pretty much worthless effort since the info can't be sent to the PC.

 

What does work is CacheMate. Those that have explored its capabilities have learned how to send the information back to the PC and convert it to a form that can be loaded back into GSAK. Once setup, it's easy and streamlined to use. And the nice thing is that between CachMate running on your Palm and GSAK running on your PC, you have a complete databasing system to record all activity. It even makes it easy to upload the information to Geocaching.com when you mark caches as "found".

 

Maybe Magellan will improve the system in the future, but for now, it's worthless. Go with CachMate and GSAK. It's a good and complete system.

 

I think I might have hijacked your post.....sorry....

[+EScout]

The information on the previous post regarding finds not being accessable is incorrect if you are careful in your file management and naming. The .fnd file is associated with a .gs file and remains on the eXplorist when a new .gs file is loaded from a query done after caches are entered online.

 

For example: I loaded a geocache file on Jan 20 and named it 20Jan06.gs. It was generated from a query of my unfound caches. I found three caches on Jan 22 and marked them found. A file was automatically created named 20Jan06.fnd. I entered these caches online on Jan22 and my next query of unfound caches (without these three found caches) dated Jan27 was loaded as 27Jan06.gs, and made the active geocache file.

 

To access these previously found caches: Menu>Pts of Int>Geocache Pts (nearest)>Position>(up one level)enter>highlight 20Jan06 enter>Menu>Show cache found and the three are there with found date and time. You can also look at a text of the .fnd file with your PC, but it will only show the GC code for each cache.

 

Some points: the .gs file is not modified. If you delete the .fnd file (using your PC) the founds will be gone and show up again in the eXplorist as active. You can send someone else the .gs file even after your finds are marked and all the caches will be there in the file. The key is to not overwrite .gs files using the same name.

[+Guitar4Him]

The information on the previous post regarding finds not being accessable is incorrect if you are careful in your file management and naming. The .fnd file is associated with a .gs file and remains on the eXplorist when a new .gs file is loaded from a query done after caches are entered online.

 

For example: I loaded a geocache file on Jan 20 and named it 20Jan06.gs. It was generated from a query of my unfound caches. I found three caches on Jan 22 and marked them found. A file was automatically created named 20Jan06.fnd. I entered these caches online on Jan22 and my next query of unfound caches (without these three found caches) dated Jan27 was loaded as 27Jan06.gs, and made the active geocache file.

 

To access these previously found caches: Menu>Pts of Int>Geocache Pts (nearest)>Position>(up one level)enter>highlight 20Jan06 enter>Menu>Show cache found and the three are there with found date and time. You can also look at a text of the .fnd file with your PC, but it will only show the GC code for each cache.

 

Some points: the .gs file is not modified. If you delete the .fnd file (using your PC) the founds will be gone and show up again in the eXplorist as active. You can send someone else the .gs file even after your finds are marked and all the caches will be there in the file. The key is to not overwrite .gs files using the same name.

 

Your information is correct concerning the found caches remaining IF you keep the old .gs (and obviously the .fnd) file. However, what purpose does this really serve, as after many days of caching, you would have scores of .gs and .fnd files stored on your Explorist. Ideally, you want to be able to look at a list of found caches keyed to your ACTIVE Geocache file. That way, the entire list is available without having to load other Geocache files. In other words, if you wanted to look at all the caches you've found say in the last month (and you went every Saturday), you would ultimately have to load 4 different .gs files to see all your found caches.....what good is that?

 

The bottom line is that the Geocache Manager on the Explorists is nothing more than fancy window-dressing...it really doesn't have any really useful value.

 

Here's a way to get it to work for you. If you keep your database in GSAK up to date, INCLUDING, caches you've found, when you create a .gs file keep it some consistent name....always use the EXACT same name for your Geocache file. Then, when you transfer it to the Explorist, it will ask you if you want to overwrite the existing file. Say yes. Then, when you bring up the Geocache POI's, the "Found Caches" will still work because:

 

- The files (.gs and .fnd) have the same name

- The caches (both found and "to-be-found") are in the .gs file allowing the pointers in the .fnd file to cause the "found" caches to be "invisible" in the Geocache POI's listing but visible in the "Found Caches" POI's listing

 

This works, but the Geocache Manager is still LAME.

 

If you use CacheMate and GSAK, you'll laugh at the capabilities of the Magellan Geocache Manager.

Edited February 5, 2006 by Guitar4Him

[robertlipe]

If there's discussion of GM in this thread, I'd prefer it to be used to deduce what those last four bytes would be. Have you seen anything in either GM or the unit other than GC# and timestamp (which includes date, as I described above)?

 

If you use CacheMate and GSAK, you'll laugh at the capabilities of the Magellan Geocache Manager.

 

One might infer that an improved understanding of the .fnd format could be used to improve GSAK...

[+amerkfan]

When the recent Explorist firmware bumps that included the ability to mark caches as found, I cast my sceptre of judgement upon it.

 

Now that it's been in the hands of the masses for a while, I'll ask if anyone has had a swing at studying the *.fnd files.

 

If I take the example files shown in the post above and convert the first four non-obvious bytes to the number of seconds since 1-1-1970 (the beginning of time, according to UNIX tradition) I get a number that's almost exactly ten years and one week from that post. Armed with the knowledge that there are 7 leap days between 1-1-1980 and that post, it doesn't seem unreasonable to assume the first four bytes are the number of seconds since 1-1-1980 from when the cache was marked found.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

 

Has anyone surmised what the last four bytes per record would be?

 

The ability to return found caches - with timestamps - to the host PC would give Magellan a leg up on the competition. The Garmins offer no way to return timestamped 'found it' times to the PC to the best I can determine.

 

You are right on with the time stamp info. The last four bytes remain a mystery, at least to me, I thought I had them figured out at one time but my theory proved wrong. They seem to be "file specific" - that is - all entries in a given .fnd file have the same 4 bytes, but it changes file to file.

 

I have written a little VBScript app that will searches your GPS, or your PC for .fnd files, shows you a list of .fnd files and lets you pick one, it then creates a sub-folder called HTML in your PC's Geocache folder and opens it with your browser. the HTML page lists the GC number, Name and Date/Time of the find. The GC number is a link to cache description on geocaching.com where you can log your find. If anyone wants it, contactl me at geocaching.com "amerkfan"

[ocm_ott]

When the recent Explorist firmware bumps that included the ability to mark caches as found, I cast my sceptre of judgement upon it.

The ability to return found caches - with timestamps - to the host PC would give Magellan a leg up on the competition. The Garmins offer no way to return timestamped 'found it' times to the PC to the best I can determine.

 

I assume you mean older Garmin units. The newer ones (and my Delorme pn-60) have the timestamp in the tab-delimited field notes file, which I think the Magellan GC and higher eXplorist units also use. Can't answer as to what the last 4 bytes are though...

 

Edit: now that I think of it, not sure if my Colorado puts a valid time part in the timestamp. The Delorme definitely does though.

Edited November 11, 2010 by ocm_ott

[savant9]

Umm this thread is over 4-1/2 years old....

Handle the antiques gently.

[ocm_ott]

Umm this thread is over 4-1/2 years old....

Handle the antiques gently.

 

You're right should have looked at the date on original message rather then the latest

Edited November 11, 2010 by ocm_ott

[+Woodstramp]

(those not owning pocket protectors need not apply)

 

Robertlipe.... read this and made the mistake of drinking at the same time. Sprayed my computer desk with ice tea...thanks.