paperless caching with the blackberry

[+thefiveofus]

hey all, just a tip that you can load mobireader on your blackberry and sync the PRC files you get from premium PQ's onto your BB and do paperless caching w/ the BB! (which was great news when my wife's palm pilot died and we went back to paper :-( ).

 

I dunno..maybe this is old news or maybe no BB users here, but if you have one already and didn't know about the reader version for the BB (java) then it's good to know!

 

Life is good again!!

Edited August 24, 2006 by thefiveofus

[+SeaLevel]

Thanks for the tip. I'm trying to do it now and need a little help. I've got Mobireader installed on my blackberry but can't seem to get a file from geocaching to load. Do I just use EasyGPS to get a .loc file, save that and then import that into MobiReader?

 

Thanks for your help.

[+Jam Clam]

With the demise of Mobipocket ebook output, I thought I'd bump this topic. There are a number of ways to paperless cache using Palm & Windows Mobile devices, but I haven't found a great option for Blackberries. If anyone has any suggestions, please post them here.

 

Here's what I've done so far, which works but is a bit clunky:

1. Load pocket query into GSAK

2. Export caches to HTML

3. Use Mobipocket Creator and create a new document; load the html files into this document

4. Generate a .prc file and load it onto your blackberry

 

This simulates the old pocketquery .prc ebook

Edited August 28, 2007 by Jam Clam

[+bluedepth]

I have a Blackberry 8703e and I've been able for the longest time to add the PQ prc files to the device to use it for paperless geocaching. Since Groundspeak has lost the ability to make prc files for MobiPocket Reader I've had to adopt some more tools to replace the lost functionality that Groundspeak no longer provides. Here is a short procedure, expanded for how I load files on my Blackberry 8703e. (PIN: 32B22275 if anyone wants to chat)

 

Procedure: Create Mobipocket Document Manually

 

1) Download PQ ZIP file from your email, unzip it, place all GPX files someplace handy.

2) Download and install GPXSpinner

3) Download and install Mobipocket Creator (Home Edition)

4) Download Tidy-Win32

5) Copy GPX files from GC.COM to c:\program files\Spinner

6) Run GPXSpinner

7) Toss away useless extra GPX files that Spinner makes, you are after a subdirectory called "cache" in c:\program files\Spinner. Move that folder to your desktop.

8) Copy tidy.exe into the cache folder

9) Start, Run, CMD. CD to the cache folder on your desktop, then run tidy -utf8 -m *.htm

10) Delete tidy.exe from the cache folder

11) Open up Mobi Creator, create a new publication, give it a name, highlight all the files in the cache folder, add them to your publication.

12) For the cover art, there are a lot of geocaching images in the cache folder, select one, click update.

13) Build - the end product ends up in your Mobipocket Reader.

14) With the Mobipocket Reader running with your newly minted eBook in the Mobi Library start the Blackberry Desktop Manager, then plug your Blackberry into your computer. The Blackberry Desktop Manager should detect your device and then Mobipocket Reader will notice the device as well, if the software isn't on your Blackberry Mobi will offer to install it, if it is on your device, Mobi should ask if you want it to copy your library onto your Blackberry. Click yes, and Mobi will copy the PRC file to your Blackberry. After it's done copying, you can go into the Mobipocket reader on your Blackberry and you should see your document.

 

As I've done this on my Blackberry I wrote these instructions down. If you would like a copy of some of the files I mention above you have a choice of either using Google or emailing me. Everything is either GPL or very light shareware so there isn't any real cost if you don't want to pay to make it work. It does require some manual typing but I now have little faith that Groundspeak will actively provide resources for paperless geocaching and it's up to the end users to hack together solutions for ourselves.

 

Feel free to PIN or email me, I welcome the chance to help other Blackberry users enjoy geocaching.

[+gg]

Thanks for the input. That seems to work. I wonder why GC can not automate that process and email the version in e-book. If it is something that can be created by the average user why can't the pros do it?

[+Jam Clam]

Thanks bluedepth for the detailed description. Your procedure seems pretty close to what I've come up with, except I can use GSAK to replace your steps 2-10. Steps 11-14 would be the same.

[+HanSohn]

Hey, thanks guys for posting your efforts here. I have a month old BB 8800 that replaced a NEXTEL BB 7520, that I used for years!

 

I'm still hoping that Groundspeak will offer the same or simular support, but if not, I will have to resort to the same efforts. Also, I don't currently have GSAK. I'll be watching this topic, for sure!

[+bluedepth]

I've since found a slight revision in my procedure to make your own Mobibooks for your Blackberry.

 

1) Download and Install the MobiPocket Creator from http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/...amp;Language=EN

 

2) Download GPX2HTML (thanks to FizzyMagic) at http://www.fizzymagic.net/Geocaching/gpx2html/gpx2html.exe

 

3) Obtain your ######.GPX file from gc.com from your email

 

4) Create a folder on your desktop, name it "Caching" (or anything you like at this point) and copy the ######.GPX file and gpx2html.exe into the folder. Double-click on the folder and then double-click on gpx2html.exe. A DOS box will appear with your caches being displayed as it processes. When it's done, the DOS CMD window will automatically close itself. Takes seconds for a GPX file of say 100 caches.

 

5) Open Mobipocket Creator Home Edition, create a new Blank Publication, give it a name, double-click on the "Caching" folder, then double-click on the "HTML" folder, highlight all the index.html related files (they are all near each other) and drag them into the Mobipocket Creator programs "Publication Files" window and drop them there. Then back in the Windows Explorer window, click on Edit, then click "Invert Selection" and then drag and drop the rest of the files into Mobipocket Creator.

 

6) Click Build, your ebook will be built for you and placed in your Mobipocket Reader program.

 

7) Delete the "Caching" folder, or at least empty out caches.loc and HTML folder, and the original gc.com GPX file in there if you have another GPX file to process.

 

8) Start Blackberry Desktop Manager, plug in your Blackberry, and Mobi will copy your new publication to your Blackberry.

 

9) Go outside and cache your heart out.

 

HTH, it's a better solution than GPXSpinner and doesn't require you to hunt-and-peck for tidy.exe.

[+58squared]

Hi

 

What are premium PQs?

 

Thanks

[+bluedepth]

Hi

 

What are premium PQs?

 

Thanks

 

If it quacks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, it's a Pocket Query. There aren't any divisions once you get a premium membership for $30/yr with Groundspeak, at least in regards to Pocket Queries that I am aware of. So for ease of use, a premium PQ=PQ.

[+BobNMLI]

I posted this on Mobipocket support or lack... yesterday and am repeating here.

 

I use a BlackBerry and decided to play with Mobipocket Creator a little. This is the procedure I came up with. It makes a nice clickable Table of Contents, including the hint.

 

Mobipocket Creator Instructions

 

1. Start by Importing the GPX file. ‘Import From Existing File’ > ‘HTML document’.

2. Click ‘Browse’. Select ‘Files of type:’ > ‘All files (*.*)’ and Browse to the .gpx file. Click ‘Open’.

3. Click ‘Import’.

4. Click on the file. Select ‘Edit with HTML editor’.

5. Type a <BODY> tag (I put just before first cache). Click ‘File’, ‘Save’.

6. Select a Cover Image. I took a ‘Groundspeak Good(y)’ and added some text.

7. Create the Table of Contents. Click ‘Add a Table of Contents’. Enter the Tag names for the three Levels as follows:

First. name

Second. desc

Third. Groundspeak:encoded_hints

This gets you the Waypoint Name (GCXXXX), Description and Hint. Click ’Update’. Click on the file and then click ‘Preview with Web Browser’ to view.

8. Click ‘Metadata’ and enter a Title and Author and choose a Main subject. Click ‘Update’.

9. Click the ‘Build’ icon and then the ‘Build’ button.

10. Click ‘OK’ to Preview.

11. Locate the .prc file. It should be in My Documents\My Publications in a folder with the original .gpx number. Rename the file to reflect what it is and then copy to your PDA.

[+familyfrog]

Thanks everyonefor the work to let another Blackberry-using cacher continue to use the Mobireader. For the time being I will use one of these procedures to generate a .prc file for my PQs, especially with a road trip coming up this weekend.

 

However, all this churn about Mobipocket has me concerned and uneasy staying on this path. I'd very much like a way to view similar information without Mobipocket. I already use GSAK for organizing .gpx data from PQs, and would probably be ok being able to view the html files that it outputs. Are there no means of storing/viewing .html files on a Blackberry?

 

Thanks again for all your work.

[+stipman]

If you need to create a Mobipocket eBook to use for Geocaching here's how. All you need is mobigen.exe and GSAK.

Here is a link to a GSAK macro that will create a mobipocket ebook from your cache list

 

http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry36043.

[+Jam Clam]

If you need to create a Mobipocket eBook to use for Geocaching here's how. All you need is mobigen.exe and GSAK.

Here is a link to a GSAK macro that will create a mobipocket ebook from your cache list

 

http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=...amp;#entry36043.

@stipman,

Brilliant! Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much for creating this!