[Jeremy]

The new Additional Waypoints feature has been released. It's also the first time I've been able to start the topic about a new feature.

Fortunately it is one of those things that will be slow to grow, although I do know that reviewers have been maintaining lists of waypoints in anticipation of this new feature. Well sorta. Many of them have been maintaining offline databases to make sure that there is little confusion regarding final coordinates of multicaches when someone places a new cache.

So feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to answer them. Also please let me know of any bugs or issues.

[Allen_L]

First bug report.

I added a waypoint to http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...c4-7c22855fb8c9

That went find. Then I click the Edit beside the waypoint and get

Server Error in '/' Application.
Guid should contain 32 digits with 4 dashes (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx).
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.FormatException: Guid should contain 32 digits with 4 dashes (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx).

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[FormatException: Guid should contain 32 digits with 4 dashes (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx).]
System.Guid..ctor(String g) +3302
Geocaching.UI.hide_wptlist.Page_UserLoggedIn(Object sender, EventArgs e) +259
Geocaching.UI.WebformBase.IsLoggedIn() +1082
Geocaching.UI.hide_wptlist.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +92
System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +67
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +35
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +755

[Pasha]

I get this as well, either from the cache page waypoint edit link, or from the Add/Edit Waypoints page edit link.

[Jeremy]

Got it. The site will recompile and it should work after that. Thanks!

[MarcoXono]

I've added a Final Location to GCP9CV
and selected 'Hide this waypoint from view except by the owner or administrator'
It's not visible on the cache page (even to me, the owner). Is this intentional?


Edit: I see the "Prefix Lookup Name Coordinate" headings on the cache page, but no details.

This post has been edited by MarcoXono: 19 January 2006 - 03:50 PM

[Pasha]

Awesome, already fixed, thank you.

I like how this is integrated into the page, and the feature itself is a great addition. I'm a bit confused about the relationship between the Prefix Code, the Lookup Code, and the GCxxxx code, though. From reading the working discussion about this feature, I gathered that the idea was to allow people to relate these waypoints to the existing GC waypoints in a variety of ways. I see that in the GPX file, regardless of what I enter as the Lookup code, the last 4 digits of the GC code are appended to the Prefix to produce the Code. So where does the Lookup code come into the equation? It doesn't appear to make it to the GPX file at all.

[Pasha]

MarcoXono, on Jan 19 2006, 03:47 PM, said:

I've added a Final Location to GCP9CV
and selected 'Hide this waypoint from view except by the owner or administrator'
It's not visible on the cache page (even to me, the owner). Is this intentional?

It appears that when you hide it from view, it's only visible from the Add/Edit Waypoints page, not from the cache page itself, even to the owner.

[Jeremy]

Pasha, on Jan 19 2006, 03:47 PM, said:

So where does the Lookup code come into the equation? It doesn't appear to make it to the GPX file at all.

That's right. It doesn't now. I put it in there to provide a future option for geocachers to use that instead of the prefix + GC code. So it is kind of unusable now.

[Jeremy]

Pasha, on Jan 19 2006, 03:49 PM, said:

It appears that when you hide it from view, it's only visible from the Add/Edit Waypoints page, not from the cache page itself, even to the owner.

This was intentional. I wanted to make sure that the user could see what other people see on the cache listing. To see the hidden waypoints they have to go to the edit page.

This was to reduce the "OMG! The final coordinates are shown to everyone on the page!" messages in the forums.

[Isonzo Karst]

I'm not seeing it? taken back down? DOH, I was looking for it on the edit page, not on the cache page. Neat.

This post has been edited by Isonzo Karst: 19 January 2006 - 03:58 PM

[webscouter.]

Can you explain the answer option. I thought it would be unhidden if someone answered a question correctly. But it shows up in the gpx file. Is is just to record the location of a question?

thanks for this addition. I think it will be one of my favorite changes you have made this year.

[Jeremy]

You'll only see it if you are the owner of the listing. Scroll down to the "Additional Waypoints" area.

Adding another link in the tool bar would be a good idea, now that I think of it.

Also, I'd like to add that Trailhead is a nice waypoint type! Should we add it?

[Jeremy]

webscouter., on Jan 19 2006, 03:57 PM, said:

Can you explain the answer option. I thought it would be unhidden if someone answered a question correctly. But it shows up in the gpx file. Is is just to record the location of a question?

thanks for this addition. I think it will be one of my favorite changes you have made this year.

It's just a type. There isn't anything special in itself. It just allows a user to compartmentalize different waypoints.

So you could say, go to x location and answer this question: What is the population of Poland? and show the coordinates.

The person goes to the location and sees 6 poles in the ground. They add 6 to some equation to give them the final location.

Those items that are visible but the coordinates are hidden get appended to the end of the long description in a GPX file.

[Pasha]

Jeremy, on Jan 19 2006, 03:58 PM, said:

Also, I'd like to add that Trailhead is a nice waypoint type! Should we add it?

Hmmm. While at first glance I like it, I wonder if that's going to end up being used as just a synonym for Parking.

Still, it's basically free in terms of resources and it can't hurt, can it?

[Jeremy]

True.

Parking and Trailhead can be interchangable in some ways. I guess it doesn't matter since there is no real difference except as an icon.

[Super_Nate]

Pasha, on Jan 19 2006, 04:05 PM, said:

Jeremy, on Jan 19 2006, 03:58 PM, said:

Also, I'd like to add that Trailhead is a nice waypoint type! Should we add it?

Hmmm. While at first glance I like it, I wonder if that's going to end up being used as just a synonym for Parking.

Still, it's basically free in terms of resources and it can't hurt, can it?

I like the idea! When I first saw the options for the additional wayponts, I thought trailhead would be really helpful! There are places where the parking and trailhead are a good distance apart!

I say go for it...

[Pasha]

Actually, on further thought I agree with Nate... I just added a parking waypoint to one of my caches and realized that the trailhead is at least 200 yards away... designating a parking spot is helpful, but to keep people from thrashing the area I'll probably add a trailhead waypoint as well. Adding a parking waypoint, in this case, increases the need for a trailhead waypoint, if you follow me.

[beejay&esskay]

I downloaded a GPX for a cache that has a new parking location added. The result was as expected.

Then I created a PQ centered around this cache. The e-mail has 1 ZIP file. The ZIP file appears to only have 1 file inside it.

Is the "second file for additional waypoints" implemented yet?

[Pasha]

'Nother question... is the PQ implementation of this complete as well?

Edit: don't mind me, I'll just repeat beejay's questions for a while over here.

This post has been edited by Pasha: 19 January 2006 - 04:33 PM

[Jeremy]

The PQ Part hasn't been added yet. If people stop calling me today I'll have it up shortly

[wimseyguy]

Will it also be added to the new cache submission form, or will I still have to post those in a reviewer note when I hide a new multi or puzzle?

[Jeremy]

I'm sure there will be an intermediary stage when these new features will be more visible. However the final coordinates for multicaches (as well as stages) should be entered as additional waypoints.

There are additional reviewer features that will notify the reviewer if a new listing is too close to, say, final coordinates of a multi.

[HHL]

<sym>Parking Location</sym>

<sym>Parking Area</sym> would be nicer. so mapsource and the garmin gpsr could interpreting it from the scratch.

happy coding.

[Jeremy]

works for me. It will take an hour or so before the change shows up. I also added Trailhead.

[Bush Babies]

Great feature. Just added hidden waypoints and final location to one of our caches. When I download the GPX file, I get all the waypoints. I hope I'm getting a different file than everyone else.

[Jeremy]

I checked. I did find a bug but your additional waypoints aren't shown on either the page or the GPX.

The bug is when there are hidden waypoints the table heading still shows.

[ODragon]

Bush Babies, on Jan 19 2006, 08:35 PM, said:

Great feature. Just added hidden waypoints and final location to one of our caches. When I download the GPX file, I get all the waypoints. I hope I'm getting a different file than everyone else.

I d/led all your caches and nothing but the waypoints given end up in the .gpx files!

[Bush Babies]

Thanks.

[HHL]

user and country flags might be very helpful if someone is dealing with filtering in gsak.

happy coding.

[Jeremy]

Pocket Queries now have additional waypoints.

[HHL]

Jeremy, on Jan 20 2006, 03:19 AM, said:

Pocket Queries now have additional waypoints.

thx

[Tharagleb]

I can't find where this new section is supposed to be. I edit the cache page and I do not see the section at all.

[Jeremy]

View the cache listing and scroll down the page to an area that says "Additional Waypoints" - we'll be adding another link in the tool section of the page too.

[Allen_L]

Jeremy, on Jan 19 2006, 08:26 PM, said:

works for me. It will take an hour or so before the change shows up. I also added Trailhead.

Well now if I am logged in when I try to display http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...c4-7c22855fb8c9 I get

Server Error in '/' Application.
Object variable or With block variable not set.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object variable or With block variable not set.

Source Error:

Line 20: <tr bgcolor="#EEEEEE">
Line 21: <td valign="top" align="left"><%# DisplayViewMethodImage(Container.DataItem.ViewMethod) %></td>
Line 22: <td valign="top" align="left" height="16" width="16"><img src="<%# Container.DataItem.WptType.ImageUrl(0) %>" width=16 height=16 border=0 alt='<%# Container.DataItem.WptType.Name %>'></td>
Line 23: <td valign="top" align="left"><%# Container.DataItem.PrefixCode %></td>
Line 24: <td valign="top" align="left"><%# Container.DataItem.WptName %></td>


Source File: E:\Inetpub\20060110.geocaching.com\controls\GpxWptListControl.ascx Line: 22

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object variable or With block variable not set.]
Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.LateBinding.LateGet(Object o, Type objType, String name, Object[] args, String[] paramnames, Boolean[] CopyBack) +929
ASP.GpxWptListControl_ascx.__DataBind__control5(Object sender, EventArgs e) in E:\Inetpub\20060110.geocaching.com\controls\GpxWptListControl.ascx:22
System.Web.UI.Control.OnDataBinding(EventArgs e) +66
System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind() +26
System.Web.UI.Control.DataBind() +86
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Repeater.CreateItem(Int32 itemIndex, ListItemType itemType, Boolean dataBind, Object dataItem) +127
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Repeater.CreateControlHierarchy(Boolean useDataSource) +477
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Repeater.OnDataBinding(EventArgs e) +48
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Repeater.DataBind() +23
Geocaching.UI.GpxWptListControl.DisplayWaypoints() +523
Geocaching.UI.cache_details.BuildCachePage() +3348
Geocaching.UI.cache_details.Page_UserLoggedIn(Object sender, EventArgs e) +56
Geocaching.UI.WebformBase.IsLoggedIn() +1082
Geocaching.UI.cache_details.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +387
System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +67
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +35
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +744


Now if I am not logged in the page comes up.

[Jeremy]

Try it in a moment. I think the system was still catching up with the addition of the trailhead type (which I added for your page).

[Tharagleb]

Jeremy, on Jan 19 2006, 06:26 PM, said:

View the cache listing and scroll down the page to an area that says "Additional Waypoints" - we'll be adding another link in the tool section of the page too.

Got it, thanks.

[Tharagleb]

Okay I just DL'ed GC7E12 Authorized Tallulah Gorge Cache, gotta say that this is cool!

WTG, and thanks.

This post has been edited by Tharagleb: 19 January 2006 - 06:44 PM

[wsgaskins]

I don't know if it's just me, but I actually prefer alphabetical order. When I have a series of waypoints all related to the same GCxxxx entry, I like to add a *suffix* to the thing so that they all show up beside each other in the list, both in GSAK and CacheMate.

Is there any consideration of making the 'prefix' into an optional suffix for Pocket Queries? I know that this wouldn't work for those with a GPSr that only handled 6 chars, but so many new ones handle more than that now.

Elsewise, I may have to break down and learn GSAK scripting and write myself a nifty macro to do this.

Thanks!
wsgaskins

[dougsmiley]

This will be really nice when cache owners implement it. Theres been times I wished I had the parking coords on my GPS but was too lazy to actually add them. This solves that problem.

[Airmapper]

Cool feature, Thanks.

Will this change have any effect on .loc files?

[dolfin61]

While adding a few to my caches tonight, I thought that it would be a bit more useful to have an 'Add' button beside the Create and Archive ones (at least for multi-cache waypoints but still useful for regular ones that might have more than one 'additional waypoint').

The Create button becomes Make Changes after you've done that first waypoint...it would be a little quicker and more efficient to be able to just add the next stage waypoint right from that edit page, instead of having to go back to the main cache page and Add another one.

On the main cache page, if you've chosen to hide the additional waypoints, it still shows the column headers (prefix, lookup, name, coordinate) after you've set up your first addtnl. I thought that was a bit distracting/ugly if there is actually nothing to show.

Just my two bits...
Dolfin61

[budd-rdc]

wsgaskins, on Jan 19 2006, 07:38 PM, said:

I don't know if it's just me, but I actually prefer alphabetical order.  When I have a series of waypoints all related to the same GCxxxx entry, I like to add a *suffix* to the thing so that they all show up beside each other in the list, both in GSAK and CacheMate.

Is there any consideration of making the 'prefix' into an optional suffix for Pocket Queries?  I know that this wouldn't work for those with a GPSr that only handled 6 chars, but so many new ones handle more than that now.

Elsewise, I may have to break down and learn GSAK scripting and write myself a nifty macro to do this.

Thanks!
wsgaskins

Suffix would be nice, since I use the %drop2 filter with GSAK/GPSBabel when I transfer waypoints to my GPSr, so prefix would get chopped off anyway.

I'm playing around with <wpt> now, and I like it so far. I was surprised ExpertGPS and GSAK already supported the use of this.

Slightly Off-Topic: Thanks Jeremy for this feature and also for implementing the changes for "Trackables" so quickly. That thread got filled up so quickly I didn't have a chance to follow-up.

[Peter and Gloria]

Another great feature from GC.com
Thank you

I added a few waypoints to some of my caches. After adding one waypoint, in order to add another waypioint, you have to return to the cache listing and then return again to Add/Edit Additional Waypoints. It would be helpful if you could add another waypoint from inside the Add Waypoint screen without having to return to the cache listing.

[fauxSteve]

So far it's working great on Safari 2.0.1 (OS X Tiger). I really appreciate this new feature. Thanks!

[fauxSteve]

Okay, I've played with it a little more and have a couple of requests:

1. I believe somebody already noticed this, but it would be nice to have an "Add another waypoint" on the page right after creating one. Right now I have to go back to the main cache page to add a new waypoint.
2. If the only waypoint is a hidden one for the Final (for a puzzle solution, for instance), the cache page includes the headers for the waypoints anyway. It would be nice if no headers appeared when no waypoints are displayed to the non-owner/non-administrator. It seems a bit messy as is.

Thanks!

[Alan White]

I've not seen any results from this feature yet, but I'm seeing rather disturbing things on other forums.

It seems that the way the GPXs have been implemented means that all the additional waypoints get created in GSAK. This is most definitely not what I want.

Please can someone clarify what's happening, and can we have an option to prevent these waypoints appearing in PQs and individual GPXs.

[NoLemon]

Possible bug?

This cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...3a-1be487c3ff5a shows two additional waypoints on the page. Park 1 at N 41° 43.055 W 088° 04.228 and Park 2 at N 41° 42.701 W 088° 04.804. However, in the PQ I just received, there are three additional waypoints for this cache -- the two listed above (P1T246 and P2T246) plus one more. The third additional waypoint has the code PKT246 with the coords of N41° 43.083 W88° 03.783. There is no mention of this third waypoint on the cache listing. Could this have been a deleted additional waypoint that is somehow being picked up by the PQ?

[NoLemon]

Alan White, on Jan 20 2006, 03:22 AM, said:

I've not seen any results from this feature yet, but I'm seeing rather disturbing things on other forums.

It seems that the way the GPXs have been implemented means that all the additional waypoints get created in GSAK. This is most definitely not what I want.

Please can someone clarify what's happening, and can we have an option to prevent these waypoints appearing in PQs and individual GPXs.

The additional waypoints are showing up in a separate gpx file within the PQ zip file. If you don't want to process the additional waypoints, you can delete the second gpx file from the zip file.

Hopefully, the additional software programs like GSAK will be modified to handle this additional data. In the mean time, the above work-around will work.

BTW - this is a great new feature, Jeremey and crew. Thanks!

[Jiheffe]

Jeremy, on Jan 20 2006, 01:58 AM, said:

Also, I'd like to add that Trailhead is a nice waypoint type! Should we add it?

Yes! But I've seen you allready did it

I was thinking about another type... On several caches, I have posted coordinates for a suggested return path from the final cache location back to the car. These are not actual stages of a multicache, stricto senso. Maybe a general category such as "Misc. WPs" ?

Anyway, a great feature! Thanks a lot for this! Now curious how GSAK and other will exploit the potential of this!

This post has been edited by Jiheffe: 20 January 2006 - 12:43 AM

[sTeamTraen]

NoLemon, on Jan 20 2006, 12:29 AM, said:

There is no mention of this third waypoint on the cache listing.  Could this have been a deleted additional waypoint that is somehow being picked up by the PQ?

Several years ago we had an e-mail system with a "blind copy" feature... turned out that if the first BCC user had exactly 12 characters in their name (or whatever), the whole BCC list got included in the CC list. That caused a few "blood on the wall" meetings, I can tell you.

So I think I'll be waiting a while to hear a few bug reports before I start leaving the final coordinates of my mystery/multi caches in the "hidden, definitely hidden, no way anyone will ever see this, no sir" section.

Apart from that moment of paranoia on my part - but then I have been writing software since 1975 - I like this new feature very much.

This post has been edited by sTeamTraen: 20 January 2006 - 12:47 AM