Field Notes Software for the Pocket PPC

[Bish0p]

Over the last two weeks I have been developing an application for the pocket PC (also know as Windows Mobile) that allows me to quickly log caches while on the road.

It has been created to use the Field Notes section on geocaching.com, the Garmin Colorado series of GPS can generate a field notes file as well, but I was not interested in buying one at this time. But I still wanted to use the quick upload method afforded the Colorado users to log their cache finds, DNF's etc.

So knowing I was going on a 7 1/2 day caching road trip I created the field notes program for my Pocket PC based phone/pda



We used it to log over 285 caches over 4200 miles, it cut our logging time from hours a night to minutes.

Since our return I have added a number of features. Default "Found" and "DNF" Logs are now user options so you can click on found or Not found and default text is inserted for you.

The ability to track how many total find you have, plus tracking of Finds, DNF's and Needs Maintenance Notes is tracked for the current Field Notes File, has been added to this version.

I have also added the ability to add a custom signature to each log this can be static or utilize some of the dynamic information the software tracks, like the find # in this log, what find this is for you, the time of the find, etc The example Signature below adds the following to my logs:

Find #5 of the day!
Time of the find: 15:35
Find #2110



At the end of the day you plug your PDA into the computer copy the geocache_visits.txt file to your PC/mac and upload it to geocaching.com using the fields Notes section.

From there you can quickly and easily log your finds for the day/trip/etc.

As the time and date are recored in the geocache_visits.txt file you can easily track caches over the course of a trip and still get them logged on the correct day.

You will need to install the .net 2.0 so if your windows mobile device does not have that installed you can fetch it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9655156b-356b-4a2c-857c-e62f50ae9a55&displaylang=en



This link will always contain the most recent version of the software which is currently .71beta

If you use the software please do two things for me. First send me an email telling you are using it. If enough people start using it I will create a site for it. (james.conner@gmail.com)

and Secondly please visit: http://www.podcacher.com/?page_id=175 make make a $5 donation to podcacher.

bish0p
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[bumanfam]

This is so cool! I've just purchased my first PDA - a Garmin iQue M5. I haven't yet used it to go out caching (but am prepping to use it all the way to MOGA and back next week). A question before I download and begin to use it: will it work on Windows Mobile 2003?
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Geocaching: Our best family day ever!

[Bish0p]

[bumanfam]

[Bish0p]

A New Version has been posted version .75b (you can still grab it from the link provided in the first message.

This version now reports the time between cache finds to you when you log a cache.

bish0p
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[Bish0p]

New Version new features: Better Logging the current version is .8b and has the following enhancements over past versions.

[Marieke & Marcel]

It does not work on my HTC S730 with Windows Mobile 6. I know this is not a PDA but a smartphone so it was to be expected, but that does not make me less sad because I really think this functionality would rule to have to save some paper and decrypting my own handwriting

Cheers Marcel

[Sokratz]

I'd be happy to help get this working on Smartphones running Windows Mobile 6. The interface will have to different since there isn't a touch screen on most smartphones.

This is great stuff! Thanks for the great start on this!!

[dan_n_stef]

i just loaded the program on my htc 8925/att tilt/kiaser/tytn II/whatever running wm6 and it seems to run just fine! I haven't actually tried logging any caches yet but i will soon. is there a program for wm6 that allows me to load the gpx database so i can actually open up the cache pages as i'm caching? it would be great if this bit of "podcacher-ware" would integrate that feature! (if that isn't a term yet, it should be!) i'm excited to get out and do some caching to try this program out! thanks for you hard work on this!

[Bish0p]

Yes for the most part the code is transferable to a smart phone version, as I don't have access to a smart phone to test it on I would need people willing to test it for and let me know how it is working.

First question I have is without buttons or touch how does one navigate?

bish0p
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[Bish0p]

[Sokratz]

I didn't actually try it on WM6 based on a previous post. I'll have to give it a try now.

My smartphone (an HTC xxx/T-Mobile Dash) uses a set of 4 directional buttons with an "enter" button in the middle of the 4. I've seen othes with a very similar layout.

There are also two programmable buttons that apps can use in WM6.

I'll do some testing and report back what I find.

[Sokratz]

I did a quick test on the T-Mobile Dash (HTC S621 - I think). The cab would not install. It gave an error message that the app was not written for this device. This normally indicates a processor issue. The dash seems to have an 200MHz OMAP processor from Texas Instruments (not sure that's correct)

[bumanfam]

[Bish0p]