Release 0.6 - West Chester
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:27 amNew Features & Enhancements
As always, please post responses here with any issues you encounter.
- Custom Waypoints. You can now enter custom waypoints for any cache listing either from the mobile view or from the Desktop Map View. Custom waypoints are useful for entering solved puzzle solutions, additional parking or other waypoints that you identity during planning for a cache run. Custom waypoints are included in GPX downloads and sent to Garmin devices from the Desktop Map view. You can also identify a single waypoint (custom or otherwise) as the "corrected" coordinates for a cache listing. These coordinates will show up on the main cache details page with a "custom coordinates" icon.
- New icons were added for the different waypoint types so they can be easily identified in lists and on the Desktop Map View.
- Waypoints are now shown on the Desktop Map View!
- Desktop Map "Universal" search now allows entry of both locations as well as GC#s (with or without the GC prefix), or partial cache names -- just like the Mobile search. You can also enter coordinates directly in Decimal, Decimal/Minutes, or DMS. If there are multiple results, a popup list will allow you to select one of them.
- New Coordinates Conversion (mobile) page allows entry of coordinates in Decimal, Decimal Minutes, or DMS, and will display the same coordinates in all those formats as well as UTM. There are several automated links to the page so you can view any cache or waypoint coordinates in any of those formats with a single click. We found this useful for the car navigation since it uses DMS. Now when we view a cache we can quickly access the DMS format for entry into the car navigation system.
- New "Ignore Cache Listing" option allows you to remove a cache from all your views. This is useful for caches that have been archived but are still in the Bcaching database. They are automatically removed after 30 days, but if you want to get rid of it sooner you can use this option. If you ignore a cache listing then want to "get it back", you can set the filter to show Ignored caches and choose the option on the Cache details page to "Stop ignoring".
- Geolocation on mobile Location page. Will use the mobile device (or desktop browser) geolocation mechanism to access the current GPS position if available. Support for blackberry, html5 (i.e. firefox, safari, iphone, and palm pre) and gears (android).
- Filter page has additional options to select caches you've ignored, caches with custom waypoints, and caches with corrected coordinates.
- Filter page convenience buttons added to Select ALL or NONE in "Type" checkbox list and "Size" checkbox list.
- Details page now shows "Last Updated" time to indicate the last time the listing was updated from a pocket query. The actual time represents the time the pocket query was *generated* at geocaching.com so you know how up-to-date the bcaching listing is. If it is more than a week old, the time appears in RED. In that case it is a good idea to link to the gc.com PRINT view for the latest details.
- Added new Field Note type "Private note" that allows notes to be added on a cache listing that WON'T be included in field notes uploaded to gc.com.
- Updated "Mobile Browser Definition File" to latest version
- Fixed filter page to properly show the current session filter settings.
- Fixed Maps link for Android phones (and possibly iPhone - not tested). Now uses alternate web url format "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=..." which is intercepted by the phone and allows the user to select Google Mobile maps or any other installed app that supports that URL format (like GeoBeagle for Android).
- New EXPERIMENTAL feature: COMPASS Navigation. You can now navigate to a cache right from your browser. It will only work on browsers that support one of three javascript location APIs: Blackberry (4.6 or later only; javascript and javascript location must both be enabled), HTML5 (iphone - NOT TESTED), or Google Gears (Android and Windows Mobile - NOT TESTED). A link has been added next to all displayed coordinates (on Details page, Waypoint page, and coordinates conversion page) named "go" that will launch the mobile Compass view using the given coordinates as the destination. This has only been tested on a Blackberry Storm using built-in GPS. The Blackberry location updates only come every 10 - 15 seconds on that device, so it is not ideal but it's better than nothing if you don't have another GPS with you or any other navigation apps installed.
As always, please post responses here with any issues you encounter.