Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Can You Geocache with a Car GPS?


I have been wondering about this question ever since I started dabbling in geocaching. Before I purchased our recent TomTom XL 330•S (which by the way, the wife loves) I did some research to see if this unit can be use for geocaching.

Now car GPS units are not designed for the great outdoors. They are not as rugged as the handheld counter parts and really don't always have the same functionality. But, with a little geekiness, units like the can be used if you don't want to invest in a second unit like the Garmen Legend. This may be impotant for educators, public libraries or non-profit groups that would like to teach geocaching to their patrons.

The first step is to use a site like www.geocaching.com to locate the caches in your area. In order to actually get the locations or coordinates, you will need to set up an account, which by the way is free.Once you have registered, you can search and download cache details in the GPX format.

The second step is to download this amazing tool that I found called the "Geocaching Swiss Army Knife" (GSAK). This is where the fun begins! This piece of software allows to get the coordinates and exporting to the TomTom or other automobile GPS devices. For the TomTom, these files will be POI files (Point of Interest). POI file are like waypoint on the handheld GPS.

For more information about the "Geocaching Swiss Army Knife" (GSAK, please check it out[Click Here]