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Thread: Bring back geocaching KML!!

  1. #1

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    Default Bring back geocaching KML!!

    Hi peeps, I started a thread on t'other forums relating to caches not showing up in Google Earth https://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/in...owtopic=220185.

    For anyone who found this feature useful, there is a petition page to try to get this feature back. You can sign here :- http://www.bringbackthekml.com/

    I am lucky.....I still have this feature on my laptop

    Gaz

  2. #2

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    I am still using this and have found the following will let you set it up again if you did not have it in "My Places" in Google Earth.

    1. Click on Add|Network Link
    2. Enter a meaningful text in the "Name" box
    3. Paste the following into the "Link" box with no spaces

    https://www.geocaching.com

    /kml/kml.aspx?key=9NiwXFBLb6pkyd%2fwWpWp%2foggPdOiT1E6o q%2fDbiaC6JXGHIgxHHvmIuPKXIN1CLRPckhOEvHMt9kYCnOAa q6s8g%3d%3d&

    4. Click on the Refresh tab and change the following:
    a) "View-based Refresh" change "When" to "After Camera Stops"
    b) Change seconds to either 3 or 4
    5. Click "OK"
    6. The name you assigned in (2) should appear in "My Places"

    The above worked for me but I do not know if it is based on a cookie or something that relates to my PC. I have looked at caches placed in the past few days and they can be seen.
    Last edited by Bill D (wwh); 14th May 2009 at 08:51 PM. Reason: Approved link by user with less than 5 posts

  3. #3

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    Genius .... and after less than 30 seconds I have all my caches back, thanks MM this worked a treat for me. I messed up the first time I tried because I missed off the http bit at the beginning of the link, but still a very simple process.

  4. #4

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    Don't get your hopes up.......the thread that I started on t'other forums has been closed by Miss Jenn......pointing everyone to a thread over the pond.....and it looks like EVERYBODY will lose the feature within 2 to 3 weeks ......I'm not a happy bunny really, as it is VERY useful to see caches in GE without having to go to "slow.......slow....., slow/slow.....slow" geocaching.com

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by GAZ View Post
    Don't get your hopes up.......the thread that I started on t'other forums has been closed by Miss Jenn......pointing everyone to a thread over the pond.....and it looks like EVERYBODY will lose the feature within 2 to 3 weeks ......I'm not a happy bunny really, as it is VERY useful to see caches in GE without having to go to "slow.......slow....., slow/slow.....slow" geocaching.com

    Last night, I got an email from Miss Jenn, *******ing me for daring to join in with the call for the reprieve of the KML.. It's like being back in school, and being told to shut up by the teacher!!

    Rampton Broadmoore Esq.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rampton Broadmoore View Post
    Last night, I got an email from Miss Jenn, *******ing me for daring to join in with the call for the reprieve of the KML.. It's like being back in school, and being told to shut up by the teacher!!

    Rampton Broadmoore Esq.
    I think it's more like Big Brother and the Thought Police.

    Miniwhip https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?id=997356 was banned from the GS forum for 3 days for complaining about GS censorship and encouraging people to sign the petition.

    Groundspeak are clearly moving into shady corporate territory - unaccountable to the customers and vindinctive when there's any whiff of criticism.

    It's yet another bad taste creeping into caching that starting to leave me disenchanted with the whole way our hobby is sliding towards commercialism.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by qichina View Post
    I think it's more like Big Brother and the Thought Police.

    Miniwhip https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?id=997356 was banned from the GS forum for 3 days for complaining about GS censorship and encouraging people to sign the petition.

    Groundspeak are clearly moving into shady corporate territory - unaccountable to the customers and vindinctive when there's any whiff of criticism.

    It's yet another bad taste creeping into caching that starting to leave me disenchanted with the whole way our hobby is sliding towards commercialism.
    The lackeys at GS say that the KML generates too much of a load on the servers.. Well, how many are paying GS to get a premium account? I bet it's a 'kin great big number all paying $30...
    Now, here's the question... How much would it cost to BUY a couple of ass kicking servers, mirror the database, and then point the KML at that? Even if the mirrored data was a couple of days behind, I am sure that would be better than what we will soon have.
    When we have a server that slows to a crawl at work because of the user loading, we chuck some money at the problem and buy a new bigger faster all singing and dancing with bells and whistles black box from Dell or HP or a bloke in the pub!

    I wonder if that thought had crossed their minds?


    Cheerio for now,
    Rampton Broadmoore Esq.

  8. #8

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    Hi,
    Most people discussing this on the GS forum don't believe the server-load excuse - saying it would apply to Google maps in the same way. But you are right - a dedicated server would prob get round the problem.
    It's hard to believe anything GS says when they say only 200 people use KML-GE anyway (which apart from being ridiculous, counters their server-load argument).
    I suspect the reason for groundspeak's decision is something to do with keeping users on their site where they will pick up advertising revenue. Or some future plan to offer a similar feature for higher subs. Who knows? One thing is clear - there is a corporate contempt for user-opinion.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by qichina View Post
    Hi,
    One thing is clear - there is a corporate contempt for user-opinion.


    Ha! So what else is new!!

  10. #10

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    And since the Google Earth option has gone, the performance of the GS maps has worsened, to such an extent that I can't use them on a Sunday morning!
    Paved Roads: Another fine example of unnecessary Government spending!

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by GAZ View Post
    Don't get your hopes up.......the thread that I started on t'other forums has been closed by Miss Jenn......pointing everyone to a thread over the pond.....and it looks like EVERYBODY will lose the feature within 2 to 3 weeks ......I'm not a happy bunny really, as it is VERY useful to see caches in GE without having to go to "slow.......slow....., slow/slow.....slow" geocaching.com

    Almost 3 weeks has gone by .... and the fix provided by Master Mariner is still working! opcorn:

  12. #12

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    I haven't done anything, but Google Earth looks like this;


  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Handsyhands View Post
    Almost 3 weeks has gone by .... and the fix provided by Master Mariner is still working! opcorn:
    Just loaded it on the main computer last night......still working!!

    And after that, I loaded it onto "Heather W"s computer......still working!!

    And I have the OS KML file from "Gavins unofficial" site as well, looks fantastic!!

    :socool:

  14. #14

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    Still working for us. on his and mine .
    We like Greens

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by GAZ View Post
    And I have the OS KML file from "Gavins unofficial" site as well, looks fantastic!!
    As visible in my screenshot above, for those who haven't tried it yet.

  16. #16

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    I have just tried the "dodge" suggested by Master Mariner on 14th May.
    The assigned name comes up OK in My Places, but no caches are appearing.

    Have GC turned something else off?

    Can somebody post a link to "Gavins unofficial site" please, so that I can get the OS version up and running.
    Any set-up advice would be welcome (running IE8 here).

    Cheers

    Rod
    Try not to let your mind wander...........
    It's too small and fragile to be out by itself

  17. #17

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    We discovered a few days ago it has now gone for us as well .
    We like Greens

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by thekennelat79 View Post
    I have just tried the "dodge" suggested by Master Mariner on 14th May.
    The assigned name comes up OK in My Places, but no caches are appearing.

    Have GC turned something else off?

    Can somebody post a link to "Gavins unofficial site" please, so that I can get the OS version up and running.
    Any set-up advice would be welcome (running IE8 here).

    Cheers

    Rod
    Gavins unofficial overlay is:-

    www.brock-family.org/gavin/google-earth/osmaps.kml

    And the flippin kml file for caches has now gone

  19. #19

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    For those who don't visit the main GC Forum,

    This Post by Raine explains both where the Magical 200 No came from and exactly why the KML file was removed

    Please note the ending comment by Raine

    Deci
    My post is my personal opinion and as such you do not have my permission to quote me outside of these forums!

    Dave
    Brenin Tegeingl
    Formerly known as Mancunian Pyrocacher on GC

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by GAZ View Post
    Gavins unofficial overlay is:-

    www.brock-family.org/gavin/google-earth/osmaps.kml

    And the flippin kml file for caches has now gone

    Do you mean the kml from the above link or from GC?

    I have just followed the above link which opened up GE and then placed Gavins osmaps overlay into Temporary places. I moved it to My Places and waited..... and waited............. Nothing !

    I may be just me being thick (as usual), but we seem to have lost all the ways to show caches in GE..... unless you know otherwise
    Try not to let your mind wander...........
    It's too small and fragile to be out by itself

  21. #21
    keehotee Guest

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    AFAIK all Google Earth cache overlays have gone.
    It still works fine in the Google Maps link from every cache page though - as long as you learn to live with the 500 cache max as you zoom and scroll around....

  22. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by thekennelat79 View Post
    Do you mean the kml from the above link or from GC?

    I have just followed the above link which opened up GE and then placed Gavins osmaps overlay into Temporary places. I moved it to My Places and waited..... and waited............. Nothing !

    I may be just me being thick (as usual), but we seem to have lost all the ways to show caches in GE..... unless you know otherwise
    Maybe the tick box isn't ticked? I went to Google and typed in "Gavins unofficial overlay", which I think was the 3rd or 4th one on the list.

    When I tried it again, it came on right away, so I dunno what's the problem

  23. #23

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  24. #24

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    Were they shamed into it ? h34r:
    Try not to let your mind wander...........
    It's too small and fragile to be out by itself

  25. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by thekennelat79 View Post
    Were they shamed into it ? h34r:
    No they had planned to produce a replacement all the time. It was withdrawn due to the serious problem it was causing with the servers, gave them no choice but to withdraw it.

    Deci
    My post is my personal opinion and as such you do not have my permission to quote me outside of these forums!

    Dave
    Brenin Tegeingl
    Formerly known as Mancunian Pyrocacher on GC

  26. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mancunian View Post
    No they had planned to produce a replacement all the time. It was withdrawn due to the serious problem it was causing with the servers, gave them no choice but to withdraw it.

    Deci
    Are you sure about that Dave? To us on the "outside" that sounds like a politician trying to persuade us that we should believe them rather than our own eyes.

    If it were indeed the case why did GSP not once say "This is causing trouble so we are forced to remove it temporarily while we work on a replacement"? No, the satements from GSP and its acolytes were "It's been causing problems so we're removing it. Live with it." My guess is that they were surprised at the extent of the disquiet and belatedly decided they had to find a replacement.

    However, whatever the reason, they are to be congratulated for listening to customer pressure for once.

  27. #27

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    So why did GS withdraw the KML facility without prior notice, and without any replacement being mentioned?

    They could have told us that a change was necessary, which would result in a temporary loss of facility, and that a revised version would be provided in due course.
    Instead of which, we had this hoo-haa over the "200 users" and a mess of stories concerning server usage.

    The net result of the whole mis-managed affair being a lot (many more than 200) of dissatisfied customers and so much upset and disturbance.

    Hmmmmm........
    Try not to let your mind wander...........
    It's too small and fragile to be out by itself

  28. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Hornet View Post
    Are you sure about that Dave? To us on the "outside" that sounds like a politician trying to persuade us that we should believe them rather than our own eyes.

    If it were indeed the case why did GSP not once say "This is causing trouble so we are forced to remove it temporarily while we work on a replacement"? No, the satements from GSP and its acolytes were "It's been causing problems so we're removing it. Live with it." My guess is that they were surprised at the extent of the disquiet and belatedly decided they had to find a replacement.

    However, whatever the reason, they are to be congratulated for listening to customer pressure for once.

    Peter you know from personal experience that Groundspeak are not the best company in the world for communicating with their customers. In fact it was Reviewer impute that advised them to explain that it was 200 user No, who were causing the server issue. Unfortunately a full explanation was not given at the time.

    To explain briefly for those who have not followed the full details. The GE KML file each time it ran or GE was panned effectively created a Mini PQ. This in it's self on casual usage did not affect the stability of the servers to much. However 200 [each user of the GE KML files ISP No was logged] users were panning GE using the KML file over 500 times per day, this created a stability issue with the servers as in affect it created over 100,000 Mini PQ's every day. Groundspeak had no option but to pull the plug on the file at that time to stop it affecting the stability of the servers.

    They got enough slagging recently for the downtime caused by a external source, imagine the slagging which would have been thrown at them if the servers had crashed. Due to the GE KML file, and they had not done something.

    Sorry but it seems to me, that they were on a hiding to nowhere which ever decision they took! Yes the decision could have been explained better, but unfortunately it wasn't.

    Dave
    My post is my personal opinion and as such you do not have my permission to quote me outside of these forums!

    Dave
    Brenin Tegeingl
    Formerly known as Mancunian Pyrocacher on GC

  29. #29

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    It took over 200 posts to the GSP thread before they came up with an explanation for exactly where the 200 came from.

    Surely if the explanation was as simple as that they would of said so before instead posts like "dont get hung up on the 200" were made by raine.

    Tend to agree with the hornet on this one.

    Never used it though i plot everything in memory map and scroll arround that.
    "If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning."

  30. #30

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    Dave, I appreciate you taking the time to explain. However my point was that there seemed to be no intention to provide a solution until one suddenly appeared. To say that they were intending to provide a solution all along just doesn't correlate with reality as seen from the outside. I'm sick and tired of politicians trying to tell me black is white and I see this as symptomatic of that malaise.

    I have personally never used this KML nor do I have any plans to do so, so whether or not GSP provide a solution is of academic interest to me. I'd just appreciate a little honesty. Maybe that's asking too much of GSP given my past experiences.

  31. #31

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    Red face Yep It's back!!

    Groundspeak have indeed put the V2 Geocaching Google Earth Viewer back on our profile webpages. And it works again!

    But please note that they are protecting their servers by limiting Premium Members to 250 different map views per day (with Basic Members only getting 25). Also, each time you pan across the map, it counts as a new map view. To avoid users hitting this limit, they advise you to turn off the automatic refresh setting so that you only request a new set of caches when you have settled on the right geographic area. You still only get an approximation of the caches actual location too.

    A few weeks ago, I searched the GSAK Macro Library to find a GSAK macro that would create a KML file from my GSAK database. While not instantly updated like the Groundspeak viewer, or displaying as much detail about the caches, it does at least show the correct location! Between the 2 approaches, we seem to have a a useful tool for identifying locations of caches for a daytrip or holiday.

    Chris of Matthew 7:7 Too

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