GeOrg version 1.1.7
We just released GeOrg 1.1.7 on the Android Market. As always, the detailed list of changes and fixes is available in the Changelog. These are the main features in this release, tough:
- Additional Waypoints:
You can now add/edit/delete your own additional waypoints. Additional waypoints imported via GPX are unchangeable, but you can duplicate them to make changes to the duplicate. Also you can switch association of waypoints from one cache to another and even make them global waypoints. - Day-Theme:
GeOrg now supports a black-on-white “day-theme”, so you can better read the display in the sun. You can change the current theme in the display-settings. There’s also an “Auto”-setting that make GeOrg switch between the night- and the day-theme when the sun sets/rises. (please note, that due to an android bug the Settings-Page always remains white-on-black in android-versions > 1.6) - Sat-Status-View:
The sat-status-display has gotten a graphical overhaul. If you prefer the old (x/y)-display you can revert to that in the Settings. - Directional icon:
Like what you are used to from geocaching.com – you’ll find a small compass display next to most distances now that gives you an idea as to in what direction a waypoint is in. - Create waypoint on map:
In the Positions-menu in the map you can now enter a mode where you can create a waypoint by touching the map at the position you want the waypoint to be created at. - SunMoon-Solver:
Tells you when the Sun and the Moon rise/set, where they are, how far they are and other geek-stuff. Useful for example if you want to find out when to meet for a night-cache (civil-dusk would probably be a good time)
The next things we’ll work on are Filters and Field Notes. Happy caching with GeOrg 1.1.7 and as always: contact us if you have any problems or feature requests.
Test-driving GeOrg 1.1.7 on our new android phone
This week our new phone arrived. It’s a HTC Desire. For a long time now we’ve been looking for a phone to replace our trusty G1. Especially we were waiting for a device with a hardware keyboard. We were not happy with the Droid/Milestone though and finally – after being able to test a friends HTC Desire – we dumped the keyboard-requirement.
We thinkt the Desire is a great android smartphone (even if you buy the “brown” version 
). Especially its speed is impressive. While we have yet to take measurements, it’s already pretty obvious that GPX-import is flying – compared to the G1. Overall responsiveness has also improved.
The display is pretty good, though we think that it tends to have a slight reddish tint. In GeOrgs new Day-Theme there are light-gray panels which look quite neutral on the G1 and on the emulator – but on the Desire there’s a hint of purple. Also, we haven’t tested the device in the field yet, so it will be interesting to see if the display is still readable in direct sunlight.
One thing that kept worrying us the whole week just got solved. When we connected the Desire to our computer (with new HTC-drivers installed) and started the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) it didn’t recognize the device and instead showed a growing list of offline-devices – all with the same serial number. In case any other Desire user encounters this behaviour … After long painful sessions un- and reinstalling drivers and software we finally found the culprit. It was Kaspersky Antivirus (again). As the HTC-documentation stated, we deactivated the scanner during driver-installation, but that was not enough. Only today, after completely uninstalling Kaspersky we were able to install the HTC-drivers (v.2.0.33) and get an ADB-connection. After reinstalling Kaspersky everything still works, hopefully the configuration stays intact now, else developing for Android would just become a few stars more difficult …
GeOrg version 1.1.6.6
Another bugfix for the current release. With 1.1.6 you got the ability to enter comments for geocaches. We have now been made aware of the fact that these comments get deleted, whenever you re-import that geocache, either with a connector of by importing any GPX that contains that geocache. That was not the intended behaviour and it’s fixed with 1.1.6.6.
We are sorry for any inconveniences this might have caused you 
Ok – back to working on 1.1.7 – Happy caching!
GeOrg version 1.1.6.5
Another update for 1.1.6 while we are still working on 1.1.7.
We have had a report about problems when selecting caches on the map on a Nexus One device: In many cases the detail-bubble would point to the wrong cache, making it hard to select the right one. This update should fix this issue. Also deactivating the screensaver for compass & map previously didn’t work for OpenStreetMaps. And … finally, trying to import a zip with no GPX-files or a whole directory without GPX-files shouldn’t cause crashes anymore.
Happy caching! 
A new connector in town: BCaching
A few days ago a new connector for GeOrg has been published in the Android Market. It was written by the owner of www.BCaching.com. With this connector you can access data from your Groundspeak PocketQueries housed at BCaching without importing large gpx-files into GeOrg. Instead, GeOrg displays caches on the Map-Page and within the Find Neaby-Page live from BCaching.
Now, that sounds nearly like what people are doing with the offical Groundspeak iPhone-App all the time. What’s BCaching anyway and is it legal?
First of all, it IS legal. BCaching is operating with Groundspeaks consent. Also, only premium members get to use its features, because you have to define Pocket Queries before getting at any live data at all. That out of the way, this is how it works:
- First you create an account at www.BCaching.com (it’s free)
- Then you initially upload one “My Finds” Pocket Query to bcaching.com
- After that your account is established and you can upload other Pocket Queries. You can also set up your Pocket Queries to be sent directly to your mail-account at BCaching so that BCaching always has the latest information from your Pocket Queries.
You can now access your Pocket Query-data at www.bcaching.com on your computer, from any mobile device via a slim and fast mobile browser-optimized version of the site or – and that’s the news – directly from GeOrg.
Whenever you find a cache you want to do (on the Map-Page or the Find Nearby-Page with the BCaching-Connector configured and enabled), you can choose to download that cache to your CacheDB. If you set up your Pocket Query to automatically update the BCaching-database, you’ll get fresh new information while keeping your CacheDB small and fast.
Also information in the BCaching-database accumulates! You can cover a vast area with Pocket Queries by defining several to run on different days of the week – overcoming the PQ/day-limit and avoiding continually importing all those huge heaps of data.
You can find some more information about BCaching at their site. Expect to see some additional features in GeOrg targeted at the BCaching- and the Opencaching.de-connectors in the future.
Happy caching!
GeOrg version 1.1.6.4
Just another small bugfix-update for two crashes you reported via mail and one that I found when implementing the new SunMoon-Solver for 1.1.7. Seems like nobody has ever tried to create a waypoint north or south of the 60th parallel. Only traditional caches there?
The fixes are listed in the changelog.
Happy caching!
GeOrg version 1.1.6.3
Some of you have reported crashes which should be fixed with this small update. Also, GCVote is working again. The fixes are listed in the changelog.
Happy caching!
Connectors updated
Today we updated the OC.de-connector as well as the sample-connector. A czech user notified us about a bug when using providers with proxies that compress HTTP-responses. He also was so kind as to provide us with a “ready to merge”-patch for the problem – thank you very much!
If you don’t have problems with connectors right now, you don’t really need to update.
GeOrg version 1.1.6.2
There’s another small bugfix for the latest GeOrg release. It fixes:
- A crash when returning to list-activites like CacheDB or WaypointDB
- A crash when trying to import empty routes
- A crash when a wrong cachetype was returned by the Opencaching.de-connector.
Thanks to all, who sent in crashreports – this really helps to resolve matters quickly!
Georg version 1.1.6.1
We’ve had reports of people not being able to migrate their database from 1.1.5.1 to 1.1.6. While we are not able to reproduce the problem here, yet – we have an update ready that should stop the error from occuring.
