Okay, okay… I’ll get back to the tech talk now because I know that’s what you’re here to read about. As all of you know, we started taking orders for our Earthmate PN-60w SE & SPOT Communicator last Friday. I’m very excited by the response that we’ve received already. To give everyone a little glimpse into what the SPOT Communicator is all about, I’ve brought along GPS devices and satellite messengers for the people from Backpacker to test out. You will all be able to follow along in real-time on DeLorme’s Shared SPOT Page as we hike from the trail head to our base camp tomorrow, make our summit attempt on Wednesday, and descend back to the trail head on Thursday. We’ll be using the PN-60w & SPOT’s satellite communicator to track our progress, as well as send messages as we go. The live map will show our location, updated every 10 minutes, along with the messages we send. Please note that right now it shows my less exciting final test run along the highway from Maine to Connecticut… I’ll be clearing that out just before we start climbing tomorrow. When I return to civilization I’ll upload photos and video to the Backpacker Magazine’s Summit for Someone SPOT Adventures page so that you can experience a little bit of Mt. Langley, California’s southern most 14er in the Sierra Range!

To hold you over until tomorrow… here’s a screenshot from Topo North America 9.0. It took me a long time to finish setting up the GPS devices because I kept getting distracted by the amazing 3-D view with Digital Globe imagery draped over the mountain. I can’t wait to see this in person…

Take care,

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

I had no idea there were so many geocaches in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia until I used the geocaching features in Topo North America 9.0 to download the pocket query for the area…

This should definitely improve Team DeLorme’s chances of finding a few caches to drop off Eartha 3-D geocoins while we’re there this weekend. Be sure to follow our DeLormeGPS Twitter account for more information!

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

I’ll be giving a talk on DeLorme’s new GPS device and our partnership with SPOT, showing off the new geocaching features in Topo North America 9.0 and on the PN-60w’s SPOT Communicator Page, and answering any questions that current and potential DeLorme customers might have.

Here’s a sneak peek at our new Geocaching feature for Topo North America 9.0—the ability to synchronize all of your Pocket Queries with the Topo software and the GPS device, all with a single click of the Sync button! I  have the Auto Sync option enabled so all I have to do is plug the GPS device in and wait for the progress bar to let me know the sync is complete.

If you look closely at the image above, you’ll see the GeoWoodstock VIII PQ, the GeoWoodstock Meet and Greet PQ, and the Groundspeak Lost and Found PQ. Team DeLorme will have a booth at all three events and will be looking for members of Team Serious and the general public to stop by to talk shop! Pay no attention to the Easy Caches Near GeoWoodstock VIII PQ, I have no idea where that search came from…

It might be worth your while to follow our Twitter account too, since that is the way we will announce the geocache location of each new release of our second generation Eartha 3-D geocoin!

We’ve created a new feature allowing users to log their Geocache Find message directly to the GC.com cache page with their SPOT Communicator.

This can be done anywhere, regardless of cell phone coverage! We’re very excited to start dropping of geocoins and sending satellite messages to help people find them. Watch the Twitter account though, we’re not mentioning the coins in our geocache logs since we want to give everyone a level playing field for getting release news. We don’t want to give any unfair advantages to cache owners…

I should also mention that there’s going to be a 2-D version of the Eartha coin available at GeoWoodstock and the Geocaching.com event, just ask about it at the DeLorme booth. If you’re a coin trader we’ve got a very limited number of the Team DeLorme coins too… trade and have your coin put on display in the Team DeLorme geocoin collection at DeLorme Headquarters!

Stop by and visit if you’re in the area, we hope to see you all there!

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

I will be testing the limits of my GPS knowledge, my cycling skill, and my marriage… you see, I bought a tandem bicycle for our sixth run from Sunday River to the sea. My wife, who patiently waits for me to run all of my GPS tests, will now be trapped on the same bicycle with me! We’ve added to the excitement by picking up our new ride just yesterday so neither of us have actually ridden a tandem before… not even our dog Beezy, although she had some suggestions.

Fortunately we’ll have our Earthmate PN-60w & SPOT Communicator with us to make sure we don’t get lost.

Although I’m not sure I want to see the new profile information as we approach the big hill in the middle of day one in Weld!

I’ll have full trip statistics with me so that I can keep track of how far it is to the finish!

For those of you looking to follow along, you’ll be able to track our progress on this three day ride… complete with Type & Send messages giving updates on how things are going… Note that there are no messages on the site yet since we don’t start riding until tomorrow morning.

Team DeLorme – Trek Across Maine Shared Page (Sorry – the Trek is over so there is no content on the live site, I’m working on a SPOT Adventures Page with all of our messages.)

Keep an eye out here and on our Twitter account for reports from the field. Now I have to run and finish packing the car!

Ride safe,

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

You can follow all of the DeLorme and SPOT activity by going to our Teva Mountain Games Shared SPOT Page below… you can see all of the Check-in messages and Tracks being created by media, athletes, and people checking out the new release!

Sorry, Teva SPOT messages have expired, the shared page is no longer available.

Check back for more news from DeLorme, SPOT, and the Teva Mountain Games!

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

The Teva Mountain Games will be the first opportunity for the public to see the two devices together in action. The DeLorme and SPOT exhibits will be side- by-side in the Gear Town area, located in downtown Vail.

Stop by and check it out if you’re at the games in Vail, CO on June 3-6. Otherwise, stay tuned here at the blog and/or our twitter account for updates from the Games.

UPDATE: Check out the SPOT shared page to see where the DeLorme and SPOT crew members are at the games. They are both tracking their movements and sending messages. Click the + next to Check In messages to see what was said.

Today’s Press Release

The following screenshots and descriptions are part of my results for a Beta Challenge that requires the use of all the hardware and software we are releasing to Plan, Explore, and Share the results of an adventure. While not a major summit here in Maine, our Pleasant Mountain hike was my daughter’s first ascent so we were pretty excited to be able to send a message to her grandparents from the top!

Here are the steps we followed to put the trip together:

Planning

The Planning screenshot shows two waypoints—one for the parking lot and another for the summit of Pleasant Mountain. We actually used the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer descriptions to select the mountain because it is the closest one to our house that had over 1,000 feet of elevation gain. I created a route from the parking lot to the summit and then created a track based on that route so that I could profile the hike on the PN-60w. I used the Geocaching features in Topo North America to create a Pocket Query in case there were any caches on the mountain. The last thing I did was download the aerial imagery for the mountain so that I could see detailed information about the terrain.

Exploring

When we arrived at the parking lot, I picked the Pleasant Mountain Route and started navigating. I also opened the Pleasant Mountain Track so that I could view the Profile Page. During the hike, we created a few waypoints and took a lot of pictures (did I mention it was our daughter’s first hike?). We sent a few messages with the SPOT Communicator and recorded our track the whole way. When we got to the summit, I changed waypoint layers to view the geocache pocket query. Unfortunately I was not able to find “Pleasant Surprise” so I had to log a “Didn’t Find It.” We did locate the USGS Benchmark on the summit and were able to mark a waypoint to compare later.

Sharing

After we got home, I used Earthmate GPS Sync in Topo North America to download the new track and update the waypoint file in my Pleasant Mountain Hike project. I also copied the pictures from our camera and used GeoTagger in Topo North America to map them. I went to my online SPOT account and viewed the messages that I sent and verified that they all went out to the right contacts. I created a Map Share so that you can see the results, and I’ve also included the Topo North America project file in case any of you are interested in climbing Pleasant Mountain here in Maine!

MapShare Link

Hopefully this “round trip” example gives you a little taste of how the Earthmate PN-60w, SPOT Communicator, and Topo North America can be used to plan your adventure, explore with all the maps and GPS info you need, and share your trip with friends and family from the trail or from home once you return safely.

We took a second hike this past weekend and found ourselves battling the black flies on the way to the Bald Mountain summit. Please forgive the single take video on YouTube but we were getting chomped and I didn’t have time for edits! My daughter was calling for the loons to swim toward us in case you can’t understand the yelling two-year old in the background. The video shows an Earthmate PN-60w with aerial imagery, contours, and track information. I go quickly through sending a Check-in/OK message to the Team Serious beta testers that are working with the PN-60w and SPOT Communicator. The screenshot below from SPOT’s website shows the “Wish you were here!” message as it was received along with other messages sent while using Track Progress to let family and friends follow our hike. We also sent a message from the west side of the lake when we found our first geocache with the new GPS and satellite communicator!

Keep an eye out for more information about the Earthmate PN-60w and SPOT Communicator as we head into the summer. DeLorme and SPOT are attending lots of events so there will be opportunities to check things out here or in person if we are in your neighborhood.

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

Chip looks particularly relaxed with sandals on. We let him out of snowy Maine for a few days and he thinks he’s at the beach!

We started out at the Salt Lake City Travel Bug where we met the cache owner, Lefty624. He was very helpful and allowed us to hold a little meet and greet at his location. We were joined by cachers from the Utah Association of Geocachers as well as some cachers who were attending the Outdoor Retailer Show. We found five caches in all with most of them being pretty challenging micro and nano caches. Geooogle, a local cacher, showed of some exceptional geosense and helped with several of the difficult micros. Thanks to Firennice for sharing his local knowledge of Utah geocaching as well as helping to keep us out of the hot sun! Thanks also goes to Cache Advance for sharing more about using Textmarks for geocaching, check out her post for a cool way to share that you’ve found the cache. Congratulations to Cach-U-Nuts for winning the Eartha 3D geocoin!

Here are some photos from the event. Thank you to all that attended, it was a lot of fun to get out and geocache while visiting Utah!

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme