We spoke with retailers and product reviewers at the tent and I got some time to talk shop with a few of the other GPS manufacturers. I took the Geomate Jr for a test drive, nice concept and it’s always good to see new products out there. The rock in the photo is a geocache container, first time I’ve seen one of those… very creative!

I found some time to check out all of the paddle sport products and gear manufacturers, one of my favorite parts of the Outdoor Retailer show. It’s like being a kid in a candy factory, so much gear and so little time. I’m just hoping we see some PN-40s with Navionics charts out there on those sea kayaks once they hit the retail stores!

I had a nice conversation about the PN-Series devices with the people from Trailspace.com, check out their blog post for the writeup and other good info from the Open Air Demo. One of the guys from Geocaching.com visited with us for a while and shared some great feedback from the people at Groundspeak and from their forum. We even had a few geocachers stop by to let us know that they will be attending Wednesday’s cache run in Salt Lake City. Cache Advance stopped to visit with her dog Eve!

I’m going to dig out one of the last Eartha 3D coins to give away on Wednesday so try to make it, could be one of your last chances! Don’t worry though, everyone will get an Eartha 2D coin and I’ll have some Team DeLorme coins if you’re looking to trade. Should be a lot of fun!

See you then,
Chip Noble
DeLorme

A few answers to good questions that have come up since I created the video…

-The widget is cross platform, it will work on your Mac as well as your PC!
-Cache Register will work with all of our PN-Series devices.
-The widget will cost $9.95 and will be downloadable from our website.
-You will need a premium membership if you want to make Pocket Queries on Geocaching.com’s site.
The ability to load 500 geocaches at a time is well worth it and you get all the hints!
-You will be able to load GPX files with your custom filters from GSAK.
-Cache Register is scheduled to release on our website this week! Edit: Released!

Edited to add: -Cache Register will also transfer the Additional Waypoints for geocaches with the associated cache name as a prefix to help you keep track of waypoint and geocaches!

Let us know if you have any questions about the new Geocaching widget. We’re very excited to hear what everyone has to say once they’ve had a chance to try it out!

Thanks,
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

NOTE: You can send in your free upgrade certificates if you purchased a PN-Series device with Topo USA 7.0 within the last six months. Customer Service is ready to process those orders now.

DeLorme will begin taking orders and shipping Topo USA 8.0 next week! Now that we have finished all of the design, development, and testing I thought it would be good to share some details about the major features that we have included with this release.

We targeted three areas with the Topo USA 8.0 project…

1. Deliver a streamlined transfer process for moving Map Library selections to the DeLorme GPS…
2. Provide improved waypoint management options in Draw…
3. Include all of Street Atlas USA’s in-vehicle navigation features for those that bring along their laptops…

Since the PN-20 released with Topo USA 6.0 we have received requests from users to make it easier to get the aerial imagery, USGS quads, and other maps from our Map Library onto the GPS device. The Handheld Export tab provides lots of customization options for the serious map maker but many new GPS owners were just looking for the EASY button. Well, we’re giving you the EASY checkbox instead and we’re labeling it “Include maps for my DeLorme GPS with my Map Library order”. I’ll walk through the process in screenshots so that you can see the steps…

Use NetLink to select the area you would like to download to Topo USA and your DeLorme GPS:

Add the selection to your list and notice the new “Include maps for my DeLorme GPS” option:

Checkout then go to NetLink’s Downloads subtab when your order is ready:

After your download completes and the Exchange Dialog appears with your PN map selected, press Send:

View your downloaded Map Library order in Topo USA and on your DeLorme GPS device:

Just imagine how easy it will be to grab maps for your GPS device when you’re planning your next trip… Oh yeah, in case you didn’t notice, I get to sneak out of the office to go to GeoWoodstock VII! I’ll be working at our booth with another member of Team DeLorme. Stop by if you’d like to see any of the new geocaching projects we’ve been working on. We’ll have PN-40s available for people to try out… I’ve even heard rumors of a Team DeLorme geocoin!

Topo USA 8.0 users will enjoy two improvements to the way that waypoints are managed on the device; multi-select and Send to GPS have been added to the Draw tab. Now people can use Shift+Click, Ctrl+Click, and Sweep+Select with the mouse to select some, many, or all of the waypoints or geocaches in a Draw Layer or Pocket Query.

Right click the selected points on the map or in the tab area to Send to PN-Series GPS. This option displays the GPS Exchange dialog with the selected waypoints and geocaches allowing the user to press Send to copy them to their GPS device.

We’ve received requests from all of our Overlanders and other 4-wheel driving, off-roaders as well as our motorcoachers to deliver an in-vehicle program capable of displaying profile information and 3-D maps while still delivering the turn-by-turn spoken directions that Street Atlas USA is known for. We’ve gone one step further and delivered our 3-D NavMode display to enhance the navigation experience. Users will be able to listen to the spoken directions and even give voice commands to the computer. They will also be able to choose between 2-D and 3-D, Topo View, Street View, and Hybrid View. The screenshot below was taken while simulating a drive to Bell Buckle, Tennessee with aerial imagery and a hybrid topographic map.

This should give everyone a little more detail as to what is coming with Topo USA 8.0. There will be more information released with the marketing material next week. Keep an eye out for that announcement and, as always, feel free to post any questions you might have.

See you all in Bell Buckle, TN!

Chip Noble
Team DeLorme

http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=18190

Sorry, no fanfare with the blog post. Just a quick “Come and get it!”

Thanks,
Chip Noble
DeLorme

DeLorme’s Send to GPS plug-in is available at www.Geocaching.com, just visit their site and click on the Send to GPS button to transfer your geocache to the Earthmate PN-40 or PN-20. Note that the first time you try this you will be sent to our site to download the plug-in… just follow the setup instructions and soon you’ll be seeing a screen like the one below!

We’ve also released a public beta version of our firmware update for the PN-40… please go to the following link to download this update.

http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=17506

You’ll find instructions for updating your device as well as a list of all the improvements we’ve included.

New with this release… a Mac version of the firmware package! We’re very pleased to have a geocaching solution for all those Mac users out there that have been asking for support.

Our team is now focusing on the Cache Register widget for the Mac and PC. We’ve been working closely with Groundspeak on this and will be posting more information about this effort on our forums.

Thank you all for your patience while these projects were in development, I’m sure that you will all find it was worth the wait!

Chip Noble
DeLorme

There have been several questions lately about our plans for supporting geocachers that use the Mac and PC operating systems. I’ve tried to respond to those questions with vague answers sprinkled through various forums but have decided to put it all here in one complete roadmap so that no one has to guess about it anymore.

Earthmate PN-Series Firmware Update
First, we are planning a firmware update for the Earthmate PN-Series (PN-20 and PN-40) devices to deliver, among other things, a Geocaches page that allows the user to see all of their unfound caches complete with the Geocaching.com Cache Type symbols.

PN-Series owners will be able to sort by distance or name as well as found or unfound status. They will be able to view geocache details, see the cache on a map, or route to the location. They can choose to “Drive There” or “Hike There” to create road or direct routes.

Once they’ve found the cache they can log their find with “Found It!” or “Didn’t Find It” to update the geocache details page and store the results of their search. After logging the find they can choose to find the next closest cache, view the cache list, or stop geocaching for the day.

Send to GPS from Geocaching.com
Beyond the firmware update we are working on two features for exchanging geocaches between the desktop and the device. We are working with Geocaching.com to deliver a Send to GPS plug-in that will work on both the Mac and the PC, allowing everyone to transfer geocaches directly to their device without Topo USA in the middle.

Cache Register Widget
We are also working on a desktop widget for the Mac and PC called Cache Register that will allow a geocacher to use advanced search features to create queries and synchronize them with their Earthmate PN-Series device. Search for the 100 closest traditional caches within a 50 mile radius of your weekend destination and send them to your PN-40… log your finds and send your Field Notes back to Geocaching.com when you get back.

We are going to remove the 800 character limit so that people can see all of the cache details including the Hint and the Logs. For the serious geocacher looking for more control, they can use the Cache Register to customize what geocache fields are included in the Comment Details and in what order.

We realize that Topo USA is a Windows application and while our Cache Register desktop widget opens the door for geocache exchange on the Mac, there is still a lot of work to be done to bring all of the desired GPS tools to the Mac platform. We did not want to port the Windows interface but rather are going to build on the Cache Register format and deliver increased Mac functionality over time.

PN-Series data discs on the Mac
In addition to the new Cache Register widget, there are several features in place to help the Mac user with the Earthmate PN-Series device. First, we ship the PN data discs with each device allowing the user to transfer detailed 100K topographic maps (ETA: Enhanced with DeLorme street-detailed maps and four million places of interest!) to their device or SD card for any state in the US. While we plan to deliver a desktop application in the future, the map data needed to take the device outside is available in the box.

Earthmate Online Map Center
We are also making updates to our Earthmate Online Map Center at data.delorme.com to accommodate the new Map Library subscription (ETA: Subscription support not yet available). This powerful website allows Mac and PC users to specify the area where they would like to get their maps, aerial imagery, USGS 24K quads, and more. After the selections are made the site notifies them that their maps are ready for download. These downloads can then be placed on the internal or SD card memory on the Earthmate PN-Series device for use on geocaching trips. Remember to buy your Map Library subscription to get all the maps you want for an entire year for just $29.95. Once you’ve downloaded them they are yours to keep!

Points of Interest Layers on the PN-Series Devices
One last feature for serious geocachers looking for a serious tool… you can create your own Point Of Interest maps with the Draw tools in Topo USA and add them to your Earthmate PN-Series GPS to allow you to turn on and off layers of your own creation. Create layers for My Caches, My Finds, NGS Benchmarks, data from www.poi-factory.com and more. Add tens of thousands of points to your map; turn them on and off as you need them. While you won’t be able to create or delete points like you can with Waypoints, you will be able to search for and route to them with ease.

Schedule Timeline
I’m sure the question on all of your minds right now is when will this be ready… well, project estimates get more precise the further into a project the team gets. I’m sure some of you are wondering why we’re talking about the first firmware update already when the PN-40s don’t release until next week. The devices are on schedule and our Marketing director has posted the 17th as a ship date. Everyone here at DeLorme has been working non-stop to get the device out and the Geocaching.com Initiative ready for people who might be getting Earthmate PN-Series GPS devices for the holidays. You’ve seen screenshots from the GPS and from the Mac widget… Data.DeLorme.com is already available. You all know how much I hate timelines but I can tell you that I’m giving a couple of PN-40s as Christmas presents and they are going to geocachers so we’ll be doing our best to have things ready for them!

I hope this helps shine a light on where DeLorme is headed with Geocaching and the Mac platform in the not so distant future.

Let the comments begin… now!

Chip Noble
DeLorme

Field personnel will be able to search on BNSF data for track defects, view and query track and milepost locations, and create waypoints with basic descriptions. Armed with location data that has been custom-cut for BNSF, field technicians will have the ability to automatically download defect information directly from BNSF geometry cars to the PN-20 GPS handheld.

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