General Topics
About Smache
Getting Started
Using Smache
Mapping and GPS
Maintaining your Database
Other Stuff

Detailed Topics
The 5 Panels
The Main Menu
Screenshots

Getting Started
Getting to Know Your Way Around
Setting Up a Database
Creating Location Filters
Importing Caches
Importing Waypoints

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Getting to Know Your Way Around
Before you jump in, notice the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. You'll see 'Menu' and 5 panel buttons. These are what you will need to get you around to the different features in Smache. The Main Menu holds the import options, database commands, settings access and other things. The panel buttons are, from left to right; the Locations panel, the Cache List panel, the Details panel, the Navigation panel and the Tools panel. Smache will only open up a separate window with settings, database cleaning, and adding a new location, visit or waypoint. Everything else is accessible from the panel buttons. Notice also that the Navigation panel and the Tools panel have sub-panels of their own.

Setting Up a Database
Before you can import or view caches, you'll need to create a database to hold them. Go to 'Menu' - 'Database' - 'Open Database' (if you have already have one created) or 'New Database' (to start something new). You can have as many databases as you like and can hold plenty of caches. The databases get pretty big so don't create it in your main memory if you can help it. A storage card is the best.

Creating Location Filters
Thousands or even hundreds of caches just aren't manageable in one big list, so create a few location filters for your caches. You can have as many as you like. Click on the 'New Location' button at the top left of the Locations panel, then give the location a name and either a center point and radius or a rectangular area. Your location filters will stay current when you add or remove caches from your database. You can create the location filter before or after you've imported caches and you can change the radius or coordinates any time.

Importing Caches
To get your pocket query caches into your database, go to 'Menu' - 'Import' - 'GPX File' and show it which file you want. If there are multiple GPX files in the directory you specify, Smache will ask if you want to import all of them. Once the import is finished, you'll see the updated number of total caches as well as the count of caches for each of your locations.

Importing Waypoints
If you have an LOC file or a non-Groundspeak GPX file, you can add the features to Smache as waypoints. Go to 'Menu' - 'Import' - 'GPX File' or 'LOC File' and show it which file you want to import. The waypoints will not be added to the locations, that is only for caches. You'll find your newly imported waypoints in the waypoint list in the Navigation panel.

Using Smache
Viewing Cache Lists
Viewing Cache Details
Recording Your Visits
Mapping Your Caches
Exporting Your Caches

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Viewing Cache Lists
You can view a list of caches by activating a location on the locations panel. This is done by either double-tapping the location, or by tap-and-holding and then choosing 'Activate'. Smache will then automatically switch to the cache list panel.

Viewing Cache Details
You can view the details for a cache by activating a cache on the cache list panel. This is done by either double-tapping the cache, or by tap-and-holding and then choosing 'View'. Smache will then automatically switch to the details panel.

Recording Your Visits
Smache can help you keep track of caches that you have visited or made notes on. You can edit, add and remove visit notes through the visit editing dialog. To access the visits dialog from a cache in the cache list, tap-and-hold on the cache and then choose 'Open Visits'. To access the visits dialog from the cache details, Click on the 'Edit Visits' button at the center of the details toolbar.

Mapping Your Caches
To add one or more caches to the navigation map from the cache list panel, check on all the caches that you want to add to the map then tap the 'Add to Map' button above the list. To add a cache to the navigation map from the details panel, simply click the 'Add to Map' button on the details toolbar. Any additional waypoints that belong to a cache will automatically be added to the map when the cache is added.

Exporting Your Caches
You can use Smache to export cache information to several different formats. To export all the caches that belong to a location filter (including the 'Total Caches' filter), tap-and-hold on the location filter, then choose 'Export' and pick your export format. To export only a selected set of caches from the cache list panel, check on all caches that you want included in the export, then tap the 'Export' button and choose your format. You will be asked to specify an output file name and location, then the export will be performed. You can specify detailed export options in 'Settings'.

Mapping and GPS
Adding Caches and Waypoints to the Map
Navigating the Map
Working with the Map
Using the Compass
Connecting Your GPS
Creating New Waypoints

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Adding Caches and Waypoints to the Map
To add caches to the navigation map, see Mapping Your Caches. To add waypoints to the navigation map, go to the waypoint list panel of the navigation panel. Check on all waypoints you want to add to the map, then tap the 'Add to Map' button. You can also add a single waypoint to the map by tap-and-holding on the waypoint and choosing 'Add to Map'.

Navigating the Map
There are a few basic controls you can use to navigate the map. Use the panning buttons above the map on the left side to move the mapped area from side to side or up and down. The zoom in/zoom out buttons are also located above the map on the left side. To center the map at a specific waypoint, choose the waypoint from the destination dropdown at the top-center. To keep your GPS position centered on the map, tap the 'Follow Position' button.

Working with the Map
The Smache map will give you enough information for basic indirect navigation to waypoints. There are several ways to derive different information from the map. Note the scale bar in the lower right for approximate distance from one point to another. Also note the destination distance displayed at the top-center when a destination is chosen from the dropdown list. Tap on any feature to display its name. While a feature's name is displayed on the map in this manner, that feature is the selected feature. A tap-and-hold on the map will bring up a small context menu. Depending on the type of selected feature (cache, waypoint, mark) you will be able to perform various functions. If the selected feature is a cache or a mark, you can convert it to a new waypoint that will be added to the waypoint list. If the selected feature is a waypoint or a cache you can jump to it's location in the respective list. If the selected feature is a cache, you can activate it's details in the details panel.

Using the Compass
The compass in the upper right corner of the navigation panel can be a valuable tool to help you get to your destination. On the map itself, north is always toward the top of your pocket pc. When your GPS is connected, the compass will display a blue 'N' pointer that points true north. Note that the north pointer cannot give you an accurate direction unless you are moving. If your GPS is connected and you have a destination specified in the dropdown list, the compass will also display a red 'D' pointer that points to the destination.

Connecting Your GPS
Before you can connect to a GPS using Smache, you'll need to specify your GPS port name and baud rate in the Settings dialog. You can get to the Settings dialog through the main menu. Your available COM ports will be listed in the ports dropdown list. If your pocket pc connects through a port other than a COM port, tap next to 'Other' and enter the port name. Note that if your GPS is not turned on and available when you open the settings dialog, it may not show up in the COM ports list. In this case, you can either enter the port name in the 'Other' text box or cancel and re-open the settings dialog. To find out the baud rate for your GPS receiver, contact the GPS manufacturer. Once the port and baud rate have been set, you simply need to tap the 'Start GPS' button on the navigation panel to connect. To stop the GPS, tap the 'Stop GPS' button in the same location.

Creating New Waypoints
There are three basic ways to create a new waypoint. If your GPS is NOT connected, you only have one option. Go to the waypoints panel on the navigation panel and tap the 'New Waypoint' button at the top. Fill the name, latitude, longitude and optional notes, then tap OK. Your waypoint will be added to the waypoint list. If your GPS IS connected, you have this plus two other options. You can create a mark by tapping the 'Create Mark' button on the map panel, then convert it to a waypoint as outlined in Working with the Map. Finally, you can average a new waypoint from the waypoints panel. Specify the number of samples you want, a name and note, then tap the 'Collect Waypoint' button. When the samples have been taken, a new averaged waypoint will be created and added to the waypoint list.

Maintaining Your Database
Discarding Unavailable and Stale Caches
Cleaning the Database

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Discarding Unavailable and Stale Caches
Smache can show you which caches are potentially unavailable based on whether or not they've shown up in a pocket query recently. If you find caches in your database that have become unavailable or archived, you'll probably want to mark them as such to prevent any wild goose-chasing. To mark a cache as unavailable, check on all caches you want to mark and then tap-and-hold and choose 'Mark As' - 'Unavailable'. Smache will ask you if you're sure and then change the availble status of all checked caches. If your settings indicate that you don't show unavailable caches in your cache lists, then the checked caches will subsequently be removed. If you make a mistake, you can always change it back by filtering the list for unavailable caches and then repeating the process.

Cleaning the Database
After a while your Smache database will probably start to become rather large because of numerous caches and logs. By cleaning the database regularly (every couple months or so) you can keep it's size to a minimum as well as keep it running faster and more efficiently. Cleaning the database optionally removes unavailable caches that you have not visited and that you do not own. It also rebuilds the indexes and essentially takes out the trash. To clean your database, be sure to make a backup of the database directory. Then go through the main menu to 'Database' - 'Clean Database'. The process will take several minutes depending on the number of caches and logs you hold.

Other Stuff
Exporting and Importing Visits
Entering Coordinate Values
Copying and Pasting Coordinates

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Exporting and Importing Visits
Smache provides the ability to maintain multiple databases. In order to transfer your visits from database to database you need to create a visits export file. Go to the main menu and choose 'Export', then 'Visits to File'. Once your visits have been exported you can import them into another database through the main menu 'Import', 'Visits File' option. This process exports your visit information only. If the new database does not include the cache that the visit is related to, you will not have access to that visit in that database until the cache is imported as well.

Entering Coordinate Values
Many areas in Smache ask for latitude/longitude input. Smache is very agile in reading your lat/long value so you don't have to worry about knowing the 'right' format. You can use directional identifiers (N, E, S, W) or positive/negative for your coordinates. In any text field, you can use decimal-degrees, decimal-minutes or degrees-minutes-seconds, it doesn't have to match your current settings. You can use degree(°) and tick(' ") symbols or just use spaces.

Copying and Pasting Coordinates
Smache provides the capability of copying and pasting latitude/longitude coordinates together. If a text field is meant to hold a latitude or longitude, you will find 'Copy Lat/Long' and 'Paste Lat/Long' options in the context menu. To copy a coordinate pair, simply tap-and-hold on either coordinate text field and choose 'Copy Lat/Long'. The related coordinate value will be retrieved as well. To paste, just tap and hold on either of the destination coordinate text fields and choose 'Paste Lat/Long'. The related text fields value will be pasted in at the same time.