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Transfer Dropped Pin from google maps on phone ---> Edge?

forrest1971
over 4 years ago

During the pandemic, a friend of mine has been developing a scavenger-hunt type activity. The course is a series of QR codes that are printed on a small square of plastic and then taped or stapled to trees, signs, and the like; scan the QR code with your phone and it links to a dropped pin in Google Maps showing you the next clue in the hunt. Navigating your way to the next QR code is the fun part of this game.

Is there an existing IQ app that would let you easily send that dropped pin to an Edge device as a "destination" that the Edge could then auto-route to? I can use a workaround to copy the pin location to RideWithGPS on my phone and then upload as a course using the RwGPS IQ app, but this is really cumbersome. Ideally, it would be a one- or two-click operation, as these courses often involve 40 or 50 clues.

Thoughts? Suggestions? TIA

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    There are three approaches that might sort-of work for you:

    1- the sendpoints app lets you get a 4 digit number for a location you search for.

    2- there a "plus code" app that lets you enter a 10 "digit" code. One issue is that it's a bit hard to get the long plus codes. Google is one concern promoting them but they only provide the short code.

    3- create a website that provides the list (as a JSON array).

    My app supports all three. My app also makes it easy to write websites that could present lists of locations (I do that for my bike club). You just have to have a website that returns a JSON array.

  • +1 over 4 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestion, looks like this may work better than my current workaround, though having to enter a 4-digit code on the garmin is still kind of a pain. Might save this for the situations where the clues are a long distance apart, while sticking with just navigating with my phone for the close-together ones. (One of the problems I'm trying to solve is that telephone battery life is an issue, as well as the fact that the handlebar GPS is a lot more robust in bad weather).

    I'll give this a trial run and if it works the way I hope, I'll be sure to hit up your paypal. :-)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to forrest1971

    If you have a website and somebody who can write a page for it, that might provide an alternative to entering the 4 digit number.

    Keep in mind that the lifetime of the 4 digit number is limited.

    The sendpoints website is intended to be a quick (and temporary) way to get a location onto the Garmin.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to dpawlyk

    OK, finally had a chance to do some field testing, and it looks like this is going to work. Takes about 15 seconds total once you are used to the workflow.

    If I paypal to the address: 

    grouteloader (at) gmail (dot) com

    will that reach you?

    I actually put together a very, very detailed guide to help the tech-impaired figure out how to use this, so you may see a steady trickle of downloads from the PNW. It lives as a google doc, feel free to point other people to it if that would be helpful. 

    docs.google.com/.../edit

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to forrest1971

    Cool.

    (I added a link to your instructions from my website.)

    The paypal link is further in the description.

    https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DavidPawlyk

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to dpawlyk

    If you know the organizers and if they have a web programmer, we could talk about making a custom website for this.