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Syncing between Live and Offline contents


BethKatzPA

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I'm not quite sure how to describe this issue that I've seen and that I think some people have brought up on Facebook ... I saved some caches in an offline list anticipating not having cel service. That included creating a Cache Note in preparation for working a puzzle. But when I am out in the field, I am navigating to them as Live. When I get to the cache location and bring up the Cache Note, it is empty. I'm surprised because I don't realize the note was saved with the offline version of the cache rather than the live version. I don't have cel service, so maybe the note isn't available to pull from the cloud. I think I could switch to the offline version and solve the puzzle. I didn't think of that and worked through the puzzle in the live version but didn't choose Save. So my work no longer exists. That's unexpected but okay. I found the cache and have corrected coords.

The issue I see here is keeping live and offline information synced when there is spotty cel service. This would apply to Cache Notes as well as Waypoints. I appreciated that setting the waypoint for the final worked without cel service even working live. That didn't work well previously.

I'm not sure how much of this is a bug and how much of it is educating users about how to use offline lists. If using offline version of cache, stick to offline version of cache.

How hard would it be to download the Cache Note and Waypoints when loading a cache live? I'm pretty sure I had entered the Cache Note before we arrived at the park. The unworked puzzle is online as well as in my offline list.

People on Facebook are noting the proliferation of waypoints. I'm thinking that may be because they were created both live and offline.

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When you create waypoints or cache note offline they will sync back to geocaching.com at a later time when you have data. It wouldn't necessarily be instant. My advice is to stick to using Offline if that is where you are adding your notes and waypoints, that way you are sure you are using the cache with the most data.

Cachly will sync that data later.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This inconsistency does not arise in Geosphere because results of Live searches are added to the database and assigned to a System group "Online Searches". This means the Live view sees data that is offline.

Negative: the Online Search group can leave caches in the DB that don't get cleaned up unless the user manually empties this group (something I've only done once). For this to work well, full downloads are needed for Live searches. 

Positive: Often caches are found in the DB when no data signal exists. No need to save a Live Search to offline explicitly -- the caches will be there. 

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