Geosaur

quote:Originally posted by Plank:I just received my stone. I LOVE IT! <snip>The cachers in my area will hate me soon! It actually generates a lot of "nice container" comments on the one I've put out so far. Good job Groundspeak! Roger Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by spits:I haven't seen a phone booth for so long, it would sure be a novelty. Is it just me, or pay phones rapidly dissapearing from the scene? I think you're right. They aren't "booths" here in So Cal in the classic sense. They are more like "phone kiosks", but ultimately they are disappearing. It's the same phenomenon as the disappearing public mail box. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

Any problems putting a microcache out of sight on a pay phone/phone booth? Mrs. Geosaur has been interested in putting one, via magnet, on the back of a payphone she's had her eye on. Any thoughts? Thanks, Roger Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by cachew nut:I have to agree with Criminal. I think it's also condescending and elitist to answer non-(premium,charter)members with statements like <snip> I never realized that $30 could make me elitist. That's a bargain. I thought you needed a lot of dough to reach that level. I have to say I never expected to be called anything while questioning about choosing to reward members (not punish non-members) for being such; certainly not 'elitist' or 'condescending' for Heaven's sake. Of course, I disagree with the take on what MOCs mean by both Criminal and Caschew Nut. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by welch:And your placing MOCs will get the bills paid? No, of course not. However, if I was a non-member and found that many caches in my area were MOC I would probably be that much more encouraged to sign up, which collectively would probably help get the bills paid. Just a hypothesis without any numbers to back it up. As I noted though, I've changed my cache from MOC to non-MOC. Not that you (Welch) fall into this category, but I think the resistance to paying for this service is pretty funny. As though everything on the Internet should be "free", even though someone has to pay for the hardware, connection, supporting it, etc.. If they were charging something that I thought was 'outrageous' I would be more resistant to paying for it it, but jeesh: I can't think of anything else we blow $30 a year that provides more family entertainment. It's a major bargain. To each their own I suppose. I think geocaching.com keeping it as "free" as they are is pretty magnanimous of them. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by Criminal:Will never use that for one of my caches. I think it goes against what geocaching _was_ all about, free access for all. Well, that's a cool mantra, and I'm for that on the surface, but bills gotta get paid. None of us get to participate when the servers go dark, or no one can log on from server overload. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by worldtraveler:Actually, it WILL be counted on the stats page if the owner will momentarily uncheck the MOC box on the cache page and then do an update request on the stats page while the box is unchecked. I decided to go MOC based on the suggestions of this thread. I did have one visitor show up before I made that change. Where is the "update request on the stats page"? I didn't see it in my interface, but I suppose I could be missing it. Thanks! Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

OK, question: How many cache hiders have used the "Members Only" option when deciding who can see it and who can't? We dropped our first one out for the world on Saturday, and I choose the Members Only option thinking that meant you had to at least have the free user login from Geocaching to see it. I forget: Do you have to have the login to see cache details? Now I believe that you have to be a paying subscriber of Geocaching.com to see Members Only caches. Is that correct? I have a mixed feeling on this. I strongly support being a paying member of Geocaching. You get a lot for the little $30/year. I had hoped to 'protect' the cache by not allowing the non-cacher to just pull it up with a search and then going out to do "heaven only knows" to it. I also hoped to get frequent visitors. Does making it Members Only significantly reduce visitor count? Is there some "moral" reason to change it from Members Only to a free-for-all? What do other cachers do? Thanks Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

I went into the store to grab some stickers and saw the rocks. I couldn't resist. I got the black/charcoal and the light grey stones today. They look great! They are much beefier weight wise than I thought they would be. They will require a pretty creative logbook and writing utencil setup though due to the smallish cup size. Overall I think it will work out great! Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

Congrats to the Geocaching team! The site got my vote. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by TeamJiffy:No. You can't do that. The point we should be making isn't that the public lands should allow us to do whatever we want. The point we should be making is that Geocaching should fall into the category of allowed and reasonable USE of those lands. -J Sorry, I should have been a bit more specific. I believe we are arguing the same thing and are on the same side. I'm not for us just doing 'whatever we want'. However, it is the public's land, _not_ the park manager's land. That's the mentality I fight against, and certainly took away from at least one quote from the original story. You would think that getting responsible geocachers, just like any other hikers, out to your particular park would be a good thing. I would be in favor of having some kind of log book or notification scheme for cache owners to let the park workers know where they are, or having specific areas "for caching" and others not allowed for that purpose. Banning it outright seems wrong to me, especially when we are basically just enhancing the hiking process a little. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

I think what I'm most disturbed by in this article is the attitude of the park managers that say "do it somewhere else". I've often wondered who's park they think it is: "theirs" or the public's? I hope that attitude doesn't become prevalent. As long as we are good citizens when geocaching then I can only think it will be proved a benefit, not hinderance. Maybe an 'education' campaign of some kind should be launched for these misunderstanding folks. The largest group, the US Park Service has already disallowed it apparently judging by the rules of geocaching. Is there any effort to bring them around to letting caches get placed in national park service lands? Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Not trying to start anything here, but I'd be interested in hearing your experience with them. Of all my fellow IT guys I know, no one is thrilled with Microsoft and .NET stuff. We all rely on linux for web apps. Oh man! Now you've done it! Actually, I software QA test on an application that is both written in .NET (entirely) and hosted/served on Windows 2000 Servers. Overall, it's pretty good actually. Yes, there are going to be problems, but that's for every system. There is always a point where software fails when the hardware is taxed to it's limit, which sounds like what Geocaching went through per an above post. This situation on Geocaching probably needs either a) optimization of the applications or more hardware or c) both. I doubt it needs a dumping of M$. My personal sites are on a Apache based webserver, which I also think is pretty good. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

I tried to search for caches nearest my home coordinates from the My Cache page. It's been slow all weekend and even on Friday. I got this error. Looks like the database is getting hung up. This can't be a good thing: The page cannot be displayed There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please try the following: Click the Refresh button, or try again later. Open the www.geocaching.com home page, and then look for links to the information you want. HTTP 500.100 - Internal Server Error - ASP error Internet Information Services -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Information (for support personnel) Error Type: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers (0x80040E31) [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]Timeout expired /seek/nearest_cache.asp, line 522 Browser Type: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; T312461) Page: GET /seek/nearest_cache.asp Time: Sunday, April 20, 2003, 7:29:48 AM Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

We are saving watchlist entries for a variety of places we go (home and grandma's house for example, which are separated by about 300 miles). However, the watchlist is all jumbled together and short of pulling them up individually, I can't tell they are at G-Ma's house or around my home. It would be helpful, I think, to be able to file entries into "folders" I could name so that when I go into a watchlist entry I'm sure to get one that's close to me. Maybe there's a way to do this already? I couldn't see it. I am a premium member. Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

How does that new satellite's information get into your unit (Garmin Vista)? Through software update, or automagically on the fly as it becomes operational? Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

What's the generally accepted "good" accuracy rate? I've been getting about 17' (~5 meters). While that's great it puts together a pretty wide error when looking through bushes. Is that about right? The unit is a Garmin eTrex Vista. Just wanting to set my expectations. I thought I've heard as good as 3 meters. Not wooded, minimal hills (I was at the topish of a hill when I got the 17' that's coming to mind). Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by appletree:If one looks carefully, it is easy to see the fine-mesh dark screen that covers most, but not all, of the windshield in our Chevy Venture minivan. My Vistas work fine through the side windows, but pick up almost nothing on the dashboard. No problem on the dash of my Buick Regal. Thank you so much for posting that comment. I just got my first GPS unit, a Vista, and I was completely frustrated by the lack of signal lock from any more than maybe one satellite while driving and holding the unit under my Chevy Venture's front windshield. I think that mesh is the radio antenna, IIRC. I'll try it out the side-window (clearly can't drive and use it well). Geosaur :: Geocaching Lizard

quote:Originally posted by Searching_ut:The arguments over reception, accuracy, and just about everything else regarding gps units seems to take on a mind of it's own, and get somewhat overblown sometimes. And so far the discussion was much more orderly than I expected, given previous experience when discussing other tech toys and getting people to battle their sides. quote:Noticing that you live in San Diego, there's a good chance that you'll prefer the reception characteristics of the Vista. It tends to do quite a bit better in the mountains, dessert canyons etc. That's precisely what I'd be getting into, for the most part, but there are forested areas up in the mountains, hence the question. quote:The Sportrak on the other hand has about the same edge when it comes to flat heavy tree cover and in neither case have I ever noticed the differences to be all that much personally. Good to hear! I think I'll stick with the Vista for other features, like the altimeter, etc. If that doesn't work out in the near term I'm sure I can return it if need be. quote:If you'd like to see some of my ramblings as a fairly serious hiker with a sportrak map and eTrex Legend, amoungst other receivers, check out my webpage: http://home.sprynet.com/~searching_ut/index.htm> I did and it was very helpful. Many thanks! Just waiting for the unit to arrive...tick, tock. Clear skies, Roger Geosaur :: Geocaching Blog of the Earth Lizard

Brand spanking new to this game, but expect me to be a regular soon (gotta get the GPS unit). Question: In reviewing various GPS recommendations, on Amazon (where I purchased the Garmin eTrex Vista and am waiting for delivery) and elsewhere there are some comments about problems locking on to satellites when under tree canopies, etc. In reviewing the Magellan SporTrak Pro, also on Amazon, the users claim to not have this problem and take shots at the Garmin eTrex models. Is the Vista quality in this respect? Doesn't seem to make much sense to be using GPS if you can't get sat signal. I don't really want a Magellan vs. Garmin pissing match, but would like to get the skinny from the folks in the field. I guess the question comes from being able to jump out of the order and change into something else like the SporTrak. Thanks! Roger Geosaur - geocaching blog: http://geosaur.com/