jack of hearts

I just opened Google Earth for work stuff (as I do daily) and -- hey what's that green circle icon with a box in it?? IT'S WORKING AGAIN!! I just have two things to say (I promise!) to Groundspeak: (1) Now, that wasn't so hard was it? (i.e., did it really have to take so long??) (2) Thank you!

THANK YOU Elde for concisely saying what I have been desperately trying to convey!! (1) Google Earth has countless features that Google maps doesn't have and MANY of these have been extremely useful to some (many?) of us. (2) Approximate cache locations are good enough -- especially when overlayed on a powerful mapping platform like Google Earth! and (3) Everyone uses different tools (and has come to rely on many of those tools) to play this game.

Mineral2, I'm just not sure that you get it! If you don't follow how Google Earth provides a "better search around tool" than the map at the Geocaching website, then you must not use GE! Yes it is true that the cache locations are only approximate when using the GE kml -- but so what? -- sure I wish they were exact, but I can quickly convert that approx location into a real one -- let's say I see a cache located (approximately) along a path, mountain top, or city block in Timbuktu that I am am viewing in GE (and I will be or am considering visiting). I click on the cache and it opens (in a browser window). After checking out the cache deets (looks like a fun one, lots of faves, no climbing, etc), I simply copy the coords back into GE and zoom in on the actual treetop, bush etc. AND also get a "street view" preview. AND measure the distance to my hotel. AND quickly see how steep the walk is. ET CETERA.! Of course I could do the initial search on the Geocache map page, BUT I WANT TO USE GOOGLE EARTH! Why? Because it offers all those other bells and whistles while I am just "searching around" Timbuktu! The point is I am already using GE Pro daily to map out lots of stuff for my work and various life adventures. Which sometimes includes geocaching. So I would simply like to be able to overlay caches (even approx) on my favorite mapping tool that I am already using all the frigging time! Why is that so hard to understand?? Geomaps do not provide: 3-D (terrain imagery), street views (which are different than street maps!), county/zip borders, lat/lon (or UTM) grids (useful for delorme challenges), different coordinate options, locations of places (churches, etc.), (just to name a few), and yes even historical views! If you don't understand why any of these might be useful when searching around (and also when considering candidate hiding spots), including historical views, then you must never have hidden a "history-rich" geocache, or have planned out an extensive delorme grid/county challenge! I am not suggesting that one cannot go caching without using GE to locate caches, but for those of use who already using GE all the time (is it really so few of us? can you share some stats with us Moun10Bike??), we would simply like to continue to use the Geocache kml feature to locate caches when (virtually) flying around Timbuktu (even approximately)! And why can't there be a bit more transparency? As a geo-user I would like to know IF it is going to be repaired, and an estimated date for such fix, before I go and invest lots of time finding an alternative (if there even is one!). And maybe some info about what exactly is the problem with the kml widget -- maybe one of us nerds knows a way to fix it or get around the problem (it can't be that complicated). I just want geocaches overlayed on my (already highly personalized) GE Pro. I don't NEED it. I just WANT it! Do I really need to convince you that GE Pro is extremely useful before you can see the merit in keeping this feature working (which has worked for more than a decade)?

Thanks funkymukyzone for your apt analogy. I was disappointed to read the many complaints (above), from geocachers like me, who appear to be simply begging for a tool that had been working fine for many years to be returned to its proper functionality, only to be told that: (1) there apparently aren't enough of us, or we don't use it enough (low usage?), (2) it is therefore too low on the priority list of things to be repaired (for two months now?), and (3) Geospeak apparently knows of all these complaints but has yet to officially respond in a meaningful way -- such as a message somewhere on the geocache web site, and certainly a message on or a change to the help page ( https://www.geocaching.com/about/google.aspx ) that continues to instruct users on how to "View Geocaches with Google Earth ". And then NYPaddleCacher responded to vanBaarsel's recollection about how they were able to do so much more (and easier) with GE (better location searching, for example) with: It's a bit unfair to compare search results and geolocation services from a company worth over 100 billion dollars to that of a small company with about 70 employees. PRECISELY! That is exactly why we all want to use Google Earth Pro to "search around" rather than the Geocaching site maps! Not just for the searching features, but for EVERYTHING GE Pro has to offer! Google Earth is exactly what you said: a 100 billion dollar mapping and search tool. I would prefer to use the 100 billion dollar map please! And don't tell me that there are work-arounds that require downloading PQ's into other programs and such. That IS NOT A REPLACEMENT for Google Earth! NYPaddleCacher, you are correct: GE Pro has an enormous edge in mapping functionality compared to any of the simple maps on the Geocaching page. With GE, you can look at 3D topography (from any angle!), 3D building views, quick zooming, fly overs, street views, historical views, measure distances, create paths, polygons, and circles, (quickly) examine elevation profiles of roads and cache trails (or any line), overlay dozens of databases (parks, transportation, postal zones), quickly find (and mark) ALL churches, schools, hospitals, museums, post offices, libraries, etc., use different coordinate systems (UTM, decimal degrees, etc.), etc. AND you can save any of this personalized stuff to use/look at later. Yes, of course, I could go back and forth between the caching page and GE, but why do I have to? I have dozens of my own kml files with various locations, boundaries, shapefiles, previous mapped hikes, etc. that I would like to use AT THE SAME TIME (i.e., overlay) when viewing new unexplored cache areas. And I would like it to access to the most up-do-date cache info, not from last week (when I pulled the PQ). GoogleEarth is an amazing mapping tool (I also use it daily in my work as an environmental consultant). I am surprised to hear that so few geocachers apparently use it, since almost all my geo-caching friends use it at least sometimes. Whether or not lots of geocachers make use of the feature (everyone finds their own way of comfortably playing this game), Google Earth Pro is still the state-of the-art when it comes to mapping tools (and it is free!), so it seems that there should be some effort made to fix it for those of us who count on the feature. Thank you!

I am having the same problem. When I leave the google map page open for a while (twenty minutes or so?), it loses all my settings and all my finds (smileys) are reset to green (unfound) boxes. I have to reload the page and then re-navigate to the location I was working on. Has anyone found a solution to this rather annoying problem?? Thanks...