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ecanderson

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Posts posted by ecanderson

    Earthcaches vs Admission Fees

    in EarthCaches

    Posted

    "Senior" national park passes here are 8X the cost of just a couple of years ago.  Of course, that gets you into a lot of territory here in the U.S., so I don't begrudge them that. 

     

    However, a little county park with an $12 per visit park pass for a 10 minute visit is a little excessive.  Definitely not 'charity' as they're using  county taxes to help pay for the upkeep.  If we planned to spend the day there making actual use of their facilities, there wouldn't be a complaint, but when we're on a cache run, we usually don't bring our fishing poles or jet skis.

     

    Help little gps problem

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    11 hours ago, brossalma said:

    i am in quebec and i have a little memory problem on the adjust of my vista hcx gps.

    am i well adjusted with the hddd'mm.mmm position format

    And Geodesic system wgs 84.

    If you are asking if those are the appropriate settings for geocaching, the answer is yes.

     

    What Irks you most?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Not sure how the finder suddenly figures into this so prominently.  The challenge has always been a question of posted coordinates of the object vs. the actual position of the object... not the finder.  When we post log comments, it's about the position of the object.  Who the heck knows where the finder is?  That's another set of coordinates altogether, and depends upon the finder's receiver and ability to use it for its own accuracy.  Separate problem.

     

    In the real world, GZ may vary from the targeting coordinates.  It's a matter of not exactly hitting the targeting coordinates by some amount with the object (projectile) in question. 

     

    We post target coordinates.  It's where we intend for something to be, as best we can determine it.  Sometimes we miss placing the object at the target coordinates.  GZ doesn't always wind up matching the target coordinates as well as some finders would like - sometimes by quite a bit. 

     

    That's how the rest of the universe uses the expression.  We use it differently.  Not sure why it got started that way here.

     

    • Surprised 1

    How Do I ... Search by Date Published rather than Placed?

    in How do I...?

    Posted

    Honestly, I've never seen the value in using "Date placed", since it really means exactly what NanCycle says it means.  It's the date that the CO started the cache page, unless modified.  Nothing necessarily to do with when the cache was actually set or when it was available for finders.

     

    I'm always far more interested, when interested at all in either, to know when a cache became available for finding.  I've seen a couple of caches publish recently whose GC code and "Placed date" are from August (GC8X...).  Guess it took the COs a while to figure out what they wanted to do, or get the prerequisites sorted for the reviewer?  The date that the CO sat down in front of a computer and started to enter information isn't really of any value to me at all.

    • Upvote 1

    What Irks you most?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    1 hour ago, dprovan said:

    I've never heard anyone use GZ as anything other than where the posted or solved coordinates point. You may have a intellectual reason for thinking the term developed in some other way, but current usage has forgotten it. I regularly see "found cache N feet from GZ", but I've never seen "GZ was N feet from the posted coordinates", and I'd be confused if I did.

    It was an expression started in error, I believe, by GCHQ, and then picked up by many of the players.  Geocaching uses the expression in a uniquely upside down manner.  Doesn't make it right.

    As I say, you can aim a projectile at any defined set of coordinates you like, but where it actually lands is ground zero.  Always has been - everywhere but here.

     

    And if I EVER hear the word 'orientated' again when there's no specific intention to point something in an eastwardly direction ... sigh.

     

    • Funny 1
    • Surprised 1

    What Irks you most?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    1 hour ago, NYPaddleCacher said:

     

    I had that happen, and an even greater distance, but the cache was under a large metal bridge.   I was originally search about 100' away from the bridge for a "magnetic" container (according to the hint) on some guy wires for a telephone pole.   My GPS was bouncing around a little but said I was within 20' near the telephone pole.   When I saw that the next nearest metal object  was the bridge I walked about 100' to it and my GPS said I was within 20'.  

    Just one of the things we have to deal with.  With timing as tight as it must be to make any of this work at all, the distance between the receiver and an object reflecting a signal, even with the astoundingly little time it takes for that signal to make that short additional distance, fouls the fix quite easily.  Not at all difficult to be told 20' at two points 100' apart under those conditions. 

     

    I recall my own 'irk' many years ago the first time I tried to find a cache in a metro downtown area with signals bouncing all over the place off of the many nearby buildings.  Multipath - something I had never even considered at the time - had us walking back and forth across a street between two surface level parking lots for 15 minutes - the handheld would keep telling us to go back to the other side again. 

    • Surprised 1

    Custom Access Code

    in Creating Adventures

    Posted

    Heck.  And here I thought it was Groundspeak Undecipherable I.D.

     

    With the HUGE number of new ALs, I suppose they became concerned about how to manage requests for names already in use.  I wonder if anyone ever accidentally tried to use an AL moniker that had already been in play, and what happened? 

     

    I wouldn't think it would be as common a problem for ALs, which often are named based upon location and the specifics of the series.   Not like caches "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

    What Irks you most?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    7 hours ago, lee737 said:

    One from today..... searching for a cache, multiple reports in logs going back years:  'coords way out', 'coords pretty bad', 'coords out a fair way'.... its a trad - put the coords where you found it in your log (or at least an offset for a multi/puzzle).... and CO - fix! We DNFd it, on scouring logs on PC I did find one, at least 30m from 'GZ', and our tracks of course did not intersect it! :mad:

    Or equally annoying, "Found cache 80 feet from ground zero".

     

    a) without directional information, 80' often isn't at all helpful.

    b) improperly used expression: ground zero is where the cache is, not the posted coordinates.  In its original context, it's where it went boom, not where you tried to aim it.

    • Surprised 1

    Notification "There are new adventures near you" should be customizable

    in Playing Adventures

    Posted

    On 11/11/2020 at 12:51 PM, rragan said:

    On Facebook, AL group, the head of the AL team requested that feedback be sent via the Feedback mechanism built into the Adventure Lab app and that way it would get to the whole AL team.

    I guess one could ask what the hell they're doing over on Facebook.  Have NEVER seen (though yes, could have missed) notification here that FB is their preferred 'meeting place' vs. GCHQ's own forums.  What's the world coming to?

    Appreciate the heads up on the 'Feedback mechanism' that is supposed to exist within the app, but I'm not seeing that option. 

     

     

    • Upvote 1

    Event cache?

    in How do I...?

    Posted

    1 hour ago, TriciaG said:

    Yeah, not much more - other than, what to do with the trash bags. :) One would either need municipal guidance on that, or take 'em all home yourself, or something.

    Nearly all governmental agencies are amenable to a "We pick it up, you haul it off" arrangement.  In fact, a little geocaching P.R. and good will generation with those agencies is often part of the bargain.  Locally, it was even parlayed into a trade for major CITO events in return for access to public space for geocaching which had previously not been allowed.  A little good will on both sides brought about a conclusion that was happy for everybody.

     

    • Helpful 1

    Image Description for the visually impaired

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    I expect most of you have noticed it already, but GCHQ put out an email today on this topic - perhaps in response to this thread?

     



    Geocaching HQ is continuously working towards a more inclusive and accessible experience for all players. Today, we want to ask for your help to make cache pages more accessible.

    If you have images on your cache page, your geocaching profile, or on any trackable pages—please consider adding alternative text to describe your image. This will help visually impaired players who rely on screen readers.

    Here are two ways to add alternative text to images: Via the user friendly editor, or via the HTML source code.

    Add alternative text with the user friendly editor

    • Right-click on the image.

    • Select Image properties.

    • Add your image description in the field ALTERNATIVE TEXT.

    • Select OK.

    • Select Save.

    Tip: If the image is only for decoration, leave the alternative text field empty.

    Add alternative text with HTML code

    • Find the HTML <img> tag.

    • Add the “alt” attribute. Syntax: <img alt="text">

    Tip: If the image is only for decoration, use alt="", so that screen readers skip the image.

    Thank you, and happy geocaching,
    Geocaching HQ

    ID starting with GL?

    in How do I...?

    Posted

    Part 2 (the one I found back in 2013) has some sketchy log history, having been found twice after it was noted that this was supposedly private property, causing the archival.

    It's planted on a ditch road, which is the only way to access it.  Even the description notes that a No Trespassing sign was added at some point.  It wasn't there when I visited the cache.

    Whether the sign is legit or not, who knows?  I've seen local residents put up signs like that on COUNTY ROADS here in Colorado just to try to keep the 'riff raff' out of their territory.

    ID starting with GL?

    in How do I...?

    Posted · Edited by ecanderson

    The listing that makes sense is GC4EYJJ and others, which shows this:

    Part 1: GC4EYJJ - short two stage cache
    Part 2: GC4EYK1 – regular cache (archived - the only one I've found)
    Part 3: GC4EYKB – night cache, short two stage cache
    Part 4: GC4EZEF – night cache, short night trail cache
    Part 5: GC4EZFP- Final Cryptex cache (missing)

    Those are all searchable caches, and it all makes some kind of sense.  If you could find the first 4, then you get the information for GC4EZFP.

    I would have ignored all of those GL labels in the GC4EZEF cache page and stick with the ones for "Part 1" and the others.

     

    That said, I wouldn't get your hopes up about "Part 5" since "Part 2" has been archived, though found after that back in January 2019, and the final has been missing since September.

     

     

     

     

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