EnCeeGee

Surely the whole point of geocaching is that every one can play the game their own way. Some people might like a challenge, others, maybe elderly, disabled or plain lazy prefer a more dumbed down version. If I'm out with my friends we will climb trees, swim in rivers, etc because we are stupid (or adventurous!), if I'm out with the wife we will go for a pleasant stroll in the countryside and collect the dumbed down ones with good hints. But what is a challenge? Trying to find a nanno, with no hint, in the town centre could be considered a challenge, but who wants to crawl around on their hands and knees in the middle of the High St looking like a complete pillock? Maybe a challenge is more physical but, as already said, not everybody can do that. Some people may consider a challenge to be collecting 200 caches in a day, when obviously the dumbed down caches would be preferred. As regards geocheckers on puzzles; I would NEVER try and find a puzzle cache if I had not had the coords confirmed in some way. If there is no checker I would politely ask the CO to confirm my answer, if I did not get a reply (or confirm with a previous finder) I would simply ignore that cache. What is the point of looking for something if you have no idea if you're in the right place? I might just as well not waste my time and just go for a nice walk and forget about geocaching. This is just my view, other people may consider it a challenge to look for something that could be a couple of miles down the road! Isn't it good to have many different styles of caches to attract as many different and diverse cachers as possible?

I use OS maps on the computer all the time (but haven't got them to work on a GPS yet.) OSM maps work fine in the field but it is good to have the OS maps at home. Below is a copy of a posting I made nearly a year ago. I've no reason to suppose it won't work now but I haven't tried it for a year and technology does have a habit of changing things just when you get what you want!! It could well be worth you having a read through it and see what happens. You can also get OS maps and print them out easily from GSAK Hope this helps Forgot to add; all this is free. How to get OS map as an option on the Geocaching.Com map page. 1. You must use Firefox as your internet browser. Firefox can be installed from HERE (http://filehippo.com/download_firefox/) 2. The latest version of the Firefox add-on called GreaseMonkey must also be installed. The Greasemonkey add-on can be installed form HERE (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) 3. You will also need a Bing Map Key. a. Goto the Bing maps portal HERE (https://www.bingmapsportal.com/'>https://www.bingmapsportal.com/) b. Sign in using you Microsoft account details. If you do not have such an account you can create one from the sign in page. c. Click on 'My account'\'My Keys'. If you already have a key it will show on this page and you can ignore section d. d. If you require a new key click on the 'Click here to create a new key' Application name:- Geocaching OS Maps Application URL:- https://www.bingmapsportal.com Key type:- Basic Application type:- Public Website Click 'Create', your new key will now show on this page. e. If you have more than 1 key, ensure that only one is enabled. f. Copy the very long key (approx 60 digits) and paste it somewhere safe (e.g. new text page in notepad or word) for future use. 4. Copy and paste the following code onto the same page as your Bing key you saved earlier. {"alt":"Ordnance Survey","tileUrl":"https://t{s}.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/r{q}.png?g=3440&productSet=mmOS&key=PRIVATE_KEY", "subdomains": "0123", "minZoom":10, "maxZoom": 17, "attribution":"Ordnance Survey imagery from <a href='https://www.bing.com/maps/'>Bing Maps</a>", "name":"osbing"} 5. Exchange the words PRIVATE KEY for your Bing key, and save. 6. Goto Geocaching.Com and log in. Goto 'Play' / 'View Geocache Map' 7. Click on the down arrow (between your name and the 'message' icon) on the top line of the page. 8. Click on the 'Geocaching Map Enhancements' / 'Manage Maps' tab. (If the 'Geocaching Map Enhancements' option is not available then you do not have the latest version of Greasemonkey.) 9. In the 'Mapsource:' box paste the saved code from step 5. 10. Click 'Add' 11. Click 'Map display' tab, ensure 'Ordinance Survey' box is ticked. 12. Set 'Default map source' from the drop down menu (i.e. what map you want Geocaching.Com to display on start up). 13. Click 'Save' 14 Click on the little arrow in the green bar on the left of the main map page to pull out the left hand side panel. Click on 'Set Map Preferences'. Ensure 'Leaflet' is selected. 15. Now in the right hand top corner of the map the 'Layers' icon should display a list of maps, including the OS map, when the mouse is hovered over it. Click as required. Good luck!

Not quite sure why you think you can't get OS maps now - you certainly can! There are probably several ways to do it but I know the following works. How to get OS map as an option on the Geocaching.Com map page. 1. You must use Firefox as your internet browser. Firefox can be installed from HERE (http://filehippo.com/download_firefox/) 2. The latest version of the Firefox add-on called GreaseMonkey must also be installed. The Greasemonkey add-on can be installed form HERE (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) 3. You will also need a Bing Map Key. a. Goto the Bing maps portal HERE (https://www.bingmapsportal.com/'>https://www.bingmapsportal.com/) b. Sign in using you Microsoft account details. If you do not have such an account you can create one from the sign in page. c. Click on 'My account'\'My Keys'. If you already have a key it will show on this page and you can ignore section d. d. If you require a new key click on the 'Click here to create a new key' Application name:- Geocaching OS Maps Application URL:- https://www.bingmapsportal.com Key type:- Basic Application type:- Public Website Click 'Create', your new key will now show on this page. e. If you have more than 1 key, ensure that only one is enabled. f. Copy the very long key (approx 60 digits) and paste it somewhere safe (e.g. new text page in notepad or word) for future use. 4. Copy and paste the following code onto the same page as your Bing key you saved earlier. {"alt":"Ordnance Survey","tileUrl":"https://t{s}.ssl.ak.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/r{q}.png?g=3440&productSet=mmOS&key=PRIVATE_KEY", "subdomains": "0123", "minZoom":10, "maxZoom": 17, "attribution":"Ordnance Survey imagery from <a href='https://www.bing.com/maps/'>Bing Maps</a>", "name":"osbing"} 5. Exchange the words PRIVATE KEY for your Bing key, and save. 6. Goto Geocaching.Com and log in. Goto 'Play' / 'View Geocache Map' 7. Click on the down arrow (between your name and the 'message' icon) on the top line of the page. 8. Click on the 'Geocaching Map Enhancements' / 'Manage Maps' tab. (If the 'Geocaching Map Enhancements' option is not available then you do not have the latest version of Greasemonkey.) 9. In the 'Mapsource:' box paste the saved code from step 5. 10. Click 'Add' 11. Click 'Map display' tab, ensure 'Ordinance Survey' box is ticked. 12. Set 'Default map source' from the drop down menu (i.e. what map you want Geocaching.Com to display on start up). 13. Click 'Save' 14 Click on the little arrow in the green bar on the left of the main map page to pull out the left hand side panel. Click on 'Set Map Preferences'. Ensure 'Leaflet' is selected. 15. Now in the right hand top corner of the map the 'Layers' icon should display a list of maps, including the OS map, when the mouse is hovered over it. Click as required. Good luck!

I have now finally got it sorted! I'm not entirely sure but I think it was because I had 2 Bing keys activated, I deactivated one of them and then it all worked again. Several people have said it could be to do with cookies. In the past I have deleted all the cookies which stopped Grease Monkey working however once GM was re-installed away it went OK, so I don't think it was a cookie problem. So it is still possible to get OS maps on Geocacheing.com. The fault was definitely something on my computer and nothing to do with Geo.com or GM. Thanks for everyones help.

All sorted! If I turn off GME, change my home location to the area I want to look at, and look at the map via "Find a Geocache" (not 'View Geocache Map') It does what I want it to do. Thank you all for your help. EnCeeGee

Thank you MartyBartfast, we are making progress! By switching off GME I can now print a map of the list. (GME is latest version, updated today). If I go to "View Geocache Map" it puts all the puzzles (and the other caches) in their original places. However if I go to "Find a Geocache" and do a search (for everything) it puts the puzzle caches in their solved positions!! This is more or less what I want BUT it will, as you pointed out, only show me 1000 caches. Fine for working near home but no good if I want 1000 caches local to (for example) where we go on holiday. So is there any way to show 1000 caches in an area many miles away AND all the solved puzzles, in that area, in their solved locations? Or am I just asking too much!!? Just thought, maybe changing my home location will solve the problem?

Thanks for your reply. I get a list of all caches with amended coords however when I click on the box 'Map These Geocaches' it ignores the list and shows a map with all the geocaches on it???

Thanks for all the replies but I've updated GME several times and got several new Bing keys over the last few months. Both of these items were updated today (before my first post) but still no joy. It did used to work and I have a very detailed set of notes from when I worked it out originally but the notes don't work now! Does anyone know if something has changed? Keep coming with the suggestions! Thanks

Thanks for the reply but I've got the key from Bing and added the map to GME and the OS map option appears in the layers icon. It used to work but stopped working a few months ago. I do think it might be something to do with the key but I'm not sure what! Thanks

Thanks for the prompt reply but I already have Greaser Monkey installed.

Does anybody know how to show the location of solved puzzles on the main Geocacheing.com 'view map' page? I know I can change the coords on the description page when the puzzle is solved and I know this will show up on the single cache map shown on the description page, but it doesn't seem to change the location of the blue question mark on the main 'view map' page. I want to be able to see the location of the solved puzzle on the main page along with all the other caches in the area without having to look at two different maps. Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is so much easier looking at solved and other cache locations all on the same map. Thanks EnCeeGee

Does anybody know how to get OS maps as the background map on the main Geocacheing.com 'view map' page? I used to be able to do this and have a very detailed 'how to' guide but unfortunately something has changed somewhere and this now does not work. I still have the OS map option on the layers tab but all I get is a grey screen with no map at all (just the caches). I have been to Bing and downloaded a new map-key and re-installed the whole OS map thing, as I used to do, but no joy. Any help would be greatly appreciated as it is so much easier looking for caches on an OS map. Thanks EnCeeGee