SSO JOAT
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Posts posted by SSO JOAT
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Always like to drop in to the international forums to share some of the nifty ideas we come up with in Alaska. In about 3 weeks we will be running our first (but hopefully not the last) HOBO CITO weekend. Brainstormed on the GeocacheAlaska! forums a couple months ago (probably due to cabin fever), we've just posted the 7 event traveling series that has a kick-off flash mob on a Friday evening, followed by a campout social at the first CITO site. The next morning, we get up and hold a CITO event, break camp and head up the highway to another park to hold a 2nd CITO event in the afternoon. Then we travel on up the highway to yet another campground where we have a social event and make camp for the night. The next morning we have a CITO event at that campground and again break camp and head up the highway to the 4th and final CITO event site.
Should be a fun weekend. Ya'll are welcome to attend.
All the events are linked together, so you can start at the flashmob listing and hop on to each of the others from there http://coord.info/GC4AR47
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There are different methods in different regions, but what we do in my area is baseline all puzzles at D = 3. If the puzzle is quite easy, you would downgrade it to 2.5 or maybe even a 2 (no puzzle should be less than 2 if you follow the standard difficulty rating system for geocaching that is posted on the cache creation page). If the puzzle is fairly hard, then you can go up to 3.5 or more. After publishing, you can adjust the D rating as needed. The longer a puzzle sits unsolved, the more inclined I am to bump the D up. And then if I publish the puzzle and it's found within hours, I'll probably downgrade the D rating.
I'd suggest going out and solving the puzzles in your area and look at what most others are using for their rating system. Then model yours after the majority so that there is something of a community standard.
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Hmmm... buy ammo can and stop by once a year to clean out trash and refresh the swag or buy coyote pee (really?) and reapply every 2 weeks... forever and ever. Which way to go? How could someone ever choose?
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So, I redid my loadout with GSAK reset to version 1.0 and now the Garmin recognizes the file as geocaches and loads the whole thing with descriptions, logs, and hints included. That pretty much cinched the GPSr upgrade for me. Being able to keep GSAK updated with the entire state of Alaska via 6 PQ's and then do a single gpx export of some 5,300 caches and copy just one file to the GPSr via a drag and drop... I feel like I've been living in the dark ages with my old 1,000 waypoint max GPSr and using my BB phone to store all the cache listings.
Thanks for steering me to the gpx version issue!
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Brilliant. So why did we upgrade to gpx version 1.1 if the GPSr's don't support it? Will try "downgrading" the output to 1.0 and see what happens.
As for a "send to GPS" option... never used it and probably never will. I export to GPX. With these newer GPSr's, You just plug it in, the computer sees it as a removable drive, and you copy the GPX file over to the GPX folder in the GPSr. (lot's a g's in there) With my old Garmins, the gpx goes through MapSource (so I can see the data that was generated) and then upload to the GPSr. Since the old ones don't support anything but waypoints, it didn't matter what happened to the description info.
This is my first time playing with these newer Garmins as I'm contemplating an "upgrade" from my current 76CSx model, so I'm playing with borrowed equipment to see which model I'm going to like. Probably going with the high end 62 series. Have an absolute hatred for touchscreens, so all of the state-named models are off the list.
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I have it set to gpx version 1.1
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So, if I load a PQ generated gpx file (from GC.com) directly into a newer Garmin (in the GPX folder on the SD card), you can click the Geocaches button and it shows the points whole cache listing with container size, D/T ratings, descriptions, logs and hints and all.
I take the same PQ gpx file, load it into GSAK, do some filtering by types and such, and then export it as a new gpx file. When I upload this edited file to the Garmin, all the cache info is gone and it only shows up as a list of waypoints. Pushing the geocache button on the Garmin comes back with "no geocaches found" if the gpx was generated by GSAK.
A forum search failed to show me the light, so does anyone know off hand what settings are needed in GSAK to export a gpx so that all the description info stays attached and Garmin will recognize the file as geocaches?
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Thanks. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure I like the fact that your corrections are not somehow flagged in the GPX file. I'll have to give it some thought before using. My current method of tracking puzzle finals (and multi stages) is to drop the waypoints into a Garmin datafile that I maintain in MapSource. That gives me a lot more flexibility and control over what and how the finals are displayed on my GPSr.
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I've never played with this feature. When you enter corrected coordinates on a puzzle, is that the coordinates that come through with your pocket query?
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The nitpicking about "young people" prompts me to mention that the worst hides we've ever had in our area were placed by "old people" that have thousands of finds and hundreds of hides (most are archived as they rarely last more than a year) - (they even log their own hides as finds, right before they archive them). Bad containers coupled with very questionable locations... such as a matchholder sitting on top of a stump next to a burned out building foundation on a private lot that has a big "for sale" sign at the end of the driveway. Or, how about a slip of paper in a crack on a telephone pole at an intersection in a residential neighborhood. Or a can tossed in the trunk of an abandoned junk car way out at the end of a marginal road by a gravel pit full of trash. Oh, and just to add to the "joy" of the seekers, they usually had a major typo in the published coordinates that threw the cache off quite some distance. I remember one that was off by miles when they typo'd a major digit in the coords. After a week of people tearing up some guy's backyard at the published coords, I actually FTF'd that one when I treated it like a puzzle and started plotting out the potential typo's to match up a single digit error with a location that fit their description. Sure enough, a single digit error of 1 minute. After posting the real coords with my find, the CO did finally correct the coords (via reviewer).
The other kinds of "worst caches" are those that don't have attributes selected or have any effort put into writing the cache description. Couple that with a recycled plastic food container, regular paper log (instead of Rite-In-Rain or map paper), incorrect D/T rating, and "fuzzy" coordinates gathered via a cell phone and you have the setup for the worst cache.
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Alaska has 6,640 miles of "beaches"... more than the rest of the country combined.
We even have surfers!
And no, we strictly prohibit logging events with more than 1 attended log around these parts. That is clearly communicated upfront during our monthly educational events and as part of the instructions provided to those participating in the daycaching game (it's much more than just daycaches).
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Rent a park, hide 31 daycaches, buy a couple coolers full of hamburgers and hot dogs, invite all your fellow geocachers and you can have a fun filled day at the beach... GC3EN6B
Invite the local newspaper and you can get some great press coverage for geocaching at the same time!
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The site posted by the OP is a German site. There are only 4 caches in the entire United States that are listed on it. Hardly anything to worry about on this side of the ocean.
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Because "completing fun tasks" is not finding something at a location. Finding something at a location is the core of geocaching.
No, going to the location is the core of geocaching. It ain't about the box. It's about the place.
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How so? A Challenge Cache requires you to visit a location, just like a traditional cache, but instead of finding a box and signing a log, they ask you to either complete a fun task at the site or take a photo at the site.
Why all the negative drama over this great new concept? You're all welcome to NOT complete any Challenge Caches, ya know.
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How do you vote AGAINST these "feedback" questions on the page linked in post 157 above? That's a terrible feedback question, inaccurate, and needs to be voted down, but I don't see where you can vote against it...?
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I want to suggest that we steal another Harry Potter term for this group of people who are concerned over other people's stats while touting their own stats as somehow important... they are "Dursleys". Concerned with appearances and what other people think of them. No doubt they are always peering over the fence to see what the neighbors are up to rather than just minding their own business and accepting life as it comes. For all I care, the Dursleys can just sit around and gossip to their heart's content over how other people choose to go out and recreate. Where they cross the line is when they run to the government (GS in this example) to have someone else's activity banned or restricted, just because they don't like it. Hopefully, GS just says "no" and proceeds forward while working to iron out the few minor issues that have surfaced on the way the Challenges are being presented on the website.
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You sure do say a lot of things to insult this game & those who play it...
Perhaps if you had read a couple of the pages of pointless complaining by the anti-challenge crowd before responding to my clearly sarcastic post that was mocking their point of view you wouldn't have felt the need to stoop to unfounded personal attacks.
It's none of my business how anyone else plays the game, so long as they don't have a negative effect on other players in their means.
It's none of your business how I play the game. My "stats" and how I choose to track them means nothing to anyone but me. I'm more than happy to add Challenge cache "stats" in with all the other types of numbers we track.
Don't try to ban an aspect of the game or stifle progress that has absolutely no effect on you. The existence or counting of Challenge Caches has no effect on anyone but the individual players who choose to go outside, find the Challenge Cache coordinates, and complete the required task. Aside from the lack of a physical logbook, there's no real difference between a Traditional and a Challenge cache. Post a location and ask other people to go there. That's all that geocaching is. People need to stop worrying so much about how other people get to that location. It's none of their business.
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Example:
Virtual cache - Go to X location, view the interesting 'something' and either e-mail the CO answers to questions or post a photo of your visit to the location.
Photo challenge - Go to X location and post a photo of your visit to the location.
Really not much difference on what the 'finder' needs to do to claim a 'find'.
You forgot the "gold standard"...
Traditional cache - Go to X location and post "TFTC" to claim a 'find'.
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Ironically, it is not very challenging, by the traditional definition of the word, to take a picture.
This is funny stuff, and yet very sad. Ironically, it's not very challenging to open a Hide-A-Key and scratch your initials on a damp strip of paper at Wal-Mart. Yet ya'll readily count that number as a "find".
Traditional Geocaching... go to published coordinates, open box, sign log, go home and spend 3 seconds entering "TFTC" on the cache page.
Action Challenge Caching... go to published coordinates, perform a specfic task and take a picture, go home, download/crop/resize photo, and enter a log describing what task you performed at the location and upload your photo.
Photo Challenge Caching... go to published coordinates, take a specific picture of something at the location, go home, download/crop/resize photo, enter log describing your experience and upload your photo.
Maybe the challenge-haters dislike the challenges because they involve more work to complete than a traditional geocache? Seems the only logical conclusion as they are otherwise the same activity of "location".
Seems to me that the only difference between a challenge cache and a traditional cache is that the cacher doesn't have to mess around with your stinking wet logsheet and the CO doesn't have to deal with inconsiderate cachers trashing their hide.
As for all the "number hunters" complaining about challenges "ruining" their stats... well, since they just started counting challenge stats, are we not all starting from zero at the same time? Perhaps if you get off your computer for a few minutes, go outside and hunt down these virtual caches, your silly numbers would grow just like the rest of the cachers who are/will embrace these challenge caches as the "better mousetrap" over that silly tupperware under the bush which doesn't even require you to look up at the scenery while you quickly scribble the log and head on to the next stupid box.
Here's how to keep the "numbers" right... add a new flippin' column to your self-promoting stat sheet, knucklehead. Stop being such stagnant "sticks in the mud". Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that Challenge caches should count DOUBLE what a traditional cache does.
Challenges refocus us on locations rather than meaningless micro containers every 528 feet. I welcome this concept with open arms.
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This is as good a spot as any...
I've been poking around looking for some clarification on the worldwide challenges. Are these intended to be a log it once and you're done operation? For instance, picking up 10 pieces of trash. This is a challenge that can be completed countless times in many different places. Is it the intention of GS that such a challenge is to be completed and logged only once, or that it could be logged completed multiple times by the same cacher?
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Just one change needs to be made to the new layout. It's a super simple one, too.
You have the coordinates boxes at the top and all the log entries at the bottom setup in alternating white & light blue solid backgrounds. Please extend this to the short description (light blue) and long description (white) boxes in the style sheet. You can leave the rest of the page transparent, but the actual text boxes for the descriptions MUST be solid color backgrounds.
This single change will fix thousands of puzzle cache listings that are messed up by having a transparent text box, plus it will keep the other few hundred thousand listings with user-specified background images readable.
Thanks for your support.
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Can we get back on topic now?
Not a chance. So why even ask? Thread drift is usually irreversible unless superman shows up to spin the Earth backwards (oops, I went the wrong way).
Just because people participate in geocaching at different levels of comittment doesn't change what the root concept of the sport is. Some people have a once-a-year picnic baseball game. Baseball is still a sport, even is these non-athletic people are only playing one recreational "game" while bending most of the rules in the process.
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I can understand that geocaching.com must be evolving from geek origins, but with the explosion of portable "smart" devices, it has to simplify the processes to suit the less technically minded masses.
And by the same token, with the increasing interest in the sport of American football, the NFL needs to lower their standards and increase the number of teams to that average people can play, too.
Found one too many premium-only caches, I'm out of here..,
in General geocaching topics
Posted
This guy is walking down the street and sees a neat little store. He goes in and marvels at all the cool stuff. Upon grabbing a handful of items and heading for the door, the store manager says, "you have to pay for those items".
At this, the guy become irate. "Why do I have to pay for this stuff? It should all be free!"
Because this is a business and we are selling those things. It costs us money to have this store, keep the lights on, and provide these products as a service. Someone had to manufacture those products and we bought them to sell to the consumer. We can't give them away for free or there would be no store at all.
The guy goes out on the sidewalk and grabs a bag of items from a lady who had just purchased from the store. "Well, I'll show you. I'll take these items. You just wait. I'm going to complain loudly about you charging money for your stuff and people are going to stop coming here. You'll see."
And the man ran off into the distance with the lady's stuff. A thief into the night.
The store owner thought, "good Lord, what is wrong with people today?"