Danie Viljoen
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Posts posted by Danie Viljoen
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2020 Statistics, part 1: New caches
1436 new caches were placed in South Africa during 2020, 27% fewer than in 2019 (and 52% fewer than the peak in 2016).
This is an average of 3.92 new caches per day (vs. 8.15 per day in 2016).
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Number of cachers and active cachers in South Africa:
During the year 4 Nov 2019 to 3 Nov 2020 there were a total of 6283 cachers who found at least one cache in South Africa.
Of these, 1100 (17.5%) found at least 12 caches (my arbitrary measure of an "active" cacher).
1780 (28.3%) found only a single cache during the year.
(It must be noted that the lockdown period probably distorted these numbers.)
There were a total of 74161 finds during the year. (An average of 11.8 finds/cacher, which is surprisingly high)
If one only looks at the active cachers (those with 12 or more finds), then the average is 52 finds/cacher.
Over all time, there had been 48558 cachers who found at least one cache in South Africa.
5896 cachers (12.1%) found only a single cache in South Africa.
Their total number of finds is 1530626, for an average of 31.5 finds/cacher.
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Top finders during the lockdown:
The following cachers have found the most South African caches during the period 27 March 2020 to 18 August 2020:
1. ManKub: 455 2. Uncharted_za: 213 3. LeAdBall: 185 4. MissShcroft: 176 5. StrickFam: 166 6. golden-girls: 163 7. iPajero: 137 8. Snotx2: 133 9. Theon06: 127 10. ChrisDen: 123
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Top cache hiders:
The following are the top hiders of South African caches of all time:
1. PieterM: 503 2. iPajero: 370 3. Fish Eagle: 339 4. SKATTIE@1: 333 5. Panthera03: 328 6. Adventure_T: 318 7. Panters: 299 8. ChrisDen: 294 9. Enigma_DKL: 262 10. TechnoNut: 256 11. SawaSawa: 251 12. Snotx2: 250 13. GEO936: 231 14. Wazat: 229 15. Leon St: 227
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Top cache finders:
The following cachers have found the most South African caches:
1. iPajero: 18497 2. The Huskies: 8626 3. rodnjoan: 8060 4. terunkie: 6989 5. Geelvink: 6963 6. SKATTIE@1: 6781 7. GorNat: 6663 8. ChrisDen: 6654 9. Louise_Gerhard: 6597 10. cownchicken: 6503 11. Henzz: 5994 12. PieterM: 5970 13. Leon St: 5597 14. Antron: 5546 15. pieterix: 5533 16. dolos: 5495 17. Wikkelgat: 5260 18. Thrips: 5236 19. Spesbona: 5188 20. TechnoNut: 5062
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Number of Virtual caches in South Africa over time:
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African Centroid:
The centroid of all active African caches is at S17 37.931 E19 39.420, which is in southern Angola, just north of the border with Namibia. It is about 33km north of Rundu. The closest active cache is 138.3km away, GC7C4X6 Trees of Africa - Camel Thorn.
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Centroid:
The centroid of all active South African caches is currently at S30 09.905 E26 02.409, which is 29km east of Trompsburg in the southern Free State. The closest cache is GC19JT3 Louw Weppener.
The earliest centroid I calculated was on 8 October 2013, when it was at S29 13.290 E26 41.972. It moved 122km to the south west in the past 7 years, corresponding to the relative bigger growth of the number of caches in the Western Cape.
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Most caches placed during the lockdown period:
During the period 27 March to 12 July 2020, 66 cachers have placed at least one cache in South Africa, and the total number of new caches is 261.
During the same period last year, 568 new caches were placed by 155 cachers.
Top cache planters:
1. Snotx2: 65 2. k j: 32 3. Skurwejantjies: 15 4. Desertal: 12 5. Adventure_T: 9
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On 7/11/2020 at 8:53 PM, Delbadore said:
I'm curious to know how many cachers have found a cache during the lockdown and how many cachers found their first cache during this time?
A total of 1002 cachers found at least one cache during the period 27 March to 10 July.
Surprisingly, 443 of these cachers found their first South African cache during this same period.
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Most South African finds during the lockdown period:
The following cachers found the most South African caches since the start of the lockdown period (27 March) up to 7 July:
1. ManKub: 447 finds 2. LeAdBall: 159 finds 3. StrickFam: 141 finds 4. ChrisDen: 119 finds 5. k j: 106 finds 6. Snotx2: 84 finds 7. Strandlopers w&e: 71 finds 8. rashman5: 70 finds 9. Namibseun: 65 finds 10. kashmander13490: 60 finds
Total number of South African finds during the lockdown period:
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The effect of COVID-19 on the find rates in Africa (and South Africa):
The following is an updated view of the number of finds during the COVID-19 period:
The yellow line shows the number of finds for the corresponding dates last year. We are currently at about 40% of last year's find rate.
There were 4 days with 0 finds in South Africa: 29 March, 5 April, 13 April and 14 April
The lowest number of finds in Africa was 5, on 30 March
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The effect of COVID-19 on the number of new caches in Africa and South Africa:
The following graph shows the daily number of new caches, averaged over a week:
The first decline started on 9 March, followed by another big decline on 24 March (when the lockdown started in South Africa).
Surprisingly there are still new caches being published (mostly events).
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33 cachers found a total of 67 caches during the first 19 days of the lockdown in South Africa. Most of these were found by a German tourist.
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The effect of COVID-19 on the find rates in Africa (and South Africa):
It is interesting that only 2 days have 0 finds in South Africa: 29 March and 5 April. Not sure how it is possible! (The rest of Africa has not had a 0 finds day yet.)
The previous day with 0 finds was on 22 September 2005, 14.5 years ago!
Africa started declining a good 10 days before South Africa - probably because of earlier lockdowns in Morocco and the Spanish areas (mainly the Canary Islands).
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2019 Statistics, part 8: Most finds during 2019
South African finds:
1. iPajero 1946 finds 2. Snotx2 1011 finds 3. pieterix 1000 finds 4. Fish Eagle 935 finds 5. terunkie 889 finds 6. TeamTatoo 850 finds 7. StrickFam 795 finds 8. Panters 729 finds 9. ChrisDen 686 finds 10. rodnjoan 667 finds
African finds:
1. iPajero 1946 finds 2. Snotx2 1011 finds 3. pieterix 1000 finds 4. Fish Eagle 935 finds 5. terunkie 900 finds 6. TeamTatoo 850 finds 7. StrickFam 795 finds 8. Panters 730 finds 9. ChrisDen 695 finds 10. rodnjoan 667 finds
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2019 Statistics, part 7: Finds per country
The first graph shows the top 3 countries in Africa:
It appears as if the Canary Islands (currently no. 1 in Africa) has also passed its peak.
The following graph shows the next 9 African countries:
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2019 Statistics, part 6: Favourite Point Distribution
The following graphs show the total FP distribution over all South African caches that were active during 2019:
And on a logarithmic scale:
51% of all the active caches had at least one FP.
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18 hours ago, Delbadore said:
I think there's a problem somewhere as Team DJ's Puzzle Quest #4 was only found once in 2019
There are a number of problems which complicate the statistics of Favourite Points. One of them is that there is no record of when and where a FP has been logged. I can not go back and figure out which caches had how many FP's at a specific time in the past. Another problem is that it is quite a lengthy process to update the FPs of the full database - it takes 3 days. For that reason I take a snapshot at year-end and save it for future use. (Because it takes so long I can also never be 100% sure that it is up to date, because by the time I reach the end the first caches may have new FPs that I will miss.)
I checked the FP numbers of the TeamDJ* caches. I am fairly certain about the numbers for the end of 2019, and the calculations are correct, but the FP numbers for the end of 2018 definitely do not look complete. Unless somebody else has a snapshot at the end of 2018, there is unfortunately nothing I can do to correct it. (I deleted the incorrect part of the posting.)
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2019 Statistics, part 5: Favourite Points
The following 10 South African caches had the most FPs at the end of 2019:
1. GC31WXR Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel The Huskies Western Cape City of Cape Town 620 FPs 2. GC3WXRQ MEGA SA 2012 -Voortrekker "Uitspan" dolos Gauteng City of Tshwane 191 FPs 3. GC1ABZK Table Mountain - Cape Town spuzva Western Cape City of Cape Town 171 FPs 4. GC2D9WC SS: Lusitania BoazRuthFields Western Cape City of Cape Town 158 FPs 5. GC2CG7X Hiddingh Security TB Hotel mr panda Western Cape City of Cape Town 130 FPs 6. GCVDHN Sailors' Star vespax Western Cape City of Cape Town 125 FPs 7. GC1H9WR 2 Oceans Littleclan Western Cape Overberg 115 FPs GCMYYZ Table Top Trove AndyT1 Western Cape City of Cape Town 115 FPs 9. GC6JCHV V&A Waterfront: Bay Vista SawaSawa Western Cape City of Cape Town 114 FPs 10. GC5BWV4 UP PERISCOPE family Behrens Western Cape City of Cape Town 111 FPs -
2019 Statistics, part 4: Most found RSA caches during 2019
1. GC7B71M Cape Light Western Cape 241 finds 2. GC707WR Nobel Square 2.7 Western Cape 238 finds 3. GC7B84E Cape Town / Table Mountain Virtual Reward Western Cape 228 finds 4. GC2D9WC SS: Lusitania Western Cape 183 finds 5. GC37VF3 Tip of Africa Western Cape 177 finds 6. GC78HNP Suspension Bridge Eastern Cape 169 finds 7. GC74XWF Turn Table Western Cape 158 finds 8. GCMYYZ Table Top Trove Western Cape 155 finds 9. GC7B8X0 Into 7th Heaven Western Cape 150 finds 10. GC7ZF72 Seven Sights Western Cape 149 finds 11. GC6JCHV V&A Waterfront: Bay Vista Western Cape 145 finds 12. GC31WXR Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel Western Cape 139 finds 13. GC842TG The LoveBug's Nest - CPT Int Airport TB Hotel Western Cape 131 finds 14. GC892A2 Virtual Reward 2.0 - O. R. Tambo International Gauteng 130 finds 15. GC7CH1J Welcome to Johannesburg, South Africa Gauteng 125 finds 16. GC77E Cape Agulhas Western Cape 116 finds 17. GC8177C Willis Walk = Penguins + Panorama Western Cape 114 finds 18. GC19QVQ Three Rondavels Mpumalanga 109 finds 19. GC7BA5A kruger park excursion Mpumalanga 107 finds 20. GC2CG7X Hiddingh Security TB Hotel Western Cape 106 finds
Once again Cape Town dominates the list, but we have a new winner - this is the first time that Cape Light tops the list.
The winner last year, Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel, got 235 finds during 2018.
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2019 Statistics, part 3: Finds per day
The red dots are the number of finds for each day. (I extended the range slightly on both sides of the year to capture the year-end peak).
The green line is the running average over a week, to filter out the week-end peaks.
The best day of 2019 was 15 December, with 1203 finds.
On 9 August there were 1202 finds.
The worst day of 2019 was 17 May, with only 55 finds.
Looking at weekly averages, the best week was around 30 December, with 5181 finds, followed by peaks around 23 September, 9 August and 16 April.
The worst week was around 17 May, with 1036 finds.
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2019 Statistics, part 2: Finds
This one looks so bad that I had to check my numbers to convince myself it is true - during 2019 only 98434 caches were found in South Africa, 24% fewer than in 2018, and 50% fewer than the peak in 2016. Unless something drastic happens, we'll be in serious trouble within two to three years.
This gives an average of 269 finds per day (vs. 541 per day in 2016).
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34 minutes ago, Delbadore said:
Do stats like number of finds, number of cachers who found at least a cache, number of active cachers (12+ cache finds a year) and total active caches also reflect a downward trend over the past few years?
Another question, how many cachers placed geocaches in SA last year and how does that compare to previous years? Also, what is the trend in newbies placing caches (ie how many cachers hid there first geocache last year?)
Will be interesting to see a review of SA Geocaching similar to the Global one.
Thanks for the feedback - I often wonder if anyone still reads this forum. I plan to address all these questions over the next two weeks.
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Geocaching Statistics
in South Africa
Posted
2020 Statistics, part 2: Finds
During 2020 only 70027 caches were found in South Africa, 30% fewer than in 2019, and 65% fewer than the peak in 2016. The effect of the lockdown is clearly visible!
This gives an average of 191 finds per day (vs. 542 per day in 2016).