Sol seaker
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Posts posted by Sol seaker
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I was inspired to start this topic when it turns out that the thread we've been discussing the maps on, is not for the maps after all.
Since I know it's important to keep on topic in these forums, I didn't want to keep adding to a thread that was off-topic.
so now this thread is about maps.
Keep it friendly and constructive. A little frustration venting is to be expected but try to be constructive.
This from the thread we have been discussing the maps on (the "Open Letter to Geocaching.com" thread)
18 hours ago, The A-Team said:Just as a gentle reminder, this discussion isn't about the new search map (I'm regretting highlighting that in my OP, because people seem to be target-fixated on that now). Discussions of the new search map's design or ways to improve it should be in the relevant discussion threads. This discussion is about the general methodologies used by HQ and how we can help them improve their processes for the betterment of everyone.
(the only other thread I could find with maps as a topic was really about powertrails, not maps)
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I opened the map to find caches in a new area today (that I'll be geocaching in for the first time).
The search went right to the correct area and showed me the immediate area. I then widened my search to find hiking trails in the area. I can no longer get an overview of all the hiking trails in the area.
So I focused in on one area and hit "show caches in this area" (or whatever) ... and waited. Okay. Caches loaded. Moved to another area hit "show caches in this area" and waited. Waiting. Loading still. Okay. Now look at another nearby area... wait. Forget it. Frustrating. Takes too long. I just had a few moments to have a break with some fun. I can't turn this into a 20 minute exercise of checking how long it takes my internet connection to load, again and again and again.
Frustrated enough that this does hamper my caching.
The maps aren't great, but that is the worst part. Everything else I can adjust to, deal with. That I can't.
I geocache for fun and to get away from the frustrations and trials of life. If it adds to them I won't do it.
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I SO hate the new maps. That's why I came to the forums today.
I Just REALLY SO hate the new maps.
This is not just a matter of me not liking change and something I'll get used to.
These simply are NOT functional for me when searching for caches.
The point of the geocaching website is to be able to search for caches. The new map greatly restricts that.
I love searching out new hiking trails especially ones that have rows of caches down them. It's just not possible to do that well on this new map.
Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.
Thanks for listening.
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Hey Jester! I'm in California right now. Contact me for someone to cache with while you're there.
There are a number of really good ones in the area I can show you, but also a few that takes more than one person the three of us could get.
Let me know. You might have my phone number. Or just message or email me.
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I started caching because a friend showed me caching while hiking. I love to hike, so it seemed like a great add-on to hiking.
Now one of the main things that keeps me caching is life stress. When I get stressed I go out and cache. I think it's something about finding tupperware in the woods that tells the psyche that everything has got to be okay if I can spend time doing that.
It's amazing how well it works. When I get stressed now I crave caching. It works for me.
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I've done a lot of these. Generally I avoid them, but there can be some instances where they work.
If it's a really special cache that they want to keep an eye on that's good, but I want the address on the cache page. I want other information to let me know I'm at the right spot.
I hate showing up and being afraid my coords are off and I'm at the wrong house digging through someone's bushes. Not good.
One house I arrived at, and stood on the sidewalk with GPS in hand, about ready to flee, and the cache owner walked out and said, "Yes it's here. Come on up". It was on the porch. I never would have gone onto someone's front porch if they hadn't been there to say that. BUT an address and other information on the cache page (such as "blue rock" or "on porch, look for the red rocking chair" etc.) makes them doable.
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- In your mind, what is a high quality geocache?
I like gadget caches, and caches in wonderful locations. I also like interesting and creative caches; caches that the owner has put a lot of thought and time into.
- In your mind, what is a low quality geocache?
Broken container, bad location (like next to a dumpster), one that has a high difficulty rating for bad coords, or high difficultly rating for a really dumb find, like "needle in a haystack" hides.
- What steps can the community take to improve geocache quality?
Participating in favorite point system. FINDING favorite point caches (which inspires great caches). Holding events that help people create good cache containers. Having events where people find high point caches (yeah, I know, I know).
- What steps can Geocaching HQ take to improve geocache quality?
The favorite point system was a really fantastic start. Now we need to take that to the next steps.
1. Make high favorite point caches easier to search for on the app and on the website. On the website I need to be able to easily search for favorite point caches withing a small area. Are we able to find the on Pocket Queries yet? That's a good start. But we also need to do easy searches on our phones for them. Make the searches easy and prominent and applicable for small areas. When I search on the website I often get the entire state's highest favorite point caches, when I just want to cache in some local area, such as find all the best caches on Whidbey Island today, not find all the best caches in the state of WA today.
2. More "cache of the month" recognition. We have local (Washington State) cache of the month awards. It would be good to have that all over and offer more recognition for those caches, perhaps on the blog and forums, but also perhaps as a pop-up on the app.
3. Earning souvenirs for the favorite pointed caches worked really well. I went on some outings to just find favorited caches with a new cacher. She had been planning on places some caches. Now she wants to place GOOD caches. Big improvement and difference.I had been trying to convince her before to not do boring caches. Now she really gets it.
This is one way to showcase those caches. It did work well before. It also brought someone back to caching who hadn't been involved in years. He bought a membership for the first time in 8 years. It works.
4. Perhaps the person who earns top cache of the month gets a free membership for 3, 6 months or a year.
5 the Gadget cache, Cache Maker events a while ago were a good start. More of that and expand on that. Encourage local maker cache events, offering a special icon for participants, like for some of the past events. People love icons. Make sure the events are at least an hour long and must incorporate learning about making better caches. Perhaps the event owner needs to submit a plan of action to do this, and the event form has possibilities, such as having a woodworker come and show how to make bird house caches, log caches, etc. Having a gadget cache maker come show how it's done. Have everyone bring their best cache ideas to show and tell. Have a slide show of exceptional cache containers (if it can be done without creating spoilers). Brain storm on ideas in Groundspeak and see what else you can come up with.
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Have a great time Jester!! That sounds like a fabulous trip!!!!
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On 4/12/2018 at 10:45 AM, bflentje said:
I seriously do not mean any offense by asking you this.. you've been caching for 9 years, you're only discovering this now? Or were you being facetious?
I've tended to either find caches that were at cool places, or just start from one end of a city and work to the other to try to clear it out. I had never done a run of JUST high point caches.
Of course I knew about them and had found many.
The intent of my post was to let Geocaching.com know they hit a home run with this one.
It's important for them to know their keeping their long-term players happy. It's a big way for the game to grow as those cachers share the game with their friends.
I took one new cacher on a couple of these runs of "all high point caches". Since then she has introduced 3 new people to caching who are getting into the game. I brought her in and also an old player who hadn't cached in many years. He bought a membership this month, when he hasn't done that for about 7 years.
I think it's good to let GS know what keeps the players happy. This also encouraged people to create better caches. My one friend has been planning on putting one out soon. Now she wants it to be a high point favorite cache.
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Forgive me, I don't have time to read this entire thread, but I just want to say,
THANK YOU to the folks at geocaching.com. I think they hit a home run with this one, at least for me.
We did some cache runs that were JUST the high point caches. Wow. What a difference that made. We found some really amazing caches we had no idea were out there.
The best thing about it was that I went with someone new to caching, who plans on hiding some caches soon. So now that we've seen the best, those caches are going to be a lot better, I'm sure of it.
We had some really great caching days too. I think going out and hitting all the high favorite point caches is something I'm going to be doing a lot more of.
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Working for me at the moment!!
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Just now, Mausebiber said:
What challenge? Planetary Pursuits is going on for another couple of days.
Have fun, MB
I, like others, have limited time out and about, especially with the variability of the weather right now.
I still need over 100 points, so I may not be able to get out enough to fulfill that requirement.
But if that's the worst thing I have to worry about this week I'm doing well.
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Just now, Mausebiber said:
Yes, same here, Germany, Provider 1&1, Error 500
I really wonder what has happened. First thing I learned considering server, software, accessibility was, you NEVER mess around with a life system, you always have a test system /base where you can test/load any changes.
Ah, you mean live. I thought you mean "Life" as in "life or death". Hey, caching is important, but I wouldn't quite go that far (although some will disagree with me).
Still things break.
They may be experiencing a higher load because the last days of the challenge are closing in.
Missing today may mean I'll miss the challenge, but hey, I think I'll survive it.
Although I would really have loved to have those extra pixels in my souvenir page. Are there any awards for trying?
(oh yeah, I already got some)
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4 hours ago, Gatwick Girl said:
Same here. I wonder if we'll get a partial refund on our Premium Membership? (Won't be holding my breath...!!)
Let's see, our memberships amount to about 9 cents per day, so if it's down half a day then you may be asking for 4 1/2 cents back. Perhaps if you show up at the office they may refund it. : )
What's more urgent is our planetary pursuit. Perhaps they'll extend the challenge a day so cachers all over the world won't panic and run amok.
I'm seeing the 500 error message when I was trying to log in. I'm glad i"m not the only one, so I won't take it personally.
I had caching planned for the afternoon too, so I'll try not to panic yet. : )
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22 minutes ago, The A-Team said:
Me too. I can't figure out what "Teampookel's 24 in 24" is. At first I thought maybe they had tried to log their own cache, but they don't have any hides.
@TeamPooKel: Was this meant to be a message to a specific person instead of a post in the international forums? The way you seem to be speaking directly to Pam makes me think this is the case.
I suspect they found 24 caches in 24 hours on a challenge, either geocaching challenge or spoken challenge.
The poster appears to be a young, perhaps teen. I think it's great that people of all ages get involved with this game. I love to see new people of all ages and types get involved.
I do believe there is an age limit for the forums though, unless things have changed.
As long as there's not any trouble I don't see a problem though. Let the kid have his fun in geocaching (whatever he's doing there) and on the forums.
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How about that cacher has "found them all"?
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1 hour ago, Manville Possum said:
Most virtuals left are ownerless now anyway, but I'm sure there were complaints, but remember who started the Waymarking site, the founders of Groundspeak.
I have Waymarked several EarthCaches that require answers from a board, there are spoilers everywhere on the internet.
Edit to add: What I thought to be funny was archiving a WM because it spoiled a Virtual listing. Won't never happen.
I wasn't aware of this either. I still find them the old fashioned way, of going to the site.
Rather than archive the waymarked version, I'd rather see them just remove the spoiler information.
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Placements I like:
Ones that show me something: beautiful places, unique local features, something to do with history, etc.
I love gadget caches and unique containers.
Caches that teach me something: history, facts about the area, etc.
example below is one i just mentioned in another thread where they compared traveling through that pass and across the desert in the 1800's to now:
Caches that give me a great experience: boat caches, island caches, multi's that are creative and lead me somewhere in a fun way, hiking caches, difficult, but not impossible to get to caches that are in a cool spot (like climbing a tough rock to get to view spot).
This is still my all-time favorite cache that took me to the most amazing places, and on the most fantastic adventures was:
Caches I don't care for:
"needle-in-haystack" caches, such as finding a log in many containers, caches in ivy or rock walls, or real hell, an ivy covered rock wall (seen that).
Caches that are in very busy public places (someone on the forums once said, "A cache that says, 'Stealth required' means it shouldn't have been put there in the first place"), Caches at people's houses (especially up on their porch, what if I get the wrong house? coordinates aren't always accurate),
Nanos or small micros in the woods, especially in sensitive areas where people are trashing the place to find the cache
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I also really enjoy the virtuals that are left.
When I'm traveling I try to hit the virtuals along the way (along with the earthcaches). It's really great way to find the highlights of the area and see places I would have otherwise missed.
I do remember, however, a really lame virtual that was probably part of the reason why they were no longer allowed. I got there and wondered what I was there for. It was so unremarkable, I don't remember what it was, but I do remember thinking, "So this is why they don't allow them anymore." It was the virtual version of a lamp-post cache at a Walmart.
One of my all-time favorite virtuals. This is the stuff virtuals could have been made of:
It's a virtual at a rest-stop that points out a sign. Doesn't sound exciting until you read it. It talks about the history of the settlers going over that road on their way to California, and how long it took them vs how long it took you. (something like 3 months vs a few hours). It also talks about a survey done in the 1800's of all the gravestones and dead livestock along the trail. That was the true cost of their passage, when now it costs a tank of gas.
It's an amazing, clear look at the past in that area, vs today. It's a very exceptional cache that I hope lives on.
I would not have noticed that sign if it hadn't been pointed out.
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I'm not happy about the idea of throw-downs and cache owners who solicit throw-downs. We end up with a lot of broken containers with wet, soggy and moldy contents because the owner is hoping someone else will take care of it, and no one is replacing the container.
On the other hand, there is someone recently I noticed, that is replacing containers regularly as a matter of course.
If the cache owner is not maintaining their container, the cache should be archived, so someone interested in taking care of what is theirs can step in.
When a cacher keeps replacing containers it's another problem. This one guy does it constantly and seems to think it's a good idea. We can't archive him, and we end up with a lot of caches continuing that are not owner maintained, and many that have multiple cache containers because he assumed if he didn't find it, it must not be there.
One cache owner (who does maintain his caches) had a humorous response. He got tired of clearing out the throw-downs left when people couldn't find his cache, so he finally just left them all. His cache page now says that there are about 4 containers there. You are welcome to sign any of them and count it.
Not a response I would endorse, but funny nonetheless.
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I'm glad there are some statistics available through a third-party website, but I'm glad GS doesn't supply them.
I'm really glad you enjoy placing and keeping up your caches. Since there is so much more to good cache placement and maintenance it's difficult to place a number value on it, although that website seems to do a decent job, it's not simple.
I'm one who travels a lot, so I'm not a good cache owner, so I don't have caches. I try to pitch in to help others caches where possible to make up for it, but although I'd love to place more, my circumstances wouldn't make for a good cache owner.
There are others for other reasons make not the best cache owners.
There are so many caches out there right now, the game isn't hurting for some of us not placing them. People who don't or can't do cache maintenance are best off not being cache owners.
Those who enjoy it and are in a good position to make it happen, we thank you.
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Wasn't it something like the Cool Cow Cachers who did the mega-event in that same area a few years ago?
Who can correct me on that?
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Here is a bookmark list for scuba caches in the U.S.
If anyone knows of any not on this list they can email the list owner and ask they be added on.
https://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=821648e5-a67a-4092-9adf-965e7785b236
There are scuba parks in WA State, along with many water caches of all kinds (a lot of boating caches).
If you want all water caches you can go to the geocaching main search page, hit "filters" and slide the slider that will give you all "Terrain 5" caches. That will get you most boating, and scuba caches plus a few more very interesting ones.
Have fun.
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I'm in the market for a new GPS. My old 400T is not doing well. It has been crapping out in many ways for some time and is only getting worse.
Time to look at a new one.
I was sorting GPS's by features on the Garmin website and wanted something with topo maps, paperless caching, and a large screen. It came up with the Montana, but I've never known anyone who has cached with it, so thought I'd ask around here.
The info on choosing a GPS pinned at the top of this forums is from 2009, so is WAY out-of-date. Technology changes quickly, and thankfully, we've got much better GPS's now then we did in 2009.
If you don't have experience with the Montana, let me know what your favorite is, especially if it has the qualities listed above.
I'm open to other brand possibilities too. I've had such great customer service through the years with Garmin, it's hard to change, but I would consider it.
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New Maps
in General geocaching topics
Posted · Edited by Sol seaker
I was inspired once again to come here to the forums to discuss maps after attempting to plan a hike for this weekend.
To find new caches I need to hike in unknown areas. If I were doing a small area city cache adventure then the current maps might suffice.
To find new caching trails in many miles of mountains, I need a big view of the available caches. I find trails by looking for cache trails.
It is very frustrating to keep having to reload the caches. My internet connection can get bogged down and what is supposed to be a few fun moments of searching for new cache trails turns into a long frustrating exercise in testing my internet speed. I end up thinking about quitting caching and stop my search early.
I suspect new cachers who use their phones may not care about the new map differences.
But it's the old cachers who find a lot of caches who are the ones who pay to keep the electricity on at Groundspeak Headquarters, so I would hope that they will pay attention to how many people are reporting in on this. Pay attention to what exactly people are complaining about, and who is not happy.
I am considering writing an old fashion letter, this issue is so important to me, since it doesn't seem to draw any attention to talk about it on the forums.
Anyone else who wants to join me on this: Groundspeak Headquarters 837 N 34th St #300, Seattle, WA 98103