obsidianspider

I tried to manually renew my premium membership this morning and the website said it was taking a while to process my card, but then after a minute or two it completed. Instead of printing the confirmation out I just closed the window because I assumed I'd get an email like I have in the past, but today I didn't get the email, my card doesn't appear to have been charged, and my renewal date hasn't changed. Is there a problem with the website today? I don't want to try again at least for a little while in case something is stuck, or get charged for two renewals.

There's been a lot of discussion over charging more for access to Google maps, who should be able to access Google Maps, speculation about Groundspeak's revenue and a litany of other things. What's been unfortunate is the lack of meaningful feedback from Groundspeak on the issue. Groundspeak's blog post about the higher quality of OpenStreetMap data completely overlooks the issue that most people seem to be upset about (myself included), and that's the lack of quality satellite/hybrid views. It's unfortunate that most people aren't able to articulate their frustration beyond "OMG Y U NO GOOGLE MAPS!?" and it's certainly not helping the matter. Like it or not, but Google has done an excellent job with their maps. They've set the bar, and I don't see any problem with their desire to charge for the service they provide. Google is a business. They're not creating maps out of charity. When people say "I want Google maps back," what I think they're attempting to say is that they want a return to the functionality that they've grown accustomed to. I don't think anyone would mind one bit if the aerial/satellite imagery was provided by another source. Whether it's from Google, Bing, Mapquest or some guy named Larry, high quality satellite/hybrid views are an important resource. How can Groundspeak bring this functionality back in a revenue neutral (or positive) manner? I'm not sure, but hopefully it's something they're actively working on while stonewalling the issue in public. Remember, Groundspeak is a business too. They're not running this website out of the goodness of their hearts. I will say that the integration with Google maps was what sold me on the idea of Geocaching as a legitimate activity. It was so cool to be able to look at an aerial map with a bunch of icons on it, knowing that there were caches in places I go every day. Looking at a road map just doesn't evoke that same kind of reaction, and now that I'm an experienced cacher, just looking at a road map is much less useful. Should Groundspeak charge a higher price for access to high quality satellite/hybrid maps? I don't think so. I do think that including it as a premium-only feature is a good idea. It would be a way to broaden the base of premium members, so while the annual rate per person wouldn't go up, you'd have more people paying, so overall revenue would increase. Groundspeak, please address the mapping regression. Even if you don't have a solution right now, let us know what you're doing to work on it. It would go a long way with your customers and fans of the Geocaching hobby.

You can create a PQ from the "old" maps, just not the new beta maps. In the old maps, click on "Create Pocket Query" on the right side of the page and the query that it generates will be based on the map you had up on the screen. It works very well.

I'm really liking the new beta maps, but with personalization disabled on the "regular" maps, does anyone know if the ability to create a pocket query based on the map you're viewing will appear on the new beta maps as it did with the old maps? That's a feature I used quite a bit. [Edit]Just realized the typo in the title and the forum won't let me edit that part. Oops![/Edit]

That person is nothing more than a coward who won't identify themselves. Just as hunters are big proponents of protecting the outdoors, so are Geocachers. Unfortunately that blugger doesn't "get it".

The only problem I see is if there are enough boneheads out there hiding caches poorly on private property without permission that a local ordinance gets passed that bans Geocaching (it happened about 45 minutes South of me). There are a lot of what I'll call "casual" cachers that want nothing more than to drive around from parking lot to parking lot lifting up lamp post skirts and getting their numbers up. Even moderately difficult finds that require *gasp* walking on a well marked trail in a park see dramatically fewer finds, at least near me. If anything, the increasing popularity of Geocaching may motivate some fat lazy people to get outside and do some exercising and to use their brains instead of vegging out on the couch watching TV all the time. I know it was the motivation I needed to become more active and I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

I don't see the files being available via direct download or being embedded in emails for two reasons. First is the load on mail servers. With larger PQs it's just more for the server to handle. I know that personally I don't generate a lot of PQs but it seems that some people generate 5 every single day. Their reasons for doing so are something I don't understand, but that's their business. The second reason is that if you have to go to the website to download the PQ you also have to see all of the advertisements on the website. Let's face it, ads are a big part of what keep the site going. Yeah yeah, I know you paid your premium member fee just like I did to generate your PQs, but even with that I'm sure they're not making money hand over fist with premium member fees. "Well I use ad blocking software so I don't even see those ads, I'm gonna stick it to the man". Well, most people have no clue how such software works, so Groundspeak will get their ad impressions, advertisers will pay Groundspeak and the site we've come to love over time will stay running.

I created one yesterday that was scheduled to run this morning and it didn't run. Tried creating it again this morning and it ran within a few minutes. Maybe there's an issue with scheduling them for future days with the new setup?

Here's an issue that I found. I ran into it when I created a new 1000-result PQ today and also when I set one up to be created tomorrow. It will do the normal thing and return results for the given radius, but then it will also return one that is WAY wrong. This morning it gave me one in North Dakota when the rest were in Southeastern Pennsylvania and my query for tomorrow is in New Jersey and it includes a result in Utah. It's not a huge deal, but something is definitely wonky.

While in the office I go caching on my lunch breaks on nice days, though the radius near my office is getting cleared of caches I can do while not getting dirty. When on business trips I try to cache when I can. I only wish I'd known about Geocaching sooner! I was in Arizona this past week and while I only had two days where I had some free time before dark, I was able to get six finds.

I only log a DNF if I feel that I've REALLY looked for it (not just ran into an issue of muggles being there or bad weather). If that happens on multiple occasions, I'd log multiple DNFs.

Must have been a quirk. I tried the cache clearing, different browser, different computer thing earlier and it didn't work. Just checked again and now it's back to normal. Thanks everyone.

Is anyone else having this problem? Today when I logged in I saw that I didn't have an avatar and that my"Since" date is now set to "Unknown".

I sent out a message to some local cachers to see if anyone already has one planned. If not I'll likely be trying to set one up for the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylania.

Maybe it's the "build an ark" warnings we're getting here in the northeast or just the fact that I've been over thinking my next hide, but I was thinking about something for a possible future cache that I think would be all right but I wanted to run it by you all to get your thoughts. I realize that the final cache must be placed with a GPSr so the location posted is accurate, but if you're placing an unknown/puzzle multi-cache, do ALL of the stages have to be able to be located with a GPSr? Example would be to have you go to a set of coords that are at the mouth of a cave with instructions that the next hint is 100 feet inside the cave or some such.

The newbie came back and removed one of his logs and edited his other log to something even more complimentary than his first. I see he also fixed his log for the other multi in the area. Looks like he's figured it out!

Well done. Give it some time (a few days or more), and then if the logs are still there, make the neccessary "corrections". Good idea. The cacher has posted a find since my message to him, but I have no way of knowing if he read my message and didn't care or just never got it. I'll wait a week or so and if they don't take action I'll remove the log and replace it with a note of my own copy-pasting their original log dated the same day as their original log and then message them to notify them of what I did and why. It'd be nice if I could just change their log type, but I can see a lot of good reasons as to why Groundspeak wouldn't want a feature like that put in place. Does anyone know if a notice is automatically sent to a cacher if their log is deleted by the CO?

JZKA, do you want to explain that inside joke or shall I?

I only log a DNF if I feel that I've done due diligence and really looked for the cache and haven't found it. If Muggles prevent me from looking I don't even log it. I don't think this warrants a special log type. I think a DNF or Note are appropriate.

Sent them a message. I really just wanted to get them off on the right foot. Hopefully this isn't too "jerky" sounding in my message:

A new cacher recently found one of my caches and logged two "Found It" logs. One on their first visit to the cache (it's a multi) and another when they found the final. I'm pretty sure that it's good etiquette to only log one "Found It" per cache, but would it be impolite to ask the cacher to change their first log to a note? I don't want to come off as a jerk or to turn off a new cacher, but I'd also like to prevent any bad habits from developing (this cacher has also logged a "Found It" on another multi that they haven't completed. I checked and as a CO I only have the option to encrypt a log or delete it, not change its type. Amy I getting bent out of shape over nothing? Thoughts?

I've been caching with my Mac since I started almost a year ago. To load PQs you don't need any special software. To grab individual caches from the website you'll need the Garmin Communicator plugin that was linked above. Other than that, if you want more advanced manipulation of GPX files, there really is no good Mac equivalent to GSAK. Hopefully a good team of Mac programmers will take it on. It would also be great if someone would look into developing an Adobe Air app so it would be cross platform.

I added my contact info to the startup.txt file on my Oregon and set it to run for 15 seconds. At the bottom of the boot screen, when the system is done loading it says Loading Complete <Press the screen to continue> Which is nice, so my contact info is being displayed long enough for someone to get my number and call me if my unit is lost, but if I am in a hurry to get past the screen I can just bypass the wait.

3.50 seems to work fine on my Oregon 400t (I get the magenta line when navigating, etc.), but that said, I don't have any custom maps installed.

Thanks for the follow up Nate. It's good to know that TPTB are listening.