texasgrillchef

The thrill of finding something well hidden, in a clever way is a thrill the first time you find it, but when the method is copied over and over again, it looses it's wow factor. Examples: the fake bolt nano, and the electric plate micro. Very understandable. Sadly in our current state of affairs.... Seems everyone wants to "Copy" everything. Just take a look at THIS years CES that just ended. Apple came out with a wonderfull "Tablet" type computer that we all know and love as the iPad.... Now look at this years CES. Almost 2 dozen different computer companies all coming out with their own version of a "Tablet" (iPad) style computer! Do you filter out Micro's/Nano's? Obviously at this point in time, until the Nano Size option is made available it isn't to easy to filter out nano's. TGC

Yep, You have the "kid factor" involved. I have talked with a few local geocachers who have kids. I don't have any kids currently, so from what I gather, it seems the younger ones are all about what can "trade", whats the prize. Seems only the older ones stay interested in it because of the "Search Factor" or the "Where it took me factor". TGC

Thanks for taking the time to clarify. I would like to think that most geocachers hate "Crappy" geocaches, regardless of size. I have seen containers of ALL sizes in our area that are just plain crappy, not well designed, shouldn't be used etc. If I could ask you to clarify a little more please I would be gratefull. (I guess these questions her apply to caches of all sizes) Do you enjoy what I call the "Search factor" that is enjoying finding something that is well hidden? (Other than needle in a haystack hides) What about those that maybe easy to find, but "Retrieving" them makes you use a few brain cells just to retrieve them? Oh & for those of you reading along.... One of the big reasons I started this thread. I have placed as of today, 150 caches. I have all types of all sizes (Although currently no nano's). I have caches for the "numbers" people, as well as for those who like the challenge of a good hunt, including the challenge of being able to retrieve the log (Check out my fishing series), as well as some that take you to a very nice scenic area. I will be placing more caches in the future and to provide a good selection of caches for those to find in the future, I am interested in getting those thoughts & opinions of cachers. Cause as we all know.... Geocachers don't always leave very detailed logs on their thoughts & opinions. TGC

Aww yes... I call that the kid rule. Hard to keep some kids interested without having some sort of "prize" involved. Especially the younger ones! Even regular sized caches can have issues when their isn't good swag. LOL Just curious, So the thrill of finding something well hidden, what I call the "Search factor" isn't a part of geocaching for you? (That may sound argumenative but isn't, just trying to clarify your motivation for geocaching" TGC

So it isn't the "finding" part of a nano cache that is so much the problem but dealing with the issues that a nano sized container creates then? TGC

I currently have 150 goecaches published. I have noticed issues with some FTF'ers. I also have gotten the opinion that those who SHOULD be able to get FTF first are those geocachers with s "Premium" level. So what I did on my 150'th cache is release it as "Available & Viewable only by Premium Members".... Later after about a week or so and deffinately after its been found a couple of times by "Premium Members" I will edit the cache page and make it available to ALL geocachers. I looked through the rules & regulations on geocaching.com & found nothing that "Disallows" this practice. Maybe some of you agree with this concept. Maybe some of you don't. I think its a good alternative to provide ADDITIONAL benefit to being a "premium member" of geocaching.com TGC

I have a question... There are powertrails that are obviously Powertrails. Its like a scale of 1 to 10, and those powertrails are a 10. But what else constitutes a powertrail by definition? What if 30 different people, put a cache out that goes down a particular road, each cache is about .1 to .3 a mile from each other. But each put a different and Unique name to their cache. Is this a powertrail? What if a single person puts a series of caches down a road, each about a .1 to .3 a mile from each other, but again uses a distinct and unique name for each cache, and doesn't officially call it a powertrail series. Is this a Powertrail? Does a powertrail specifically have to be down a so called hiking/walking/biking trail or road? Can one create a trail say through the woods/forrest (Assuming they have permission to do so from the land owner) but this trail of caches isn't on a predefined pathway? The only reason I ask... is where is the "FINE LINE" between it just being a bunch of caches placed in proximity to each other & it being a "powertrail"???? Honestly, I don't know to much about the powertrails in Nevada, or in Ca down US-66. I have created short powertrails here in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex. All currently are 20 caches or less. I am working on one powertrail that will soon be 30 caches. I "THINK" they are powertrails. Those who have found them seem to enjoy them. My powertrails though also include Multi's, and Mystery caches as well. Using all cache container size ratings as well. (At least till the nano size becomes available) Just curious is all. TGC

Hi, First off, Please don't turn this into a flaming thread. I have noticed before & currently that there are a group of geocachers that seem to dislike Nano / Micro sized geocaches. I am not using this thread to try and convince those of you who don't like them to change your mind about them. The reason for this thread is that I am very curious to find out what the reasons are that YOU don't like them. So PLEASE don't be argumenative, or rude. I would just like to know YOUR reasons for not like Nano/Micro sized caches. There is a possibility I will chime in and ask you an additional question to clarify your answer, but it won't be to change your mind or to be argumenative. Like I said... Just trying to understand why a group of you don't like these type caches. This applies to ALL Nano / Micro sized caches that are placed anywhere and everywhere, not just in LPC's, or Trees, etc... Thanks TGC

Attributes for the most part are VERY VERY hard to "police". True IMHO a Scuba attribute should only be used when scuba or snorkeling equipment are required other attributes such as "Scenic" aren't allways so cut and dry. Scenic for example is one that is up to ones perspective. What I call "Scnenic" others may not and vice versa. I would consider a cache on a boatdock as scenic. Boat dock means it's near a lake, river, or ocean and I would find those scenic to view. All I would recomend is if you find an attribute that you don't think is being used on a cache correctly is to LOG that in the logs. Maybe if enough people agree with you the CO might change the attribute. I own about 100 caches. I have been known to change attributes (Adding them or deleting them) as requested by some geocachers. TGC

Have any of you noticed this bug? Let me first give you some background info. When I download the weekly "My Finds" Query to load into GSAK, &/or several other Statistical programs, as well as open the GPX file in notepad I notice ERRORS in the CORRECT dates of "My Found" logs. Example for July 2010. in the downloaded GPX file. I noticed on 18 (Eighteen) SEPERATE dates there were INCORRECT dates listed for the "My Found" log. Example: July 26th, Geocaching.com on the webpage listing shows that I found 11 finds for that day. The GPX file REPORTS 19 finds. On July 24th, Geocaching.com reports and shows I had 20 finds for that day. The GPX file shows only 8 finds for that day. Geocaching.com is showing & reporting the CORRECT dates, the downloaded GPX file is showing the incorrect dates. Since this happened on at least 18 different days, with well over 100 caches. (I found 306 caches for July 2010) this makes ANY statistical Analysis INCORRECT and BOGUS! Frankly I don't give a rat's a** WHY the system is doing it. I just want a quick EASY fix to this other than manually editing the GPX file in notepad. This is a royal PITA as this problem also exists for EVERY SINGLE MONTH SINCE JANUARY 2010. Bug isn't evident in any months prior to January. It also doesn't appear to be happening currently for any months AFTER July. This bug ONLY is reflective of Months between January 2010 and July 2010. Like I said I DON'T care about why this is happening. Just want a quick easy fix for all future downloads of the "My Finds" Query GPX file. (Other then manually editing the GPX file in GSAK &/or Notepad) Thanks TGC P.S..... Would also love to see Groundspeak fix this error. But that probably won't happen anytime soon. I have reported it to them.

Only on your caches. No, you get 20 logs on any cache, plus any logs you've posted to that cache. "With GSAK and an add-in macro (called AddLogs) is the only way I know." Only on your caches. I responded to the first part of the answer! The GSAK macro only gets all logs on caches you own. Maybe I should have snipped the quoted bit, and removed the second part. and now me speelins gone to pot! The Name of the Macro is "AddLogs"? Do you know how it works? Do I have to download a GPX first or what? Do I have to be connected to the net when the macro itself runs? TGC

I have GSAK and when I do a pocket query for caches that I own, it only pulls the last 5 logs. I have just now started using GSAK, So when I do one of the Macros for statistics on my cache hides, it says that a cache Hide I have has only been found 5 times, when in fact I have a cache that has been found almost 125 times. Plus there are a few other caches that I don't own that I would like to see all the logs for from my comptuer when it isn't connected to the internet. What do you mean by pull a .gpx off the cache page? TGC

Is their a way to pull all the logs for a particular geocache using the Pocket Query? By all logs I mean all logs no matter how many logs there are or of what type? (Found, DNF, Archived, Disabled, Write note, etc...) All of them NOT just the last 5 logs. If there is obviously I haven't figured it out. Thanks TGC

There's already another thread going on this, in fact, YOU started it. A quick skim of it shows your question has been answered. Geez a little picky aren't we? I was just asking him if he had noticed any errors or not. Hard to have posted that question directly in another thread I think. TGC P.S. BTW I didnt' get an answer, while someone did post a reply. A reply asking another question isn't an answer. Or at least not in my books.

Have you noticed any ERRORS in the DATES reporting for your finds? Example being. You make a find for today, but it is reporting it as tomorrow in the GPX file? TGC

I sent this bug report into geocaching.com.... NEW update to BUG! iPHONE app bug. JUST STARTED today (July31st, 2010) Today I "found" 20 geocaches all I logged from my iPhone app (4.01). All were logged between 3pm & 9pm Central Standard Time. It is now 10:32pm CST on July 31st, 2010. When I look at my last 20 "Found" log entries for today. 8 (eight) of them are listed as being fond on AUGUST 1st, 2010. When I go to my iPhone app, all the dates are CORRECT for when the log entries were sent. Umm how can I find these in the FUTURE???? Did you all like create & invent a time machine & forget to tell us? This is like a MAJOR issue as it SCREWS up all the STATISTICS LOGS! It is a good thing I didn't get 100 caches today. Fixing eight (8) caches is BAD ENOUGH! This bug issue has been going on for quite some time but only has showed up in the "My Finds" Query that you download. Online log entries all showed the correct date. Please check the forums, as I have posted information regarding this bug there. Thank you TGC

and are you logging them manually on the website (go to the cache listing and "log your visit"), or do you upload the field notes to the website and log through those? if so, in what format are those field notes (garmin format, geocache_visits.txt or ...)? The ones that I wasn't using the iPhone app for, were all entered manually using the geocaching.com website. I will admit that my memory could be a little off on when I started using my iPhone entirely for entering/logging my finds. It could have been earlier than March 2010. However, one fact I do know. On Jan 1st, 2010 I was camping and was in an area of Texas that has very very limited cell phone coverage. (Left on the camping trip the day after Christmas Dec 26th & didn't return home till the 2nd of Jan 2010.) I entered the entire weeks of caches manually on the website on the 2nd of Jan. On the morning. Later that day we left on another trip for PA. As you can see from our geocaching logs we logged our first cache from that trip on Jan 3rd 2010. The first one being in VA. Again I know I didn't use my iPhone for any log entries on that trip either because of limited coverage in the areas that we were on that trip as well. We didn't return from that trip till Jan 6th 2010. After that is IS possible that all further log entries could have been done from the iPhone. I honestly don't remember when I first downloaded it and started using the iPhone app for log entries. I got my iPhone for Christmas and didn't think it was that soon before I downloaded it. I know I went about 2 weeks on the free version before I bought the paid version of the app as well. I am using the iPhone app entirely now for log entries. I do go back to my computer and "Edit" those log entries sometimes though as well. But I no longer enter "Found" or "DNF" logs from the computer. Either way though. Its a real PIA of a bug. Especially if your wanting to keep acurate statistics. TGC

Time stamp is only present in the field notes. Every log entered should have a time stamp of 1900Z (7 pm) or 2000Z (8 pm) depending on whether DST is in effect for Pacific time zone. Order of find is determined by the log ID. Lower log ID is found before higher log ID. In the GPX file, right after the date is the UTC time stamp. The date & Time stamp are present both for a "WRite Note" log and a "Found" log. I do see the Log ID and how they change, so that makes good sense that one could easily use that for "Found" order. When I went back and looked at all 600+ finds. Even those prior to Jan 1st 2010, They all had a time stamp for the found log. You are right though. On closer inspection of the time stamp on those caches that it pushed forward by 1 day. (Example a cache I found on Jan 1st, 2010 being reported as found on Jan 2nd, 2010) I did notice that if you took the UTC Time code into effect and then made the time adjustment for Central time, it did push the date to the next day. So I believe the error on groundspeaks/geocaching.com's programming of creating the "My Finds" query is a logical error in figuring Time Codes/Dates incorrectly. As far as the iPhone app goes. Maybe their is a problem with how it reports the Date/Time on a found log. But like I said, this problem according to my last "My Finds Query" GPX file dated July 24th, 2010. The problem started on Jan 1st, 2010. Like I said I didn't start using the iPhone app until March 2010. TGC

That's even more disturbing. What were you using between Jan and March 2010? Field notes uploaded and then edited on computer? Textmark? Im not for sure what your asking? I simply use Notepad + to edit the GPX file that I download. Sorry.. I meant, how did you log those caches, if not with the iPhone? Using a computer. Sometimes my laptop back at the hotel, or later with my laptop & a AT&T cell modem. TGC

not sure tbh, but it looks like he got ordered a "vacation" from the forums. seems to be a general logical error somewhere. people enter their online logs with their local dates. so one part of the world may enter a log created at 23:00 UTC as july 24, while another part of the world would enter logs created at 23:00 UTC as july 25. the website always displays the log dates as whatever the user selected, i.e. their local dates. the iphone app (?) seems to take the actual UTC timestamp of when the log was created. while this is technically correct, there is no timezone information stored - the website doesn't know which day the "local" day will be, and so the shown date may be wrong. or, the website adjusts the UTC timestamp so that the date shown on the website will be correct. but in that case, the UTC timestamp (visible in the GPX) will be wrong, because it still doesn't have any timezone information attached (well, it does, it says UTC, but that's incorrect) and so it will show a different time than it was really created at. the whole system would be better off by just discarding the time-of-day information in all submitted logs, normalize it to a standard time for all logs and just be accurate to a certain day. Well the time stamp is needed so that one can figure out which cache was found first. Ie... if you found 20 caches in one day. You need a way to KNOW which cache you found first, second, third. So that when you want to know WHICH cache you found as your 550th cache, or maybe your 600th cache you would know. Thus time stamps are still needed information. Now I understand the how the UTC time code of that reported by the iPhone app and the website can in fact be different. However, I DID NOT use my iPhone to enter "Found" logs, OR even "Write Note" logs BEFORE March 2010. The ERRORS in the GPX file go back to JAN 1st 2010! Therefore WHAT is causing the errors BETWEEN Jan 1st, 2010 and March 2010????? NOT the iPhone app as I did NOT start using the iPhone and the iPhone geocaching app till March 2010. TGC

That's even more disturbing. What were you using between Jan and March 2010? Field notes uploaded and then edited on computer? Textmark? Im not for sure what your asking? I simply use Notepad + to edit the GPX file that I download. TGC

You can download it directly from the web page after its created. You don't have to wait for it to be sent to your email. TGC

I think that is one of the many reasons but not the only reason. I say that because: 1. While the last 3 weeks or so why I have been traveling I have used only my iPhone for log entries. Found or DNF However prior to that I have used BOTH for log entries. By both I mean going to my computer and using my iPhone. 2. I only started using my iPhone for Log entries since March 2010. After spending some etensive time on my GPX file I noticed that this BUG started on Jan 1st, 2010. That day I had 8 finds, however according the GPX file I had 7 finds on Jan 1st, 2010 and ONE find that was found on Jan 1st, 2010 reporting to be found on Jan 2nd, 2010. 3. All of my finds in 2009 are being reported on the CORRECT date in the GPX file. So the errors that the GPX file is reporting from Jan 1st, 2010 to sometime in March 2010 (when I began using the iPhone) aren't do to the iPhone geocaching app. Any other ideas? TGC P.S. One other note in Just found and checked in both the GPX file as well as on the cache sites web page. From my iPhone I logged a found log, then because you can't edit from your iPhone app I ADDED a "Write Note" log from the iPhone as well. Both logs (Found & Write note) were logged at about 2pm Central time in the afternoon and within 15 min of each other. Yet the FOUND log in the GPX file has the incorrect date, the "Write Note" log has the correct date.

I am using my iPhone 3gs with the latest version of the iOS and the latest version of the PAID version of the geocaching app. Interestingly enough. I have gone back through the entire GPX file. currently all 656 of my finds and there are inaccurate dates going back as far as 265 finds. Whats interesting though is that its inconsistant. Example today I found 20 finds. but only 12 had incorrect dates. On the 18th of July I had 30 finds, however the GPX file had 18 of those 30 with incorrect dates. The other interesting fact is that when you check in your "FOUND" logs all of the finds have the CORRECT date on them. As well as as the log entry found on the actual cache page. All of those dates are correct. Needles to say. Correcting the GPX file via editor and checking for the correct date on geocaching.com by comparing with the "Found" log list is a very very tedious PIA. Geocaching.com needs to fix this error. Otherwise all the statistics we are trying to figure out are POINTLESS! TGC P.S. I have only noticed this bug in the last 3 weeks, since I have downloaded the "my finds" query on Saturday night for the last 3 weeks. I have done this as this summer do to all of my traveling I have done some very heavy geocaching across the country and in texas as well.

I have noticed that the last few weeks of caching that when I download the "My Finds" Query GPX file that their are some errors. BUGS! Example. Today I found 20 caches. When you go to those 20 cache pages, you will see my "Found" log with the correct date listed for the found log. (The correct date being Saturday July 24th, 2010). I found all 20 of these caches between the times of about 4pm to 8:30pm central time today. Around 10:30pm to 11pm Central time on July 24th, 2010 I initiated the "My Finds" Query and downloaded the newly created GPX file. In the file, it has listed 12 (Twelve) of my 20 finds today, as being "FOUND" on July 25th, 2010. Here is a sample that I cut n pasted directly from the GPX file. <wpt lat="33.150317" lon="-96.863933"> <time>2007-03-10T08:00:00Z</time> <name>GC11BXD</name> <desc>Ophidiophobia by TJ and Blondie, Traditional Cache (1.5/1)</desc> "The rest of the associated part of the "Waypoint" I have cut out to save space as its not really needed" <Groundspeak:logs> <Groundspeak:log id="118386589"> <Groundspeak:date>2010-07-25T00:18:35Z</Groundspeak:date> <Groundspeak:type>Found it</Groundspeak:type> <Groundspeak:finder id="2387602">texasgrillchef</Groundspeak:finder> <Groundspeak:text encoded="False">Wife spotted this one after I found GZ. We left our signature personalized micropen. Tftgc</Groundspeak:text> </Groundspeak:log> </Groundspeak:logs> <Groundspeak:travelbugs /> </Groundspeak:cache> </wpt> As you can see from the "BOLDFACE" above the time that the GPX file is reporting. Now if you go to the web page for this assoicated geocache Link... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...&Submit6=Go You will see my log and it's correct date... TODAY (July 24th, 2010) Yes, I know I can edit the GPX file and correct any errors. However this error ISN'T only for the caches I found today. It also shows INCORRECT dates for caches I have found the on PREVIOUS days caching this week. Just wanted to inform everyone of this error. TGC