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Team Sieni

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Everything posted by Team Sieni

  1. Eider thought this was no time for duck puns
  2. I find it interesting that quite a few of the things on people's wishlists (historic caches, trigs etc) are supplied, or could be supplied, via Waymarking.com as it stands. This just underlines to me that Groundspeak messed up in their communications and branding when spinning off another site. The hard techy stuff is excellent, but the soft fluffy stuff about the way it was launched and delivered didn't seem to have been given so much thought and seemed to be almost deliberately divisive. It would seem to me that what people want are not simply the (for want of a better term) "logbookless caches", but delivery via a familiar route - evolution not revolution and all that. I'm not banging the drum for Waymarking here, if people aren't interested in it that's not my business. I'm just pointing out what I think was a strategic error by Groundspeak. Looking forward it will be interesting to see if they recognise this, and deliver some of the WM services via the GC.com domain. That would involve a fair amount of awareness of how the consumer ticks which is not, imo, GSP's forte. If and when the next big release comes it will be interesting.
  3. That would be nice - more online help and information would be welcome. But not compulsorily There is also a the (mainly US) Geocaching Tour Guides where willing volunteers offer to help willing pupils, on an entirely voluntary basis. As to insisting that people locate mentors ... forget it. I can't imagine anything that would put me off entering a site more.
  4. I've been thinking about this (I spend a lot of time staring out of train windows). What I would do would be to publish the specs for the API, and make a test server (with suitably mashed data) available, to encourage application development. But I would keep access via the live API subject to licence agreements. This would encourage the emergence of new apps, while capitalising on the revenue stream from API licencing that would result. Of course this would also require clever load balancing on the servers to ensure that web performance didn't suffer as a result of API load, and also to choke off any API operations that look like an attempt at a mass download. I considered suggesting the introduction of an aggregation layer to the database, with various pre-calculated stats summaries at various levels of detail to enable cachers to get the wierd and wonderful stats that they so love. However, I'd leave this to sites like "it's not about the numbers". Having dedicated sites run by others that are tied to the way the GSP databases not only offloads this work, but probably strengthens the position of the GSP DB as the de-facto central source for such data. I would also, as I noted above, hurry along the convergence of WM.com and GC.com onto a single platform, which is what Phoenix is/was intended to do. Some of the feature requests above (eg virtuals at historic sites) are nothing more or less than what is already supported via WM.com, but users of GC.com ignore them largely because of the degree of ill-will towards the WM brand that was engendered in the GC user base when it was introduced (and also because they don't show up on the GC find count). This is illogical, but one must recognise that the public has a right to behave illogically. Having recognised this I would take some steps towards regaining the goodwill of GC brand users, without alienating WM users, by providing a mix of services badged under the brands to which the various sectors of the user base are loyal. I'd also consider hosting a generic location services platform on which third parties could build (at a cost, natch) their own location-based service/game sites. And lastly, with an eye to the future, I'd scratch my head and think about what benefits I could provide if servers interrogated geotagging info in uploaded photos and automatically stored waypoints. I wouldn't be looking to take on the likes of Flikr and SmugMug (they're too big and well entrenched) but there must be an angle there. There you are, Jeremy: Some unsolicited free consultancy from someone completely unqualified to give it
  5. Groundspeak already do this, but in a very controlled manner only to "Trusted Partners". (ie remove the words publicly and accessible ) As a result we have Trimble Geocache Navigator (a lovely bit of software). See, this post from the man himself. But it's not publicly accessible. GS guard their data very jealously against possible mass downloading (probably with good reason). See also the obfuscation stuff that they put on the Google Earth streaming KML thingy.
  6. Upon compulsion? Ouch! I for one would never have started caching if such a thing were in place. I wouldn't have considered it for a moment. Not for one moment. I imagine that it would deter a significant percentage, maybe a majority, of new starters. But it's your world, and you're the boss (for the purposes of this thread) so good luck If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. (Falstaff, Henry IV pt I)
  7. Bookmark Lists I'd revamp bookmark lists: All objects: Make BML able to hold links to all kinds of GC.com object: caches; other BMLs; cacher accounts; trackables; visit log entries ... Opt Out: The owner of an object gets an "invitation" email when it is added to a BML and has the right to opt out. Opt In: New kind of BML that anyone can add their own objects to (but the BML owner retains has the right to deny entry). Eg for "Motorway Mayhem" the cacher themselves would add a new MM cache to the list when they set it up - no need for central maintenance. Virtuals I think there may be a touch of "be careful what you wish for" in the calls to bring them back. I suspect they would soon become very controversial, with endless wrangles over guidelines, criteria, "they aren't what they used to be", "junk virtuals just for the numbers", "micro virtuals" and so on. The Waymarking.com site ( hear me out!) has all the tools (groups; the three level category/WM/visit hierarchy; review queues; group voting; peer review voting) to be able to build a tailored solution for Virtual Caches. I'm not sure what it would look like mind, but the tools are there. So, I'd hasten the arrival of Project Phoenix, when WM.com and GC.com sit on a common engine, and build a replacement for Virts on that. (I just wouldn't tell cachers that their virtuals were in fact implemened as Waymarks, as it would make them feel dirty). Puzzles I'd have an immediate ban on the "bad kind" of puzzles. (The ones I can't do). This is a bit more of a gc.com website wishlist than a general "if I ruled the world", which may not have been SP's intent but I hope it's not OT.
  8. I may not be around for a bit, so if I don't reappear, whoever gets this doesn't need to wait for the ding. Name the metabisturbile drug against which groups such as "Free the UK from Drugs" and "Ban On Metabisturbile Drugs" campaigned.
  9. There's always the human factor too. I found an ammo can recently and the lid had not been shut. It was in a nice dry place, mind so all was well, but you have to rely on the finder putting the lid back on properly. (I should own up that I once saw the next log after me complaining of the similar thing on a cache I'd found).
  10. You probably already know this, but for caching you should always have the datum set to WGS84 (and the co-ords format to DD MM.SSS) Accidentally leaving it set to another value can have "interesting" results. Sounds like you may have a valuable antique. You don't believe all that mumbo jumbo about great birds in the sky do you? It's all done by pixies really. The pixies are scared of the dwarves who live in the woods, and of busy towns, and that's why reception is bad in woodland and city centres.
  11. The stone is waymarked here: WM4MHX This waymark shows the co ordinates in both OSGB and WGS84, so you can see the difference.
  12. Indeed. It's likely (but not certain) that the meridian stone you were on was placed on the Airy meridian, which is about (depending on your latitude) 100m to the W of the WGS84 Meridian, where your GPSr will show 0.00. Confused? Here are a couple of links that may help. Flamsteed Astronomy Society History of the Prime Meridian If you are interested in Waymarking, you could record the stone here: Greenwich Meridian Markers
  13. No to be honest, there is Geocaching and there are geocaching forums. They are for the most independant of each other, you don't have to use the forums and you don't have to geocache. You can choose that which you enjoy, maybe one, maybe a little of both. I agree heartily, Mongoose. Most recent problems with the forums seem to be entirely self-referential - angst in the forums about the forums. Diverting to observe, but nothing to do with caching, really.
  14. Goodness me, lighten up! Relax a bit. It had a smiley on it. One of these:
  15. Just in case any of you were thinking avatar crime is just a bit of knockabout fun, think again. Associated Press The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead. The woman was arrested Wednesday and was taken across the country, traveling 620 miles from her home in southern Miyazaki to be detained in Sappporo, where the man lives, the official said.
  16. I have a vision of a Gandalf-like druid producing a shiny Garmin 60CSX from beneath his robe! (and maybe intoning sonorously EG-NOS, EG-NOS, G-SAK, G-SAK)
  17. I don't claim to be an expert, but I've done a handful on Dartmoor, and I can second the selection of those two. We had a great walk that day.
  18. Hmmm ... is this "a heated debate among a very small number of users" Mods! Mods!
  19. Here, have a pat on the back, Mandarin. <pat pat>
  20. Another announcement. Local Yahoo ads are being trialled (US only) but may become relevant to the UK in time. Also hints at why Phoenix is still not risen - Jeremy refers to the "how do we pay for version 2 of Geocaching.com" discussion. See: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=182566
  21. Quite the contrary, I would imagine (just my opinion). The purpose of the commercial guidelines is (I have always thought) to prevent organisations using GS to provide free ads; if there is advertising to be done via GS pages, GS naturally want to benefit from it. So if they are bringing this kind of advertising on stream then if anything they may want to make extra sure no one else is grabbing commercial benefit from the GS website for free.
  22. For those of you who don't read the other forums there was a new release yesterday. You can read about and discuss it here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...=0#entry3669042 I've not had time to investigate.
  23. Obviously not a rail commuter. They lose mine regularly.
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