fairhair

I occasionally had this problem before, but after the update I have it all the time. Most of the time I get only a blank page when I try to read a listing, perform a search or write a log. Sometimes I get one page, but after that only blank pages. On rare occasions I get more than one page. This morning I tried to open some of my own listings. I hadn't visited geocaching.com since yesterday evening. I could open one listing, then I got only blank pages. Then I left geocaching.com, deleted all cookies from geocaching.com, released my public ip address, restarted Firefox, requested a new ip address, logged in to geocaching.com, opened one listing, tried to open a second one and got a blank page again. I'm beginning to be fed up with this dysfunctional web site.

OK, but what about the first issue? As it is now, only the owner can read the image description (on the edit page). Other users cannot read the description, because it's not displayed in the cache listing as it used to be.

The image descriptions used to be displayed next to the image link in the cache listing, but they aren't there any more. If you use the link you will see the image only, not the description. You can't see the dscription in the gallery either, because the gallery only displays one thumbnail (even if there are more images) and if you click on that thumbnail, you get back to the listing. Here's an example: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...c8-e519e524f3ac

I tried the wap service with IE on my iPAQ the other day. It work fine except for one little snag. When I viewed a cache that had no short description, the short description for the previous cache I had viewed was still displayed, which was a bit confusing.

How far can you move a cahce, i.e. how much can you change the coordinates without having to ask a reviewer to do it?

Are you serious??!! Three days! Have a look at this one: Hagar the Horrible

This is not correct. The offset is a difference between two position measurements, so the error in the offset is a function of the errors in these two measurements but not of the distance between the positions.

What's the big problem? TBs aren't fringe benefits for cachers, they are travelling objects that hike from cache to chache with cachers. Two things are important, that they move towards their goal and that their movements are logged so you can see where they are and where they have been. As long as this is fulfilled, I don't mind what people do with logs. To retrieve a lot of bugs you haven't taken and then drop them again in the same cache may be dumb, but it does no harm (except taking server space).

Here are the closetst caches based on the zip code (22270): Closest caches to SE-22270

Once I searched my house for my reading glasses. After 10 minutes or so, I realized they were sitting on my nose. No one else home so I must have put them there myself. Did I find them or didn't I?

Well fizzymagic, I wonder who's religous. We're discussing the pros and cons with variuos coordinate systems here. Both virgo91967 and I wrote that geodetic coordinates are the best for large areas, while UTM (or for that matter, coordinates based upon other projections such as Lambert Conformal Conical) may be better when working with small areas. You seem to think there is no god besides lat/long, hallelujah. Of course, UTM cannot be used for the GPS system, but geodetic coordinates cannot either. The system uses a three-dimensional cartesian coordinate system. The position (X.Y,Z) of the receiver in that system is computed and then converted to latitude, longitude and ellipsoid height. Some receivers also have a geoid height model, so they can compute height above mean sea level from the ellipsoid height. Images of the Earth or part of it on a map are always projections, so if you work with maps you must use a projection. Mapping GPSrs also use projections. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to map things to the correct pixels. Lat/long are good for long distance navigation especially if you use celestial navigation. For describing small areas, rectangular coordinates are much better. I suppose, even you wouldn't describe your house or your garden in lat/long. The best picture of the Earth?

As a newbie I must say, I find GC.com excellent. The functionality provided is really well designed. I made some mistakes around my first cache, but had no problem fixing them. All the functionality needed was there, and presented so I could intuitively understand what to do. OK, the servers get overloaded sometimes, but as it's free of charge, that's a thing you have to accept. haraldn

Well, geodetic coordinates attempt to represent the Earth as a sphere, which it isn't either. UTM doesn't represent the earth as flat. It represents a six degrees wide section of the Earth as flat. UTM surely doesn't work for navigating across oceans, but navigating round a cache is usually short distance, so UTM works well. The only exception would be if the cahce is close to a zone border. Magnetic compasses don't point to true north either, so bearings taken with a magnetic compass have to be corrected. It's no problem to include the meridian convergence (difference between grid north and true north) in the correction. Some maps actually state magnetic variation relative to grid north so you can do it all in one operation. haraldn

If it's local, it's not UTM. UTM stands for Universal Transverse Mercator. It's a map projection system in which the world (except the polar regions) is divided into 60 zones, each 6 degrees wide. Each zone is mapped with a Transverse Mercator projection with the middle meridian of the zone as central meridian. The other projection parameters are the same for all zones. Many countries have local Transverse Mercator projections with their own set of parameters, but these projections are not UTM, because UTM cannot be redefined. Btw, this also means that the "User UTM grid" you can define in some Garmin units is nonsense. If it's user defined it's not UTM. haraldn

Averaging is better than taking just one sample. It doesn't remove any systematic eror. that's corrrect, but at least it does remove the random error. Another thing you can do to get better accuracy, is to plan your work so you have the best possible satellite configuration when you place your cache. Free satellite availability software can be dowmloaded from here: http://downloads.leica-geosystems.com/down...manac/index.htm You define a site and the program computes satellite availability and estimates the quality of the reading. You can also tell the program to consider obstacles, e.g. if you have a high wall at one side. Note that you have to download almanac data from the same location regularly. haraldn

Well, I can understand that people have other things to do than to run a forum, but if they don't have time to run a forum they shouldn't run a forum. That's my not so humble opinion. Anyway, is discouraging people from visiting the caches of others part of the game? I shouldn´t think so. So a post doing that shouldn't be allowed to stay on a moderated forum for two days. haraldn

Thanks. I have mailed the person who posted and asked him to make a correction. If that doesn't help, I can mail x9. haraldn

Does anyone here know how to get in contact with an administrator or moderator of http://www.plattformen.se/cachingforum/? I can´t find any contact information in the forum. I have been subjet to slander in that forum and people are warned in bold that it might be dangerous to visit one of my caches. I cannot respond. I have registered in the forum but my account must be activated by the administrator and so far the administrator hasn't done this. haraldn

No, you didn't. Remember, TBs are hitchhikers. No one can tell you how many hitchhikers to pick up. You pick up as many as you like, including zero.

The third decimal corresponds to roughly six feet in N-S direction. In E-W direction it depends on the latitude. It's approximately six feet times the cosine of the latitude. At 45 degrees that's about 4 feet. To use UTM coordinates as suggested is the best alternative. Otherwise it doesn't really matter if you round off or truncate. In both cases you have the correct location within a rectangle that's 60 feet N-S and 40 feet E-W. If you have rounded, you're at the center of the rectangle. If you have truncated, you're at the SE corner (presuming lat is N and long W). Of course, also presuming that the internal precision of your unit is better than the displayed figures. If it displays UTM coords with one meter resolution, it should be.

Will be hard to get someone to take care of this one, I'm afraid. The other caches around are all close to a road. This one is on the top of Sikkilsdalshø, which is a three hour hike from and 800 m above the road. Harald

Geocaching is addictive. If people tell you, yoy can try it and then stop, don't believe'em. Try it once and your hooked.

One cacher can hand over a TB to another to get it somewhere it wants to go. To drop it the second cacher must have in his/her inventory, so he/she must grab it. There's also another use for grabbing. Lately I dropped a TB in a new cache of mine. Then I discovered that the longtitude for that cache was completely wrong which caused the travelled distance for the TB to be wrong. To correct this, I grabbed the TB, so I could drop it once more after having corrected the coordinates.

You could try this: 1. Grab the TB if it's not already in your inventory 2. Delete the cache log entry in which you dropped it. 3. Drop it once more. I wouldn't guarantee that it works, but it can hardly make things worse.

This isn't about the meaning of the word "travel". This is a matter of philosophy or attitude. Geocaching should be adventurous, at least to some degree. Is it adventurous to mail a TB? No. I would say that even handing it over to someone in order to move it to a specific location is against the adventurous spirit. The thing with a travel bug is that you put it in a cache not knowing who is going to pick it up and where that person will move it. You could compare with wild vs. domesticated animals. Wild animals spread naturally and when a species moves to a new area people get rather excited. Someone importing a new breed of chicken isn't very exciting. A mailed TB is a domesticated TB. haraldn