lordelph

They've rearranged the site but the usual stock is still there - click "Application" then "Geocaching", or follow this short link http://snipurl.com/epl6

It's fairly painless - from the Firefox "Tools" menu choose "Manage User Scripts" then highlight "Geocaching Map Linker" and click "Uninstall" If Google Mail is anything to go by, Google Maps will be in beta for a long time yet!

So, 'cache out, trash in' - not sure I'd be 100% behind that one But to add to the growing list of people seconding Pharisee's idea, it makes sense to me. No-one's enjoyment is curtailed, and with Geocaching now 5 years old (on May 3rd I believe!), it addresses a problem that can only get worse as time goes on.

Not at all! I've seconded the suggestion too!

Just to clarify, I didn't write Greasemonkey, which is a Firefox extension that allows any website to be extended through 3rd party "user scripts". I wrote a Greasemonkey user script that links gc.com cache pages to OS and Google maps. But I'd love to see OS map links as a permanent feature so the majority of non-Firefox users can enjoy them too!

If anyone wants Google Maps / Satellite links in gc.com right now, and you use Firefox, then you can install Greasemonkey which allows pages to be modified before your browser displays them. Once you've got Greasemonkey, install my map linking script from: http://files.dixo.net/GeocachingMapLinker.user.js (right click that link and choose "Install User Script") Once installed, all cache information pages will link to Google Maps with a Satellite link too. For UK caches (since I'm a Brit) it links to Ordnance Survey maps too. Here's a screenshot Enjoy!

I don't think we should be trying to win these guys over, there are some areas where you just shouldn't have people poking around in bushes and undergrowth for tupperware and surely a managed nature reserve/SSSI is one of them? I'm happy to volunteer time to come up with a technological solution for logging "out of bounds" areas, so that moderators (and setters) can do a quick lookup. GAGB already has a database of shapefiles for some "agreed" areas, does it not? Could that be used, adapted, enhanced etc...

Now with added Google Maps goodness I had a request from our American friends to add Google Maps support, which turned out to be pretty easy. Amended screenshot is at the top of this thread. Google Maps is great for the US with it's excellent satellite imagery, but this feature isn't available in the UK yet, so no satellite link for UK caches. Hopefully they'll put something similar together for us. Please note I've changed the name and URL of the script to better suit what it is turning into, so.... Uninstall old version first... If you've already installed the old version (GeocachingOSMap) go to Tools->Manage User Scripts, highlight GeocachingOSMap in the left hand column, and press the Uninstall button at the bottom of the dialog. I'll stick with the new name so future upgrades will be less painful. Installing the new version... http://files.dixo.net/GeocachingMapLinker.user.js - right click that link and choose "Install User Script" (good tip Mr Trotter!)

There is only one thing for it. We must invade France before it's too late.

The UK is 241,590 sq km in size, let's assume a cache takes up 0.1 sq km, allowing 10 in any one km grid square. That's 2,415,900 caches. Take off the ones placed so far, you're left with 2,408,659 At a submission rate of 400/month, it will take another 500 years to cover the UK!

OK, I'm fully caffeinated, so knocked this out while finishing my toast... http://files.dixo.net/one4zorro.html The answer in the demo 222,222 - to change the answer you edit the script to tell it the real coords, run it, and it will tell you how to modify the code so the answer is hidden. As I couldn't assume the presence of server side support, this is entirely javascript driven, which means the answer must be embedded in the HTML. The code uses a cryptographic hash (MD5) to hide the answer from curious eyes, but with a search space of only a million options, an enterprising geek could discover the answer reasonably quickly. But where's the fun in that eh? Tested on IE6 and Firefox, should be OK on most javascript capable browsers, but could use a little finesse so that people with JS turned off see something else. Enjoy!

I'm glad people like it, but I think there's enough pinned threads - perhaps Lactodorum could add a link to the http://www.geocache.co.uk/ list of resources?

You must restart Firefox after installing Greasemonkey - make sure you close all open windows and then start it again. If the extension is installed, you should also see it listed under Tools -> Extensions Yes, I certainly don't intend to touch off a holy war about browsers - this topic is aimed squarely at existing Firefox users! I'm working on it!

Like geocaching itself, "there's-more-than-one-way-do-it" - there's nothing wrong with GeocacheUK, but whereas that links to a 1:50000 scale map on streetmap.co.uk, my greasemonkey script links to the 1:25000 scale map on the OS website.

Firstly, this post may only appeal to small minority who satisfy the following criteria: 1) you use Firefox as your main browser 2) you've always wished that instead of just saying "British Grid: TL 11855 26471" on the cache information page, it actually linked to an OS Map. Still reading? Well, there's a groovy thing for Firefox called Greasemonkey which lets you modify webpages before they are displayed to you, so you (or someone infinitely sadder, like me) can add in all the functionality you wish was there. So first, you go and install Greasemonkey from here http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/ Then you restart Firefox, and go here http://files.dixo.net/GeocachingOSMap.user.js - page may look like gobbledegook, but stay with me: click Tools -> Install User Script in Firefox and you're done. From now on, the grid reference on cache information pages will be clickable. How nice is that? I'm sure there's all sorts of other useful things that could be done, but this is just something I've wished for - feel free to suggest upgrades! (Edit - here is a screenshot which illustrates the above:)

There was an interesting older thread on this subject last year. I remember I went zooming down the A1 to check my speedo "Is this your vehicle sir? - Do you know what speed you were doing?" "Exactly 92.8 miles per hour occifer!"

I got in touch with the Freemap chappie (Nick Whitelegg) to see how we could use his maps for http://www.geograph.co.uk. It's early days but he's done some nice work, and he's now joining forces with the Openstreetmap folks. If anyone is interested in getting more involved, see http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenGeoData - there is a meeting in London on April 14th to "bring together Open Source GIS software authors and mapmakers, with people working on spatial information systems for local government.". Both Openstreetmap and Freemap are giving short talks. I hope to pop along as the whole thing has piqued my interest!

I voted for "separate threads", but I have to agree there seem to have been a rash of them recently (EDIT - I just noticed that's because they all got bumped, so what follows is almost certainly overkill. never mind), so let me suggest an entirely technological solution: Introducing the Auto-Congratulator! It sounds like a sex-aid, but rather less exciting. Every week, it would automagically check the found stats of every UK cacher, and compare it with the previous week. Anyone crossing a "congratulatory threshold" (100,200, whatever) is added to a single message. This single message is then posted on the forums (either manually or automatically), perhaps with a summary of the users involved in the topic e.g. TOPIC HEADER Congratulations this week.... ...to jubjub,frumious and bandersnatch TOPIC BODY Put your hands together for these hardworking cachers... jubjub: 100 finds frumios: 200 finds bandersnatch: 1000 finds Sounds great doesn't it? One "congratulations" post per week, clearly marked with the people being applauded. I could tackle this, but I'd need the permission of Groundspeak to scrape the stats of UK cachers. This could be something the geocacheuk.com database could handle perhaps, since they already have such permission. That said, you may think this is a crap idea

Nice one Peter, Jo and Boo! Bunty-tastic

I'd just like to make a big public THANK YOU to TeamA'sinB for putting on the Easter Egg hunt event. It was very well run considering the numbers involved and we had a great time meeting everyone. The best part was that while rummaging around hunting for eggs we actually found an entirely unrelated cache. Bonus!

fun-funfun-fun-fun (I'm going for the little-used 'Tigger Gambit' move there) I'm off to the egg hunt, Team A's&Bs informed me last night they're expecting 60+!

I have abducted John Craven and managed to superglue a TB tag to his left shoe. I will post him as soon as I have enough money for the stamps.

I've spent virtually every minute of spare time since Feb 6th getting the site developed, so it's nice to see it starting to take off. We've got lots of features in the pipeline, such as a decent search and map browsing, so stick with it! Credit should also be given to fellow geocacher Barry Hunter, who has contributed many fixes and suggestions over the past 6 weeks, as well as being the "King of Geodetic Data" There is a basic guide on the site, and we're working on a more detailed one now we have more examples to work with. In a nutshell, all submissions are moderated in one of three ways * rejected - rejected images might have people as the focal point, be badly focussed or lit, or have too little information for the title and comments. * supplemental image - good image, but not necessarily geographically representative of the square. * geograph - good image, shows some geography of the square, is accompanied by a good title and comment. When you view a square, "geographs" are always shown first, followed by supplemental images. We're working on a cool "map browser' which shows thumbnails of the first image in each square, and we'll most likely implement some way to promote a truly great image to the number one spot (without altering the 'geograph points' leaderboard) I hope people will find this a fun activity while out caching!

That rough looking chap in frame 20 is me!

Simply Paul Merchandise has made a grand total of $3 for the, erm, "chosen charity". I'll give it a few days and top it up to the nearest fiver. Might get a few badges myself too!