AnTsInRpAnTs

However, a clear guideline in the cache creation process on things recommended to be taken into account when setting the difficulty rating could improve cache quality overall with some impact on the quality of statistics as side benefit. Also, a reminder that creating caches with false Terrain ratings (e.g. we have 8 5/5 finds most of which are nonsense) is not the way the game should be played might ping the conscience system of those who abuse the system with intent. Over and Out!

OK all, pretty much resigned to binning this idea... thanks

If the hint is not viewed, nothing would happen. If the hint is viewed, the remote device application would have to create a record that would be uploaded to Geocaching.com somewhere linked to , or on, the user profile noting the cache GC code and a "hint viewed" flag, the D penalty for which would be applied at the time, or retrospectively if the cache is logged later. Similarly, if the cache is logged directly online, the penalty would be applied immediately if the record had been extracted from the user's remote device / application, or retrospectively when it was later extracted. I have to say, this does sound a wee bit convoluted and barefootjeff's comment "I'm sure I've seen something somewhere that said the D rating should assume that both the description and hint have been read by the searcher, but I can't put my finger on the reference ", if correct, is how it should work. As regards "Statistics (different or otherwise) are not the point of the difficulty and terrain ratings", I totally agree. And with reference to geostats, too many cachers abuse them as a form of self-aggrandizement and the manipulation of D ratings to enable grid completion is only one of many ways that can be achieved. I read somewhere that a.o. Mark Twain attributed the great and well-used quotation "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" to Benjamin Disraeli. Geostats fall into all three No, I had no idea. re: Different stats on the same cache, based on whether someone reads the hint, I think deep-down you realize just won't work. It could work but given the propensity of many cachers for self-promotion based on stats manipulation anyway Per your other allegation, it's probably a complete waste of time. Hey-ho!

re Most important factors for a high-quality geocache Around 92% of survey respondents ranked accurate coordinates as very or extremely important for a high-quality geocache. By comparison, only 24% said that the largest container for a location was very or extremely important. The factors, in order of importance, were: . . . 5. Accurate Difficulty and Terrain ratings In our opinion, despite the result of this factor ranking only 5th in the list of importance factors for a high-quality cache, it is important - when searching - to have as objective as possible an indication as, if a cache is actually difficult but not graded as such, it can have just as much of an impact as poor co-ordinates. Nobody likes a DNF, least of all the majority of cache setters because only a very small minority set caches they don't actually wan to have found and those setters just have slightly twisted minds (in my opinion!). A series of DNFs on a cache, for whatever reason, leads to either a maintenance check or prospective seeker/finders abandoning the thought of looking for the cache concerned and, when there is more than one such on a series, many will look elsewhere to cache. This can lead cache setters to give generous Hints. When we started setting caches, we generally made our Hints cryptic so as not to make the find too easy. Over the years, we have softened our approach. But, besides the positive effect of eliminating excessive DNFs, a good Hint can have a negative impact on the quality of Statistics when a high-difficulty-rated cache becomes too easy to find. Cache setters can, and do, have quite a problem selecting a D rating if a hint is given. So we (well Mrs AnT did if truth be told) had the idea of a variable Difficulty rating. The concept would be that the standard rating would apply when the Hint is not viewed. The value of the Hint would be determined by the setter in reductions at 0.5 intervals and a change to the Difficulty rating would be applied to the finder's personal results /statistics if the Hint was viewed before the cache was logged as a Find. Mrs AnT is (or was) a programmer and thinks this would be a fairly simple piece of interactive data collection. This would mean that different cachers would have different stats resulting from the same find. It would leave a challenge and the opportunity to improve their stats distribution to those who want it , and make it easier for those who just want to chase the numbers or are short of time. Of course it doesn't address the issues of PAFs, and other forms of information sharing such as 2 or more persons caching together that would benefit from only 1 person taking a hit on their stats. But this aspect of the game relies on cachers being honest with themselves. AnTs! West Sussex UK

Yes, I also had the issue with not being able to select Stage 1. Eventually solved by clearing last 24 hours browsing data via clicking on top right hand corner of screen 3 vertical dots (customise and control Google Chrome), select More Tools / Clear Browsing Data / gives screen:

This looks like it might be something to do with interference from Geocaching involvement with Facebook. I get "waiting for facebook.com" in the lower left of my screen! Why? And I was wrong about it working on my other computer.

I have also suddenly had a problem creating a Mystery cache. I cannot get to the correct input screen. What I see looks like my uploaded photo. I cannot make a change to the Visibility - it is locked. I wondered whether it might have something to do with a Windows update but that seems a stretch of the imagination. Yet I can create it normally on another, older computer. Any ideas?

I have just read through the posts in this thread and, sadly, have to add my voice to the chorus "Groundspeak has made a right mess of the introduction of a replacement to the Classic app". I think the main problem is to have created a cheapo free app and then decide to upgrade it, for whatever reason, rather than conceive an ideal app and build it from scratch. It is one thing to have a wish list but another to have to put on a wish list a load of features that were already appreciated by premium members in the Classic app. I too have only recently bothered to struggle with adapting to a downgrade which is visually greatly inferior to the Classic. I have some sight problems and this app and its maps are not friendly for me. In addition to the issues raised already in this thread (Getting Closer is a disaster! as is the lack of the comprehensive field notes of the Classic which are supposed to be available in 10 days time!), the navigation is poor. To unlock the navigation is terribly fiddly then, when you get close and want to zoom in using your touch sensitive screen, the navigation locks again - uh why??? I wish I'd looked at the forum topic a few weeks or months ago as I think I am going to have to buy Cachley or a.n.other, and now only have a 2 days to familiarise myself with it and create / download some lists before going travelling... AnTsInRpAnTs

Please could we add a feature within: www.geocaching.com/my/owned.aspx to separate active from archived caches. It is really annoying to have the archived caches mixed up within one's list of active owned caches. AnTsInRpAnTs

I would not disagree with this view. So many TBs go missing we almost never put them in caches that are not PMO or very hard to find. We have a TB hotel that is in a relatively exposed area at a service area but it requires a code to access the cache AND it is PMO. So far in over 2 3/4 years since placing, I believe there have been only 2 TBs go missing and there have been 918 trackables pass through the cache. AnTs

noncentric said: I know it's not an ideal solution, but cachers can still log online by accessing geocaching.com via a web browser and thereby having full website functionality via their phone. This is not only not an ideal solution. In my opinion, it is not a solution at all to access the website from a phone. Unless the website is also about to be completely revamped to make it phone friendly. Almost all phone screens are basically way too small to handle the data present on the website. Sometimes in the recent past I have wanted to contact someone from the field and the only way was to access their profile and send an email. It was a nightmare to login let alone do anything.

Good idea Panomaki, it is madness to already have a phase out point of June when the app is still in development stage.Let the new app prove itself to the experienced premium membership!If the vision is that we should really really want the new app in preference to the Classic, let the customers be part of the decision to switch off the Classic App... AnTs

To gmj3191: Here in the UK we are 8 hours ahead of Geo HQ so, if we log a cache in the field between midnight and 8 a.m. it is logged on the wrong day. What we need is for the app to have a field in the log creation entry process in which the date can be altered as is possible when posting online.That way, you could still use a phone to post a log several days after you found a cache. AnTs

There is something I would like to know that may or may not relate to the release of this App but which has been a problem from around the date of the announcement of its release. In the past, when a cache was published that was within the spec of our notification settings, we - as premium members who were using what is now the Classic app - would receive an emailed announcement about the cache with a link to it. This link, if opened on a phone, would load the new cache into the search page of the phone app and, from there, we could save it to offline for immediate use. Great if you were interested in trying for an FTF. Although sometimes you might have been asked if you wanted to open the cache in the app or on the website, since about March 9th, the link only takes you to the website, which is pretty useless on a phone. My wife's iPad still asks the question: open in app or on the website but not the iPhone 5. I am talking about the Classic app. It no longer seems to be possible to launch from a cache notification to the phone app. Is this a direct result of the failure to include such a feature in the Geocaching® app? If so, it seems you have already begun to withdraw support for the Classic app 3 months ahead of your schedule. If not, please can you advise how I can reinstate this feature? Kind regards Tim Finch

Geocaching HQ wrote: "With the new Geocaching® app, you will have all the features an experienced geocacher needs, such as live search, Message Center, trackables and, most recently, geocache lists." Although there are some great new features that the Classic App does have, such as the ability to pull up Google maps for use when driving to a cache lovcation in an unknown area rather than trying to use a caching map for that kind of navigation, this seems a very misleading statement when a good number of features in the Classis Geocaching App have not been included in this new Geocaching® app. There are features apparently missing from the new app that experienced cachers have been making good use of for years and are going to sorely miss, such as: - the ability to view cache searches as lists not just a page full of dots and smiley faces. If you are looking for a particular cache, it is so much easier to run your eye down a list! And once you have run such a search, it would be good to be able to save that search for offline use, as we do now on the Classic app. That list can then be edited for items not wanted for whatever reason. - the ability to save a cache or a cache group found in the search facility to offline on your phone. - the ability to write Personal Geocache Notes, a feature I use regularly but especially for notes on our owned caches where I find it incredibly usefu to hold data on puzzle cache solutions in case I get a query it's a lot easier to look there for detail about the puzzle construction than in a paper or word document in a file somewhere. It's also a great place to record details about a find (such as data required to work out location of a bonus cache) while have the data source cache open on your phone. - and as mentioned elsewhere, why drop Maintenance Required and Owner Maintenance logs? If your going to provide the ability to log a find or a DNF or a Note from the field, why stop there? Are you planning to stop people logging a Maintenance Requirement? Why would we need or want to wait until we get to log it online? Then, regarding your Help & About feature, I am sure some of the information you have on there is interesting for newcomers for a few minutes (though I would have thought they might know something about caching before downloading an app), but surely a Help section for an app should include information about how an app works (ie. some instructions for use). How things work are always self-evident for those who make them, but not so for users who have not been thinking a process through along the same lines. Perhaps it would also be good to provide (even if not in detail there in the app, then a link to one online) an explanation to clearly state, for the benefit of Classic App users, what features will not be found in this app, so don't bother looking everywhere to not find them. Finally, I think that it is unfair on the thousands if not millions of supportive premium members, after all we PAY annually for the privilege, to withdraw support for the "Classic" app as soon as June when we are probably not going to be happy to run with the Geocaching® app until it has been properly tried and tested by the premium member community. I for one would like to know what real research was done that justifies the statement you will have all the features an experienced geocacher needs before implementing this tool.Did you do a statistically meaningful survey of premium members across a significant range of countries? Kind Regards Tim AnTsInRpAnTs

Hi Kripau Sympathise with your frustration. I agree totally on your 1st point. When I travel, I don't necessarily have a computer and logging onto the website to create a list or run a PQ isn't great on a phone. So creating an offline list when you do have access to wifi is really useful. The only other solution is to have planned a full itinerary before leaving home and run a lot of PQs! But what if you don't have travel plan that detailed? When travelling abroad, I always have data roaming switched off too. Otherwise, phone charges escalate rapidly. So I cache using the offline saved maps and cache info so using a live map download is out of the question unless connected to wifi. On your 2nd point, when you have started navigation and you have the map up with the cache showing, there is a green circular image at top left. If you press on that it changes the view so the cache will rotate as you move the phone around. I also really really want to be able to see the caches in list form. If you are looking for a particular cache, what use is a bunch of smiley faces ???? I probably work with lists rather than maps about 60% of the time. I am actually quite incredulous that the developers at Groundspeak HQ have not included all these features and more. Who has been consulted with? Tim AnTsInRpAnTs

Thank you Bethkatz17582 for writing this post. We have not yet managed to get out and try out this app in the field, but find it astonishing that this app has been launched seemingly without a serious beta-testing period by a substantial group of experienced cachers from a good number of different countries? You can be sure they would have had volunteers. There are too many good features in the current classic app that are missing here. Why did Groundspeak launch an app that is nowhere near ready? AnTs

I agree. Surely the automatic searching should be a feature one can switch off! It's crazy for local searches to be automatically updated. Ants