BigFurryMonster

Narcissa: that's exactly the sort of cache-type I mean! Some brilliant work there, near Ottawa. Keep the ideas and references to existing caches coming!

My favorite cache type is one I name the 'puzzle multi cache' -- a mystery or multi-cache that involves navigational techniques in the field to locate the final cache. They're always field work, and ideally involve properties of the location or landscape combined with clever thinking. Some examples of this are: following trails of pictures in a city, using tracklogs to find your way across a forest, using mathematical figures, grid searches, field search in certain patterns, and so on. Especially a number of older caches used these methods in their solution. Here's some examples I made myself: Ultra Traiectum: following various picture trails, getting the pictures in the right order: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC129P7_ultra-traiectum Bonus Traiectum: searching for pictures I took in a given grid: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC44XXE_bonus-traiectum Ninth Circle: placing (virtual) circles on a grid, given the contents of those circles in the field. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1Q33H_de-negende-cirkel (English description at the bottom of those pages) I'm looking for caches that fall into this category, to learn nice techniques, and apply some of them to my own caches. Please share!

Thanks for the "constructive" feedback, guys. Yes, it's my own puzzle. Would you elaborate why you think it's a bad puzzle? If you start with a fresh browser, everything's in sync and the puzzle plays itself out like intended. The tech side of it should not be a problem, but I may have overlooked something. There's multiple solution methods. Staring at the screen is certainly one of them; it may be the easiest but the most boring/tedious one. Can you decipher the clues to find the other methods? So far, 6 favorites from the first 6 finders.

Yes, I seem to be, since I also see the new top-right menu style. I'm not sure I see the point of testing URLs and canonicals on a limited group, since it's really done mainly for SEO purposes. I don't see any feedback option. [...] The version seems to depend on the cookie with name "__umtx", and its value: 54847549.jHyk2XpETSCf8R-astAtFQ$3682814-19 gets me the old cache page and regular URL 54847549.jHyk2XpETSCf8R-astAtFQ$3682814-19:1 gets me the new cache page and changed URL

Ehm .. is there now a redirect on cache pages? I now get: http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4BV3E_tempus-fugit-ii-pixelperfect?utm_expid=3682814-19 instead of: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC4BV3E There is a canonical tag to yet another format: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=19063fb2-786c-4d10-bf4c-a5c9eefb7da2 Since the user and search engines get sent to different versions of the URL, this smells like very bad practice, and is quite inconvenient since URLs shared will have (more) different formats now. Something to look into?

For both the lovers and haters of puzzles: This puzzle solves itself: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC4BV3E

The answer is ... well, it can be part of a mystery! Figure "something" out from the given waypoints, even though you need not visit them or even load them onto your GPS. Or it can be a set of reference points for a multicache. For example, this cache of mine (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1Q33H) leads the cacher through a park, where he must spot objects and trees and relate their locations to a given grid. I provide the grid points, which I had to enter manually. Better to do this automated. Note that the grid points themselves don't need to be visited.

For a cache, I'd like to add a LOT of additional waypoints to the listing. Is there any way to automate this? Manually entering them one by one is a pain.

It should be an option, and default = 'stripped out', for any cache type. And it should be stripped out alltogether for log images. In my area, some cachers are finding caches based on the geolocation data in one of the log images.

Bump this topic. I suspect that EXIF data for log images is not being stripped. Can someone verify?

Thanks for replying everyone! This issue seems to be affecting others than just me (that's a relief), but I hear different stories when it comes to the cause: Website update logs me out Logging out on one device logs out all devices Browser eats my cookies Now, I certainly don't log out myself, so as far as I am concerned, I don't consider the second option. I've checked by browser (Firefox) and I don't think it's set to destroy cookies. Moreover, I use different browsers (and sometimes an in-App browser for e.g. Facebook) so they would all have to be doing this. Is Groundspeak updating the website every week? And why does it my browser to 'forget' cookies? I'll check whether there is a cookie after such an event. edit: found my cookies: is the 'user id' cookie the one causing this, and is its expiry date just awfully soon?

I'm visiting geocaching.com from my home computer, my iphone, my ipad, my work computer, and with different browsers or in-app browsers. Every now and then, usually every week or so, the website 'forgets' my credentials and makes me log in again. Not a big deal in itself, but over time: annoying. Is there some function in geocaching.com that checks the number of different channels I log in from, and based on that, removes my cookie? Anyone else having this issue?

That did take you about 9 months, right? [/offtopic]

Dank voor de tip! Het hoeft inderdaad niet duur te zijn.

Ik heb voor een cache een cijferslot met 3 of 4 cijfers nodig, het liefst met een iets bredere beugel, zeg 3cm ipv 1cm, zodat-ie om een logboek of klein doosje heen kan. Wie heeft goede tips?

The Mayans predicted this some 900 years ago.

There! You hit the nail on the head. We need quality, not quantity, and this is an easy way to help accomplish that. I vote for Small as the minimum size.

Is it legal in your country to broadcast on FM without a license? Great idea, though.

I have a cache that has a book inside the cache. The book is written by a local author, about his neighbourhood (= the area of the cache). The cache is easy to find, but then cacher has to take the book through the neighbourhood, while solving puzzles from the cache page that require input from both the book and from his surroundings. After solving all the puzzles, the cacher gets a code that he can use on a padlock that's on the logbook.

Wouldn't you be better off using a free online game to run this from? Like http://secondlife.com/ ?

Boy, I hope this topic turns into 'look at all the cool cache pages out there ...' My own cache page, at http://coord.info/GC2D2M3 : A bit of styling, a slightly larger font, a background image that's stylish but not too prominent, some images, ... you get it

Nabij/in Utrecht: Hansje: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1HRM5 Serton: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1HRM6 Noodt: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC3QQBM Krrts: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC1AABF

Oh, two issues with zoom: 1 the z= parameter in the URL does not work; I set it to 11 but get z=14 2 there is no zoom control, though using iPad gestures does zoom the map

Would be great, as a next improvement to Maps, to remember my settings : My Finds and My Hides on/off. Thanks for bringing Google Maps back!

Well done, Groundspeak! Hurrah for this big step forward! (given the situation Google creates). Hopefully this will lead to ultra-usable maps, including favorite points and such. I tried to find some nice caches for the weekend yesterday, but I found that the maps did not help me accomplish my (simple) task.