PISA-caching

Yesterday I found another example for this (virtual) category: It's a free-standing window in a frame with a slim aluminium roof on top. Well, it doesn't really fit in a "WTF is that?" category, because this time I have a guess. I think it's a selfmade display case for advertisements or announcements. Maybe it's not that spectacular from your point of view, but here in Austria I don't see so many DIY things and this one I thought was worth showing you. Anyway, a little later we visited a cemetery and I found something that (for me) was really spectacular: It's a grave with a big solar panel above it. In the center front there's a 2-line LED display that lists the names/dates of the interred and some more text. Below the big milk glass there is a cross that might also be illuminated at night. Unfortunately, the cemetery is closed at night. Anyway, I was fascinated by this innovative grave and hope that it will be accepted in the Solar Power category. Has anybody ever seen something like this?

Too bad, I already had in mind to create 4 waymarks with just one photo: Just kidding of course! :-)

I can read it. It says: "If your name is five letters or shorter, you must use the entire name and can fill in the remaining values as desired or leave them "open" for your buddy to have some leeway."

And why were all these waymarks approved (by you!) then? "Odyssey Posse" would have to have a 6 at the beginning, no?

The problem is, that using "Crusso" to explain the rules is not a good choice. They say what you can/have to do, when your name is 6 or less letters long. But they say nothing about longer names. They don't say that I have to use the first 6 or 7 digits of the conversion. Also, the don't say whether the first 2 digits have to be used for the degrees as in the example or if I'm allowed to just use the first digit for the degrees But most of all: Look at all these waymarks, where the first letter "O" was also ignored.

Well, PISA-caching consists of Mr. PISA (me) and Mrs. PISA. We started with geocaching many years ago. We both don't own a car and we prefer to go geocaching/Waymarking without other people. So, we are somehow limited to areas where public transport is in walkable distance and we never created a geocache, because it takes just too much time and effort to maintain a Cache using public transport. Additionally, Vienna (where we live) is quite crowded with geocaches which urges the owners to use places that are not that spectacular. Also, more and more nano caches show up and I just hate them. But I created some waymarks to calm down my bad conscience and fortunately I don't have to visit them again once they are created. However, Mrs. PISA isn't at all interested in Waymarking, but still likes to solve riddles and search geocaches, while I find it much more inspiring to search for new waymarks to post them or existing waymarks to log them. With almost every new waymark I create I learn something new about my hometown. For example, I had no idea that the "Heilsarmee" (Salvation Army) is active in my hometown and I have been living here for 50+ years!! The only things I learn from geocaching are more nasty ways to encrypt coordinates in an almost unsolvable riddle :-( So, whenever we go for geocaches, I grab my GPS and my camera and if there are just boring caches to find I hope to find some interesting waymarks in between and most of the time my hopes are fulfilled. I think I'm very fortunate to have Mrs. PISA who shared the hobby of geocaching with me when I started it, is patient enough to wait until I took all the photos and Information I need for a new waymark when we are out for geocaches and also isn't angry, if I go Waymarking on my own. I know a lot of geocachers, who would love to go geocaching with their wife, but have to go all alone all year long (and only at times where their wife allows them to go), because their wife has no interest in it at all. Two last sentences: I think there are both boring geocaches AND waymarks and also phantastic geocaches and most interesting waymarks. Therefore I will never quit one or the other.

That's interesting. So, if I take my Name PISACACHING, I can ignore the first letter "P" and start with the letter "I"? So that I get 74722224464 (N47° 22.224)? If I get this right, all I have to do is to find someone in Zürich then. That should be doable. For example, N47° 22.224 E8° 32.070 is at the "Alter botanischer Garten".

Here's another one in Melbourne

Reykjavík, Iceland: This one is probably not that old, but interesting, no?

I don't think so. I couldn't find any signature or sign and it's quite clumsy.

I think the officers of that category wouldn't agree. The description says "best view to an interesting location".

Today I walked through my hometown in a new area and suddenly I saw something strange. I have no idea what is for or what it was supposed to become. It looks like this: A huge concrete frame on four concrete columns. The top part looks quite weathered, so I doubt that work is still in progress. Left of it there are more concrete frames standing on the ground and those are filled with glass. So they work like windshields and probably also reduce the noise of the trains and cars. But if that frame should have the same purpose, why put it on columns? I searched for a plaque or something like that (might be a strange piece of art) but found nothing. Here's a photo from the other side (nothing spectacular to see through this frame): And a link to Google Maps. So, does anybody have an idea what this frame might be? And has anybody else also seen things that would fit in a (fun) category "WTF is that?" :-)

The question is: What kind of prove is accepted for this category? Here in Vienna, we also have a hotel that once was a brothel, but they avoid mentioning that on their website. I found the info in an online article about the prostitution in the old days of Vienna. The article doesn't mention when the brothel was closed and I have no idea how trustworthy the author is. In an article of an old newspaper I read about a man whose mother in law had a brothel. They also mention the exact address. But again I couldn't find any info about when the brothel closed. Seems like a tough task to find a valid waymark that is additionally worth visiting and not just another boring building.

I may be ignorant, but I don't think that we have a lot of meeting halls in Austria. At least I never heard of any. I couldn't find anything like Temperance Halls and not even Union Halls. I think that Union workers didn't meet in bigger quantity on a regular basis. If there was the need to do that they would use a remise or factory hall or whatever is available. I don't know about other countries in Europe though.

Yes, I read the description, but "interesting enough to stop and admire" is quite subjective. ;-)

Will they also be accepted if they don't look as spectacular as most of the other waymarks in that category? One of the two holy doors I have seen so far is just a quite regular door with the words "Porta Sancta" painted on the top part of the doorframe.

I have (with no success). The category "Outdoor Stations of the Cross" (open enrollment: OFF) has a leader and 2 officers. One of the officers had his last login on 12/12/2012. The other two I have sent an E-Mail via their geocaching account, because that's where they had their last login. In both e-mails I offered to help reviewing and both e-mails remain unanswered. Hopefully, they will pay more attention, if they receive emails from a site admin, but I wouldn't be surprised, if they have a special mail account for geocaching/Waymarking that they never check for new mails.

Sounds like a perfect plan. Thanks a lot.

So, instead of depending on a small group of users, you prefer to depend on one site admin? If we continue to do it that way, this is the future I predict: More and more categories will be managed by one site admin. He will have to become familiar with subjects that he is not interested in and review waymarks according to the category descriptions, that he didn't write and shouldn't change. Sooner or later, he and/or Groundspeak will not be happy with the situation and probably take steps that we don't like. Every system that depends on one person will fail sooner or later. Don't get me wrong, I appriciate the site admins work a lot and I also appriciate that they volunteer to review waymarks, but I would be happier, if the system would work as it should. If I tell others about Waymarking and have to tell them that some categories are reviewed by site admins, because the category is in the hands of users, who haven't logged in for years, they will probably not be too enthusiastic about joining this community. PS: Too bad that I'm not a site admin at Groundspeak. If I was, you wouldn't be so afraid of me. :-)

Ok, got it, but what is the alternative? Shut down the Waymarking servers? If a waymarker leaves the site without thinking of the future, he/she should loose his/her rank and make room for others who are willing to invest their time. And, like I said my first intention is not to throw out users who are inactive for a specific time, but to make it possible for at least one new reviewer to join the group without depending on the cooperation of inactive users.

100% agreed. I have seen very good geocaches, that lost their owners. One day the logbook was full or the box lost or stolen and nobody in the geocaching community would say "Let's keep this dead geocache, because the owner had this great vision of a wonderful geocache." If they are gone, they are gone. Either they took steps to pass the geocache to a new owner or it is archived to make room for a new one. And, I don't even want to ruin their vision. I don't want to change the characteristics of the category. I just want to have someone who is able and willing to review future waymarks. All I would do is to keep the thing going, maybe update broken links in the description and IF the Waymarking community has a valid reason to change the description of the category, I would try to find more officers and discuss and vote the changes like every leader would do it.

Has anybody ever seen a category that came back to live on its own? I guess that's almost as rare as a total eclipse. ;-) In my humble opinion, it doesn't matter whether there is one or onehundred abandoned categories. Site admins have their duties and we should post, review and visit waymarks. There's a system of leaders and reviewers that worked very good for a long time. And it would continue to work properly, if officers/leaders wouldn't leave without taking a few easy steps to make sure that the category can live on. We don't have to remove leaders, we just need the opportunity to add an active reviewer, if a group has completely run out of active reviewers/leaders. That's all. And I don't get the point of Manville Possum. You don't want categories to be taken over from active members, because "what we end up with is just that one group that controls all of Waymarking" and instead we let one site admin do all the work? I'm just officer in 2 categories and I offered to do a third category. I don't want to be the leader, although I think I would be a better leader than someone who obviously has no interest in the hobby anymore. And, I definitely don't belong to "one group that controls all of Waymarking", if at all that group exists. From my point of view, there are members that are very active and I'm more than grateful for their tremendous efforts. I agree that the site admins help to keep the site going, if they review waymarks, but if we manage to run the categories without their help, it would help to not loose further members and maybe find a few new ones.

Wow, looks great.

"Outdoor Stations of the Cross" seems to have no active reviewers anymore. All the waymarks of the last few months have been published by Wayfrog and Waywizard. :-( I sent an E-Mail to the leader via their geocaching profile and offered to become a reviewer, but received no answer so far.

Talking about lists. There's also a list of holy doors in the USA: https://catholicpilgrimagesites.wordpress.com/holy-doors-of-mercy/united-states-holy-doors/ Ooops. Too late. :-)