benji55545

It has been quite some time since I've visited this thread, and I'm sorry to say I still haven't gotten through all the pages since I last contributed. I'm sure there are lots of entertaining and inspirational posts, so I'll be sure to catch up soon. My 2013 plans came to fruition! I added both Argentina and Brazil during my time spent working in SA. Later in the year I added Tahiti/French Polynesia (technically an overseas collectivity of France) and Washington and Oregon states. 2014 brought me to Israel, The United Arab Emirates, Germany, Vatican City, the UK (England), South Korea, Singapore, China, Japan, and Taiwan. Busy year In 2015, I added Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Guatemala. Stateside, I added North Dakota to my states list. All told, I'm now up to 36 countries by the GC.com count. Here's to another fun year in 2016!

The Garmin Communicator plugin stopped working for me a long time ago (OS X, Chrome) but I've grown to accept the change. I'm lucky enough to have a device that will allow me to drop the GPX file in easily. But given that the plugin will (eventually) stop working for everyone, I would REALLY like to see a 'Download GPX' link on the cache popup when using Geocaching Maps. I used to use the send to gps link there all the time, which obviously is no longer of any use to me. C'mon.... there's lots of room!

I ran into this problem for the first time today. Bummer. I hope Groundspeak and Garmin come up with a solution soon, I use the Send to GPS link occasionally and don't want to switch browsers just to do it...

You can also save the cache listing and use it for a new hide in a different location. One reason to do this is so you don't have the "hide that never was" still assigned to your account. There's no time limit on how soon you have to rework the listing at a new location as long as you disable the listing (so it doesn't show up in the reviewer's queue as needing attention). Plus you get to keep the lower/older cache ID which some people seem to care about.

I've cached in 19 different countries (17 if you exclude the US virgin islands and Puerto Rico) since I started geocaching in 2005. In some of the countries, I was only able to make time to find one geocache... but I made sure I found one to light up that country on my map! My one and only in The Netherlands: "Under the bridge" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC921 Only one in Sweden: "Swerail #02" http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC17GG3 Also only have one in Slovenia... a guard rail cache wedged in the little nub of country between Austria and Croatia! When I was a lot younger I traveled with my family to a number of countries in the Caribbean, but I haven't otherwise missed out on nabbing countries like Andromeda321 has. I've missed out on a few states in the US, though. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Washington namely, plus driving through Alabama once. My 2013 plans (so far) will allow me to add Argentina (I hope, I'm here now but there isn't a cache with 100 miles ) and Brazil. Plus Washington state!

This is super annoying. If I use Chrome's UA Spoofer and just tell gc.com I'm using a different browser it works fine.

Yes! And its quite annoying! After a while, the boxes will obscure the +/- zoom buttons and I will not be able to zoom out anymore. I haven't experienced this behavior, but I did have trouble clicking on the cache icons in the map recently. Click click click and nothing happens. Zooming in and out a few times seems to correct the problem, but jeez, what a pain. OS X 10.6.8 using Firefox 4.

I usually scan them and upload them to GC.com. Then I toss them.

There's no reason a cache owner shouldn't be allowed to replace a regular container with a micro, even if its a historic cache. A few of the other early hides have shrunk in size over time or turned into virtuals. But if some random cacher replaces a lost regular container with a micro, then I think its within the Reviewers rights to archive the cache assuming the cache owner is no longer active. Fortunately, Kansas Stasher is still around.

I hid my first cache on June 27th, 2005. I had been caching for two months and found 51 caches in that time. My first hide is still active. It is a multi and I think is generally liked these days. But when I hid it the second stage was a micro in the woods that was rather evil. It's since been revised to be a little more friendly.

I haven't used any of the units mentioned on this page. But if the unit you bought on Craigslist was manufactured in the last 10 years it will probably be accurate enough for geocaching. The only problem is the older sensors are less sensitive, so the accuracy goes down when you're under tree cover. In my early days of caching I used both a Garmin eTrex and eTrex Legend. They served me well, but it was very nice when I upgraded to the 60CSx. The color screen and routing are very useful to me, not to mention the greatly improved sensitivity. I guess it comes down to how interested you are in geocaching. If you're still not sure if you're going to stick with it, and you're only going to use your GPSr for geocaching and not driving, I'd stick with a used basic unit for now.

you're mixing apples and oranges, i.e. that's two unrelated things the GC codes are displayed in the list of last viewed caches having the GC codes display for logs has nothing to do with last viewed caches list I don't want to start an argument over semantics, but yes they are related. They are both ostensibly used for submitting your next log. The recently viewed caches list has the "log it" link and the log confirmation page has the input box for a GC code at the bottom of the page. The GC code on the recently viewed list will make it easy to match to the calendar on my 60csx while I was lamenting that the confirmation page had no such code.

I would like to disable this as well. Cache names have very little meaning to me anymore especially if I've been looking at a lot of them recently. But their location is very meaningful to me. That's why I use the GC.com maps a lot for planning and logging. Plus I very rarely look at caches online in the order I find them, so the recently viewed list isn't very useful for logging (assuming users care about find order and milestones). If it must stay and I can't disable it, I will say I appreciate including the GC code on the page. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the GC code is displayed anywhere on the confirmation page after a log is submitted. This has always annoyed me. I have a long list of found GC codes on 60csx and I sometimes lose track of where I am on the list. I'd like to see the GC code on that page instead of having to navigate back (or forward) to see it.

I would like to see my friends logging activity a little easier on gc.com. Plus I would like the ability to tag pictures and ESPECIALLY the ability to NOT include some pictures I upload on my profile (particularly TB pics). I don't know the specifics of the gc.com API, but if you could set up a site where I can follow my friends logging activity that would be cool. Otherwise I don't really see the need for a social network since we have the gc.com forums, and most clubs have their own regional forum or facebook page.

Just one for now : do the Placemarks need to be in chronological order when there are multiple caches? I haven't tried them out of order, but I don't think it matters as long as the time data tags are attached.

That would be awesome!!! The good thing with Google Earth is you can easily zoom in until your close enough to make it interesting A GSAK macro would be awesome. I considered making one myself but you should go ahead because I'd probably never finish it. Let me know if you need any clarifications on the method. And like I said, it doesn't seem to work with newer versions of GE on the mac, but I'm probably just using some deprecated code.

And a google map I made I know myGME does a similar thing, but I didn't want them grouped together. I also added the date I found it and an excerpt of my log.

Alternate view that shows my trips to Hawaii. I wish GE had a flat view so I could animate the entire world in one frame.

Hah, good call on the U2 song. And yes, I did go on a long road trip. The animation would look a lot cooler if I went on a bunch of long road trips while caching the entire way! Anyway, as you probably know the GE time slider appears when you add valid <TimeSpan> tags to your placemarks. To get the falling/fading dot animation, you need to create a series of placemarks with slightly different icon sizes and opacity values. Their <TimeSpan> should be contiguous but not overlapping. Let me show you some .kml code. First, define the icon sizes and colors. 4fffff11 is the color's hex value plus a number for opacity. <Style id="sh_10"><IconStyle><color>4fffff11</color><scale>5</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_9"><IconStyle><color>5fffff22</color><scale>4.5</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_8"><IconStyle><color>6fffff33</color><scale>4</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_7"><IconStyle><color>7fffff44</color><scale>3.5</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_6"><IconStyle><color>8fffff55</color><scale>3</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_5"><IconStyle><color>9fffff66</color><scale>2.5</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_4"><IconStyle><color>afffff77</color><scale>2</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_3"><IconStyle><color>bfffff88</color><scale>1.5</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_2"><IconStyle><color>cfffff99</color><scale>1</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> <Style id="sh_1"><IconStyle><color>ffffffaa</color><scale>0.4</scale><Icon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href></Icon></IconStyle></Style> Then you need to have duplicate placemarks for every Geocache, one for each style defined above. Notice how the <TimeSpan> tags are contiguous from one style/placemark to the next. This makes the cool animation. I haven't figured out a way to make GE's animation any slower than it already is. I used a time difference of 2 weeks between each animation frame (placemark). <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-04-12T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-04-26T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_10</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-04-26T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-05-10T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_9</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-05-10T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-05-24T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_8</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-05-24T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-06-07T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_7</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-06-07T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-06-21T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_6</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-06-21T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-07-05T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_5</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-07-05T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-07-19T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_4</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-07-19T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-08-02T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_3</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-08-02T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-08-16T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_2</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-08-16T00:00:00z</begin><end>2010-08-30T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_1</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> <Placemark><TimeSpan><begin>2010-08-30T00:00:00z</begin><end>2011-12-11T00:00:00z</end></TimeSpan><styleUrl>#sh_1</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>-84.159283,39.645117,0</coordinates></Point></Placemark> The above code is for just one geocache find. So you need to duplicate it for every find, with the beginning time of the first placemark being the date you found the cache. Doing this all by hand would be incredibly tedious, so I modified a Visual Basic script to make it for me. If some people want to send me an excel file with coordinates and dates I'll make one for you. Especially if you've gone on a lot of road trips

That's pretty cool. Cool enough for me to copy it For some reason the original looks better. Part of it was cpu slowdown, but I also think having my waypoints so close together messes up the images. Also random note... the method used in the original video doesn't seem to work on Google Earth versions beyond 5.11 (OS X). Not sure why.

I made the graph myself, but you need to get elevation data for all your caches first. I did it using the FindStatGen plugin for GSAK.

I'm nearing the 2000 cache milestone, and I thought it would be fun to making some graphs to visualize my first 2000 (okay, actually 1981) finds. The results turned out pretty cool, and might be descriptive of some larger trends in geocaching, such as the increase in micro placement. Here's a graph of the sizes of caches I've found, excluding virtuals and "not chosen." The large drop labeled SH is due to the creation of a large series of micros in cemeteries around Dayton, OH. I thought maybe ODS would show up on the graph, but I guess I didn't find that many. I think the gradual increase in average size since 2008 is interesting. I wonder if that's a bias on my part or if more regulars are being placed. Or perhaps it's a result of finding more caches in Missouri instead of Ohio. 1=micro 2=small 3=regular 4=large. Difficulty of caches over time. Hasn't changed much. Neither has terrain over time. The squiggly white line is a two week average. Large short-term jumps in terrain usually occur when I go on hiking or highpointing trips. Elevation of all my caches. This is probably my favorite graph because many of my favorite finds stand out due to elevation. Most of the 200-300 meter caches are in the Midwest, primarily Missouri and Ohio. Those close to 0 are obviously near the coast somewhere. I set this all up in excel. I think it would be cool to see other people's graphs. If you want to send me an excel or csv file of your finds (GSAK export) I can make some graphs for you. Email martin@weezed.com

I've lived in both Missouri and Ohio since I started caching. I have significantly more finds in Ohio, so I might expect it to be weighted over there. BUT I also have quite a few finds from vacation in Hawaii. By luck, if you draw a straight line between my homes in Ohio and Missouri and continue the line out west, it intersects almost perfectly with the Hawaiian island. So my centroid is pretty close to halfway between the two places I've lived. My furthest from home and furthest east are the closest out of any of the directions... and they are over 3000 km apart!

I thought I was cache deprived here in Columbia. I feel sorry for some of you other folks.

Here's my map. and for fun, a megamap of my old stomping grounds