Team Soupbones

I have an interesting story. Its not so much about finding a cache, which turns out was muggled, but tricking a worker into searching for something else in the hope he would reveal the caches location. I was looking for a cache, which was a sprinkler head type, located in a garden bed in front of a wall on the corner of a new housing estate. I had searched for the cache the day earlier with no luck, so went back at an earlier time. The GZ was on the corner of a busy road, with a set of traffic lights feeding traffic in and out of the new estate, so it required some stealth the first day, and I put on my fluro vest in the hope I looked like a worker. The second day I just turned up earlier, hoping the traffic would be less. after searching for a while a worker from the new housing estates sales office came down to install some advertising flags which mount into the wall at the GZ. He installed his flags then asked what I was up too. I told him my wife was walking the dog here yesterday when it ran through the garden and got off its lead. While all this happend, she lost her silver bangle which was engraved and had sentiment. So this guy is with me, hand and knee's going through the bushes and mulch. Of course I was hoping he would pick up the cache and say something like ' well thats not it..' and keep searching, while I looked for the real cache. after another 15 mins I thanked him and said the wife must have lost it else where or its been taken, and I took off. I contacted the CO who discovered the cache was missing anyway. still made for an interesting muggle story...

I also have an unusually coloured cache. Called the Pink Cat ( unfortunately no photo ), its a soft toy pink cat that has a pocket in it, and a zipper on the tail which hides a film container with the cache. I sprayed it with scotch guard and its hidden under a bridge. funnily enough, being bright pink doesn't seem to make it any easier to find. It gets a number of DNFs every month.

I had one like that recently get muggled. I hid it well in a camouflaged canvas bag as well with a card explaining it is a Geocache. They took the cube puzzle and chucked the bag and the card, which I managed to retrieve so I can use it again. set it up at a nice lookout nearby and asked cachers to bring a chair, and sit and enjoy the view between pulling their hair out trying to open it. Now it seems there are cheat ways to open it, i may have to modify the new one when it arrives.

Well I have implemented a cache now for about a month, which can either be a traditional cache, or a as I have been told, it could be classed as a puzzle cache? Why you ask? Well the cache, being extremely well concealed could be hard to find by some of the newer cachers. So to help them out, there is a nearby Red Herring, heavily camouflaged, but it contains a tool and it also contains a card with a picture of a Red Herring Fish talking, and the speech bubble has a QR code in it, which simply gives a good clue as to the caches location. Mind you there is a double wammy to the answer to the clue, but those that were stumped and then found the red herring eneded up finding the cache. And it seems the more experienced cachers now and then find the cache straight up. Either way, despite me not being 100% happy with its location ( its not in the usual interesting locations I like to put caches ) this one works well and I have already had a couple of private emails saying what a good idea it is. At the end of the day the cache can be found with or without using a cellphone Qr code reader, but if you have one it's a slight advantage. There is only a suggestion of the fact a cellphone might help in the caches hint. The cache has been thought out to be findable both of these ways so not to disadvantage those older school cachers who don't have to use their mobile phone caching. I say this is proof that QR codes can be used in caching, as long as its not the mainstay for finding the cache.

Pretty much what happened to me. I sent two, got home checked the log on one cache as I had to inform the cache owner about an issue, and my log was not on there. Next day I get on this site, and there is my pocket queries suddenly. Must be a bug maybe in the app.

You seem pretty sure the problem is the site (geocaching.com). What makes you think that your data service is not at fault? Just thinkin'...... well why does any other data I use on my phone seem to work fine? I use a tonne of apps from traffic and maps to games and browsing, all on the same data network. Email included. I even did an email later that day, as I use a GPS app to send coordinated to my own email on Gmail. I send it, and not even 1 second later my Android phone receives the email. But a pocket query took almost two days to show up. So I don;t think its my data service. The app said it had uploaded the information when I sent it to Geocaching.com Looks to me like it was Groundspeaks servers for some reason.

Thanks for yoru reply. I found out that the logs uploaded, but took a good 3 days to come alive on the Geocaching.com site. NOt sure why it takes the servers so long to pass through such a small packet of basic information. By the time the field note logs had uploaded and shown up here, I had already reentered them into the caches log list. Kind of a waste of time if its is going to take this long.

Anyone????????

Hello. I have noticed of late, that while using the Android version of the Geocaching App, that sometimes field notes and logs don;t always upload. even when I know I have service and the application says that it has uploaded a note or log successfully, I find that the logs or note have not uploaded. This has happened twice now to me. Once about a week ago, while out doing cache maintenance. I was uploading maintenance logs at each cache site ( note these were urban caches )and I had good cell reception, and posted the logs, and the app told me they were posted to Geocaching.com. Then it happened again today. I was caching in an area with nil reception, so saved the logs to the phone. Once I had good cell reception again, I posted the logs,, and the app said they were posted. I got home to edit one of the logs with some more info and sure enough the logs did not post. Seems there are still bugs to be ironed out in this app. Just in case the developers read this, running the app in ICS on HTC One X phone ( which by the way has a brilliant GPSr )

Umm, no its not the official app. Geocaching by Groundspeak is the official app. all other apps are developed by other people, and not the Geocachign company Groundspeak.

I just found this thread, and I am surprised there are not more Australians here talking about their snake mishaps. After all, we have more deadly and dangerous snakes here in Australia then any where else. My snake story is a simple one. I recently had a cache which was on a piece of public land, in some rubbish. This land was next door to a panel shop in an industrial area, and behind it was a rather large storm water duct. The local council decided to clean up their land and most of the rubbish, so my cache was gone. so I planted another one nearby, a bit closer to the storm water duct, this time just behind the fore said land, again, under some other rubbish. An old car wheel to be exact. So a few cachers found the cache, with some reporting a large Red Belly black snake living under an old car seat nearby. On top of this, someone from the panel shop had been watching cachers in the area searching, and muggled the cache. Again I went to hide a new one, forgetting about the snake report totally, and I lifted up things here and there in the immediate area to re hide the new cache. Sure enough, I found the black snake. While only 21 most deadliest in the world, they sure are jumpy and don't like it when their hiding spot is uncovered. He was a big one too, and hissed and scared the absolute s#*T out of me. Now I have had to replace the cache with a bison micro hanging from a tree nearby. There is a snake warning in the logs and description as well as dangerous animals attribute added as well. I had seriously considered archiving this cache, but then I thought us Australian cachers are probably well aware and used to snakes when caching, so I decided the micro in the tree would at least reduce the risk of snake bite to some degree. Now the cache has had a DNF so I assume the micro has made it more of a challenge now.

Wow.... shocked. I only just heard of Svens passing. Very sad indeed. He was, like many others, a great inspiration, and showed off some simple yet creative caching hides, some of which I have employed myself, and now have a bit of a rep as a creative local cache hider. I sent Sven a video just over 2 months ago for him to post up,got no reply, and wondered only today what happened to him, after seeing the activity of another YouTube cacher hitting likes on Svens channel. A little investigation and now like many, I have the shock of knowing Sven has passed away. I know he had issues with some people. I was not one and I think he was fair in what he did with his videos. I was also a subscriber to his motorbike vlogging videos. I will be one who will miss his geocaching videos. I watched everyone of them when they were uploaded. He will be missed by those of us who could see his purpose in the world of Geocaching. RIP buddy.

Just archive them.

While this is true, it also doesn't make sense to put a sprinkler head where there is no others. It sticks out and becomes an obvious hiding spot.

None of these seems to have iPhone support. In fact the Amazon page for the Qstarz devices explicitly says that they're not compatible with any iOS device. Do these all require jailbreaking? Yeah - I'm new to this. Are there reasonable alternatives that don't? Another reason to ditch Apple rubbish devices and go Android

Nice. Had a friend scan this off the image after downloading, but it worked fine off the web page. QR codes are very simple to make. For android there are even apps that allow you to make them right on the phone.

I also recommend the Official Geocaching Android app from Groundspeak over most of the others. I could still do with some work, but it does the job. Team it up with an app called GPS status ( free form the Google Playstore/Market ) GPs status has a feature where is downloads extra location data to help improve your GPS accuracy from the nearest cell towers. I fire this up, get the latest data, clear my phone GPS's cache data out and then run the geocaching App. Seems more accurate that way.

Your thinking glass half empty.. I'm thinking glass half full. The cache will be rated at the difficulty of not using the hint. So im not deliberately making it harder for those without a QR code reader on a smartphone, but making it easier for those that discover it and do use the QR code. The code won't be necessary, but an extra lucky dip surprise in a red herring if you find it. Nothing on the cache page is going suggest the hint. So if they work it out and scan the code, then they strike it lucky. A bonus, but not necessary to find the cache...

I don't quite see what purpose you're trying to serve by restricting the number of people that will be able to find your cache. Put up too many arbitrary barriers and you may find that a lot of geocachers will start systematically ignoring your caches. As I am in Australia, and the amount of active smartphone users is huge. Most adults have one, lots of children old enough have them, and a large number of the senior population even have them. I forget the per capita rate but its huge here. Most cacher's in my area from what I am aware use smart phones for caching. Sure there are guys that use a hand held GPS as well, but they still carry a smartphone regardless, so it won't restrict many people at all. If someone doesn't have a smartphone that's ok, they just won't get the hint. I won't put the hint up on the cache page anyway, so they won't know any different. If they see the QR code and other cachers tell them what it is and for, that might even encourage them to get a smart phone, being that they are a minority, and most people they know have them for sure. It won't mean they can't find the cache, just means it will be a touch harder for them.

Great to see people thinking outside the square and not shooting this down, because it involves change, and many people don't like change ( This is why the US still uses the imperial measurement system that most countries ditched over 40 years ago) There are probably a tonne of uses for QR codes. I intend to add a couple to my next couple of hides> They are probably going to be difficulty 4 hides, so I will include red herrings with a QR code for the hint instead of having it on the cache page in that lame coded form they still use. I never saw a point of having the hint coded when you can click a button to decode it. I suppose people who don't want to see the hint only see a mix of letters. Just as easy to hit a button and have the hint appear. So in future I will drop the hint in a QR code. So no smart phone with a scanner, then the cache remains hint less for you..... I hope Ground Speak do implement some sort of QR code into the game, despite so called backlash. I still can't see why there would be backlash. Long as its done in parellel and to a same standard as the current system, then why the backlash? If you don't like it, don't use it. Cache the original way. Simple as that. Anyway, thats my 2c for now.....

At the end of the day there is little you can do to stop people cheating anyway, so why worry about the technicalities to much. In any system you will always get people who want to find a way to beat it. In this game they are only cheating themselves, and not really enjoying the game as it should. I would not worry about that personally. They cheat now, and if there were QR codes, they would cheat then. You can make it more of a hassle with the need to be at the cache site and have the coordinates coming from the devices GPS, but as this can be cheated as well you will never stop it. You just make it more of a hassle. I do agree that signing a log book is a more reliable method, but only if its checked upon, which it usually isn't, so makes them the same in the end. As for QR code logging would make it more boring, there is still nothing stopping people leaving stickers, marks and trinkets in a cache. So this would not change. And people need to stop going on about back lashes, as if this ever was implemented, it would not totally replace the current system, but run in parallel, so if people didn't want to use it, as CO or finders then they don't. Its the 'cool tech' factor you need to consider here as a way of attracting those people who would not bother caching but if they could scan codes they find in caches they might see this as something to try. This is what I am trying to get at in the end. Make it have a more modern high tech edge and get those techno geeks off their computer chairs and out into the forest finding caches. NY Paddlecachers idea is good, but in the end its flaw is simply that you need to go home and convert all these field notes into found logs. This is effectively double handling, so the QR logging concept is quicker and more 'user friendly'. I got into this whole thought process from the Munzee concept, but I see this as a bit boring, chasing down a sticker of a QR code on a pole somewhere. To me this is very boring compared to geocaching, and Geocaching should never become this. You still need the hide/puzzle/treasure hunt factor there. I just think the concept of QR coes to verify hides as well as to assist in hiding a cache saves a lot of time and mucking around, which is one thing that does annoy me about Geocaching. Put it down to the old 'there is to much paper work, or Red Tape if you like ( specially in regards to hiding ). To me signing a log is just a name and date on most caches, nothing special. I enjoy reading the log posts on the Geocache site, but log posts is something I would rather do later on. But I would like to verify my cache find then and there, and move on to the next one. Time and date stamped even, so you can tell how much you missed that last cacher by. That to me would make the game faster, smoother and less time hanging around a cache. Specially if in a high muggle area.

You've just described Munzee. Yep. The same problem applies to Munzee, too. As well, I just realized how easy it would be to set up a spoiler website with QR code photos. How easy is it to just log a cache now and say you found it, after all, do you go back and double check that everyone who posted a log has signed the log book? No, didn't think so. As for a web site with QR codes, the Geocaching app would require your GPS to show you are at the location of the logs QR, so unless your going to drag a laptop with all the QR codes to each GZ then this won't work. As stated, you can spoof a Geo location on smart phones, but most people don't know how to do this, and even then the cheats would still have to go look up the locations of the caches so as to add the coordinated to their phone. In the end they are only cheating themselves. I don't think their are huge amounts of cheaters in geocaching anyway. What's the point? If your worried about cheating anyway, you only have ot take a look around here on these forums and on YouTube to see enough spoilers out there.. Oh and as for those who keep saying the QR code will take you ot the Geocaches URL, it wont do this. In the app it would display the cache details bases on the special QR codes data number only. No URLs of web browser needed, so no chance of virus or nasty's....

Groundspeak would not even have to require it to be a component, just make it an option. Add it to all caches so only owners can see it. Make it up to them if they want to add 'Quick Log' to their caches. I think you would be surprised how many would start using it. If you make something like this compulsory, of course there is going to be a backlash.. promote it as a fun new option but.... Look at the fun guys on here are having customising their own QR codes.....

If implimented into the geocaching app, this would not be an issue...

First of all, conformation is quick and easy. This is beauty of QR codes. Press a button, the scanner starts up, you point it at the code on the front of the log book, or in the cache lid, or where ever and it reads it. This could then send the special authentication code of the cache, along with your user name as a find. Lastly it could pop up a box to either add in a default log message (TFTC for example) or type in your own log. This could then send it straight to the site, or if there is no Internet access store it till it is, and push it to the net when back in range of Internet access. The current method of authentication is what? You sign a log book as proof? Then log it online? This is full electronic authentication, as only the cache owner has the QR to add to his cache. Cache QR codes could be generated easily when creating a cache, even so, the cache owner could create the QR for his cache, take it to the chosen GZ, and using the app on his phone, log the position and submit it for assessment right there and then, just by scanning a QR code. The details could be filled in later. Other treasure hunt sites out there use a similar method, and I think its very innovative myself. It is also the way of the modern world. Take modern warehouses for example. Gone are the days of stock controllers hand writing everything, and fork lift drivers writing down their dispatch movements. Now they use bar codes and hand held scanners that relay all stock movements back to the network. Anyone I think who doesn't see this as a good thing, and a step in the right direction is probably a bit behind the times I think. I think this would be a good step for Geocaching, and probably attract a whole new generation of players in, simply because they can use their phones to find caches, and scan them. It has a certain modern cool factor I think. Mind you, I am a young fella pushing 40 myself. All good, but this kind of defeats the purpose of using the app on your smart phone for paperless geocaching. People don't want to have to start up the browser, which will come up on their screen as a tiny web page which they have to zoom in on and move around just to make sense of it, and write a log. If it was all implemented in the Geocaching app then you would not need to open anything else. Personally i think the geocaching app is a tad out dated myself, being an android user pretty much since it came out about 5 years ago now, this app could do so much more and be so much better if the developers put their mind to it. Just the fact that I get my pocket queries notifications pushed through my Gmail is annoying. This is something the geocaching app should on it own without using email if i wanted too. Lots of other apps do similar things. I have one that tells me when my fav TV show is going to come out next. at the end of the day I think geocaching will need to keep up with technology, and grow around such innovations as QR codes. If you can't see the benifits of this, go check out Munzee.com. The concept is great at this site, but it lacks to me the excitement of the Geocache hunt, the knowledge of the terrain rating, and difficulty, and the hint and puzzle factor. But I like the ease of the QR codes confirmation and even cache hiding. Merge this concept into geocaching in the right way and I think it would work rather well, and attract more people to the sport.