Teasel

In a nutshell, the agreement we have is that G:UK is allowed to "scrape" GC.com data so long as we take steps to minimise our impact on their server and that we don't provide any features which compete with those available to premium members. Providing a real-time GPX download to everyone could be considered somewhat competitive However, after the recent "troubles" in UK caching, Elias asked that G:UK stop providing download files containing accurate cache coordinates. As a compromise, I requested that we be allowed to continue to provide downloads, but only to premium members (with the suggestion that expanding our repertoire to include formats such as GPX would give people another reason to become premium members). This seemed to go down well and Elias said that he'd have a think and work out the details. In the meantime we were allowed to keep providing download files to everyone. Since then, both GC.com and G:UK admins have been beset by a number of technical problems (both of us unexpectedly having to move servers in a hurry) and this has slipped down the priority list. Maybe it's time to take another look.

Thanks guys! What with illness and general apathy, I've not done much caching this year, so it was good to get out over the bank holiday and remind myself how much fun geocaching is.

I learnt that lesson the hard way too! I was having dinner with friends at the time and they were most surprised when I suddenly squealed, lept off my chair and pulled my trousers off! Quite amazing the sort of current rechargable batteries can deliver.

Sorry for the extended outage! The stats pages in particular were taking up a lot of resources on the Lunarpages server. I contacted them asking for more information, but instead they shut down the site without warning! Had they given us a week's notice, we could have arranged for a seamless transfer. Everything's now been transferred to a dedicated server. The stats pages are back up, but for some reason the DNS for the trigpointing pages hasn't transferred properly and is still pointing to lunarpages. Hopefully this should clear itself up in the next 24hrs or so. Apologies for being down for so long. Now that we're on a dedicated server, we should be able to correct problems more quickly (though it's an unmanaged server so they may happen more frequently!). Cheers, Ian

Is an event cache going to be created for this?

Unfortunately, that's just because G:UK only lists archived caches if you yourself have actually found them, otherwise they stay hidden. In fact there are a couple of caches even older than this, which are now sadly deceased... The oldest I can find (if it counts - check out "Steve"'s profile!) is: GC4E England's First! - hidden on 06/06/2000 Then we have: GCF0 Scotland's First - hidden 15/12/2000 - first Scottish cache and still surviving! GC144 Fringe of Epping Forest - hidden 07/01/2001 - first "proper" English cache? GC164 - Burrow Mound - hidden 14/01/2001 - the oldest surviving English cache (by a whisker!) GC171 View from Coombe Hill - hidden 14/01/2001 - still survives GC177 - Tim & Jon's 1st Stash - hidden 14/01/2001 The first finds in the UK were logged on "Fringe of Epping Forest" by Slangford and Growbag, on 13th January 2001.

The link on Chris's site predates a major re-jig of the G:UK database which broke all the old searches. I'll see if I can resurrect this particular one. In the meantime, for a search of caches centred around Marble Arch (traditionally the "centre" of London), try here. Alternatively, clicking on the icons on the tube map should return a list of several nearby caches, rather than just the one you clicked on.

Should this file have included the .ov2 files as well as the bitmaps? I'd assumed it was just meant to be a file of icons, but having re-read your website, it gives a "data current date", which suggests the cache locations should have been in there too (I'd expect about 60KB of zip file).

I could certainly break down the caches by type and include Team Tate's icons (if they're willing). Question is what to do about found/notfound/placed categories. Would people prefer a choice (eg either download them by type, or by whether found), or would you prefer to tint the type icons red/blue/green and have both bits of information in the same download? If we went for the combined file, that could mean up to fifteen poi files being in the zip file from G:UK. I've never used Tomtom - can you deal easily with blocks of POI files, or do you have to do something to each individual file to get them to display (could get very tedious)?

quote:Originally posted by SlytherinAlex:Sorta like it Chris, but it doesn't have the caches showing visually on the map any more. OK, more long dull evenings for Chris inputting the map coordinates of 300-odd stations, and more headscratching for me working out how to put icons on a map with no scale, and we've got the cache icons back on again! Once the Metropolian line is extended out to Bangor, we'll add those stations too! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

There are a number of different sources around. The one here seems reasonably complete. If you "watch this space", Chris and I should be ready to release a new-improved version of the caching tube map within the next day or two. GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Oh dear! Let's hope the grid2map links continue to work until such time as they sort out their sponsorship! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Automatically adding cache images would be possible, but would require more programming and more long dull evenings to accomplish! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Me too! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Hmmm, wonder if spaces count? Can we place caches in salt water marshes? Edit: I guess we can! Edit2: But nothing to do with the space! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

Auto censor? That's new! Bad news for cachers in S****horpe! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by DEEGO:while we are on the subject (if indeed we are) why is there a 0.1 mile rule? I don't get it at all 0.5 of a mile or more I could see (not saying it SHOULD be more), but why 0.1? it hardly seems worth it Yeah, it seems a pretty poor way to prevent a proliferation of caches in a small area, as you could still place 100 caches per square mile! A "no more than 5 existing caches within a mile" rule might be a better way to go? As for finding caches by accident - if you're at the "head down, staring at the GPS, poking around in hollows" stage of the hunt, I'd hope you're closer than 160m from the coords!!! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by lathama:I HATE Virts, i really do We did a really nice virtual on our first ever day's geocaching, so I'm actually quite pro-virtuals. Ironically, though, Eckington would have to reject that virtual under the current rules. quote:Originally posted by Chris n MariaOh and multis - far too much walking - lets do away with them. I suppose for consistency we should also ban any cache which is more than a mile from the road. The real problem, though, is caches which are too easy. I did one virtual that I didn't even have to get out of the car for!!! Shouldn't be allowed! Anything less than half a mile from a road should be archived. And could the approvers please archive the "Don't look down" series before someone gets hurt. Far too dangerous! While you're at it, could you please archive Soldier's Lump, 'cos I slipped over and got my clothes muddy. And can anyone please explain why we allow diff=1 terr=1 caches? Where's the challenge in that? Shouldn't be allowed! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

D'oh - I should've read the original question! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community. [This message was edited by Teasel on October 14, 2003 at 06:23 AM.]

The Fox's progress will be shown on this map (I hope!) : Click on the map to show the fox's current location on streetmap. GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community. [This message was edited by Teasel on October 12, 2003 at 03:47 PM.]

quote:Originally posted by evilrooster:And I have had someone leave porn in one of my placements, which cannot (by definition) happen for a virt. Well, I've seen some pretty explicit graffiti out there sometimes There seems to be a gradual move on GC.com to separate out the different types of caches. Benchmarks have always been separate and Jeremy's said that locationless caches are going to be separated out completely. I wouldn't be surprised if he did the same thing to virtuals sooner or later. GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Dodgydaved:......and the dodgydaved family would recommend the food and ale at The Anglers Rest in Millers Dale or the Red Lion in Litton, both only a couple of miles distant!! I'll second the Anglers Rest! Not been to the Red Lion in Litton myself, though it sounds like I should. In that area, I tend to go to the one at Wardlow Mires (SK180757 ish - ideal if you're doing Petrus!). Closer to Buxton, the pub in Combs is one of our favourites (SK041785 ish). If you fancy meeting up for a drink while you're here, or just need internet access, give me a shout! GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

quote:Originally posted by Slytherin:Fossil Transfer was one of the very first caches that we did. On a stonking hot day in August 2001. Where they got the 2 star rating from I will never know. Yes, I remember pushing a pram up with our 11 day old son thinking "if this is a two, what the hell is a five?!". Only time will tell the extent of any brain damage caused by his whiplash injuries... If you like a good multicache, Around the Edge has just been confirmed present and correct. I'd also add Susan Stranks Country to the list. A genuine terrain 1, I'm afraid, but it meets Slytherin's "must do" criteria (if only on a technicality! ). GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

I've just noticed that the OS grid references now have their leading zeroes (Eg see here. Thanks Jeremy! (Ah well, small things please small minds! ) GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.

On the G:UK stats pages, you can include trigpoints in the cache lists (and any subsequent download files or interactive maps for that query) by clicking the "Show Trigs" button. Clicking on the trigpoint name (or dot on the interactive map) will take you to the T:UK page for that trigpoint, from where you can log your find (you'll have to log in to T:UK separately, I'm afraid - same name and password as you use for G:UK). You'll also notice that, on the cache details pages from G:UK (click the name, not the waypoint in the lists), the "nearest benchmarks" link has been replaced by "nearest trigpoints", which takes you to the TrigpointingUK site. If you prefer to log your finds on JeremyP's site, simply copy and paste the OS grid reference from the cache list page. GeocacheUK - resources for the UK Geocaching community.