===sgb

One method I sometimes use it to get a rough coord and then use google maps satellite view and goto the coords. If the arrow is in the wrong place, I tweak the coords until it's correct. Seems good to better than 1 metre in the UK.

Some FTFers seem to have a means of knowing when a new cache near them becomes live. How does one do this? (And is it a premium member only thing?). The best I can come up with is periodically reviewing the cache map for my area and seeing if any new symbols appear.

Just what the Doctor ordered. Thanks.

So would it be possible for me to add a note log to some/all of my caches authorising Groundspeak and the cache publishing reviewer responsible for the area the cache is in, to transfer the cache's ownership to a publisher approved other owner in the event that I am inactive for, say, more than 12 months?

(I tried to post this on "Geocaching website feedback", but that takes you to a page outside these forums!) There is a LO-Fi version of these forums, but is there a lo-fi (no graphics) version of the main geocaching web pages. I can't access the full graphics pages from my PAYG phone as it is too many bytes.

I didn't know about them. The stuff at the bottom of the page makes me react as I do to adverts - especially with the Choose a language being so in your face - thus I completely ignore it unless I'm looking for "Contact us". Could be useful now I know about it.

How close can a new cache be to an archived/retired/ex cache?

Helps a lot. Thanks.

This seems like a plausible thread to post this on... I was wondering how one reports a cache as missing (as distinct from reporting a not found). There is one cache I had found previously but since the council cut the grass it is no longer there. I can't find a way to do this. Then I spied the "Nominate lost and found logs" and thought "I wonder what that does?" Rather than click on it, in case it did something immediately, I tried to research it. But the main geocache site has no help info and search only searches for caches, not the site for help. So I thought I'd try the forum. If you search for "Lost and found", it tells you the words are too short and it can't do it and that you should use "longer words"!!!!!! How the **** do I search for "lost and found" using longer words? That is so crass and stupid it is unbelievable. Anyway, in a fit of brilliance I tried searching for "Nominate" and ended up here. Here I have learnt that "Nominate lost and found" has nothing to do with lost and found at all. This is the second occasion that my British use of English has come completely unstuck on Groundspeak sites - they seem to delight in using what to my mind are inappropriate words. But there you go. Geocaching itself is fun though. Cheers.

Any idea which UK&I cache is the largest? And what is it? (I'm talking container size - I have a mental picture of a grit box or a phone box or a shed or something...) I'll be disappointed if it turns out to be a 3 litre food box.

I've owned a Garmin Etrex for a while now and an quite happy with it - except in trees and central london. I've just purchased an HP Ipaq HW6915 windows mobile do everything phone with built in GPS. The software it came with isn't what I am seeking - it appears basically a TomTom in car navigation program with a single map. I would like to get some software that will act more like the etrex - show lat/long, plot a scaled breadcrumb trail on a grey background (no map), mark defined points in lat/long etc and work anywhere in the world. Does such a thing exist? Anyone have any recommendations? ===sgb

I am not, and I don't think others are claiming that dd/mm/yyyy is either standard or globally applicable. What we are saying is that mm/dd/yyyy isn't standard and isn't globally applicable. The obvious fix is a parameter in "my preferences" or "my account" (or whatever it is called) which US folk can leave empty with it defaulting to mm/dd/yyyy and UK folk can set to "dd/mm/yyyy" and I can set to "yyyy-mm-dd". I fully agree that forcing dd/mm/yyyy on everyone would be bad; as bad as forcing mm/dd/yyyy on everyone. So lets not force either of them on anyone. Can we have a user date format preference please. ===sgb

This is a reply to the original post in order to avoid all the wrangling going on between some US folk and some others. I am referring to the dates listed in the geocaching website in cache logs and so forth, not to forum dates. I find US dates inherently confusing - that is why I bothered to come to the forum and do a search on "Date format" and find this thread. With another hobby I have, the UK association organised an internet tournamet for the month of June one year. It was reported in the US association's journal as lasting from Jan 6 to June 30. A classic reason for wanting clear date formats. My preference is for user customisable date formats - I would always choose "yyyy-mm-dd" given free choice, or any option with a central month as second best. US format confuses me since I haven't grown up with it. This is a serious issue and isn't just cosmetic. ===sgb

It was said that "A word in the title is a keyword. " Well maybe if you are a technogeek, but not for your "general public". Strikes me as trying to confuse folk for the sake of it. Obviously if I am in a minority of 1 then nowt will happen. Cheers ===sgb

Why is this called "search by keyword"? It isn't and they aren't. It appears to be a search for words in the cache titles, so why not label the box "search in titles". A keyword is just that, a word which provides a key - Therefore typical keywords for a cache would be words such as: traditional, micro, ground, tree, well-hidden, bush. The title is things like "Just another coin cache" or "Pentland Hills". If I want to find "Shalford Stroll" - whose approcimate name I can remember but nothing else, I would enter that into a "Search in titles" field, but not into a by keyword field. I've just spent 30 minutes searching the forums for hoe to search in a title and eventually I dragged up the inference that keyword did this - it had never occurred to me that it might! ===sgb

To summarise my understanding of the discussion so far: "Waymarking is a functional activity providing locations of things folk may want to find. Geocacheing is a treasure hunt and is different." In which case, why is Geocache disallowing the listing of cacheless caches? If there is an interesting thing in a location, it would be good to list it on GC so folk can go find it. I mean I'm _never_ going to look up on Waymarking to see if there are any scupltures of "farmer and cow" in local park and rides, but if one is listed on geocache and I'm in the vicinity I'll go and look and say thansk to whoever listed it for brightening my day a fraction. If I want a local airport or a bycycle shop, I'll look in the local phone directory... --- In other words, I still don't "get" what Waymarking is for or about. It all sounds pointless. I'm not trying to be awkward or objectionable here. Please could someone try to explain in simple terms what Waymarking is for and who would use it, when. Additionally have I misunderstood the geocache "no more cacheless caches" edict? ===sgb

Are there any caches in the Falklands? ===sgb

I'm still obviously adrift here. Most of the replies above "from those in the know" appear to be emphasising the creation of waymarks meeting some category as the thing the site is about. I still think that newbies will be more interested in finding things others think interesting in their neighbourhood. I imaging someone typing in a postcode and discovering that there are a cycle shop, a local airport, a statue of a sheep, a ... all nearby - and maybe they didn't know about the ... so they can go and see it and be happy. ===sgb

After an initial look atthe Waymarking website, I feel it is distinctly lacking. In particular the ability to search for waymarks near to where you are. I tried typing in a UK post code and it rejected it - this works on the geocaching website. The individual waymarks do not appear to have a link to "other waymarks near this one" as geocaching has. I did manage to get a list of all the waymarks in the UK - at present only a bit over 100 of them. However there is no obvious general location given. OK many of the individual titles have a big town or county in the title, but what about things like "Gorse Hill" - that could be anywhere. ===sgb

It maybe clear there, but it isn't clear on the page where it is used. ===sgb

I recently did Hervanta Water Tower (GCHV38) in Finland. The cache instructions were dual language - great. All of the logs were single language - I can't read the Finnish ones and I can't post my log in Finnish. Presumably, even if we get "local +English" language support for the cache pages, this problem will remain with the logs. Unless the cache owner (or some delegated translator) translates the logs to make them dual language. Maybe a link on each page to a viable free online translator for that language pair woulld work? (I haven't found a Finnish / English one that works yet!) ===sgb

Too many pages on geocaching use abbreviations or icons without (AFAIK*) providing a key to what they mean. A month ago I posted a request to find out what D/T meant (difficulty/terrain) - it wasn't obvious. Today I did a TB* search and found icons. I guess a face means a user has the bug and a box that it is in a cache - but it DOESN'T SAY THAT. Anyway, what is the difference between a grey/blue box and a green box? I've no idea on that at all. If there are administrators, could the go to each and every type of page and look at all the symbols and icons and ask "how will a newbie know what this means"? At the very least put a clear link on each page to a "glossary" where they all get defined. ===sgb (*AFAIK - As far as I know) (*TB Travel Bug)

Why 528 ft? I know that that is 0.1 miles, but is there a tech reason - like GPS accuracy or ... ===sgb

On pages such as http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...GU1+1HD&dist=15 the second column is labelled D/T. What does D/T stand for? I tried the FAQ - no use. I tried search the forums and was to "D/T" is too short to search for! ===sgb