dartymoor

I've just got a 700 and am still exploring; Yes, activities are basically profiles, but now presented on the first screen and you can slide left and right to select which one. Like profiles, you can set every preference under settings and it locks to that activity. They switch much faster than profiles too (which on my 650 used to crash if the gps had been on for a while) Yes, you can add, delete, edit names and icons relating to them. There are a lot of functionally different aspects. Caching itself works similarly, although with different (and to my taste, uglier) icons. Although I have been unable to mark a waypoint or access any of the other waypoint functions from any of the activity pages. (You can map the user key to open it, and the list of functions is now called the 'status page', which can also be mapped). Despite a lot of searching I haven't found a way to access that from the activity menus anywhere. You can revert to 'classic' mode, but I'm not poking that as I want to give Activities more of a good try. There are "IQ Apps", but despite my loading them successfully, according to the Garmin Express software, they aren't showing as available. (Also, there is a very limited selection as yet) The "Geocaching live" works and shows a greater cooperation between Garmin and Groundspeak which has to be good. That said, it's not as well developed or refined as most smartphone apps. Battery life is reasonable, about the 6?? spec. A lot more free space on the internal memory, and uses a memory card in the same way as previous models. (For extra maps) Is the 700 worth the money? Honestly, it's a lot of cash and you could get a great smartphone for that if the live caching is a big thing for you. I prefer to have a separate gps device (battery and ruggedness reasons, mostly) but the gap is less than it was. I wanted to replace my 650 which has done well, but has always been a bit crashy and recently has lost caches halfway through a trip. I don't exactly have buyers remorse, but I don't have buyer's elation either...

All seems to be working again fine today, including GME 7.3.2 It's early though and the maps page is nicely responsive. We know it goes downhill through Saturday as it gets more use, however so if it craps out again later, that does suggest it's linked to the map server problems.

If Groundspeak did fail, it would at least open the field for others. This game is by its essence a monopoly - a single source for caches and, importantly for some, a place to keep score and work on statistics. Others exist but they are tiny and nobody really enjoys having two sets of data sources to work with - several have tried and failed to gain market share; not because GS are awesome, but because they were first. I don't think GS is a particularly well run company - their attitude to customer service (in making changes, removing content, lack of consultation etc) is pretty dire, the website is not reliable (as I type the caches aren't displaying, and there was a period of outage yesterday when the maps were returning 500 server errors) and I don't feel warm and fuzzy about getting great value for the service I pay quite a lot of money for (remember the caches aren't part of this!), and having to rely on third party plugins like GME to provide what I would consider essential aspects is very poor - but on balance I wouldn't want them to fail. Yet, still, part of me dreams of how a new team might do it better... To stay on-topic: My caches in the tourist-rich areas of Devon are very popular in the Summer - ~250 finds a year, with several finds yesterday alone). Those further off the beaten track are pretty quiet though. Project-GC has stats on new caches published which shows a noticable drop-off in activity a the last couple of years http://project-gc.com/Statistics/Overview

Glad you're on the case! Update half-fixes things, can find the GMR in the sidebar now. I hit the 500 error yesterday too - raised a ticket with HQ and it sorted itself shortly afterwards, then a response to my ticket confirming they had issues.

Hi Good of you to pop in and let us know. I've forwarded your message to the current owner, who is still an active cacher, to let him know. Hopefully they'll be in touch soon.

The "battery pack" on the Oregon 650 is just two Nicad AA's with a bit of plastic between them. That plastic pushes down on a button in the case so that it charges when connected to USB. The supplied batteries were some medium brand ones without much capacity. Replaced with Eneloops and got a lot more. As for OP's problem with it saying it's connected to a PC when just plugged into a fag lighter - Suggest checking the connection settings in Setup and playing around there, and if that doesn't work, trying a different usb lead from the charger. (Generally speaking, if there's no data connection on a usb lead, these things don't wait for a pc, they just jump onto power. Certainly the Oregons do)

Lots of us do it, and as a CO I'm grateful when somebody returns the favour for mine. We live in a wet climate though, this stuff happens. (And don't say use better containers - wet fingers can be just a big a cause as leaky containers!)

A shame cachetrails isn't working properly, that's a great resource. This may be what you're looking for; http://www.gpswalk.co.uk/ - some good walks there, and I've used one of theirs to set a geocaching series. Other than that - if it is geocaches you want - then just the geocaching map. Use it, move around, look for collections of unfound caches near where you are and find series that way. It's how I've always done it when searching for either walking or cycling series, or just a random collection in an area that I can build my own route from.

They're promoted as guidelines, not rules, and down to the reviewer to decide. Exceptions ARE made and caches are published that are closer than 0.1mi, but these tend to be where there is a significant physical barrier - such as a river or canyon. Afraid it's very unlikely "Area too full" is a good enough excuse. If you are feeling exceptionally optimistic, you could nicely ask that owner who's cache is close enough to cause you problems if they would consider archiving it to clear the space for you, but they are under no obligation to do so. The only option if they don't is to wait patiently...

Christ, No. Never do this! I get the RPG element you mean, but in a game like Geocaching where it's mostly based on trust not to abuse the systems, that would lead to widespread cheating. You can't cheat Strava (well, I can because I have an ebike, but a fat middle aged bloke beating the lycra whippets' times on uphill sections does rather stand out on the local leaderboards), but you can cheat geocaching no matter how you want to try and do it. And besides, the App is not Geocaching - it's just one tiny, expensive and badly featured window to this world.

I've not seen any evidence Groundspeak are reading this, taking any notice, or just blindly making arbitrary choices about the design and not caring about the impact it has. This is the right place to report web issues, isn't it, Groundspeak?

Discussed over here. http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=339893 Please complain to Groundspeak if you disapprove.

Disappointed not to see any engagement from Groundspeak on this, either before removing functionality, since in here, or giving any indication if this is a permanent change and an explanation of why, if so. Bad show on communication, guys.

Have you got a link to this, please? I understand your thoughts, Groundspeak nerfed google maps (and handled communication badly) due to threats of API cost - but the OSM data is free to use and will always be free to use; that's a core of OSM philosphy. Mapquest is not OSM even if they use the data - and a change can be made easily. (I've been contributing to OSM for many years so this is partly my work and I did it on that understanding) Anyway, hopefully we're jumping to conclusions and this is just a bug introduced in an update and will be returned. Edit: Saw your second post, clearly you're aware of these. I agree ref trails/footpaths/bridlepaths - they're almost invisible on that map.

Since always, there have been two maps on the cache page. A top zoomable map that gives the general location, quite zoomed out, and the second map, with "View larger map" link that shows a closer view. Some time today, the top map has disappeared! Verified in Chrome and IE, the latter without any plugins in case something I ran was messing. Occurs both in Logged in and Not Logged in mode. The source code seems to be missing any reference to leaflet or any other kind of embedded maps in that area now. What I see (The first map appeared above Attributes on the sidebar, IIRC) http://i.imgur.com/AFW6vS2.jpg

If they've logged your cache and not signed the log - delete the log. If it's not your cache, ignore it - nothing to do with you.

Hello. Whilst I don't have any particular issue with any of the points raised, I had thought the individual country reviewing team's place was the apply and perhaps interpret locally the global Groundscape rules, rather than create new ones which may override those written in the website guidelines. Am I wrong in this? Are these changes reflected globally, or apply only to the UK? Are these new rules going to be included in the placement guidelines so that people who don't read these forums are aware of them? For players who may disagree with the changes, is there any route of appeal? Thank you.

Nope. Pretty sure it's not possible and I have dearly wanted that ability too, having set out quite a few series. The pages reflect the groundscape ethos that each cache is individual and allows no way to make a series easy nor to link them in any way. (Other than descriptions and your own bookmark lists) The API doesn't offer the option to add caches (afaik), so no way for third-party apps to make life easy either. So - what do I do: I open many "New cache" tabs in my browser. I shift-tab from one to another, repeating the same step for each and cut/pasting when needed. Only when I get to the location, title and hint do I differ the input. Doing that is the fastest way I know, but I'll be keeping an eye on this just in case someone else does have a better way!

This is one of those questions that always gets differing answers. Generally, I'll replace a wet log with a spare + bag if I have one, and mention it when logging. It's what I would want to be done as a CO and whenever I have done it, the owner generally says thanks. I've previously taken the time to unroll and dry out such logs before scanning it over to the CO, but I've never had a thanks for that so now I just keep it handy for a few days in case the CO wants it (assuming it's usable when dried). Sometimes it's pointless if the container is too badly compromised and it's going to get wet again as soon as it rains. Rules say I shouldn't replace the container (it's a throwdown) but it depends whether I know the CO or not as to whether I will, as then I can make a reasonable judgement on whether they'd want that. (most do, in my experience, but the odd one won't be happy so it's not something I recommend as a general policy.) One rule where I do recommend you completely ignore what I've written: Is if the CO has given up on caching (weeks since last online). I have maintained such caches in the past but it's a fool's errand and eventually you'll give up and the cache will go. There's no facility for force-adopting a cache once the CO has gone, and I truly believe that if the CO isn't active, the cache is better archived and the space freed up for others. If it's a good spot, it won't be long before someone else places a cache there, and the opportunity for everyone to visit or revisit a cool spot is renewed.

Gosh, what pessimistic people! This is a guideline, NOT a rule - and is at the discretion of the reviewer. There are exceptions to this guideline for the exact reason you give, and they are applied as intended. For example; GC4EMRV - placed at the same time as GC4ENPQ yet only 69 meters apart. How? Because there's an obvious river, the CO explained this at submission (I assume) and the reviewer followed the guidelines. If you can provide the same justification this CO did on submission, I can't see why it would be refused.

Geocaching has been using IP blacklists for some time - eg, to block Tor exit nodes and possibly known abuse origins. Good idea, absolutely no issue with that! However - very recently, Facebook has started being blocked too. When somebody links to a geocache, Facebook fetches a preview of the page and displays that in the post. This benefits the user AND THE WEBSITE as it's seen and promotes the site widely. Now, if somebody links to a coord.info link or a geocaching.com page, Facebook is now showing this instead, which is the result code generated by Groundspeak's servers, not by Facebook; I can't imagine this is intentional, so am reporting it as a bug.

I learned recently that Esscafe sadly passed away in September. There was an event to celebrate her life; http://coord.info/GC64MFG

I saw on the project-gc stats that there were 10% fewer caches posted this year to September than the same period last year in Europe and US. Devon's fairly active now. Good community on facebook, quite a few events (not my thing but lots do) and some very active and well respected cache owners. When a new series is put out, you'll often meet lots of others doing it on the first week or two, which is as much real life social interaction as I generally like... Was there any trigger reason for your downturn? A fight, or an individual moving away or stopping?

Bike caching, that's the future! (I got a bike to do more caches in lane based series.) But bike, walk or whatever - geocaching is overall /good/ because it encourages physical and mental activity. It's a motivator that encourages you to improve several things about yourself to achieve, and those improvements will carry through into the rest of your life. I wonder if anyone's done studies on whether geocachers are, as a species, more productive individuals as a whole?

I've been accused of being "Cache police" for posting N/As and have had COs angrily disagree with N/Ms I've posted. I've also had some extremely rude and disparaging remarks made about caches I've laid (including my first series). But - that's just people and personalities. Anything that has a degree of anonymity about it encourages a certain keyboard warrior aspect and my view is you've just not go to take this stuff personally. It hasn't stopped me doing what I think is responsible and in the interests of geocaching. (Not reporting caches that hurt our reputation through bad placement or those that are not maintained is condoning it, imo. Groundspeak have a reasonably good system for dealing with this problem and people should use it.) But some people do take it personally, some people don't want to rock the boat, some are unsure of themselves or the rules, or the systems in place to deal with it, some are just too plain *nice* to raise what amounts to a complaint. That's fine too. I do wish everyone would post a DNF when they have one though though...