[Geocaching In China]

Perfectly true- try this for fun- try using different maps on your PC and then toggle between the satellite and terrain view. This then becomes one of the best metaphors for this place- a land of contradictions where what you see depends on how you look at it . One reason I'm still dismayed there are no China, (or Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao...) soy inert badges. We earn them here I wonder why they don't exist?

[China Map on Geocaching.com Bug?]

One should never put (much) faith into online maps. They are nothing more than overlays.

 

Two reasons that the guidelines say to use a GPSr to obtain coordinates for placements --

One) That first line in this post;

Two) Other folks will also (supposedly) be using a GPSr to find those coordinates.

 

Regarding reason two, why would you want to use map coordinates that do not align with the GPSr coordinates? Obviously, it wouldn't do any good for anyone. They'd never find the cache.

 

Trust your garnered readings far more than those transferred to a bunch of overlays.

 

That said, you really ought to check that your unit is using WGS-84 and HDD(D)° MM.MMM Datum and Format, it never hurts to check it again. Stuff happens.

 

Totally agree all- was just worried about proceeding if I knew the GC.com map was not registering it's overlay correctly. I'm only too happy to drive on as if the map issue was not an issue given the GPSr. Yes, the data format is correct- but thank you for helping me remember to verify that. Thanks for your insight!

Matt

[China Map on Geocaching.com Bug?]

While trying to hide a cache in Shunyi, China (suburb of Beijing) tonight, I checked my coordinates multiple times. But, when I went to Geocaching.com to validate the coordinates on the map, they all turned out wrong (far to the East and a little to the North.) Yet, when I checked the same coordinates against the map view (in Google maps) and the map and satellite view (on ditu.google.cn) the coordinates plotted correctly. The satellite view on US Google maps was also wrong (same location as the Groundspeak map.)

 

I'm worried about trying to activate the cache if the Groundspeak map is showing my coordinates in the wrong location; even though I know the coordinates are right using GPS + GLONASS and two other online map sources.

 

While I have a request into Geocaching.com for guidance on the issue, I think it's president's day back home so they may be off. If anyone is reviewing this forum and familiar with this issue, I'm happy to know what you think. For all I know the issue of representational inaccuracies related to China has been an old topic here on the forum. If not and I'm the first, maybe I've brought up something that needs fixing.

 

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to guidance on my next step in placing this cache.

 

Thanks

Matt Whitney

[Geocaching In China]

Garmin has a service center in Beijing; they loaded my eTrex 30 with a China Map just today. GPS is no problem in China. But, I am having difficulty placing a Cache because it appears the waypoints my eTrex is giving me are WAAY off from what the map in Geocaching.com is saying. This is a little troublesome. Anyway, so far, found about seven caches in and around Beijing. The program is immature here so I hope that more people will hide more caches. Not even sure if the one I wanted to hide tonight will be reviewed. But we'll see. If anyone can offer counsel about the coordinates issue, please weigh in..

MDW