brad.32

The main buttons are: NAV - to scroll through the navigation screens MARK - to set user waypoints (or point markers) GOTO - to set the waypoint "goal" Basically, you find out the cache location from geocaching, enter the point with the MARK function, select the point with the GOTO, then use the NAV screens to guide you there.

Go to the travel bug page, http://www.geocaching.com/track/ At the bottom are links to purchase the tag(s). Buying one is how you START one. There are many of them out there in the caches, if you FIND one, then you can move one along. Cahces that (theoretically) have a TB will have the TB icon next to the cache icon. I just checked your profile. It shows you have found a travel bug, so you must have logged a travel bug find. Are you wondering what to do with it now? [This message was edited by brad.32 on March 06, 2003 at 07:43 AM.]

System It's a system of satellites.

USGS (http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs07701.html) doesn't use the UTM military grid (http://www.tpub.com/inteng/9h.htm) so that's why their maps don't have the military latitude codes (and why I hadn't heard of it). If the letters are N and S for north and south, the original N and S that I refered to, then they do matter. The other system of military grid letters are extra and confusing. Does "10S" refer to 10 South or military grid 10S, where the latter is really UTM zone 10 North? Here on geocaching.com, I now know UTM designations are are military grid designations.

When a log book fulls up what do you do with it? People would still want to be able to read the old one, for a while, before it's removed. How long before you remove it? I suppose it depends on the size of the cache.

Nudist resorts often have trails associated with them, so these would be potential places to locate caches. The problem is they are not publicly available, either requiring a grounds fee or membership before you can get access. I wonder if the subject has been discussed by a geocacher special interest group of The Naturist Society. Hmmm.

The cache web pages I have looked at show the UTM zone and coordinates as something like: UTM: 10S E 559831 N 4157226 or UTM: 18T E 741100 N 4591620 or UTM: 54H E 291891 N 6100730 At first I thought the "S" was an error and should be an "N" for zone 10 North, but then I saw one in CT (zone 18 North) and IA (zone 15 North) with "T"s and one in Australia with "H". What do the letters "S", "T", and "H" refer to? Why not "N" and "S" for North and South? I didn't see this in the FAQ.

I use an HP Jornada 567 (identical to 568) with a TeleType CF GPS running through ArcPad. For navigation, VITO Navigator seems similar, but ArcPad is a pocket GIS program, so it can display a background image. I also use it to build a shapefile of the caches and benchmarks I find. I have tried a Pharos and Pretec CF GPS unit, but like the TeleType better. The Pharos was especially jumpy. I have not used any street navigation software yet, but just print (ugh) the map from mapquest. The caches I have searched for are SF Bay Peninsula caches though, not deep woods where a topo map is useful. Oh, I have also used a tethered (serial cable) GPS unit too. That was a pain because I only have two hands. Trimble sells a baseball cap with a pouch in the back designed for their version of a DeLorme Earthmate. That frees up a hand and gets the GPS unit higher.

Have you looked into letterboxing? It's not geocaching, but similar with location clues not GPS.

I use an HP Jornada 567 with ArcPad and a CF GPS unit. No street navigation software loaded, yet. Don't really need it if I save the mapquest map to the PocketPC or print it... except for multis, of course. The cache web page can be saved locally to a PocketPC as an html file with directory for images, add an image (jpg) of the mapquest map, and avoid the printed versions of both. I use ArcPad for the as-the-crow-flies navigation and to construct a shapefile of the caches I have visited, but usually print an image that is the collage of the first page of the cache and the mapquest map.

Have you read the "How to" page on travel bugs? http://www.geocaching.com/track/howto.asp After that, what specifically is your question or problem with them?

The Washington State Geocaching Association sign is complete, but I thought it was too big especially if it all goes in a ziplock bag. The wording is a bit strong on that card too. I borrowed heavily from what other people have done with additional tags to come up with the ones I posted.

I ordered a 4 pack through the PayPal link and it took ~ a week and they arrived this week. I have plans for two of them so far

I have only released one (four more soon), but from the travel bug forum posts it sounds like people have better success if they include an instruction tag with the official silver tag. That helps people with the logging process. I don't know if everyone puts the goal the additional tag(s). So far, I wasn't planning on putting the goal on my new ones, just refer to the bug's web page for the details, which lets the finder see the current goal and the total plan.

My complaint was about satellite imagery. I did not make up a definition to match my needs. Two online sources I found were http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/booklets/aerial/aerial.html http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/modules/tools/tools_rsgis.html (there are others), but none that I found define photography v. imagery, just make a distinction between aerial photography and digital imagery and data. Two textbooks that define photography v. imagery are Avery and Berlin (Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Airphoto Interpretation, 1992) and Jensen (Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective, 1996).

My complaint was about satellite imagery. I did not make up a definition to match my needs. Two online sources I found were http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/booklets/aerial/aerial.html http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/modules/tools/tools_rsgis.html (there are others), but none that I found define photography v. imagery, just make a distinction between aerial photography and digital imagery and data. Two textbooks that define photography v. imagery are Avery and Berlin (Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Airphoto Interpretation, 1992) and Jensen (Introductory Digital Image Processing: A Remote Sensing Perspective, 1996).

quote:Originally posted by ApK:Me, I can't see anything until the chemical changes latent on the film are developed by a chemical process that creates an image, just like I can't see the pattern of electrical changes on the chip until they're rendered into a visible image by an electrical/digital process. ApK Fine, develop the media, then look at the negative, it's still on the media. In photography the image is recorded on the media/film. A CCD is just a sensor.

What if a bug has a multi-part goal or wants to go there and back again? A tag with the goal attached to the bug could tell about this, but the finder doesn't know where the bug is along the journey. I'm with Markwell. Move it. It will eventually get where it's going and have fun along the way ... or get MIA trying :-(

I hadn't thought about it. I have found 3 bugs and considered them trading items (that you definitely pass on). If you don't leave something in return, it's depleting the cache. Many caches can use the extra help.

quote:Originally posted by ApK: quote:Originally posted by brad.32:Photography refers to images directly recorded on film. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=photography Photography comes from "light writing," it was it was started on sheets of metal and glass, not film, and a photo-sensitive chip is as valid a light-writing medium as any other. ApK Ah, no, it's not. Ok, ok, so my complaint wasn't pedantic enough for everyone. If you read the definitions on the page you linked for us, they write, e.g., "producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces" (usually by chemical processes). Read: image recorded on a surface/film. There is no image formed on a CCD array. One can't look at the CCD and see anything. The array produces voltages that are converted to digital numbers (DNs), when the DNs are displayed in the same configuration as the array on a display device (screen) or printed, then one can see the image. That is not photography, but isn't software wonderful? Complaint 3: People who take the fun out of complaining.

1. data are plural 2. satellites do NOT take photos, they acquire or collect data, IMAGES, or imagery In the early days satellites had film canisters and dropped them, but that's ancient history. Photography refers to images directly recorded on film. Digital cameras and satellite sensors don't carry film. arghhhh grrrr grrrr

I am planning to release a few soon. After reading the forums here about what other people have done and have success with, I will be making double-sided laminated tags, or get engraved tag(s), with something like the following: Hello Cache Hunter! This is xxx. He is not a usual cache item to trade, but is a Travel Bug with a goal. The details are on the bug's web page. If you don't want to help him, please don't take him. If you do, please follow the instructions on the back. Thank you. Travel Bug Instructions 1. Go to www.geocaching.com 2. On menu, click "Track Travel Bugs" 3. Enter the Bug's secret number: nnnnnn 4. Log your find, with a note and picture 5. Take the Travel Bug to a new cache 6. Return to page and log the new location

You mean the upper right of the cache details page??? That's not the list of caches ("Nearest Caches" list), which is what I meant.

I did a forum search for micro and icon and didn't come up with anything directly relevant... I would like to see a microcache icon. Why don't microcaches have an icon like virtuals, multis, etc? I would like to know that when constructing a list before viewing the individual cache pages. Our 4-yo doesn't care about 35-mm film canisters, as there are no ... goodies. (However, McToys we can do without.)