ATXTracker

I think elections introduce more trouble than it solves. Our reviewer has a hard job, and I'm happy for his/her service.

If you open the map from the main menu, and tap on the map, you get a pin. From there you can save it (by clicking on the title at top), or see the title of the object under the pin (like a road or park). Or, as I find particularly useful, find your distance to that pin. To move the pin, you can tap again in a different spot. To remove the pin, use the back/undo arrow in the lower left-hand corner of the screen to. I like this feature. On my smart phone I can't easily tap and find the distance to a location on the map.

The feature was started in November of 2011 and planned for an upcoming release. Is this still up-and-coming? Please try something like this:

I like HME tacks better. You can buy 50 for $3, which is way better that $10 for 25. Plus I think they are actually more reflective because the surface are of the circle is larger than one side of the triangle or square kind. Also I think they are easier to place facing in a certain direction. The FireTack brand work fine too, I just like the cheap ones cause they work great and I can afford to use lots and replace them if needed. Also, plan on doing maintenance a few times a year. Foliage and trees change from season to season.

My favorite hint is one that doesn't really make sense until you're at GZ, and then i clicks in a helpful way.

Rather than make caches that are easy or convenient, I try to earn favorite points to entice cachers to make the extra effort to find my caches. I try to think about making sure each cache has as many enjoyable elements as possible. A good location; scenic, safe. A high-quality container; big if possible, a better than average logbook, with good pen, a special spot for FTF. A good cache page, with nicely formatted text and images. A theme or story, and good swag. Make sure your hint is helpful, and your coordinates are good, and the DT ratings are as close as your can approximate. Take care with all the elements that go into the cache and the cachers may enjoy it enough to tell their friends.

Can someone explain the difference between a Challenge Cache and an ALR? When I read the below two guideline scentences, they seem to contradict. "An exception is Challenge Caches, which may only be logged online after the log is signed and the challenge tasks have been met and documented to the cache owner as per instructions on the published listing." This seems to say ALRs are allowed. "For physical caches all logging requirements beyond finding the cache and signing the log are considered additional logging requirements (ALRs) and must be optional." This seems to say they must be optional. What am I missing? The ALR says you have to wear your pants inside out, with a tin foil cap, and a striped shirt while signing the cache log. The Challenge Cache says go meet these requirements before signing the log. I don't get it; Maybe a few more examples will help. How is wearing a tin foil hat not a requirement to meet?

Can someone explain the difference between a Challenge Cache and an ALR? When I read the below two guideline scentences, they seem to contradict. "An exception is Challenge Caches, which may only be logged online after the log is signed and the challenge tasks have been met and documented to the cache owner as per instructions on the published listing." This seems to say ALRs are allowed. "For physical caches all logging requirements beyond finding the cache and signing the log are considered additional logging requirements (ALRs) and must be optional." This seems to say they must be optional. What am I missing?

Can someone please provide an update as to when we could expect to see favorite data in pocket queries? This was said to be underway some time ago. Thanks!

Some time ago Groundspeak had a prototype application that would show geocachers in 'real time' on a map. There was a cell phone app that would report a cachers loction to G.S. and you could see cachers in real time. Most of the adopters were in Europe, and it never worked that well. The map was at 'live.geocaching.com.' Today if you go to that address you get an advertisement for the modern smart phone apps. Questions: 1) Is this concept still alive; is Groundspeak still working/thinking on it? 2) Does the geocaching app (iphone,android,win8) report users locations back to Groundspeak?

Recently I went to publish a new cache and was greeted by a message that one of my existing caches was flagged as needs maintenance. I didn't know it had the flag, so I went and fixed it. I can't remember if it was a warning or a road block to publishing a new cache.

I short note about our reviewer. I recently listed a cache that was rejected due to proximity to a puzzle cache. On three separate occasions I posted coordinates and they were rejected. Turns out, the puzzle cache had old data in the waypoints section that differed from where the cache really was hidden. The reviewer responded quickly each time and even worked with me and the cache owner to get the data corrected, and the new cache published. I see lots of complaints about reviewers, and just wanted to post a positive note for a change.

How about adding a field clue that is only view-able when you're in the field, near the cache. Yes, this is doable with a Wherigo, but maybe it's time to start bringing some of the location-based things into the geocaching app.

If a cacher takes/drops a trackable in a cache, this should be included as part of the log for the cache page, in addition to being listed on the trackable page.

This post is to provide a more clear title for a great idea that the community should consider supporting. I want it to have the visibility it deserves, but its title is not as clear as it could be. Go Here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=302502 (please don't post on this thread)

YES Please +1 I would think the entire community would agree with this one, and it seems like it should be reasonably easy to fix. There are 18 cache types. If I want to be notified about any new cache near home or work, that is 18*2=36 notifications to setup and manage. I missed an awesome Wherigo recently because of course I didn't bother to set that one up.

something like this perhaps... http://w3.impa.br/~diego/software/luasocket/

Admittedly I'm a little out of touch with everything that is going on in Wherigo. I own one Wherigo cache, but haven't kept up with news. Question: Has there been any thought to adding functionality into the builders/players. Since the best builders and players are third parties, and since the lua language is not a proprietary Groundspeak thing, is it possible to build new features into the builders and players without Groundspeak's help? Would their compiler still work? Specifically I'm thinking about the ability to make a web request to a URL and get a value back. If this were possible, then the gates would open much wider on what is possible. You could send messages between players, and or save/share state between games. You could see or not see other players based on their actual location. The cartridges would have to either be only playable on phones, or have a degraded experience.

Quite a few cachers actually really enjoy doing geo art series. This spreadsheet can help anyone else interested in taking on the daunting task of creating it. Nice Spreadsheet! Good work. It is disrespectful to call someone else's work pointless, ridiculous, and/or pathetic. It is one thing to not like an idea, and something else to be demeaning. I think an apology is in order. What is the point of any series, or cache with a theme? Going to extra effort to make a nifty series of caches more unique should be applauded. It is just one more flavor of geocaching.

+1 ipad is hard to use the drop down menus and the maps is almost impossible to use.

If you're thinking about reflectors, skip the firetacks and go straight to these (http://www.basspro.com/HME-Products-Reflecting-Metal-Tacks/product/71297/?cm_ven=bazaarvoice&cm_cat=RLP&cm_pla=71297&cm_ite=productname_link). They are much cheaper, and I think reflect as good or better. For the price, you can afford to use many more. I would suggest using small clusters of three, and making sure you can see two-three clusters at any time. That way if a few go missing, or are obscured, no problem. Consider some twists and turns.

Given the history, what prevents people from stealing the bugs and auctioning them again. This could get expensive at $100 a piece. This is why you should never negotiate with terrorist.

Obviously, most puzzle require information from somewhere other than the cache page. Some require google, or seeing a movie, or math from a college course. I would argue for the requirement to be interpreted as something like "the puzzle should be solvable by following hints and clues on the cache page." I think the cache page is just the starting point. The line about the registration and personal information is a good one and implies that visiting another page is acceptable, so long as those things are not required.

I have a membership, but if you give it to me for next year, that's one less year I can threaten to not renew if Groundspeak doesn't do what I say.

The iPhone app lets me create custom waypoints which are associated with a cache. This is helpful/necessary for multis and puzzles. Is there a way to view and edit these custom/personal waypoints on geocaching.com and have them sync with the phone app? I typically will solve a puzzle at home, and would like to have a way to enter that solution, and have it show up on my phone. The opposite is true for multis. Anyone know why Groundspeak hasn't built good tools around solving puzzles yet. They should build their own validator, that automatically add the final waypoint to your handheld device (pocket queries) once you solve it.