rediguana

Wanna waste some more time with GIS/GPS related activities? Try this. 1. Go to http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/aedownload.html and download and install ArcExplorer - try the Java version, but you'll need to have Java installed. 2. Run it. 3. Layer > Add Layer 4. WWW > Add Web Site. URL = http://www.geographynetwork.co.nz then OK 5. NZTopo_wgs84_simple, Click the Add Layer button, and then close the Catalog window. 6. Start playing I would like to make available NZ geocache information in a database for use in this software, and its something I'll try and work on over the coming weeks. I don't know what the speeds like on dialup, but it should be useable. You may be pleasantly suprised at the detail of the information For more variety, click on the Geography Network icon, or add servers, and repeat. http://www.geographynetwork.com or http://www.ecan.govt.nz Some maps may not line up because they use different coordinate systems, but I haven't played around with that much yet. Cheers Gav

Post deleted to avoid me embarassing myself Cheers Gav

Post deleted to avoid me embarassing myself Cheers Gav

It is a tricky subject and there is no right answer. I don't agree with the commercialisation of geocaching.com - I believe it should be run as any other sports club. Cover the overheads, and pay people who do the work. But most importantly, there should be open accounting, the books have to be open for memebers. I have no hesitation in saying that I haven't paid yet primarily because of the lack of openness. I fully support Jeremy (and others) to get paid for his time, and not to be out of pocket for the running of geocaching.com. But it must be open for members to view the accounts. But I don't think giving up on geocaching is the answer. Heck, going out and finding a box with radio signals is just too much dadgum fun, and is a great talking point. I'm going to keep doing it, and you guys should too. You may find, that like me, you start to temper you geocaching because of other activities (namely minutewar, but also geodashing). Oh yeah, and life Do keep playing, do stay involved. You don't have to pay if you don't want to. And if worst comes to worst, there are other options available. Cheers Gav aka rediguana

It is a tricky subject and there is no right answer. I don't agree with the commercialisation of geocaching.com - I believe it should be run as any other sports club. Cover the overheads, and pay people who do the work. But most importantly, there should be open accounting, the books have to be open for memebers. I have no hesitation in saying that I haven't paid yet primarily because of the lack of openness. I fully support Jeremy (and others) to get paid for his time, and not to be out of pocket for the running of geocaching.com. But it must be open for members to view the accounts. But I don't think giving up on geocaching is the answer. Heck, going out and finding a box with radio signals is just too much dadgum fun, and is a great talking point. I'm going to keep doing it, and you guys should too. You may find, that like me, you start to temper you geocaching because of other activities (namely minutewar, but also geodashing). Oh yeah, and life Do keep playing, do stay involved. You don't have to pay if you don't want to. And if worst comes to worst, there are other options available. Cheers Gav aka rediguana

Right-o. All keen GPS fanatics, we have a new game for you that has just started! http://www.minutewar.org We are looking for people keen to play to join the West team, which has a strong Kiwi contingent. You can play this game whereever you are based, and a little car travel is required, though not necessarily too much. Check out the URL, and if you are interested, contact myself, adman or tgsnoopy. At ease soldier!! MinuteWar - taking over the world minute by minute!

quote:Originally posted by BigNick:Sorry for the delay but it will be worth waiting for. Cool! I hope they put it up on an ArcIMS server, then you'll be able to browse it with ArcExplorer hehehe. Cheers Gav

It's primarily to stop people laundering money, as authorities can't easily track money via post. Much as customs has the form that you have to tick if you are carrying $10k of your local currency or more. Once you destroy the envelope, it is very difficult to track the postal money trail. Cheers Gav

It's primarily to stop people laundering money, as authorities can't easily track money via post. Much as customs has the form that you have to tick if you are carrying $10k of your local currency or more. Once you destroy the envelope, it is very difficult to track the postal money trail. Cheers Gav

Well, I must say I haven't come to a firm position yet, although I am starting to choose. I have done a fair amount of reading of peoples views, and thought it over in my mind. I do have various issues, and until some of these are resolved, I am holding back from paying. I entirely understand that geocaching.com does cost a considerable amount of money to run, and that that is hardly being met now. I fully recognise that Jeremy and others should get paid for the work they do. Geocaching.com and Groundspeak are commercial ventures, not a sports club or a hobbiest group. Geocaching.com may not ever make money according to Jeremy in posts I've read elsewhere and this could well be true. However, I see geocaching as a hobby, not a commercial gym membership, hence I do not think it is appropriate to operate under a closed commercial status for a recreational activity. I believe a membership would be better served under a sports club style, meeting overheads, AND paying salaries of those involved. Members should be shareholders. It should be run as a non-profit venture. But its not. I don't want to invest time and money to line someone else's pocket potentially. Even if geocaching.com does not make money, it could leverage geocaching to generate profits for Groundspeak in other areas. Geocaching.com rides a thin line that another favourite site of mine recently has raised a similar issue. For those who don't know it, Slashdot (www.slashdot.org) is a geek news site, who's power lies mostly in the value of the comments posted by vistors of the site. They also introduced subscriptions recently. Much in the same way that the power of geocaching.com lies in the efforts of registered vistors placing geocaches, Slashdot benefits from comments from users. I would hazard a guess that geocachers have spent more on caches cumulatively than has been spent on the geocaching.com web site, both in time and money. Whilst it is important for both of these sites to cover their costs, because it is the members themselves that generate the true value of the site, it is inappropriate to profit from the members efforts. It is primarily this point that is withholding me from paying. (I must note it has been interesting to see the support of Americans for what Jeremy is doing, always supporting the right to 'make a profit' from geocaching, rather than just trying to draw an acceptable salary and cover costs, and not get rich from it. This must be a huge societal difference between Americans and Kiwis.) I also disagree with the members only caches. If I did decide to pay, I would not place any members-only caches. I have read posts from others who have joined who have stated that all new caches they place will be members-only. This disturbs me. I would be interested to be informed when the first members-only geocache in New Zealand in placed. But also I find the excuse of security weak at the least. If cache plundering is such an issue, then in preservation of the hobby, ALL caches should be afforded this form of protection, not just those who chose to pay for it. This cache differentiation could cause probelms in the future. To guard against this risk, I am looking at multi-listing my caches on a personal home page, and other GPS caching sites. I have no problems with paying if an open membership and accounting structure was used, but as it is an attempt to profit off many peoples work, I think I am tending towards not paying a subscription. Time to sit back and watch the show for a bit. In the meantime, I'm waiting for www.minutewar.org to unfold Cheers Gav

Well, I must say I haven't come to a firm position yet, although I am starting to choose. I have done a fair amount of reading of peoples views, and thought it over in my mind. I do have various issues, and until some of these are resolved, I am holding back from paying. I entirely understand that geocaching.com does cost a considerable amount of money to run, and that that is hardly being met now. I fully recognise that Jeremy and others should get paid for the work they do. Geocaching.com and Groundspeak are commercial ventures, not a sports club or a hobbiest group. Geocaching.com may not ever make money according to Jeremy in posts I've read elsewhere and this could well be true. However, I see geocaching as a hobby, not a commercial gym membership, hence I do not think it is appropriate to operate under a closed commercial status for a recreational activity. I believe a membership would be better served under a sports club style, meeting overheads, AND paying salaries of those involved. Members should be shareholders. It should be run as a non-profit venture. But its not. I don't want to invest time and money to line someone else's pocket potentially. Even if geocaching.com does not make money, it could leverage geocaching to generate profits for Groundspeak in other areas. Geocaching.com rides a thin line that another favourite site of mine recently has raised a similar issue. For those who don't know it, Slashdot (www.slashdot.org) is a geek news site, who's power lies mostly in the value of the comments posted by vistors of the site. They also introduced subscriptions recently. Much in the same way that the power of geocaching.com lies in the efforts of registered vistors placing geocaches, Slashdot benefits from comments from users. I would hazard a guess that geocachers have spent more on caches cumulatively than has been spent on the geocaching.com web site, both in time and money. Whilst it is important for both of these sites to cover their costs, because it is the members themselves that generate the true value of the site, it is inappropriate to profit from the members efforts. It is primarily this point that is withholding me from paying. (I must note it has been interesting to see the support of Americans for what Jeremy is doing, always supporting the right to 'make a profit' from geocaching, rather than just trying to draw an acceptable salary and cover costs, and not get rich from it. This must be a huge societal difference between Americans and Kiwis.) I also disagree with the members only caches. If I did decide to pay, I would not place any members-only caches. I have read posts from others who have joined who have stated that all new caches they place will be members-only. This disturbs me. I would be interested to be informed when the first members-only geocache in New Zealand in placed. But also I find the excuse of security weak at the least. If cache plundering is such an issue, then in preservation of the hobby, ALL caches should be afforded this form of protection, not just those who chose to pay for it. This cache differentiation could cause probelms in the future. To guard against this risk, I am looking at multi-listing my caches on a personal home page, and other GPS caching sites. I have no problems with paying if an open membership and accounting structure was used, but as it is an attempt to profit off many peoples work, I think I am tending towards not paying a subscription. Time to sit back and watch the show for a bit. In the meantime, I'm waiting for www.minutewar.org to unfold Cheers Gav

Hi Guys. Just a heads up, there are now geocaching.com subscriptions available. I've just been reading about it through the forums, and saw no Australian postings about it here, so I thought I'd let you know. If you go to my post listed below, I've links to the relevant page, and the most recent forums threads about it. http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=2860999683&m=1920962693&r=1920962693#1920962693 Cheers Gav

Hi All. Have just been catching up on the new forums, and came across these recent messages. Geocaching.com has introduced a subscription service. I won't highlight all the issues here, I'd recommend reading some of these threads first. I'm not going to post my views here yet, I'd like to mull on them for a bit. http://www.geocaching.com/subscribe/ http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=5980944593 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=7700915593 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=7160981693 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=8280971483 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=3000917383&m=5080944593 And UK references http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=1500909683&m=8380946593 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=1500909683&m=6780946593 http://opentopic.Groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=1500909683&m=4680946593 Cheers Gav