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rassilon256

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Everything posted by rassilon256

  1. Thanks both for the responses. I guess what I was trying to get at is not so much the theme of the cache as the physical nature of it. As a kind of anti-example, we don't really have LPCs in Australia but I found one that I understand was very typical when I visited California a few years ago. It was under the skirt of a lamp-post on it's concrete pillar about 3 feet off the ground, in the middle of a carpark. I can imagine that caches like that are convenient for people with limited mobility because you can get right up close to it whether you do that in a car, a chair or on foot. I can also imagine that, even if they all had great reasons to bring you to carparks, the same thing over and over would be boring. So my curiosity is more about how you might make the hide itself both accessible and interesting (perhaps uniquely so) to someone who, for example, is in a wheelchair or has low vision. And yes, I'm well aware that every person's disability is different. I used to do education talks with someone who uses a wheelchair. She can walk a decent distance but it can be slow and tiring so she largely keeps to the chair. However, she quite enjoyed wheeling into a classroom and doing the talk, then finding an appropriate excuse to stand up and surprise the kids. We weren't there to educate on disability and inclusion but I think she taught a lot of kids a good lesson doing that.
  2. The recent article on wheelchair accessible caching was great to see. I have no personal experience of disability but have a few friends and family who are or have been in wheelchairs or otherwise had their mobility impaired, and I think it's important that those of us without such experience are reminded to think about that perspective. This is not a discussion about the wheelchair accessible attribute and T1 rating, they're well discussed elsewhere on the forum. Anyway these really only cover whether the geocacher can reach the geocache. To me a more interesting question is: assuming you can get there, what makes a geocache special to a person with a disability which might not be the same for a person without one? It would be lovely to hear from some people in this situation or who cache with people who are.
  3. Well it seems in my effort to keep the concept vague I've made it concerning. My apologies. I don't mean to suggest this is a brilliant idea, I think it's a nice one with flaws, in fact I indicated that there are plenty of potential difficulties. Most of what has been raised is what I was thinking of so maybe I should have just said it myself. There would be no value (to me at least) in telling a CO that someone had looked at the cache page, that was a feature until just over two years ago and as a CO I didn't find it useful. Groundspeak is theoretically capable of tracking your location with their app, though I assume they don't. If this were a workable idea on that basis it would have to be only active while you were actually navigating to the cache, not reading the listing online or on-app, and it would have to be anonymised. GDPR and the ethics it protects see to that being a requirement. As to the 45 minutes point, that's a point that was raised about the information now provided to AL owners and searchers. From my ICT background I'm sure there's ways of minimising the problem statistically but it will always be a problem. But again, it isn't relevant unless you tap 'Navigate' then drop the phone in your pocket and go to lunch. And I think I have done that once or twice. Not at all, I have an Explorist 610 which comes out anywhere I think the iPhone won't be up to the challenge (poor signal, on-water, etc) or data-roaming will hit my bank balance. And I know a few people who are still primarily (even solely) using GPSrs. However, I did neglect to mention that even though I referred to probable issues with Geocaching API apps. Well yes, that app is about as useful to this concept as a GPSr. I'm interested in this discussion because, perhaps unexpectedly, I'm not sure it would be as useful as DNF logs. The exceptions being raised compromise it, but I pointed out some reasons why the DNF process isn't flawless and the thought exercise is in part about which system has a better chance. 1. It won't cope with that as far as I can envisage. Depends on what API apps can feed back and the data security that can be enforced on it. 2. You're just browsing. If you tap the 'Navigate' button, then you're more likely to be looking for it. This is another of the issues I referred to which were suggested about ALs - if you start navigating to a location in the app just to have a look, but you're 40km away and then don't actually go there and look for the information you need until an hour/day/week later - does any of that factor into such statistics? As I said before, this problem should be able to be mitigated but I don't know to what extent. 3. Again, if you actually 'navigate' to them the data is compromised in my opinion. 4. If you don't know it's there you're not looking for it and neither is the app. Well I just wish I could write something this poetic. But the idea is very true. It doesn't align 100% with what Groundspeak are trying to push with the 'Year of The Hide' things I'm reading but like many things in life I imagine they're pitching for 120% of what they want to achieve, knowing that way they'll have a better chance of getting 100%. Apologies again to those who don't like the concept. Just throwing a little idea into a big discussion, in my experience that's a worthwhile thing to do even if the little idea turns out to be a bad little idea.
  4. A recent HQ blog post says That's a great sentiment and I'm certainly someone who has become much more willing to post DNFs over the years for that reason, as well as just recording my own caching trips more accurately. However, a lot of people aren't going to bother with DNFs. For some it's a numbers game and you don't get a number for that. Experienced cachers may not want to admit what they perceive as a failure. Newer cachers may be the same or may think that it's an easy find and they just aren't clever enough. And we all sometimes have 10 minutes to duck over to a cache and it turns out that's not enough time, so no DNF because we didn't look hard enough. I had one of those a few weeks ago, though I did leave a WN on it. Anyhow, my suggestion: a function on the CO dashboard to give COs an idea of the unlogged activity on their caches. This could take any number of forms. It could be as simple as 'X people have searched for this cache without logging anything'. Or as complex as 'In the last [select time period], X people have searched for this cache without logging anything. They started navigation from an average of Y metres away and came within an average Z metres of the coordinates. They spent an average of W minutes searching.' I could pick lots of holes in why getting that data accurate would be a problem but some of them apply to the Adventure Labs app so maybe I'm wrong. I also suspect that this data couldn't be retrieved from API apps and would add to the download on any app. But I think it's a nice idea, hopefully I'll get a comment from a Lackey as to it's merit.
  5. I'd quite like this as well. I almost always jot some notes in the app then type it out properly on the website when I get back from the trip. But sometimes I'll get partway through writing the log and get called away, or need to check my memory with someone who was there. In the meantime, the site can time out without telling me, so that when I hit Post I get an error and lose my log, or any number of technical issues from my browser to the local power grid can shut the page down. A save button I could click before I walk away would really help.
  6. This happened to me yesterday and at around the same time an update was available. I downloaded the update and the problem hasn't recurred yet so hopefully it was in the previous build. I was halfway through typing a log on my iPhone (iPhone Xs, iOS 14.4 [I know, I know, there have been some issues with downloads], the latest-but-one build of the app) when the app suddenly reverted to the sign-in screen. I signed back in, started the log from the beginning, and it happened again. A moment later I was alerted to the new build so downloaded it. I used the app without issue for the rest of the day. I also noticed that the signing out reverted all of my app settings to default: map type, filters, measurements, experimental features, etc. Not sure if that happens if you intentionally sign out and in again.
  7. I had the same problem in early January, after twice being sent to the wrong place for a particular cache I eventually worked it out by looking at the map. Then yesterday I had it again, Google took me to the wrong place three times and got it right the fourth. So two of those times it took me back to where I started. In January I didn't deviate from the intended route, yesterday I did once. But I have just realised that on both occasions every time it took me to the nearest school. Unlike the other three posters, I'm in Australia. So this behaviour is internationally consistent. I too have only had this problem when navigating to caches from the Groundspeak app, never when navigating to a point entered or pinned in Google Maps. It seems unlikely that it could be a problem at Groundspeak's side but the only data I see shows a correlation.
  8. Thanks everyone for the responses! Max and 99, arisoft - On the website and iOS app I always see the pin at the corrected coordinates, which is where I want it to be. But sometimes it's useful or interesting to see the posted location again. Certainly a feature to allow you to see that, either as a switch to revert the location temporarily or as an additional waypoint along with parking etc, would be nice. Until that happens however... TeamRabbitRun - No such waypoints in the iOS app, sadly. Maybe it's in the works. But I somehow hadn't noticed the 'Original' option in the edit popup! Thanks, that'll achieve what I want well enough.
  9. This has surely been asked before, sorry I couldn't find the right search for it. Once you've solved a mystery cache the pin on the map moves to the real location. I've looked around both on the website and the iOS app and can't see any way to look at the posted location after solving. What am I missing? Thanks in advance.
  10. Not sure if this counts as a bug, and it's a very unusual case, but it was an issue for me yesterday. I wanted to look at one of my caches on the app. It's in the midst of an area where I have a lot of finds, so I had the 'Hide my Finds' filter enabled. Here's the unusual bit: my cache wasn't shown. And I think I know why. I adopted the cache, but before I adopted it I found it. So the Finds filter being on trumps the Hides filter being off. Now I'm sure I'm not alone in this situation but I'm also sure there's not many of us (thousands at the very most). I don't see it as something being broken, just something unusual/unfortunate. But I'll flag it anyway, might be an interesting exercise for a programmer to consider.
  11. Likewise @andrewbt, I've been at the OzMega and had to uninstall/reinstall several times on iOS while several people I saw using Android had to go through that routine. Very frustrating, especially in bad reception areas where it takes a while to download the app again. That said, I completed three labs in the last two days and though it is a major issue this has been the only bug I've found. There are other things I don't like about the app but they're all features. They didn't impact play (except needing data access to return every answer), and if Groundspeak keep getting feedback they'll be able to improve the features.
  12. Hopefully there’s already discussion of this I just couldn’t find. I’m at a Mega with four lab caches, in preparation for which I downloaded the app on iOS 12.2 over a month ago and downloaded the most recent update when it came out. When I arrived today the app still said that I was 22km away (about the distance to my home). After relaunching, turning location services and all connectivity options off and on, and restarting the phone, I had to delete and reinstall the app before it would work. Then I completed a 5 stage Lab without issue and 9/10 stages of another. Data reception was poor and I wanted to be elsewhere so I left and returned two hours later. The app now says I’m 449m south of the first stage and 179m north of the final stage, no matter what I do. Despite this, the dot on the map indicating my location is always accurate. The Geocaching app and Google Maps are both working fine and I’m using Chrome to post this so there isn’t an issue with the phone and GPS or data. Two questions: Is there a solution to this? If I delete and reinstall the app again will I lose my progress on the Labs I’ve done/ partly done?
  13. Looks like I have some related issues. I've lost the scrollbar recently, I'm somewhat sure it was there about a month ago but that may be incorrect. In addition, my messages seem to be vanishing and reappearing. The below all occurred on Win7/Chrome (latest versions thereof). On May 5 I sent a message through Message Centre to a user I hadn't previously contacted. On May 11 I went to MC and realised that my previous message wasn't in the list. I'd met them in person and also knew them to be prompt loggers so I thought maybe it hadn't actually left my browser. I went to send them another message and the original one reappeared. Just in case, I copied it into the new one and sent it. On May 16 they replied having not received the first message. On June 4, a user I'd previously conversed with through MC sent me a message. It appeared immediately but I didn't get to reply until June 25, attaching a photo. I knew them to be a quick responder and remembered the previous occurrence, so on June 28 I went to MC to check. My reply wasn't there. I went to send a follow-up but the original reply didn't reappear until I clicked send. The photo wasn't there and still isn't. On June 29 they responded that they didn't get my original reply. On June 23 I sent the CO and last finder of a cache I've been struggling with a message each. I don't know anything about them but on June 30 have not received replies. I've sent them follow-ups to see what happens.
  14. In a few weeks my family will welcome our first geodog, a miniature schnauzer. I really want to get her one of these (or at least one of these) in the medium size. Can anyone help me out? I'm in Australia and only one local site is selling them, they've sold out of the medium size. A few other Australian sites have the tag but I really want the whole set as I doubt anyone will notice the tag without the branded collar. If anyone can help me source this I'd be ecstatic. Thanks!
  15. Does anyone know where I can get hold of one of these in the medium size? Geostuff has small and large, and a few other Australian sites have the tag. I really want the whole set though, I doubt anyone will notice the tag without it.
  16. Background: I've wanted one of these shirts for a while but never been able to find one in Australia at an affordable price. Then a few weeks ago I came across it on a local site at 60% off, so I ordered it. Today they sent me a message saying they had a "stock issue", which I guess means there was no stock, as the only other time I ordered from them something similar happened. Practical upshot: I won't be ordering from them again, and none of the other Australian stores (or eBay) carry the shirt. So where else might an Australian look for geocaching supplies they can't get locally?
  17. Thanks for the information thebruce0, and finding that thread on4bam. Good reading, and having some database admin and programming experience I find it all quite interesting. Unfortunately I still don't understand why a temporally contiguous group of logs submitted through a single interface have been rearranged. Everything I've read would suggest that I should have either 1-37 or 8-37, 1-7 rather than the jumble I seem to have. I guess I'll have to find time to copy/paste and recreate them if I really want them in the right order.
  18. I use the phone app as my equivalent to your book lee737. I hit the log button, put in the number cache and if I have time put anything interesting I particularly want to remember, then save it for later. So I understand that using different systems could cause a problem, presumably serverside my field logs are coded 2017-01-06-082358, and website logs 2017-01-06-X, or something. But I don't understand how that causes my problem. I logged my 17th, 18th and 19th caches on the website - same PC, same browser, same login session, and within about 5 minutes of each other. Same thing for my 7th and 8th, only they were about 30 minutes earlier. Except for the first 6 caches, it was all that one session. So I don't see why they are out of order while the first 6 (two different sessions in the app) are fine. Have I missed the point of your explanation on4bam? Other than the don't switch methods one.
  19. I went on a caching run with a friend on 2017-01-06 and got through 36 caches. I couldn't keep up with the logging as we made a lot of quick finds, the phone signal was patchy in places, and I was the driver. So I got 3 caches logged on the road, 3 at home that night, and I've now sat down and spent about 90 minutes logging the remaining 30 on the night of 2017-01-08. Which is fine, except when I scrolled back through my logs after finishing I noticed that they aren't in the order they occurred (ie the same order I logged them in). The logs show up with 1-7 in order, but then jump to caches 15-17, then 19-37, 8-14, and 18 at the top. One of the main points for me was to log a journey that reflected what we actually did, and some of my logs would only make sense to myself or my friend (or anyone else who chose to read them later) if they were in the right order. I've got the right date stamp, I posted the logs in the right order, what else can I do?
  20. The title says it all really. I recently accidentally came across two Geocaching store sites that I didn't know existed while looking for non-Geocaching sources for caching supplies. Then today I suddenly couldn't remember any suppliers' names when I wanted to find something on my lunch break. Thus I think a pinned list of suppliers that a mod could update would be good.
  21. Is there an app that does anything like this? I'm primarily happy just to go out and get a cache(s), and that's the fun in itself. But like many cachers I like to add challenges to the game. I tried to make my 200th, 250th, 300th finds particularly interesting caches to me, I'm looking at starting to fill my find days calendar, and so forth. I find Project GC really useful to get ideas for challenges and check my data. But it's difficult to read away from my PC. If there was an app version that would be great for mobile readability even if it just refreshed static data every 24-36 hours from the site. But alternately, an app that could do some calculations and contact the Groundspeak servers to profile caches in a locale would be even more useful. But the desktop is fine. Everything has it's place, just because I started out with and mostly use the Groundspeak iOS app doesn't mean I didn't buy a GPSr that's almost always close at hand.
  22. Pretty simple question, I hope it hasn't been answered already but a search just turns up lots of "how do I log premium caches without paying?" threads. I'm a premium member. I just found a premium-only cache, I submitted a log, and my find count went from 261 to 262. So what would a non-premium member see if they look at my profile? Do they see the same number as me, can they see my most recent cache's name and my log?
  23. Thanks everyone for the discussion! Very interesting suggestions. I think I'll just have to pick some likely central points to go with multiple PQs, and see what happens. I haven't got the time or patience for 50-100 PQs though. No idea what a gophone is, but I have in fact arranged for a reasonably good deal on a Vodafone SIM to use in my iPhone on the trip. All the same I'd rather not risk using up my data downloading cache listings when I may not have any use for them. Especially when I have a perfectly good GPSr enabled for caching, which usually only gets used for multis. I did see the "GetCachesOnRoute" macro, but I'm not really sure what advantage it has over the similar function on Geocaching.com. That said, I'm quite inexperienced with GSAK and may be missing the point. In all honesty I'm not expecting to have many opportunities to cache as there are a lot of pre-booked activities. But I likely won't head to the USA again for many years if at all, so I'd like to take the opportunity to grab at least a few caches (and I guess a country and a state souvenir). I'm just looking to get as much information easily available to me as possible.
  24. So I'm going on an overseas trip next week. I'll be heading to a variety of destinations around Los Angeles and San Diego over three weeks. I want to find as many caches as I can (keeping in mind that I don't know where I will have the time, and I will be using public transport and Uber), and minimise phone data use as it's reasonably expensive and I'll need it for other things. I was hoping to use a pocket query for this but it seems all I can do with that is draw a route between LA and SD. I think if I cast the radius for this wide enough to encompass the destinations I'm going to I'll end up with too many results, many of which will be in areas I'm not stopping in. Any suggestions welcomed. I'm an occasional GSAK user if that helps.
  25. Thanks for the suggestions guys! All good advice. We are going to California Adventure Park, we have a day set aside for it. Good to know it's so highly recommended. The wife-to-be is definitely not a sports nut, so baseball is out. The Safari Park weather thing is very interesting, we'll have to keep an eye on that.
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