Will This Turn Into Shameless Advertising

[+Faith the Aquariaqueen]

and take your picture with a GPS, etc.

 

I can see this getting out of hand. We'll have everything from every McDonalds, Starbucks to bar-b-que joints....nail salons, tattoo parlors.

[+dogbreathcanada]

I could certainly see it as a potential source of revenue for Groundspeak. A large national chain, could, in one fell swoop, supply Groundspeak with all the coords and descriptions (and possibly photos) of all their locations. Groundspeak would add these for a dollar amount.

 

I'd have no problem with that, as long as there is a PERSONAL FILTERING option (beyond the popularity filter), so that I can remove "Wal-Mart" or "McDonalds" from all my searches.

Edited August 23, 2005 by dogbreathcanada

[+budd-rdc]

and take your picture with a GPS, etc.

 

I can see this getting out of hand.  We'll have everything from every McDonalds, Starbucks to bar-b-que joints....nail salons, tattoo parlors.

Yup, it probably will, and more so if Waymarking becomes very popular. It's inevitable.

 

I recall Bill Gates' vision of "PC in every desktop and every home". Jeremy's might be "GPSr in every hand and every car"

 

If the abuse of shameless ads don't impact the cost of the sport (too much storage and bandwidth) then I have no problems with it. I'm going to stick to historical and hobby-related locations and will do my part to minimize the shameless plugs.

[+FtMgAl]

Currently there are 3 main categories - People, Places, and Things. IMHO, commercial sites will most likely always be listed under places. So People and Things should be safe places to surf if you never want to be exposed to capitalism. If you venture into Places, you will need to be selective. Never go to Restaurants, Bars, Entertainment, or Stores/Retail. These dens of inequity are almost always rife with low down evil people trying to make a living. Some of the other subcategories under places might also hide capitalists. But an occasional peek at the dark side is good for you. It builds character. Know your enemy, and all that.

 

<jerkmode = off>

Seriously you don't have to look at commercial waymarks if you don't want to. That is what categories are for rather than having one huge pile of waymarks. You get to choose what you want to see and what you don't want to see. If 99% of the waymarks turn out to be commercial and 1% are of interest to you, with proper categories you should still be able to come in, rush past all the categories you don't want to see, and look only at the 1% you do want to see.

[+Konnarock Kid & Marge]

Business is business and the new waymarks system will be commecial.

Edited August 24, 2005 by Konnarock Kid & Marge

[+mini cacher]

not only could businesses pay to get bulk listed, after awhile the entire "places" waypoint database could be rolled up and sold to mapping software makers. Groundspeak could potentially get money from both sides. But so what. Business is business.

[+Sanruft]

Did you happen to get your hands on a yellow jeep travel bug or the newer white one?? If you did, then you participated in the commercialism of Geocaching. Jeep did not hand those out because of the goodness of their hearts.

 

Sometimes, commercialism can be fun. I liked the jeep hunts!

[+LaPaglia]

and take your picture with a GPS, etc.

 

I can see this getting out of hand. We'll have everything from every McDonalds, Starbucks to bar-b-que joints....nail salons, tattoo parlors.

So? What if it does? It's not Geocaching so why should it matter?

[+Marky]

and take your picture with a GPS, etc.

 

I can see this getting out of hand.  We'll have everything from every McDonalds, Starbucks to bar-b-que joints....nail salons, tattoo parlors.

Yup, it probably will, and more so if Waymarking becomes very popular. It's inevitable.

I personally would love it if there were a Subway or Togos sub-category. These type of categories, however, are much more useful when they are 'complete', which would probably only happen if the corps were involved in feeding the info to wm.com

 

--Marky

Edited August 24, 2005 by Marky

[+budd-rdc]

and take your picture with a GPS, etc.

 

I can see this getting out of hand.  We'll have everything from every McDonalds, Starbucks to bar-b-que joints....nail salons, tattoo parlors.

Yup, it probably will, and more so if Waymarking becomes very popular. It's inevitable.

I personally would love it if there were a Subway or Togos sub-category. These type of categories, however, are much more useful when they are 'complete', which would probably only happen if the corps were involved in feeding the info to wm.com

 

--Marky

Yeah, I would enjoy a Togo's category. If the "corporate sponsors" can provide the information, or sponsor Groundspeak/Waymarkers to obtain the information, I can see some benefits.

 

I think the fear of commercialism comes from something out of control like SPAM and pop-up ads. Groundspeak has a chance to set up a system to minimize that type of chaos.

Edited August 24, 2005 by budd-rdc

[+The Blue Quasar]

Commercialism is not all that bad, though it is hardly a challenge.

 

Anyone can find a McDonald's, and that should not mean that they aren't playing right, or selling out, just because they log it.

 

The challenge will be coming up with unique examples that fit the catagory.

 

For me, moving the Locationless ones over wasn't what I was hoping for, as I won't claim a find on a Waymark that I know was already claimed when it was a locationless by someone else. I wish the site was totally new, nothing regurgitated from Geocaching.com.

 

But when it comes to commercial... I have a Catagory I hope to put up in the future that some may call commercial, and that is fine.

 

It's the same as always... people will ultimately either enjoy the commercial, or avoid them like the plague.

 

That would be the marketplace (Waymarkers) deciding what we want to look for, and the types that are not being found will get ignored.

 

That is COMMERCIALISM.... and business or Waymarking will adapt to the ever changing marketplace.

 

The Blue Quasar

[+Marky]

For me, moving the Locationless ones over wasn't what I was hoping for, as I won't claim a find on a Waymark that I know was already claimed when it was a locationless by someone else. I wish the site was totally new, nothing regurgitated from Geocaching.com.

 

I was actually hoping that gc.com would transfer all the locationless find logs automatically. I can understand why they didn't, but it sure would have been nice if they did. I will probably manually enter all of the finds from my locationless caches into my categories.

 

--Marky

[+The Blue Quasar]

I didn't think that one through when I said

For me, moving the Locationless ones over wasn't what I was hoping for, as I won't claim a find on a Waymark that I know was already claimed when it was a locationless by someone else. I wish the site was totally new, nothing regurgitated from Geocaching.com.

 

I forogt that each Waymark is treated like a Virtual, and the Catagory is the Locationless (Sorry to those that hate how people are trying use GC terms on the WM game)

 

So if we use the Water Tower Locationless as a Waymark Catagory, and someone listed the Water Tower in my home town.... everyone can claim a find for it, as long as they log it using the requirements. That would be fine, and makes more sense now.

 

I also can see that using the existing Locationless to 'seed' the game makes sense. Hopefully it won't be long till new Catagories, or maybe that is Sub-Catagories can be introduced.

 

The Blue Quasar

[Jeremy]

The database gathering idea is interesting but the point of Waymarking.com is to take the directory ownership from the corporation (or whomever) and make it a community ownership.

 

What I mean by this is that most corporations wouldn't approve of their restaurant being busted on or generally criticized unless there were some restrictions. Here we say You, the community, can mark these listings on the site and tell the story your way.

 

The McDonalds category is a case in point. Sean wants to have the directory show real people commenting on McDonalds locations - not some marketing speak pontificating about the delicious new chicken sandwich. And the photos are contributed by people Waymarking - not glossies.

 

So I wouldn't throw out the idea that some companies would offer up a database of their facilities, but I think the seeking out and gathering these locations is far more interesting than a ready made database.

[+Faith the Aquariaqueen]

It's just sad, it's turning into something so drastically different than interesting virtuals, earthcaches, locationless etc......

 

Think I'll be bowing out quite soon. Just not what I was expecting.

[+cache_test_dummies]

It's just sad, it's turning into something so drastically different than interesting virtuals, earthcaches, locationless etc......

It's too bad you feel that way. It looks complete different to me. I actually think it's cool.

 

I'm starting to get the vision of where this is headed and what the possibilities are, and I like the way it feels. I'm not at all worried about a negative commercial spin to it. If it happens, it happens, but I just think the users of the site are likely to drive it in a different direction.

 

We are very early into this thing - there aren't a large number of categories available yet, but the count is growing each day. I keep going in to see what's new, and when I find something I hadn't seen before, I get a head rush while I try to think of where such a thing might be so I can go post a waymark for it.

 

I have always liked virtuals, and had fun doing a few locationless caches on gc.com too, but I really like the way the new site is shaping up.

[Jeremy]

Glad I could help.

[+geognerd]

Sean wants to have the directory show real people commenting on McDonalds locations - not some marketing speak pontificating about the delicious new chicken sandwich. And the photos are contributed by people Waymarking - not glossies.

I haven't combined geocaching with a meal yet (I'm never out caching for more than 4 hrs at a time), but I think Waymarking.com could be an excellent tool for planning a caching trip. Find out which good restaurants are along your caching route, and take your pick. And maybe a buffet category? Could be good for folks who cache in groups. And if necessary, the site could be used to find lodging along your caching route. If things stay organized and the database fills in, Waymarking.com could be quite useful in trip planning. Find out where caches are, and get uncompromising reviews of lodging and food from Average Joe and Jane Cacher...