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The Waymarking website is down and I don't feel like reading 40 threads to try and piece together little bits of info as to what Waymarking and "virtuals" are (ya see? I read "virtuals" in one thread and it was mentioned in another, but I will have to read 15 more to get enough info to find out what it is).

 

Thanks! :anicute::anicute:

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The Waymarking website is down and I don't feel like reading 40 threads to try and piece together little bits of info as to what Waymarking and "virtuals" are (ya see? I read "virtuals" in one thread and it was mentioned in another, but I will have to read 15 more to get enough info to find out what it is).

 

Thanks! :P:D

"What is Waymarking?

 

Waymarking is a way to mark unique locations on the planet and give them a voice. While GPS technology allows us to pinpoint any location on the planet, mark the location, and share it with others, Waymarking is the toolset for categorizing and adding unique information for that location."

 

[from Waymarking.com]

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Basically you're finding locations that meet criteria set by categories on the site. You mark them with your GPS, take pics, whatever, and submit them for listing on the Waymarking site. People who are interested in visiting these locations (based on category preferences, ie dog-friendly restaurants, abandoned railroad tunnels, etc) can do so and log their visit, much like logging a visit on a geocache.

 

When the site comes up you'll get a better idea but there are a ton of categories to choose from, and you can start your own, see the category proposals section for some recent ideas.

 

B)

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Basically you're finding locations that meet criteria set by categories on the site. You mark them with your GPS, take pics, whatever, and submit them for listing on the Waymarking site. People who are interested in visiting these locations (based on category preferences, ie dog-friendly restaurants, abandoned railroad tunnels, etc) can do so and log their visit, much like logging a visit on a geocache.

 

When the site comes up you'll get a better idea but there are a ton of categories to choose from, and you can start your own, see the category proposals section for some recent ideas.

 

B)

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks B)

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When it was first introduced, I thought Waymarking was to be a sort of "GPS Yellowpages", designed to give GPS users a coordinate based resource for finding different places (as opposed to most listing services which are address or phone number based). I was actually pretty excited about it at the time. But, as the site grows, I see it becoming more of a game than a resource. What kind of game...? I'm not sure. It seems to be more about clever and strange categories governed by Virtual Geocaching-style rules and ideas (i.e. - take a picture when you get there, log it online, get another bump in your Waymarking stats, etc...). For example, when searching a particular area for waymarks, one is more likely to find a list of something like "fiberglass horses" than anything that is actually useful or interesting. The idea is to find the horse, snap a pic and log it online... basically Virtual Geocaching.....

 

Doesn't really make sense to me, to tell you the truth. Is it a game, or a resource?

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To me it is both a game and a resource. For example if I want to go on vacation and I like to visit some place that has tours and wiieries togerther , I would load all the loc's for the waymarks in a particular state and visit them on vacation. ) great resource) I also would be challenging myself to create some waymarks while in the area, which is the game part to me.

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Doesn't really make sense to me, to tell you the truth. Is it a game, or a resource?

To answer your question, yes, it is a game.....and a resource.

 

For me it is, and always has been a game. I was a big fan of Locationless Caches and looked forward to that aspect of the geocaching game to move its own home since Locationless and Virtual Caches had a variety of problems associated with them. This site was touted as a replacement for the game aspect of both Locationless and Virtual caches. I personally have been surprised and a bit disappointed that many are treating it like another resource/database. That said, I have found myself leaning that way during creation of waymarks and categories so it must be a natural urge to categorize in a resource minded way. I guess that Waymarking is big enough for both worlds to some extent but I would hate for it to be just another directory with the added aspect of coordinates. If it turns into that I will lose interest rather quickly. So far it has retained enough of a game aspect for me to remain fun and interesting.

 

We don't really need another resource site IMHO. I can find anything I want using existing directories that are specific to what I am looking for. I can see a day when I may be able to utilize Waymarking as a resource to find specific items that I am interested in that I might have missed otherwise.

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I'm surprised no one has commented on the Ignore List feature yet. By ignoring certain categories you're able to transform the site into either a resource or a game, depending on your approach. Even if all you were interested in were fiberglass horses, you could ignore the entire rest of the directory and that'd be all you would see.

 

I could see perhaps in the future giving PM's the option of "skinning" the site depending on their mood. In one view I could have all game-related categories ignored, in the other view all commercial-type categories would be ignored and I could toggle between them.

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I could see perhaps in the future giving PM's the option of "skinning" the site depending on their mood. In one view I could have all game-related categories ignored, in the other view all commercial-type categories would be ignored and I could toggle between them.

This could be exactly what I need. I'm not very interested in the game aspect of Waymarking (I'm a logbook kind of guy....), but I am interested in the resource aspect (nice for traveling, etc...). Conversely, TheBeanTeam seems to be the opposite. So, this feature would give us both a better way of tailoring the site to our needs. I think I'd be less put off if everytime I searched an area the categories that came up weren't so strange and obscure (not that they aren't interesting to some folks...)

 

On another note, is it in the works to allow PM Geocachers to create a (one) seperate PM Waymarking account without additional charges? If I ever did start Waymarking, I'd want to keep it totally seperate from my Geocaching account. Since they are two different sites, it makes sense to allow 2 different accounts....

 

Thanks for the input! I think I get it now :)

Edited by Cache Heads
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On another note, is it in the works to allow PM Geocachers to create a (one) seperate PM Waymarking account without additional charges? If I ever did start Waymarking, I'd want to keep it totally seperate from my Geocaching account. Since they are two different sites, it makes sense to allow 2 different accounts....

 

 

Well, your geocaching PM is a Waymarking PM also, but I don't think that's what you're asking. We do plan to allow you to change your bio and latest news info on your Waymarking profile without affecting your geocaching profile, while your personal details (name, address, payment info - all the hidden stuff basically) will be the same across websites.

 

I hope you enjoy that ignore list. Happy Waymarking :)

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Conversely, TheBeanTeam seems to be the opposite. So, this feature would give us both a better way of tailoring the site to our needs. I think I'd be less put off if everytime I searched an area the categories that came up weren't so strange and obscure (not that they aren't interesting to some folks...)

 

 

That is interesting. I have a hard time thinking that people might like different thing than me (tounge in cheek). :) I am interested mostly in the strange and obscure. I wonder what that says about me? I also have some specific categories that interest me. The everyday categories I have no real interest in. I still waymark at least one in each category as they come up if have time though. I currently have about 1,000 photos for waymarks that I haven't posted yet saved up. I just don't have the time to place them all. Someone even stole one out from under me last week and now I will need to make a visit instead. :)

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We do plan to allow you to change your bio and latest news info on your Waymarking profile without affecting your geocaching profile, while your personal details (name, address, payment info - all the hidden stuff basically) will be the same across websites.

That makes sense... it would be nice to be able to use a different email for WM.com, too if that's possible :)

 

Basically, I'm looking for a "I never knew that was there".. along with a "Where can I find a....?"

That's a good way of looking at it. I feel like I get my fill of "I never knew that was there" with good ol' Geocaching, but the "Where can I find a....?", especially with reviews/comments from other waymarkers is intriguing. Although, I suspect it will be quite a while before the categories really start to fill out.

 

I'll try to help the best I can. I just hope the "gamer" sect of the Waymarking community doesn't make it too hard to post a waymark. I'm not interested in jumping through any hoops... just in sharing good info with fellow Groundspeakers :)

 

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts... I'm definitely more clear on the philosophy now.

Edited by Cache Heads
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I'll try to help the best I can. I just hope the "gamer" sect of the Waymarking community doesn't make it too hard to post a waymark. I'm not interested in jumping through any hoops... just in sharing good info with fellow Groundspeakers :)

 

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts... I'm definitely more clear on the philosophy now.

I suspect that some categories will be more game-like, requiring verfication of visits, while others will not have any requirements for logging visits. I hope that eventually there may be two type of logs. "Visited" logs to allow people to post about their visit without having to jump through hoops, and "Found" or "Discovered" log for people who provide verification or perform some other task in conjunction with their visits.

Edited by tozainamboku
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I suspect that some categories will be more game-like, requiring verfication of visits, while others will not have any requirements for logging visits. I hope that eventually there may be two type of logs. "Visited" logs to allow people to post about their visit without having to jump through hoops, and "Found" or "Discovered" log for people who provide verification or perform some other task in conjunction with their visits.

It would make sense that the game categories would require some sort of verification for those participating in that aspect. I was actually more referring to the posting of a new waymark into an already established category. This site needs as many waymarks as it can get in order to be successful (i.e., right now when I search for "scenic hikes" I get 1 waymark-- and it's in Iowa :) ). If category owners make it too difficult to actually register a waymark within their category, then less people are going to be willing to do so, IMHO. So, I just hope that category owners keep things as simple and easy as possible in order to encourage others to actually register new waymarks :)
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