+meekbelieve Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 (edited) Wouldn't it be great if there would be an option to search for multi-caches by length in km or miles? It would require an extra field to enter when submitting a new one, and an extra search option. This would be really helpful, when lookin for a trip on a sunny sunday when I couldn't afford to go out for a 20 km walk, but a 10 km one would be fine. Implementing this option should not be so difficult I guess... I don't think I'm alone in appreciating such an option, am I? Edited February 6, 2007 by meekbelieve Link to comment
+The Cheeseheads Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Not to debate the merits of the idea, but if the cache owner hasn't entered in the stages as extra waypoints, or has entered them in out of order, that piece of data is either going to be missing or inaccurate. Link to comment
markandlynn Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Isnt that what Difficulty and Terrain are for ? Link to comment
+meekbelieve Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 Not to debate the merits of the idea, but if the cache owner hasn't entered in the stages as extra waypoints, or has entered them in out of order, that piece of data is either going to be missing or inaccurate. So that would mean there would have to be made a new database field. Mayby old cache-owners will enter the data, maybe not, but for new caches this info would be really handy! Link to comment
+meekbelieve Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 Isnt that what Difficulty and Terrain are for ? If you can teach me how I could know the length of a multi-cache by whatching Difficulty and Terrain, that would solve the problem... Link to comment
+ePeterso2 Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 (edited) I played around a bit with the Geocache Rating System. I used the easiest set of attributes and only varied the distance. Here's how the terrain changed: Less than 1/2 mile = 1 1/2 to 2 miles = 2 2 miles to 10 miles = 3 10 miles or more = 4 Obviously, there are other factors that affect the terrain rating. -eP PS: I'm gonna guess that the number of people that are able to appreciate the distinction between a 10km and 20km walk is probably somewhat small ;-) Edited February 6, 2007 by ePeterso2 Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Most multis fall into a range much shorter than 10km. I would guess anything longer should at a minimum be noted in the cache description. In some cases this kind of addtional information may give away too much information as well. Link to comment
+duhgee Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 There are often multiple ways to get to a cache - it may be 1 km from the north, but 2 km from the south (where there are another 3 caches). Sometimes there is only one route, but to indicate a distance suggests you know the direction of travel. And one cache with a distance of 500 m (with a bunch of bushwacking) may be more difficult than a 2 km hike on a paved trail. I would think this would get too complex - the terrain rating is meant to be inclusive of distance and difficulty. There's no replacement to writing good cache descriptions, and reading them before you head off towards the cache. I'm all in favour of enhancing the cache descriptions (for example, with subjective ratings (such as creativity, view, adventure, and difficulty) to be (optionally) scored on each log entry by every finder), so thanks for initiating/continuing this discussion. Link to comment
+The Cheeseheads Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Not to debate the merits of the idea, but if the cache owner hasn't entered in the stages as extra waypoints, or has entered them in out of order, that piece of data is either going to be missing or inaccurate. So that would mean there would have to be made a new database field. Mayby old cache-owners will enter the data, maybe not, but for new caches this info would be really handy! Actually, come to think of it, even if I entered in the waypoints for each stage correctly, it still might not be useful. That would only calculate the distance as the crow flies, not the actual path. My two-stage multi might have stages only 200 feet apart. Unfortunately, a river separates the two and it's a five-mile hike to the nearest crossing point... Ultimately, the cache description should give some idea as to the length of the hike, or it may just be a surprise and if you have time constraints, you may have to finish the multi over several days. Link to comment
+Kealia Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 I'd be against this for a couple of reasons: 1) It would allow people to brute-force the final coords (oh yeah, it happens) 2) It ruins the experince and surprise on some multis. I'm doing one now where I've been to 4 stages and have no idea how many more to expect - it keeps it exciting Link to comment
Aushiker Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 (edited) If you can teach me how I could know the length of a multi-cache by whatching Difficulty and Terrain, that would solve the problem... Edited the quoted post incorrectly ... trying again. Andrew Edited February 15, 2007 by Aushiker Link to comment
Aushiker Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 PS: I'm gonna guess that the number of people that are able to appreciate the distinction between a 10km and 20km walk is probably somewhat small ;-) 1/2 day or full day Andrew Link to comment
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