July statistics

[holograph]

The statistics page has been updated with the July numbers. New maps are available, also.

 

[+Harry Dolphin]

Dolphin on hiatus between benchmarking contests. [] Need to catch up on my Ten-Mile List of geocaches. May even attempt the kayaking caches with my sister and Andy Bear. Don't even think that that Bergen County find was mine!

[+Rumpled]

What's it take to make the list?

[holograph]

Generally, if you have reported to the NGS, I will see a new set of initials and try to figure out who it is by cross-referencing the PID to the Geocaching.com logs. If you haven't reported to the NGS, you simply need to ask, and I'll add you.

 

If you have sent in reports to the NGS, but your initials duplicate someone else's, then I need to know the states and/or counties that you visit, and I can distinguish reports by that. Otherwise, once I associate a set of initials with a geocacher I just assume all the reports are made by the same geocacher.

 

I added your Geocache.com statistics to the report.

[+seventhings]

holograph -

 

Thank you for a great job, as usual.

 

The county maps that you produce are beginning to play a role in my benchmark planning. (On the current "Recent" recoveries map, I had five "red" counties: Green (PA), Arapahoe (CO), Grant (WI), Clayton (IA), and Posey (IL).

 

Harry Dolphin - You're right! I got the Bergen County (NJ) recovery report in July.

 

Will

[+shorbird]

Many thanks for continuing to update the statistics and the maps. I look forward to them every month.

[+m&h]

Holograph--

 

Another fabulous piece of work. Many thanks.

Edited August 9, 2007 by m&h

[+Rumpled]

Thanks for adding my few finds to the list.

 

I've only submitted one to NGS, but when it comes up I'm JRM

(what are the odds I'm the only one?)

[andylphoto]

 

The county maps that you produce are beginning to play a role in my benchmark planning.

 

Will

 

Thanks holograph. I was pleased to see Marquette county in Upper Michigan turn dark red with this month's additions. Not all of them are mine of course, but that's my home area, so I've got a bunch in there and have been trying to push it up over the 100 mark.

 

I'm also starting to look at northern Wisconsin and all those white counties...not quite up for a long trip just for benchmarking yet though.

[+Shorelander]

I head back to Chicago tomorrow - and en route, I hope to find marks in enough counties around the meeting of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana to complete the coast-to-coast county line!

 

Thanks again, Holograph, for a wonderful resource!

[+Ernmark]

I head back to Chicago tomorrow - and en route, I hope to find marks in enough counties around the meeting of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana to complete the coast-to-coast county line!

 

Thanks again, Holograph, for a wonderful resource!

 

Excellent ! "Marks across America®" comes to pass! Enjoy !

 

(Remember the last disk - it could become GEOCAC's equivalent of Promentory Point, UT!)

Edited August 11, 2007 by Ernmark

[monkeykat]

I've been waiting until close to the end of the month, and then submitting my recoveries that are worth reporting to the NGS. I noticed that a few that I am pretty sure I submitted in May, June, and July have not shown up on the datasheet from the NGS, but others that I submitted after or around the same time did. How long should I wait before submitting them again? Is there a database catchup time? I don't think any of my July recoveries show up on the datasheets yet (I'd probably give them another month).

[+seventhings]

monkeykat -

 

A few months ago, some of the recoveries submitted to the NGS never made it to the database because of [some unexplainable technological thing] that happened during a database upgrade/change-over [or other similar event]. A dozen or so of my recoveries evaporated during the episode. I re-submitted them about six weeks later, and they've recently shown up as expected.

 

It may be that some of your recoveries suffered the same fate. Were I you, I would re-submit any recoveries from June and earlier that aren't reflected in the NGS database. In September, if your July recoveries haven't shown up, I would re-submit them as well.

 

Will

[ArtMan]

I keep a spreadsheet list of all my recoveries (and attempts), including a column for NGS reporting. When I make a report I note the date submitted, then sometime later I go back and check. If it's posted, I add "(confirmed)" to the entry on my list.

 

This way, if NGS doesn't post my recovery, for whatever reason, I can follow up. Also, I've occasionally found cases where I screwed up, typically not changing the radio button on the reporting form from a previous PID, resulting in an inconsistent report, e.g. NOT FOUND, but including a narrative description that clearly indicates I found the station. Deb has corrected these when I've brought it to her attention, and to her credit has not berated me for my moronic inattention to detail.

 

-ArtMan-

[+PFF]

I'm convinced that some marks are jinxed. I've just submitted EZ4756 for the third time, and EZ6679 for the second time. I discovered these two while playing with the ScaredyCat Program. I'm not as organized as ArtMan, so I probably should review all the areas where I've worked to see what else is missing!

 

It's a good time for some "arm chair" recoveries. North Carolina has been enduring 100+ temperatures, day after day, with heat indexes in the 110-115 range. August marks my third year in the hobby, and I really should send in some uploads to mark the occasion!

 

On several occasions, I've left the house at 5:30AM to recover multi-disk triangulation stations. With the NGS Forward Program, finding reference marks is as easy as "shooting fish in a barrel". However, spending time on stations where three of the four disks don't have PID's does not do much for one's totals on Holograph's statistics page. Still, it's very satisfying. I've been working around the lake region on the NC-VA border, which is scenic, and very relaxing.

 

But when it's "80 degrees by 8AM", you know it's gonna be a hot day--lake or no lake.

 

-Paul-

[AZcachemeister]

I keep a spreadsheet list of all my recoveries (and attempts), including a column for NGS reporting. When I make a report I note the date submitted, then sometime later I go back and check. If it's posted, I add "(confirmed)" to the entry on my list.

 

This way, if NGS doesn't post my recovery, for whatever reason, I can follow up. Also, I've occasionally found cases where I screwed up, typically not changing the radio button on the reporting form from a previous PID, resulting in an inconsistent report, e.g. NOT FOUND, but including a narrative description that clearly indicates I found the station. Deb has corrected these when I've brought it to her attention, and to her credit has not berated me for my moronic inattention to detail.

 

-ArtMan-

 

I too have a spreadsheet, but only for successful recoveries. However, I have saved all 'Hunted BMs' in GSAK, with the status/results of those hunts. I have yet to go back to see if all have been included in the NGS database...perhaps it is time I did.

Personally, if I were Deb, I would be reassured by the occasional error, as it can only indicate that there is a real person making an honest effort to post actual results.

 

Mistakes are easy, that is why EVERYONE makes them.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Okay. My Excel Spreadsheet lists all the benchmarks that I've hunted. One column for NGS or Not NGS, with an X for those updated into NGS. And another column for GC, or GC DNF.

Plus a column of 8 or so that I've reported to NGS but have not been updated, or commented on by Deb. That column I can cut and paste into NGS to see the status. Guess it's time to resubmit a few.

[AZcachemeister]

I just checked a few from May, and my notes aren't listed.

How long would be appropriate to wait before re-submitting?

I already have enough 'double-recoveries' to make me appear an idiot, so I would rather not add to that total.

I suppose 30 days after the original submission, but: See above.

[andylphoto]

I started a spreadsheet for recoveries and recovery efforts, but I'm certainly not as organized yet as Artman. After reading the note about some entries not making it into the database, I went back to verify, and found a couple recovery logs from June had not made it, so I resubmitted those. I assume regular submissions are more or less a FIFO system?

 

I also had one entry error that I contacted Deb about and she was gracious enough to correct it. I was apparently interrupted in the middle of my reporting, because it was only partly wrong. I had reported as poor (leftover from another station) instead of good. I had also submitted the correct coordinates, but the rest of the description was also leftover from the other station. That was an embarrassing and humbling experience. Check data. Recheck data. Recheck again. Click "submit."

[+seventhings]

I also have a pretty good accounting system for benchmark hunting. I just checked on a bunch of recoveries that I submitted in mid-July, and they are not reflected in the NGS database. I will re-submit in September (that is, if they don't make it into the database for the end-of-August statistics.)

 

Will

 

p.s. regarding entry errors, I've given Deb the opportunity to correct a few. For some reason, there's nothing in my experience that has made me feel like such a hopeless moron as submitting an erroneous recovery report. I guess an erroneous report seems so humiliating because of the contrast with the (desired) precision and accuracy of the underlying activity.

w

Edited August 22, 2007 by seventhings