Waymarking.com

[+Miragee]

So, here is one of the latest waymarks created on the Waymarking.com website.

 

Someone help me with this concept, please.

 

Is this the equivalent of a LPC?

 

I guess I don't come to this forum very often. But seeing it is my waymark I will respond. I find it interesting that out of my over 4000 waymarks I have submitted it is my single KFC waymark that was selected. Couldn't select one of my over 800 waymarks for sites on the National Register of Historic Places or maybe one of my waymarks for veterans memorials. There are over 660 categories at Waymarking and I have waymarks in 530+ of them. For categories that are not my preference (commercial categories etc) I find and submit one or two. Those categories which are more of my interest (historical or art) I submit more. One of the "games" for some (myself included) is to get at least one waymark in the different categories. (called filling the grid)

 

I personally don't participate much with commercial categories at Waymarking but when on a recent trip, I definitely found where they could be useful. After my trip I looked at my recent destinations on my Garmin Nuvi (with a pretty complete POI) and saw many were restaurants and stores, many of which were also categories at Waymarking. (though I didn't add them as waymarks)

And how many of those 4000 Waymarks ever get visited?

 

I was excited about Waymarking at its "birth," but after creating several in different Categories, and even creating two new Categories, I soon found out I was talking to a wall.

 

My Waymarks in a very popular, large city park here in San Diego are never visited, although the caches in that Park are visited every day.

 

If my Waymarks were Virtual Caches, they would be visited and I would get some feedback for the work it takes to post the location on the Site. At least my one Earthcache was moved back from Waymarking to GC.com. It is the only one of my Waymarks that gets somewhat regular visits . . .

Edited February 22, 2008 by Miragee

[+TexasGringo]

Isn't that waymark advertising? After all it tell you to eat there to make a log and it asks you to report on the conditions.

 

Could this be KFC drumming up some business?

 

Visit Instructions:

To log this KFC, you must have eaten at this particular location. Please enter the items you ordered from this visit in the log description. You CAN include your GPS in log photos.

 

Please comment on the cleanliness of the facility, the courtesy of the staff, and the quality of the food served (e.g. fresh, hot, presentation).

[+sbell111]

... My Waymarks in a very popular, large city park here in San Diego are never visited, although the caches in that Park are visited every day. ...

I wonder if what you are noticing isn't a difference between the mindset of a waymarker and that of a geocacher.

 

With a geocache, the item was hidden by the cache owner. Therefore, cache finders log online to give feedback. With a waymark, the person merely identified the item for others. Perhaps, because it is a given that the person looking for the waymark already is interested in the item and the 'creator' merely pointed it out leads to fewer people logging their visit online.

[Mr.Yuck]

So, here is one of the latest waymarks created on the Waymarking.com website.

 

Someone help me with this concept, please.

 

Is this the equivalent of a LPC?

 

I guess I don't come to this forum very often. But seeing it is my waymark I will respond. I find it interesting that out of my over 4000 waymarks I have submitted it is my single KFC waymark that was selected. Couldn't select one of my over 800 waymarks for sites on the National Register of Historic Places or maybe one of my waymarks for veterans memorials. There are over 660 categories at Waymarking and I have waymarks in 530+ of them. For categories that are not my preference (commercial categories etc) I find and submit one or two. Those categories which are more of my interest (historical or art) I submit more. One of the "games" for some (myself included) is to get at least one waymark in the different categories. (called filling the grid)

 

I personally don't participate much with commercial categories at Waymarking but when on a recent trip, I definitely found where they could be useful. After my trip I looked at my recent destinations on my Garmin Nuvi (with a pretty complete POI) and saw many were restaurants and stores, many of which were also categories at Waymarking. (though I didn't add them as waymarks)

And how many of those 4000 Waymarks ever get visited?

 

 

Exactly. It's a great looking website, and the creators of Waymarks do a great job writing them up. I have about 30-40 visits. But as I've said before, it's evolved into almost strictly a "placers" game, where the visitors are never going to come in any significant numbers. For example as Bruce said, Waymarkers trying to "fill the grid" and get one Waymark in different categories.

 

So there's this huge website, with a small cult following of creators. The subtitle of this thread is "what exactly is the point?". I guess you can count me among those who don't get it.

[+TrailGators]

So, here is one of the latest waymarks created on the Waymarking.com website.

 

Someone help me with this concept, please.

 

Is this the equivalent of a LPC?

 

I guess I don't come to this forum very often. But seeing it is my waymark I will respond. I find it interesting that out of my over 4000 waymarks I have submitted it is my single KFC waymark that was selected. Couldn't select one of my over 800 waymarks for sites on the National Register of Historic Places or maybe one of my waymarks for veterans memorials. There are over 660 categories at Waymarking and I have waymarks in 530+ of them. For categories that are not my preference (commercial categories etc) I find and submit one or two. Those categories which are more of my interest (historical or art) I submit more. One of the "games" for some (myself included) is to get at least one waymark in the different categories. (called filling the grid)

 

I personally don't participate much with commercial categories at Waymarking but when on a recent trip, I definitely found where they could be useful. After my trip I looked at my recent destinations on my Garmin Nuvi (with a pretty complete POI) and saw many were restaurants and stores, many of which were also categories at Waymarking. (though I didn't add them as waymarks)

And how many of those 4000 Waymarks ever get visited?

 

I was excited about Waymarking at its "birth," but after creating several in different Categories, and even creating two new Categories, I soon found out I was talking to a wall.

 

My Waymarks in a very popular, large city park here in San Diego are never visited, although the caches in that Park are visited every day.

 

If my Waymarks were Virtual Caches, they would be visited and I would get some feedback for the work it takes to post the location on the Site. At least my one Earthcache was moved back from Waymarking to GC.com. It is the only one of my Waymarks that gets somewhat regular visits . . .

I have three observations:

1) Creating a new waymark is basically the same as what finding a locationless cache used to be. It seems like most people enjoy doing this since many waymarks are being created.

2) Visiting a waymark is sometimes similar to what finding a virtual is/was like. Many waymarks require that you post a photo of yourself, so those are the same. Some waymarks don't divulge what you will find and make you gather info so those are same. Going to McDonalds is not the same.

3) You don't get a smiley for finding a waymark. This may be the biggest reason they don't get visited as much as geocaches.

Edited February 22, 2008 by TrailGators

[+FireRef]

Well, you do get kind of a smiley - they do keep track of the number you have posted and found - I have that stat bar, along with my GC.com one the one from the site that tracks biggest cachers worldwide and in your state, in my email sig file.

 

People just don't consider the smileys all that important over there.

[+sbell111]

It might be helpful to remember that Waymarking is kind of two games.

 

The first is identifying new items within the different categories (like LCs). The second, is visiting those established locations (like virts). I believe that the site is a success even if only the the first game is popular.

 

I wonder if this isn't really a statement on the viability of virts. After all, if a new site called virtualgeocaching was built, would it be popular? I think not. Virtuals, at best, are a side item, not the main course.

[Mr.Yuck]

So, here is one of the latest waymarks created on the Waymarking.com website.

 

Someone help me with this concept, please.

 

Is this the equivalent of a LPC?

 

I guess I don't come to this forum very often. But seeing it is my waymark I will respond. I find it interesting that out of my over 4000 waymarks I have submitted it is my single KFC waymark that was selected. Couldn't select one of my over 800 waymarks for sites on the National Register of Historic Places or maybe one of my waymarks for veterans memorials. There are over 660 categories at Waymarking and I have waymarks in 530+ of them. For categories that are not my preference (commercial categories etc) I find and submit one or two. Those categories which are more of my interest (historical or art) I submit more. One of the "games" for some (myself included) is to get at least one waymark in the different categories. (called filling the grid)

 

I personally don't participate much with commercial categories at Waymarking but when on a recent trip, I definitely found where they could be useful. After my trip I looked at my recent destinations on my Garmin Nuvi (with a pretty complete POI) and saw many were restaurants and stores, many of which were also categories at Waymarking. (though I didn't add them as waymarks)

And how many of those 4000 Waymarks ever get visited?

 

I was excited about Waymarking at its "birth," but after creating several in different Categories, and even creating two new Categories, I soon found out I was talking to a wall.

 

My Waymarks in a very popular, large city park here in San Diego are never visited, although the caches in that Park are visited every day.

 

If my Waymarks were Virtual Caches, they would be visited and I would get some feedback for the work it takes to post the location on the Site. At least my one Earthcache was moved back from Waymarking to GC.com. It is the only one of my Waymarks that gets somewhat regular visits . . .

I have three observations:

1) Creating a new waymark is basically the same as what finding a locationless cache used to be. It seems like most people enjoy doing this since many waymarks are being created.

 

 

You weren't addressing me directly TG, but that is an excellent point, and a great answer to my post. Creating a waymark is basically the same as finding an old locationless cache. And many people enjoy(ed) that.

[+BruceS]

[

And how many of those 4000 Waymarks ever get visited?

 

 

I get several visits a week on waymarks... many of my waymarks have never been physically visited that I know of but I don't really keep track of that. I don't think I want everyone of the waymarks to get visited daily... I don't really want 4,000 emails everyday (or even weekly for that matter)

 

I do know that several of my waymarks prompted people outside of the geocaching/Waymarking community to email me and thank me for providing a photo of something important to them. These emails have been about waymarks on Medal of Honor graves, a playhouse that happened to be on the National Register (email came from a woman in Sweden on that one), a veterans memorial, a few on Revolutionary Veteran's graves and others. If you happen to google search for different topics the waymarks will often come up in the search.

 

Finding this thread did explain why my KFC waymark had so many web hits though (I was wondering why it had so many hits)

[+BruceS]

Isn't that waymark advertising? After all it tell you to eat there to make a log and it asks you to report on the conditions.

 

Could this be KFC drumming up some business?

 

Visit Instructions:

To log this KFC, you must have eaten at this particular location. Please enter the items you ordered from this visit in the log description. You CAN include your GPS in log photos.

 

Please comment on the cleanliness of the facility, the courtesy of the staff, and the quality of the food served (e.g. fresh, hot, presentation).

 

The visit instructions are set by the category managers and not the waymark submitter. If you look at any of the KFC ones they will be the same.

[+JacobBarlow]

Now if you want something to pick at, why is their theme song "Sweet Home Alabama"?

 

Cause Alabama is sweet!!!!!

 

But its not in Kentucky.

 

 

The FIRST one, was in Utah, I waymarked it in both the KFC category and the "FIRSTS" category.

[+JacobBarlow]

 

The difference is the smiley. The day you get a smiley for finding a waymark is the day that it becomes popular.

 

You do, just on Waymarking.com

[+tozainamboku]

In addition to the smiley, a lot of people liked to find virtuals (especiallly after the Wow! requirement was imposed) because a virtual would usually take them to a cool place. Maybe these are the same people who believe that any geocache should take you to some cool place. We all have different ideas about what a cool place is but when you had only a few virtuals that got approved the chances were much higher in finding a place that you though was worth visiting. Sometimes you would see something really unique, sometimes you would see something that was surprising to find, sometimes you might visit a memorial that was particularly moving or see a spectacular view. In Waymarking, you generally don't have someone selecting a few "wow" locations to visit. Instead, you have to find the categories that seem particularly interesting to you. Some people may be interested in visiting every historic marker or civil war battlefield and some may even be interested in visiting every KFC or McDonalds they pass while taking a road trip. But to get a lot a visits you need to have something that appeals to lots of people. The more interesting or unique these locations are the fewer waymarks are listed in these categories. If someone made list of really exceptional waymarks to visit, some people would put them in their GPS so they could check them out.

 

Virtual caches get visited because people would stop to look when they were out geocaching. If they are going through and area looking for all the 1/1 caches in parking lots and small neighborhood parks, they're likely to stop at the virtuals in the area. And those virtuals may turn out to have just enough "wow" factor that they remember them as among the better "caches" found that day. Since Waymarking and geocaching are not integrated as well as they might be, geocachers are not going to have interesting waymarks loaded in their GPS. Not only does not getting a smiley mean they're less like to stop, but they simply don't know that that there is something "cool" to see here. Hopefully, the next version of Geocaching will allow you to get PQs that contain both geocaches and waymarks in categories you find interesting.

 

Of course this doesn't explain why waymarkers tend to list waymarks in many categories but not visit many waymarks. I suspect sbell111 is right that these are seen as two separate activities and that people who visit waymarks are often not interested in taking the time to write about their visit online. As pointed out by BruceS, just listing waymarks is worth doing. People might never visit physically but armchair Waymarking is a cool way to visit places you wouldn't otherwise get to visit and the description and photographs of the waymark are useful to people looking for information about that place.

 

I suspect that there are many people who would rather drive around visiting unique landmarks and historic locations than spend time looking for tupperware or 35 mm film canisters hidden in lamp post. Once these people discover Waymarking we may see visits to waymarks in certain categories take off.

[saopaulo1@hotmail.com]

I think for the majority of waymarkers the game is about posting than visiting. It's just like how for geocachers it's about visiting not hiding.

[+briansnat]

I think for the majority of waymarkers the game is about posting than visiting. It's just like how for geocachers it's about visiting not hiding.

 

You don't get a smiley, why would anybody want to visit all these places, many of which are unique, fascinating or beautiful, unless they can get a smiley?

 

If you got a smiley for visiting them you'd see how fast it would become a visitors game.

[+sbell111]

I think for the majority of waymarkers the game is about posting than visiting. It's just like how for geocachers it's about visiting not hiding.

You don't get a smiley, why would anybody want to visit all these places, many of which are unique, fascinating or beautiful, unless they can get a smiley?

 

If you got a smiley for visiting them you'd see how fast it would become a visitors game.

It depends on how you define 'smiley'. Waymarkers do get 'credit' for visits and can see these stats on each other's profile pages.

[+briansnat]

I think for the majority of waymarkers the game is about posting than visiting. It's just like how for geocachers it's about visiting not hiding.

You don't get a smiley, why would anybody want to visit all these places, many of which are unique, fascinating or beautiful, unless they can get a smiley?

 

If you got a smiley for visiting them you'd see how fast it would become a visitors game.

It depends on how you define 'smiley'. Waymarkers do get 'credit' for visits and can see these stats on each other's profile pages.

 

Here is my definition:

[+lmcgisme]

 

You don't get a smiley, why would anybody want to visit all these places, many of which are unique, fascinating or beautiful, unless they can get a smiley?

 

If you got a smiley for visiting them you'd see how fast it would become a visitors game.

 

I think if it were easier to know how to get credit for a visit it would become a visitor's game. Right now I can download a .loc file and get the waypoint on my GPS, but no additional info that I can load into my PDA like the .gpx from gc.com. I've visited more waymarks than I've logged because I don't have the logging requirements with me, and I don't get the correct picture/info to log the visit even if I was there.

 

If Waymarking starts to have PQs with additional info to load to a PDA then I think visits will go up, but right now its frustrating to actually visit but not be able to log the visit.

[+TrailGators]

I think for the majority of waymarkers the game is about posting than visiting. It's just like how for geocachers it's about visiting not hiding.

You don't get a smiley, why would anybody want to visit all these places, many of which are unique, fascinating or beautiful, unless they can get a smiley?

 

If you got a smiley for visiting them you'd see how fast it would become a visitors game.

It depends on how you define 'smiley'. Waymarkers do get 'credit' for visits and can see these stats on each other's profile pages.

 

Here is my definition:

Did your find count just go up with that?

[OpinioNate]

I'll chime in here with some info but not to defend Waymarking, since I don't think it needs defending. With over 90,000 waymarks that much is evident. But perhaps I can help some of you view Waymarking in the right context.

 

First off, the best way to approach Waymarking is by leaving your geocaching notions at the door. There are more differences between the two games than there are commonalities.

 

It is a mistake to base the success of Waymarking on the number of visits a waymark receives in a given period of time. In these early days of Waymarking that is not the focus; creating waymarks is. The site's features are geared more toward the placer than the finder because we need a solid database of locations before visiting becomes practical or fun. Once the database reaches a critical mass then Groundspeak can add tools to filter existing waymarks that appeal to you, whilst also providing a means to download them to a device. We can do this a variety of ways from tagging waymarks to introducing user provided awards (fascinating, educational, well written etc.).

 

I recognize that geocache logs are positive feedback that reward your work, and that many of you feel that feedback is missing from Waymarking. You all know the feeling of refreshing a forum topic after posting something insightful or witty. In a small way you do get some feedback by tracking the number of views to each of your waymarks, but there are other ways which will be introduced in V2 as well. I think this is the real source of much of the criticism to Waymarking whether or not people realize it.

 

Finally, for those of you worried about geocaching being absorbed by Waymarking you can relax. It is true that geocaching will become a category on Waymarking.com, but only in the sense of the underlying architecture of the site. Geocaching.com will be "skinned" to appear as its own site just as it appears now (well, the look and feel will be updated). The cool thing about this is that you may be able to skin other categories to appear as their own site as well.

Edited February 22, 2008 by OpinioNate

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

I for one like all the aspects of Groundspeak.

 

Benchmarking was my first as there were very few Geocaches when I started and I got them all within 100 miles and beyond.

There were lots of benchmarks to work on though and I like it as well.

But not many people are interested in this aspect of GC.

 

I like hiding caches to but it was to hard for me to maintain caches where I wanted people to visit.

I had them miles and even States apart and kept them up but it became very expensive to do.

I still had lots of places I knew about and Virtuals were on their way out or very hard to get approved.

 

So I did the best I could with what I had.

Then came along Waymarking my big chance to showcase all the historical,geological and neat places I know about.

And I slowly started adding the Waymarks I like.

I agree some of them are monotonous but then again so are some geocaches and benchmarks.

 

You find the best of what there is and work with it.

I can ignore categories I do not like just like I can pass up lame geocaches and boring benchmarks.

 

I choose the best and them I am not disatisfied with myself or the hunt.

 

We all are working on some really great ideas and most of you have some great things you could do to add to the overall fun as a whole.

I think that it can all be used for the betterment of our great community.

 

I did get to play a little with the Wherigo beta and like it as well but I am not that good on the computer and well just played around had fun and now it is out there for those who like that.

 

I still do not see where the angst comes from it is all the same site.

Enjoy what you like to do and leave the rest for others who like to do their own things.

[+Cache-Bandits]

So, here is one of the latest waymarks created on the Waymarking.com website.

 

Someone help me with this concept, please.

 

Is this the equivalent of a LPC?

 

It's the result of the WOW!!! Factor I believe.

 

wow. I can't believe its a KFC.

 

(KFC had to legally change their name from "Kentucky Fried Chicken" to "KFC" because it was determined in court the product they serve cannot be considered an actual piece of chicken because it is mashed up pieces and parts of processed chicken with broken bones and not actual chicken wings, breasts, etc.)

 

Now, there is a place worthy of a Waymark.

Actually, this is one ofa couple common urban legends. The real reason is that the Commonwealth of Kentucky trademarked their name in an attempt to gain revenue. As a result, KFC adopted their new name to avoid paying royalties. The Kentucky Derby also changed their name to "The Run for the Roses." http://www.snopes.com/lost/kfc.htm has the proof.

[+Morning Dew]

I think there are a lot of "concepts" being thrown around here but some are missing the boat.

 

When I first discovered geocaching I knew I was going to like it. It had a few things that I loved. Technology, a challenge, a treasure hunt and some built in adventure. What surprised me and furthur hooked me was all the different and neat places it is taking me. And I'm talking just within 20 miles of my house. Take cemeteries for example. I had NO idea how many different cemeteries that were so close to my house.

 

When I first heard about Waymarking, I was very excited beause I thought it was the solution to a problem I've had all my life. I'll give you an example. We're taking a trip to the Upper Pensisula in Michigan. I know there are several waterfalls in the U.P. I've been to a lot of them. But wouldn't it be so cool to go to a site, type in Waterfalls, Michigan, Upper Penisula and BAM it spits them all out with detailed descriptions, pictures, access info, links to map, etc. I'd definately pay money for a service like that and before I went to Waymarking.com I thought that is what is was going to be.

 

However, it's too small right now but it does have that potential. Imagine being able to do a PQ for "15 coolest places in Hershey, Pennsylvannia" And those places ranked 1 to 15 are determined from real people who provide pictures and actual real life experiences.

 

However, I'd be very surprised if Waymarking ever evolves to this or anything frankly. The above posters are right. Geocaching provides a challenge and that is what hooks most people. Finding the Grand Canyon really isn't a challenge. Mapquest tells me how to get there. Now, however, if Waymarking could evolve into this huge data base that allowed me to search "Fabulous non-chain restaurants within 10 miles of HillyBilly, MI" then they have something. I'd become a member just to find new and neat places. I'd probably document some and log a find on a few but for the most part I'd just like the opportunity to see what is out there.

 

By making Waymarking.com a game they are essentially having people build that database for them. The question remains will it ever become big enough to attract big numbers of people that would want that information. From a game stand point I don't think it would ever fly. But from a "Cool Places" standpoint it has some serious potential.