Geocaching capital of the world

[BlickvonBerg]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

[+trainlove]

duplicate reply due to others pouncing and using up server bandwidth

Edited August 26, 2008 by trainlove

[+hydnsek]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

There is no such title. Sounds like someone was just trying to emphasize there are quite a few caches in the area.

 

However, the cache density you quote isn't that high. I just checked, and there are 5,312 caches within 40 miles of my home coordinates. That's about 4 times as many as Emporium. And I don't even live in California.

Edited August 26, 2008 by hydnsek

[Scamp]

5413 within 40 miles of where I am in Redmond, WA. =)

Edited August 26, 2008 by Scamp

[+trainlove]

Wouldn't the 'Capital' be where Groundspeak is located? Or where the 'Original Stash' was hidden?

There are probably places with even more caches per radii than where you list. Sounds like an overzealous, and incorrect, PR campaign.

[+TotemLake]

If using cache density is to determin the Capital of the world, 1300 is pretty puny. I'm not close to the center of gravity of cache density, but there are 5172 active caches within 40 miles of me. This excludes all archived and temporarily disabled caches.

 

But I would have to agree with trainlove the Capital would be the origination of geocaching. Considering the first cache put out was called Stash, we could call that the originating cache, but overall the biggest listing service is in Seattle.

Edited August 26, 2008 by TotemLake

[+hydnsek]

If using cache density is to determin the Capital of the world, 1300 is pretty puny. I'm not close to the center of gravity of cache density, but there are 5172 active caches within 40 miles of me. This excludes all archived and temporarily disabled caches.

 

But I would have to agree with trainlove the Capital would be the origination of geocaching. Considering the first cache put out was called Stash, we could call that the originating cache, but overall the biggest listing service is in Seattle.

Since three folks from the Puget Sound area have quoted 5000+ caches within 40 miles, and we live near Groundspeak, perhaps Seattle is the "geocaching capital of the world." Not to mention the Original Stash Tribute Plaque is not that far away, down near Portland.

[+9Key]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing geocaching capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

Fixed!

[+trainlove]

Actually, isn't the Geocaching center of the world at 0,0,0?

I.E. In x,y,z coordinates or even in spherical coordinates, the center of the Earth?

 

All geocaches are just about equally spaced on that point.

[+TotemLake]

Actually, isn't the Geocaching center of the world at 0,0,0?

I.E. In x,y,z coordinates or even in spherical coordinates, the center of the Earth?

 

All geocaches are just about equally spaced on that point.

[+StarBrand]

I guess my home town is out of the running with a mere 181 within 40 miles........

[crawil]

I've got 9054 within 40 miles of me in Southern California.

[+ChasWolf7]

I guess my home town is out of the running with a mere 181 within 40 miles........

Las Vegas and the area around it is amazing - try this link, but pan around a bit. Of course, if you don't have a fast connection, plan on waiting for the geocaches to load up. Don't go to the map of Las Vegas unless you are zoomed all the way in, they can't show all the caches.

 

Henderson, Nevada

 

[+Renegade Knight]

Whever the Arc of the Covenent is hidden now is the current capital. Gotta find it first. That seems like a worthy aspect of the real capital.

[+ChrisPlay]

The coordinates listed are for the 1st stage, the Arc of the Covenent, which will give you the final coords. There is a $5 dollar bill for FTF. Have fun!!

[+9Key]

I've got 9054 within 40 miles of me in Southern California.

That's pretty impressive!

[+Moose Mob]

I guess my home town is out of the running with a mere 181 within 40 miles........

Las Vegas and the area around it is amazing - try this link, but pan around a bit. Of course, if you don't have a fast connection, plan on waiting for the geocaches to load up. Don't go to the map of Las Vegas unless you are zoomed all the way in, they can't show all the caches.

 

Henderson, Nevada

 

When are you coming out to find them all?

 

Otherwise, the cache density in many metro areas is much higher than here. We just have cleaner/warmer air and some awesome off road caches.

[Mr.Yuck]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing geocaching capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

Fixed!

 

Geez, even I have 2,078 within 40 miles. That must be it, it's the geocashing capital, not geocaching.

[+lcandela123]

piffle! There are 3569 within 40 miles of lovely Havertown, PA.

 

Interesting question though. Wonder where the true capital is. Maybe NYC?

 

lcandela123

 

 

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing geocaching capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

Fixed!

 

Geez, even I have 2,078 within 40 miles. That must be it, it's the geocashing capital, not geocaching.

[+Harry Dolphin]

piffle! There are 3569 within 40 miles of lovely Havertown, PA.

 

Interesting question though. Wonder where the true capital is. Maybe NYC?

 

Nope. Only 3991 caches within forty miles of my cache in NYC. Of course, there's a lot of ocean in those forty miles.

[Mr.Yuck]

piffle! There are 3569 within 40 miles of lovely Havertown, PA.

 

Interesting question though. Wonder where the true capital is. Maybe NYC?

 

Nope. Only 3991 caches within forty miles of my cache in NYC. Of course, there's a lot of ocean in those forty miles.

 

Yeah, not to mention Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth have like two caches combined. I'll bet 3,000 of them are on Long Island.

 

Oh, the Capital is probably SoCal, didn't someone say 9,054 within 40 miles?

 

Hey, I do know the geocaching capital of Canada. They even have a domain name:

 

www.geocachingcapitalofcanada.com

Edited August 27, 2008 by TheWhiteUrkel

[+KoosKoos]

Wow, not sure where that claim came from:

 

"Cameron County Chamber of Commerce

 

Where Life is Wild!

and home to the World Capital of Geocaching"

[Mr.Yuck]

Wow, not sure where that claim came from:

 

"Cameron County Chamber of Commerce

 

Where Life is Wild!

and home to the World Capital of Geocaching"

 

Hmm. I guess KoosKoos is the only one who thought to Google the claim.

 

Just like the Geocaching capital of Canada I linked to, it's a self-proclaimed title by a chamber of commerce. Probably something to do with the Allegheny Geotrail promotion.

[AZcachemeister]

NO, No NO!

You've all got it wrong!

The true Geocaching World Capital is where ever the highest per capita ratio of (active) Geocachers to non-cachers might be!

 

I have no idea how to figure that out.

Perhaps there is some little hamlet somewhere where 80% of the residents are Geocachers?

[CLV3]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

 

I have like 1368 around me (within 40 miles). Not that I find it a big deal.

[+KoosKoos]

While we're not that dense (when it comes to caches, anyway), I hereby claim the title of Geocaching Center of the Universe for South Austin, Texas, USA.

[Skippermark]

I'll bet 3,000 of them are on Long Island.

 

Surprisingly, NYC (including Manhattan & the other boroughs) doesn't have "that" many caches compared to other urban areas.

 

Long Island is quite cache dense. We'll head there when we're in the need of a numbers fix or there's too much snow in CT to cache easily.

Edited August 27, 2008 by Skippermark

[BlickvonBerg]

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

[BlickvonBerg]

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

[BlickvonBerg]

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

[+Star*Hopper]

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

 

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

 

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

 

ONE MORE TIIIIMMME!!!

 

Sheesh......looks like those #s aren't the only ones you're trying to fluff! *LOL*

J/K

~*

[+Star*Hopper]

I guess my home town is out of the running with a mere 181 within 40 miles........

 

Gosh - and I thought I had it bad!

Now I know why you spend so much time in here posting!

~*

[+trainlove]

With the arbitrary distance of 40 miles:

Using a rough back of the envelope estimate, there is a possibility of 502,654 caches.

By tesselating a triangular grid for maximal density there can be 580,363 caches in that 40 miles.

But of course not all land in a 40 mile radius is cachable (houses, buildings, personal property, roads, highways, ROW's, water...).

 

I think that other given figures for some high density areas shows that perhaps 1% of land is cachable possibly.

 

I can't wait for the day that there are 5,750,000,000 caches on Earth.

[+Arndtwe]

Wouldn't the Geocaching capital be the closest city to the first cache ever placed? That is where I would say the "capital" is.

[+DavidMac]

NO, No NO!

You've all got it wrong!

The true Geocaching World Capital is where ever the highest per capita ratio of (active) Geocachers to non-cachers might be!

 

I have no idea how to figure that out.

Perhaps there is some little hamlet somewhere where 80% of the residents are Geocachers?

 

By that definition, the geocaching capitol of the world is clearly... Mount Holly, MN!. It has a cache density of one cache per every quarter acre of land, a cache to resident ratio of 1:4, and it is estimated that between 25% and 100% of the residents are cachers.

 

http://www.rakemag.com/reporting/rakish-an...tle-town-corner

[Mr.Yuck]

I think I'll copy these comments and pass them on to the Cameron County Chamber of Commerce and see what kind of explantion they give me. Looks like they are dreaming.

 

P.S. Sorry for the misspelling of geocaching!

 

Oh, not a problem! Don't have them take the comments too seriously, I'm sure everyone is just goofing around. You can see the geocaching capital of Canada I linked to is no way a geocache density haven either.

[Skippermark]

By tesselating a triangular grid for maximal density

I tried to tesselate, but my doctor said it wasn't good for my health.

 

On a related note, Loch Cache had a cool thread where he talks about cache density on the state level based on population, area and things like that.

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=198249

[+Bamboogirl]

There's 6563 caches within 40 miles of my home in the Bay Area. Jeeez, I gotta get busy!

[Skippermark]

There's 6563 caches within 40 miles of my home in the Bay Area. Jeeez, I gotta get busy!

That is just heavenly sounding. It would be like caching bliss.

[WashoeZephyr]

I've got 9054 within 40 miles of me in Southern California.

I wouldn't know what to do with myself! That's impressive!

 

We have 1938 in a 40 mile radius.

[+Moose Mob]

I believe the Geocaching capital is "G"

[+TotemLake]

I believe the Geocaching capital is "G"

[rimshot]barrumpbump[/rimshot]

[cameronchamber]

I recently read in our local paper that Emporium PA is the geocashing capital of the world. Apparently there are about 1300 caches within 40 miles of town. Can someone verify the "Capital of the World" title? I'd like to use that claim in some advertising if it's true.

 

Several years ago (around 2002-2003) a movement was started to make Cameron County (Emporium) the geocaching capital of the world. Articles appeared in Go Magazine and in the local media. Caches grew and grew in this region of less than 5,000 people. Recently a visitor was directed to Emporium, PA by a business owner in a small town in Canada known as the Geocaching Capital of Canada. The visitor was told Emporium is indeed the geocaching capital of the world. Since noone has claimed the title and marketed it, and others believe Emporium is.....the county is claiming the title and promoting events and stores which will sell geocaching items. Research on the internet including comments made on this posting at this site clearly shows that noone has claimed the title, leaving it to Emporium. The county is part of the geocache trail which runs through northwestern Pennsylvania. At a recent meeting counties were comparing the results of the trail. Most had visitors from Maryland and New York. In Cameron County visitors from Colorado, the state of Washington and California had sought us out because they had heard we were the capital of the world. So join the movement come see the heart of the PA Wilds and enjoy geocaching!

[+StumpWater]

Would be cool to see a daily update of the centroid for all finds made that day. And all hides!

[+Headhardhat]

Raleigh, NC has 3100 within 40 miles. Oh wait I just added another. That would be 3101

 

-HHH

[+trainlove]

My Post #33 refers to an area with a 40 mile radius. A 40 square mile area would have exactly 4,000 possible caches (by quick back of the envelope calculations LOL), well really 3,969 or 4,096. Oh I have a headache!

Or thinking like the cool minds behind the Martian meteoric cylinders, possibly 4,618 caches (um 4,736 I think I mean).

 

While a 40 mile by 40 mile square would have exactly 160,000 possible caches, or triangularily 184,752 caches (184,800). I'll use the nieve numbers here, not numbers generated in a program to count the real numbers, ouch.

 

But only us geocaching squares think in circles.

[Ann_Brush]

Actually, isn't the Geocaching center of the world at 0,0,0?

I.E. In x,y,z coordinates or even in spherical coordinates, the center of the Earth?

 

All geocaches are just about equally spaced on that point.

 

Not correct. This would only be true if ALL geocaches were equally spatially distributed, which they are not. Given the preponderance of geocaching in NA and Europe I think it likely that the capital of the geocaching (kind of like the geocaching center of gravity) world would be somewhere like 50 miles under the center of the North Atlantic

[+Too Tall John]

Actually, isn't the Geocaching center of the world at 0,0,0?

I.E. In x,y,z coordinates or even in spherical coordinates, the center of the Earth?

 

All geocaches are just about equally spaced on that point.

Not correct. This would only be true if ALL geocaches were equally spatially distributed, which they are not. Given the preponderance of geocaching in NA and Europe I think it likely that the capital of the geocaching (kind of like the geocaching center of gravity) world would be somewhere like 50 miles under the center of the North Atlantic

Actually. trainlove is correct in what he said. What you are doing is finding, for lack of a better term, the average center. TL's observation is that all caches are the radius of the Earth's sphere away from the center, give or take.

 

I'm sure "average center" is the wrong term, I expect to see someone, probably TL come in with the right one. I suppose I could Google it, but no.

[+trainlove]

I'm sure "average center" is the wrong term, I expect to see someone, probably TL come in with the right one. I suppose I could Google it, but no.

 

Been working on it.

51 States of the USA, yes,

252 Countries, many of which have multiple states/provinces,

makes for a lot of work.

 

I expect to have the 'mean' center's Lat/Long, and depth sometime this week.

Oh, yes, I'm not going to take into account the actual height of any country, and I'm not going to figure on the ellipsoid of the Earth, I'll figure it out using a sphere with the average of the Equatorial and Polar radius.

 

If it were not so much work I'd consider doing it only for caches that have a container, no virtuals, no Earths (s.i.c.) and no events, but it's simpler to include everything.

 

Edited to add:

Much harder than I thought. It used to be that any 'location' search had a ground zero. But that seems to not be the case anymore so it's hard to do what I planned. I have a list of countries/states/provinces and their number of caches (as of when I made the list). But can't apply a weighted mean to the x,y,z cordinate of the non-existing ground zeros.

Edited September 8, 2008 by trainlove

[+escondido100]

within 40 miles of my abode......drum roll.........76.........how many have i found?........all of them ..of course!