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Release Notes 10/9/2008

OpinioNate

By OpinioNate
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OpinioNate

OpinioNate

Posted
Posted (edited)

The following features have been added in today's update:

  • Geo-IP - Automatically looks up your location based on your IP address, presents a map with the 5 closest caches to that location, shown on front page after login
  • Hotels - Every cache page (US and Canada for now) now contains a link to nearby hotels, allowing you to browse rates and availability for specific locations

In addition, Groundspeak will release a new iPhone application designed to interact with the Geocaching.com website. Features include:

  • Direct access to Geocaching.com's database of worldwide geocaches
  • Search by current location, address or lookup code
  • Access geocache details, including description, hint and recent logs
  • Save geocache listing for quick retrieval
  • Navigate to geocaches with a simulated compass arrow
  • Look up trackable item detail, including item goals, while on the trail

Future updates will include logging geocache finds and filtering your hides and finds from the Geocaching.com search results. Further information can be found here.

 

Edit: Loki/Skyhook is going to be delayed for another release. Unfortunately, the Loki people are having trouble getting the plugin to work with certain browsers but hope to have a fix soon.

Edited by OpinioNate
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Corey

+Corey

Posted
Posted
Skyhook/Loki/Locate Me - Optional button to pinpoint your location based on your wifi which will automatically provide search results page. If you are not on wifi it will use your IP address and the results will be fairly similar to the Geo-IP results above, however you will still be shown the results page

Sounds cool... I haven't been able to find the button yet, though.

[*]Hotels - Every cache page now contains a link to nearby hotels, allowing you to browse rates and availability for specific locations

Huh? Though it is interesting to show which caches are nearest to hotels...

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Butano

+Butano

Posted
Posted

Apparently the two computers in my room are across country boundaries. One in Tennessee and one in Germany. I used to live in Tennessee (a long, long time ago), but never been to Germany, but maybe I have now???

 

Seriously though, this could be a cool feature when it gets working. :-) Will there be some kind of configuration option to say allow you to ignore found caches?

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QuesterMark

+QuesterMark

Posted
Posted
Skyhook/Loki/Locate Me - Optional button to pinpoint your location based on your wifi which will automatically provide search results page. If you are not on wifi it will use your IP address and the results will be fairly similar to the Geo-IP results above, however you will still be shown the results page

Sounds cool... I haven't been able to find the button yet, though.

[*]Hotels - Every cache page now contains a link to nearby hotels, allowing you to browse rates and availability for specific locations

Huh? Though it is interesting to show which caches are nearest to hotels...

 

Yeah, I can't find them either. But I did notice the vcal and google calendar buttons on event cache pages. I'd never even noticed THOSE.

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Xaa

+Xaa

Posted
Posted

The system locates me in Germany although I am living in Belgium...

 

Nice feature, but wouldn't it be an option to use the home coordinates entered in the users profile ?

 

What's the fun in showing something statically that might be right some of the time, if you can do it dynamically wrong most of the time? :huh:

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KoosKoos

+KoosKoos

Posted
Posted

I'm in Apledoord, Netherlands. Cool!

 

I moved to Germany:

 

NE 5351.7mi from your home coordinates

In Baden-Württemberg, Germany

 

Love that tweaking! :huh:

 

Not that it really affects me since I can't remember the last time I started at the home page instead of "my account".

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DavidMac

+DavidMac

Posted
Posted

So, does Groundspeak get a kickback when we make a hotel reservation through the site? Sounds like a good way to support the game. If so I'll have to remember to do so next time I travel.

 

My first thought after messing around with the hotels feature was, man, hotels in my town sure are more expensive than I realized!

 

...then I remembered that there is a football game this weekend. :huh:

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markandsandy

+markandsandy

Posted
Posted

The system locates me in Germany although I am living in Belgium...

 

Nice feature, but wouldn't it be an option to use the home coordinates entered in the users profile ?

 

What's the fun in showing something statically that might be right some of the time, if you can do it dynamically wrong most of the time? :P

 

I believe they are using a beta version of Vinnie's Time-Space Portal technology. It has transported me from Washington State to Maine :huh:

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AtwellFamily

+AtwellFamily

Posted
Posted

So, does Groundspeak get a kickback when we make a hotel reservation through the site? Sounds like a good way to support the game. If so I'll have to remember to do so next time I travel.

 

My first thought after messing around with the hotels feature was, man, hotels in my town sure are more expensive than I realized!

 

...then I remembered that there is a football game this weekend. :laughing:

Will the iphone features work on other internet enable phones? I have a blackberry and sure would like those features. Please look at CacheBerry and maybe work with him to make it more live or at least posting my finds would be a good start.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted
Skyhook/Loki/Locate Me - Optional button to pinpoint your location based on your wifi which will automatically provide search results page. If you are not on wifi it will use your IP address and the results will be fairly similar to the Geo-IP results above, however you will still be shown the results page

Sounds cool... I haven't been able to find the button yet, though.

[*]Hotels - Every cache page now contains a link to nearby hotels, allowing you to browse rates and availability for specific locations

Huh? Though it is interesting to show which caches are nearest to hotels...

Perhaps it should be renamed to POI instead.

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hairball45

+hairball45

Posted
Posted

I don't see the IP locator on my machine at work, but it is a bit of a cripple. Maybe from home. The blue box that used to have a map of Green Lake has a tab that says "identify" and brings up five German sounding caches. Hmmm. Yep, looks like they're in Germany. Vurry odd.

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LeGodFather

+LeGodFather

Posted
Posted

I don't see the IP locator on my machine at work, but it is a bit of a cripple. Maybe from home. The blue box that used to have a map of Green Lake has a tab that says "identify" and brings up five German sounding caches. Hmmm. Yep, looks like they're in Germany. Vurry odd.

It's actually near Brussels. That what I first got. Then, after a Ctrl-F5, I go thrown somewhere near Portland, Oregon.

 

My connection is out of New York!

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NinjaCacher!

+NinjaCacher!

Posted
Posted
  • Geo-IP - Automatically looks up your location based on your IP address, presents a map with the 5 closest caches to that location, shown on front page after login

Sorry if I sound silly, but where is this feature? I can't see it on the homepage, my account page or any of the search pages...

 

  • Hotels - Every cache page now contains a link to nearby hotels, allowing you to browse rates and availability for specific locations

It has never occurred to me to look for a hotel near a specific cache... I usually plan the hotel first and then look for caches in the area, wouldn't it be more useful to have a link to nearby caches on each hotel page? :laughing: ok, maybe in some situations this is useful :)

 

In addition, Groundspeak will release a new iPhone application designed to interact with the Geocaching.com website.

Sounds great - if there are testers needed for this, I'd be happy to receive an iPhone :blink:B)

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Ambrosia

+Ambrosia

Posted
Posted
  • Geo-IP - Automatically looks up your location based on your IP address, presents a map with the 5 closest caches to that location, shown on front page after login

Sorry if I sound silly, but where is this feature? I can't see it on the homepage, my account page or any of the search pages...

 

Try logging out and then logging in again, maybe?

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted

It's the static looking map on the home page of www.geocaching.com. It has a drop down list of the five closest caches to your IP. Unfortunately for me, it looks like I'll need to charter a flight from Seattle to Canterbury to find them. :blink: When I do my (Kirkland) zipcode, it centers me on (Seattle) Green Lake. Is there a hint here? :laughing:

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OpinioNate

OpinioNate

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

We have updated the site again with a fix for Geo-IP. Please let us know if it still does not work for you.

 

There is also an issue for people using IE 6 where the map does not display on the home page. We have a fix for this but will not update until tomorrow morning. If this affects you I apologize, but the solution is coming soon.

 

Loki functionality will have to wait until that company puts out a fix for certain browser plugins. We hope to have that up and running quickly, but it is entirely up to them. Sorry!

Edited by OpinioNate
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hairball45

+hairball45

Posted
Posted

Okey dokey. I thought it might be there. IE6 puts a bluish box on the page, no map. Safari gives me a map. Of Kansas. Firefox, same as Safari. Cute idea but not showing me much value yet. I like to think Groundspeak can make a dime with the hotel listings, but I can't see me using it anytime soon. I've hunted caches while at hotels, but never went to a cache and said "Gosh Honey, I'm beat. Lets find a hotel for the night." Hope it works out for GS though.

An iPhone app is a cute idea for those who have 'em, but not much value here. Something to run on my Verizon Voyager, that I'd be interested in. I know getting into Get it Now is between difficult and impossible but I'll dream a bit.

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WRASTRO

+WRASTRO

Posted
Posted

It's the static looking map on the home page of www.geocaching.com. It has a drop down list of the five closest caches to your IP. Unfortunately for me, it looks like I'll need to charter a flight from Seattle to Canterbury to find them. :blink: When I do my (Kirkland) zipcode, it centers me on (Seattle) Green Lake. Is there a hint here? :laughing:

Maybe you are supposed to hunt some of those puzzle caches!

 

OT, I still wish the problem with multi page cache printouts dropping the header information when a graphic wants to span the page. I can replicate it at will (not that I try to).

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markandsandy

+markandsandy

Posted
Posted

We have updated the site again with a fix for Geo-IP. Please let us know if it still does not work for you.

 

There is also an issue for people using IE 6 where the map does not display on the home page. We have a fix for this but will not update until tomorrow morning. If this affects you I apologize, but the solution is coming soon.

 

Loki functionality will have to wait until that company puts out a fix for certain browser plugins. We hope to have that up and running quickly, but it is entirely up to them. Sorry!

 

Works better for me now. I'm just outside Seattle, and it shows Morristown NJ. :laughing: That actually IS the CORRECT location for the corporate network I'm currently on. We'll see tonight how it works from home.

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WRASTRO

+WRASTRO

Posted
Posted
We have updated the site again with a fix for Geo-IP. Please let us know if it still does not work for you.

Update seems to have brought me home! Thanks!

It has me about five miles east. Plus I already found all of those caches. :laughing:

 

Interesting add-on to the home page.

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*gln

+*gln

Posted
Posted

Sounds good but my IP has me somewhere in Missouri rather than PA. It's odd since a WhoIs look up of the IP address gives the information that matches my location...

 

ha, i live in Missouri but it seems to think I have moved to Texas.

 

I guess i need to buy a ranch now.

 

glenn

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markandsandy

+markandsandy

Posted
Posted

We have updated the site again with a fix for Geo-IP. Please let us know if it still does not work for you.

 

There is also an issue for people using IE 6 where the map does not display on the home page. We have a fix for this but will not update until tomorrow morning. If this affects you I apologize, but the solution is coming soon.

 

Loki functionality will have to wait until that company puts out a fix for certain browser plugins. We hope to have that up and running quickly, but it is entirely up to them. Sorry!

 

Works better for me now. I'm just outside Seattle, and it shows Morristown NJ. :blink: That actually IS the CORRECT location for the corporate network I'm currently on. We'll see tonight how it works from home.

OK, at home in Carnation it shows me in Gig Harbor, only 41 miles away. :laughing:

 

While this feature sounds good, I'm not sure how useful it really is going to be.

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bjorges

+bjorges

Posted
Posted

OK, where is the Geo-IP button?

 

I see others have asked, and the answer from someone is logging out and in again.

I have just logged in, and can not see any Geo-IP stuff anywhere. Where is it located?

I can find the Hotel-search link at the cache-pages thoug.

 

Anyone?

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LeGodFather

+LeGodFather

Posted
Posted (edited)
I'm only off by one town - it's showing south Kent, I'm in Renton. I'm not sure IP can get much closer than that...

 

I agree, cute idea - useful? Not really.

I guess it could be more useful if you log on to gc.com from a wireless device... but, I can see how it can be useful to new users logging in for the first time. I rarely go to the home page.. I usually go straight to my account page.

 

Nice it found my hometown. Still I liked it better when it showed some random locations around the world. Maybe because I have already found or done these caches myself, so this is not very useful:) Maybe if it would show my 5 nearest unfound caches that would be nice...
I agree! Unfound would be a big +

 

Edit: Yes, it looks ok this morning! Thanks for the quick fix!

Edited by GrosseFamille
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