Additional Waypoints - Suggested Parking Areas

[+CacheDrone]

Brought on from another discussion, I thought it might be good to discuss a certain element of the game.

 

Providing suggested "Parking Area" locations using Additional Waypoints can really help make your cache more enjoyable for others. It gives a place to leave the car as coordinates, and they can be downloaded directly to GPS units in Pocket Queries / Send to GPS (these being Premium Member features)

 

See the Groundspeak Knowledgebase - Additional Waypoints for an overview of this feature.

 

Here are some other benefits of using these:

1. Reducing the chance of people using the wrong access point
   
2. Being able to find your car after enjoying the cache
   
3. Saving time and gas trying to figure out where to go
   
4. Using auto-routing to get to the right location
   
5. Coordinating a group outing
   

While it is also good to include parking coordinates in the long description area, having them as Additional Waypoints is a more complete solution. You can even give more than one "Parking Area" if there are several to choose from, and also give a short text on them if applicable.

 

You don't have to use them when creating a new listing or when searching for a cache. Some people enjoy the challenge of not knowing where to start and that is fine. But when a certain access point is critical then providing the info in this manner really makes a cache appear more complete. Not every cache needs them either. But if you think it might be a positive enhancement, you can add them at any time.

 

Encourage others to add Parking Area, Trailhead or even suggest Reference Points when you log your cache finds or by updating your own listings. You can make these additions at any time, even on your caches that are already published. Apart from the KB area, there is also further info on my profile for this feature.

 

CD

[+adamsloco]

Hear Hear! I hate trying to find a good spot to park using the gps. I don't plan out my whole day, usually just the first cache, and then find ones that are close. So, having the parking waypoints (or trailhead waypoints) to be extremely helpful. Would have helped on a recent trip to keep me off private property, fortunately the owner was nice and directed me to the trail.

 

Please include parking or trailhead information.

[danoshimano]

+1 for parking coordinates!

 

Many times I have found myself on the wrong side of the river/tracks/industrial area/urban forest/etc and had to waste gas circling around looking for an entry point. There have even been cases where I had to abandon the search without leaving the vehicle.

 

Parking coordinates are so simple and yet so useful.

[+Juicepig]

They should be put on the geocaching.com maps as well so you can see all potential parking spots before hitting a certain area

[+northernpenguin]

Parking co-ordinates are a great idea, and I really wish more people would use them - particularly when the access point is unclear. Putting parking co-ordinates in the listing isn't really beneficial for a lot of cachers using newer GPS units that take GPX files, as you need to first write the co-ordinates down before you can enter them into your GPS.

 

Parking co-ordinates (As a child waypoint) also help when there is a group of caches nearby and you can clearly see there is a parking spot in the middle of them.

[sarahbelle]

I also appreciate it when people include parking coordinates. I tend to be one of those people that's always concerned about whether I'm in somebody's way, or on private property, or whatever, so it's nice to know ahead of time that there will be an appropriate place to park. I'm also a bad one for forgetting to mark the car, so it's nice to already have that waypoint loaded onto my Legend.

[+Dr. House]

They should be put on the geocaching.com maps as well so you can see all potential parking spots before hitting a certain area

 

I think that's a fabulous idea... Can't believe I never thought of that after all the times I searched the satellite maps of an area while doing recon at home.