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Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

Carbon Hunter

By Carbon Hunter
in South Africa

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

End of the road?

I've been monitoring the number of views on this thread for the past view months. Even with regular postings for the last two months, the numbers have been dwindling. To give you an example - yesterday's posting on favourite points has only been viewed by 18 people up to now. (The average is about 30 views per day.) Given the amount of time I normally spend on this, I can't help wondering if it is worth it to continue. Maybe it is time to finally let it die?

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SawaSawa

+SawaSawa

Posted
Posted

Hi Danie, it would be a shame if the interesting and informative service which you provide were to cease - I for one have greatly appreciated and enjoyed your postings and the (admittedly few) responses - but I would fully understand your position if it did, given the time and effort involved in producing the material. Is there any way in which the availability and content of this forum could be promoted, eg. at geocaching events or through GC web sites . . . any ideas out there?

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PieterM

+PieterM

Posted
Posted

Hi Danie, it would be a shame if the interesting and informative service which you provide were to cease - I for one have greatly appreciated and enjoyed your postings and the (admittedly few) responses - but I would fully understand your position if it did, given the time and effort involved in producing the material. Is there any way in which the availability and content of this forum could be promoted, eg. at geocaching events or through GC web sites . . . any ideas out there?

 

Ditto

 

I look at the stats everyday and find them very interesting.

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battlerat and pussycat

+battlerat and pussycat

Posted
Posted (edited)

Seeing the post today had me thinking about this tread and the (SA) forums in general. Before FB this was the place to discuss geocaching related stuff, asks questions or give advise and support. I liked the forums as it allowed one to catch up if and the forum history is always available. Unfortunately with FB and other IM apps, the information is quickly lost and it is not possible to have any meaningful discussion...

 

I suspect (perhaps you can collect some empirical data and present it :-)) that it only the cachers that have been around for many years that appreciate and enjoy your stats.

 

It surely takes a lot of time to generate the stats, even though by now you probably have templates for just about every questions there is to be asked. So the question is whether it is worth it? I'll also miss the stats if it is not published anymore, but would totally understand.

 

I don't bother reading the FB posts, but have you ever considered posting there and linking to this page? How many of the newer cachers know about these forums?

 

Andre

Edited by battlerat and pussycat
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jtomcat16

+jtomcat16

Posted
Posted

Hi

 

I consider myself a "newer cacher". (I've been caching for about 2 years now)

 

I only discovered this forum by accident when someone posted a link on our whatsapp group, and since then I've been somewhat hooked. :)

 

One or two shares of this page on FB or whatsapp will definitely bring in some more views and hopefully, some of those will stick around.

 

Really hope this thread, and the stats, don't die

 

James

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B and C Inc

+B and C Inc

Posted
Posted

Hi Danie, it would be a shame if the interesting and informative service which you provide were to cease - I for one have greatly appreciated and enjoyed your postings and the (admittedly few) responses - but I would fully understand your position if it did, given the time and effort involved in producing the material. Is there any way in which the availability and content of this forum could be promoted, eg. at geocaching events or through GC web sites . . . any ideas out there?

 

Morning all,

I for one love these stats, we are not as active as what we were in the past, but I still like to catch up here to see what is going on with Geocaching. Danie maybe once you have posted the stats you can also put a post on the FB Forums, that way people that only use FB can see the link to this site and just maybe it draws more people here? Not sure if that would work.

 

I agree with the sentiments above that it would be a shame to loose this info, but I've always wondered how you manage to find time for all of this!

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Thanks for all the input. I should probably not care about the dwindling numbers, because I enjoy doing this. I do however find it extremely discouraging when I see that fewer than 20 people viewed my postings (which sometimes take hours to generate). The general lack of feedback (which goes hand in hand with the very low forum visitor numbers) also makes it difficult to keep this up on the long term.

 

There are a few plans: Linking from Facebook, GoSA newsletter, etc. I'll see if it works. Otherwise it may make more sense to move over to Facebook, where the masses are.

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davmur

+davmur

Posted
Posted

Seeing the post today had me thinking about this tread and the (SA) forums in general. Before FB this was the place to discuss geocaching related stuff, asks questions or give advise and support. I liked the forums as it allowed one to catch up if and the forum history is always available. Unfortunately with FB and other IM apps, the information is quickly lost and it is not possible to have any meaningful discussion...

 

I suspect (perhaps you can collect some empirical data and present it :-)) that it only the cachers that have been around for many years that appreciate and enjoy your stats.

 

It surely takes a lot of time to generate the stats, even though by now you probably have templates for just about every questions there is to be asked. So the question is whether it is worth it? I'll also miss the stats if it is not published anymore, but would totally understand.

 

I don't bother reading the FB posts, but have you ever considered posting there and linking to this page? How many of the newer cachers know about these forums?

 

Andre

 

I agree with the statement made here about the information being quickly lost on FB. I hate FB for that very reason. There are so many posts that one sometimes want to go back to but you can never find it. I also admit that I do not follow Forums as much as I would like. I think regular posts on both FB and Whatsapp groups would remind members and notify newbies that this exists would have a big positive effect on the number of views.

davmur

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Cache density heatmaps: South Africa

RSA%202D.jpg

RSA%203D.jpg

How these maps were made, for the technically interested:

I started with a SQL database with all the active South African caches. Then I looped through all the caches and for each cache calculated how many other caches were within 5km. (Extremely ineffective and time-consuming to do this in SQL for large cache numbers - it took more than an hour). Next the results were placed in a 3D grid: Lat, Lon, and number of close neighbours. Where more than one cache fell in the same grid cell, the average was used. Did some filtering and smoothing of the data. Next the values were colour-coded: red for the maximum, through orange,yellow, green, cyan to blue for the minimum. (White where there is no data). Lastly the data was plotted.

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

I was wondering whether Geocaching benefit from major events such as the Cape Town Cycle Race(or another major event in the country)? It would be interesting to see if whether there is a meaningful change in number of caches found in around Cape Town for for last week and this week...

Let's give them a week to log their finds and then I'll look at Cape Town next week.

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Highest cache densities in South Africa:

 

1km radius:

There are no less than 40 active caches within 1km of GC6ANHF Equestria - Altzheimers. This is in the east of Pretoria, and 38 of the 40 are owned by Geelvink.

The maximum number of caches that can theoretically be fitted into a circle with a radius of 1km is 140, so Geelvink still has some way to go!

 

5km radius:

343 caches within 5km of GC4G7MT Gentlemen's Game in Port Elizabeth. (The theoretical maximum for 5km is 3501)

 

10km radius:

725 caches within 10km of GC5N5V8 Whistle Stop 2. This is in the same area as the previous one, in Port Elizabeth.

The theoretical maximum for 10km is 14006.

 

All of a sudden P.E. looks very attractive to me as a holiday destination!

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Carbon Hunter

+Carbon Hunter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I was wondering whether Geocaching benefit from major events such as the Cape Town Cycle Race(or another major event in the country)? It would be interesting to see if whether there is a meaningful change in number of caches found in around Cape Town for for last week and this week...

Let's give them a week to log their finds and then I'll look at Cape Town next week.

 

I'm not so sure that we have sufficient cachers to see this.

 

For instance other eventss like the Soccer world Cup so no significant upswings.

 

Some localized caching (like the Midmar Mile) are seen annually here in KZN - but over the entire W Cape - I do not believe the Argus (wind or not) would make a significant difference?

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battlerat and pussycat

+battlerat and pussycat

Posted
Posted

I was wondering whether Geocaching benefit from major events such as the Cape Town Cycle Race(or another major event in the country)? It would be interesting to see if whether there is a meaningful change in number of caches found in around Cape Town for for last week and this week...

Let's give them a week to log their finds and then I'll look at Cape Town next week.

 

I'm not so sure that we have sufficient cachers to see this.

 

For instance other eventss like the Soccer world Cup so no significant upswings.

 

Some localized caching (like the Midmar Mile) are seen annually here in KZN - but over the entire W Cape - I do not believe the Argus (wind or not) would make a significant difference?

 

Oh, so someone has thought about this before... No point then in running a query...

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Thrips

+Thrips

Posted
Posted

Hi Danie,

 

I have mentioned it before, but I really do love the stats. I try to visit the site as often as possible to see if there are any updates. Again, from my side, thank you for all the effort and time that you put into generating the stats.

 

How can I see what the 10 or 15 oldest active caches in South Africa are? Is it possible to find it on Project GC?

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GlobalRat

+GlobalRat

Posted
Posted (edited)

How can I see what the 10 or 15 oldest active caches in South Africa are? Is it possible to find it on Project GC?

 

You can use GSAK to filter active caches and sort by placed on date

 

Code Waypoint Name Placed State

GC185 Sentinel View 2001.01.18 Western Cape

GC1341 Eucaliptus 2001.04.02 Mpumalanga

GC77E Cape Agulhas 2001.04.21 Western Cape

GC840 Geocache 2001.04.29 Western Cape

GC9ED MADIBA TRAIL Bloemfontein 2001.05.20 Free State

GCE74 Magaliesberg 1(Maanhaarrand- North West Province) 2001.06.30 North West

GC13FB Pretoria-East 001: 2001.07.29 Gauteng

GC1656 Swartberg Pass 2001.08.11 Western Cape

GC1BBA Blood, Sweat and Sandy Bay 2001.09.08 Western Cape

GC20F6 LOGO 2001.09.12 Mpumalanga

GC21FC Houtbay 2001.10.13 Western Cape

GC22B1 N1 Sandriver - GMC001Z 2001.10.15 Free State

GC250E N1 Stilfontein Blockhouse (GMC12Z) 2001.10.26 Free State

GC2AC1 JOHANNESBURG SOUTH-1C 2001.11.15 Gauteng

 

Also visible on GC.com by searching for all caches in South Africa and sorting by placed by Click here. You will find one anomaly, Before GPSr which has a dodgy Placed on date.

Edited by GlobalRat
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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Highest cache densities: Gauteng

 

1km radius: 41 caches around GC6ANHF Equestria - Altzheimers (The highest in South Africa)

5km radius: 246 caches around GC1818G Plumbago_Three

10km radius: 634 caches around GC2ZBVG Cul-de-sac: Waterkloof

 

Gauteng%20densities.jpg

(Red = 1km, orange = 5km and brown = 10km)

 

Gauteng%20density%203D.jpg

The red peak at the top is Pretoria and Centurion; the ridge below it is the West Rand, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (Germiston)

Gauteng%20density%202D.jpg

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted
the ridge below it is the West Rand, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (Germiston)

 

Some significant peaks there too, how do the densities along that ridge compare to the overall Gauteng figures above?

At the same resolution (5km radius):

West Rand: 150 caches around GC2YATY

Johannesburg: 190 caches around GC4FZP8

Ekurhuleni: 154 caches around GC67WFT

 

And for completeness, the other two Gauteng municipalities:

Pretoria: 246 caches around GC1818G

Sedibeng: 38 caches around GC3HGJK

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Fastest 1000 finds:

 

236 cachers have found 1000 or more caches in Africa. (Unfortunately I do not have the data for overseas finds.) The fastest of these were:

1. iPajero:	       20 days
2. Spesbona:	       40 days
3. MadSons:	       93 days
4. tjoklits:	      113 days
5. Panters:	      125 days
6. Happy Hunters SA: 130 days
7. The Huskies:      145 days
8. bergbokkie:	      157 days
9. GorNat:	      167 days
10. SKATTIE@1:	      168 days
11. B and C Inc:      174 days
12. Wazat:	      182 days
13. JanMich:	      186 days
14. Thedivespot:      189 days
15. Leon St:	      190 days

At the other end of the spectrum, Nish4 took 3605 days (9.9 years!) to get to 1000 finds!

The average fastest 1000 finds is 2.3 years and the median is 1.8 years.

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Most Favourite Points in the past year

 

It was pointed out to me that I forgot to include the new caches in my article in the latest GoSA newsletter. I hope the following list is correct!

The following South African caches received the most new FPs during the year 7 March 2016 to 6 March 2017:

1. GC31WXR  Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel    CapeDoc	        66 FPs
2. GC5Y00Q  Tardis	                        family Behrens	57 FPs
3. GC691EB  STAR TREK	                        max beeks	45 FPs
4. GC5BWV4  UP PERISCOPE	                family Behrens	39 FPs
5. GC6K7A4  Red or Blue	                family Behrens	39 FPs
6. GC5D3BX  The Vault	                        Henzz	        38 FPs
7. GC548HP  Intersect 2.0	                family Behrens	32 FPs
8. GC6K78M  Governor's Ghost	                WC Geocachers.	31 FPs
9. GC6RJGA  Minecraft Hero	                WC Geocachers.	31 FPs
10. GC60190  Signal the frog books his Licence  family Behrens	28 FPs

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iPajero

+iPajero

Posted
Posted

can you list the top 10 for South Africa and Africa as a whole? Thanks!

Most new caches placed in South Africa in 2016:

1. Panters:	      140
2. WC Geocachers.:   102
3. PieterM:	       90
4. SKATTIE@1:	       67
5. ChrisDen:	       63
6. Boats007:	       62
7. Monti's Adventure: 59
8. WÅLDO:	       52
9. Sokkies73:	       47
10. Dr 3S:	       41

For the top 10 in Africa, see Part 10.

 

Most caches placed in South Africa (all time):

1. PieterM:	      343
2. TechnoNut:	      336
3. Fish Eagle:	      273
4. iPajero:	      262
5. Wazat:	      229
6. Panters:	      226
7. SKATTIE@1:	      226
8. GEO936:	      216
9. die sousies:      213
10. Leon St:	      203

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TechnoNut

+TechnoNut

Posted
Posted

It would be interesting to see how many of the caches placed are still active.

This refers to the topic most caches placed in South Africa (all time)

 

I analysed my GSAK Database (I have slightly higher numbers for most cachers than Danie)

 

This is what I get (Danie's figures in the DV column). I also used Danie's order.

 

Cachers that have placed a high number of event type caches will obviously have more archived caches than those who have not placed many event types.

 

Data.JPG

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Fastest 2000 finds:

 

71 cachers have found 2000 or more caches in Africa. The fastest of these were:

1. iPajero	194 days
2. MadSons	303 days
3. Panters	359 days
4. bergbokkie	379 days
5. SKATTIE@1	432 days
6. The Huskies	455 days
7. Spesbona	457 days
8. GorNat	483 days
9. AdieA	560 days
10. ChrisDen	575 days
11. TechnoNut	617 days
12. Geelvink	626 days
13. JanMich	628 days
14. Mixs	661 days
15. rodnjoan	697 days

The slowest 2000 finds (sy-chispa) took 2863 days (9.9 years).

The average fastest 2000 finds is 3.3 years and the median is 2.9 years.

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Danie Viljoen

+Danie Viljoen

Posted
Posted

Fastest 3000 finds:

36 cachers have found 3000 or more caches in Africa. The fastest of these were:

1. iPajero	            417 days
2. Panters	            556 days
3. Spesbona	            583 days
4. GorNat	            836 days
5. SKATTIE@1	            876 days
6. AdieA	            933 days
7. ChrisDen	            934 days
   The Huskies	            934 days
9. bergbokkie	           1044 days
10. JanMich	           1111 days
11. TechnoNut	           1178 days
12. Porky2	           1208 days
13. rodnjoan	           1229 days
14. terunkie	           1303 days
15. Leon St	           1313 days

The slowest 3000 finds (Wildbirds) took 3405 days (9.3 years).

The average fastest 3000 finds is 4.2 years and the median is 4 years.

 

Fastest 4000 finds:

23 Cachers have found 4000 or more caches in Africa:

1. iPajero	            674 days
2. Spesbona	           1031 days
3. GorNat	           1062 days
4. ChrisDen	           1282 days
5. The Huskies	           1422 days
6. SKATTIE@1	           1569 days
7. rodnjoan	           1678 days
8. bergbokkie	           1681 days
9. terunkie	           1751 days
10. TechnoNut	           1790 days
11. PieterM	           1916 days
12. Louise_Gerhard	   2047 days
13. Leon St	           2052 days
14. dolos	           2170 days
15. Geelvink	           2343 days
16. cownchicken	           2387 days
17. Thrips	           2398 days
18. Antron	           2400 days
19. Henzz	           2600 days
20. Wikkelgat	           2615 days
21. Danie Viljoen	   2635 days
22. HeinG	           2816 days
23. Tricky Vicky & Mickey  4910 days

The average and median fastest 4000 finds are both 5.6 years.

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