Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

[+Danie Viljoen]

It is easy to filter for archived caches, but the problem is to get the archiving date. One can not really use the date of the last log, because archived caches do get the occasional log.

[+Danie Viljoen]

I was explaining geocaching to a friend the other day and he asked me how many active geocachers there were in SA and what the breakdown per province is. I've no idea how one defines a cacher as "active". Maybe someone who has logged a find or placed a cache in the last three months? Is it possible to get such statistics?

See my message of 16 November. I plan to recalculate this statistic, but first I have to get my database up to date!

[+TechnoNut]

Are there any stats of geocacher total finds (in SA) by gender?

 

I know that weer-ini-hoed has close to 400 and should be one of the top lady cachers.

 

PT (just curious)

[+Danie Viljoen]

Are there any stats of geocacher total finds (in SA) by gender?

 

I know that weer-ini-hoed has close to 400 and should be one of the top lady cachers.

 

PT (just curious)

No. As far as I know, there is no way to determine the gender. In many cases families cache as a team, like iPajero and DamhuisClan, which will also complicate matters.

[+Carbon Hunter]

Team Ginger is also a lady - and she has well over 650 finds.

[+Louise_Gerhard]

There is a growth in geocaching. About 3 years ago it was actually getting boring to read the logbook. The same set of names always appeared somewhere in the pages. Only the sequence of names was different. Now it is a different story, at regular intervals I notice a new name not known to me. If you go to their profiles then they already have a substantial number of cache finds with some difficult puzzle caches on their names.

 

But many will start and many will stop. Just recently someone contacted me from Kaapsehoop and he was desperate to find his first cache so I gave him a couple of hints. His next e-mail was begging for more; he tried 5 times to find it but with no luck. So I send him photos and the exact location and how to get there. Unfortunately he selected a puzzle cache and a difficult hide for his first cache. For some reason this was the one that he wanted to find. Suddenly he was gone and his stats remained on zero finds. I am now worried about this cache and I hope it is ok. But to measure growth and to measure the number of people trying and deciding that it is not for them is going to be a daunting task but that will be interesting.

 

I tried to run the query for the archived caches but my data for the archived caches is not in line with the stats from Danie so I will rather stop. My database crashed during 2010 due to hard disk error and some of the records could still be a problem.

 

I excluded event caches as this will distort the figure as more events were held during 2010 than before but my archived number is too high. I get a total of 530 archived caches, Danie have 421 archived caches in his database. I trust his figure more than my one. On my profile the stats is getting scary. Out of all my finds 15% is now archived. This figure is growing and it is going the wrong way. Gerhard

Edited January 3, 2011 by gerhardoosMPsa

[+cincol]

The subject of archived caches is an interesting one and as gerhardoosMPsa mentions he has noticed that 15% of his finds have been archived. Unfortunately during 2010 I have decided to archive a number of my hides as well. This is because I am getting tired of having to replace the containers at regular intervals. This is obviously an inditcation to me that I did not choose the original location well enough. Most of the caches are on my list for replacement sometime, but this round they will need a lot more thought as to why they have been muggled in the passed and how am I going to overcome that problem. I am going to have to study the location very carefully and choose the final resting place well before replacement and unarchiving. One would have thought that placing caches in the desert is easy! Well, as I have discovered that it is not the case! Moral of the story is make a concerted effort to choose the correct location - if you fail, then re-evaluate and try again.

[+Carbon Hunter]

Gerhard - your mail made me think about event caches - can you boffins give the stat on how many Events have been held in SA over the 10 year history?

 

So -

2001 - 0 events

2002 ..... etc.?

 

That would be interesting to see.

And also the Provinces thart have held events? Perhaps there is a gap for some cachers to hold the first event in NC?

[+Danie Viljoen]

Event caches in South Africa:

Gauteng: 58

Western Cape: 41

Kwazulu Natal: 31

Mpumalanga: 16

Eastern Cape: 6

Free State: 5

North West: 5

Limpopo: 4

Northern Cape: 0

Total: 166

Rest of Africa: 6

 

2002: 1 event

2003: 0

2004: 0

2005: 9

2006: 14

2007: 27

2008: 27

2009: 25

2010: 59 (of which 33 were in Gauteng)

2011: 4 events (so far)

[+Carbon Hunter]

Thanks Danie

 

Interesting that events stayed pretty stable for 2007-2009 (actually dipping in 2009).

 

and then an event explosion!

 

Rest of Africa 6 - interesting - can you list them please?

 

I assume thye Lesotho Sani Pass event was one of them.

[+Gr8Scot]

There is a growth in geocaching. About 3 years ago it was actually getting boring to read the logbook. The same set of names always appeared somewhere in the pages. Only the sequence of names was different. Now it is a different story, at regular intervals I notice a new name not known to me. If you go to their profiles then they already have a substantial number of cache finds with some difficult puzzle caches on their names.

 

I reckon it's the advent of GPS enabled smartphones that's doing it. I know that one can indicate your equipment in your profile. Would it be possible to see what % of cachers use a traditional GPSr and which use smartphones?

[+Gr8Scot]

I was explaining geocaching to a friend the other day and he asked me how many active geocachers there were in SA and what the breakdown per province is. I've no idea how one defines a cacher as "active". Maybe someone who has logged a find or placed a cache in the last three months? Is it possible to get such statistics?

See my message of 16 November. I plan to recalculate this statistic, but first I have to get my database up to date!

 

That's great. Thanks!

 

Note to self - next time SEARCH before asking)

[+Danie Viljoen]

I reckon it's the advent of GPS enabled smartphones that's doing it. I know that one can indicate your equipment in your profile. Would it be possible to see what % of cachers use a traditional GPSr and which use smartphones?

I don't know of a way to get this information automatically, and not everybody list their equipment.

[+Danie Viljoen]

Thanks Danie

 

Interesting that events stayed pretty stable for 2007-2009 (actually dipping in 2009).

 

and then an event explosion!

 

Rest of Africa 6 - interesting - can you list them please?

 

I assume thye Lesotho Sani Pass event was one of them.

The 6 African event caches:

GC25QXB - WWFMVII - Marrakech Express (Morocco)

GC1W9QR - Un thé dans le désert (Morocco)

GC1W9RY - Un jus d' orange et de folies à Marrakech! (Morocco)

GC1A8A6 - Namibia's First Event Cache! WOOT! (Namibia)

GC26DJ0 - 10 Years! Bamako, Mali (Mali)

GC2B8Y8 - Get Together at Sani Top (Lesotho)

 

There is a chance that I may have missed a few - I haven't updated my African database recently.

[+Carbon Hunter]

I would not have thought that there would be many more.

 

I could imagine that Egypt, Tanzania or Kenya would be the only other countires that would possibly have held an event. No Swazi event - there is also an opportunttiy methinks?

[+Danie Viljoen]

We surpassed the number of 5000 active caches in South Africa on 4 January 2011. It changes daily as caches get archived, but according to my data, no. 5000 must have been Wazat's GC2M2E3: Luneburg - Church.

[+Wazat]

We surpassed the number of 5000 active caches in South Africa on 4 January 2011. It changes daily as caches get archived, but according to my data, no. 5000 must have been Wazat's GC2M2E3: Luneburg - Church.

Oh wow... and what a place it is too... must see gem on the back roads of KZN.

 

After reaching my 1000 along with a few others, what are the fastest first 1000's again. I am sure it has changed a bit since the last time.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Wazat

[+Danie Viljoen]

The 5 most active cachers in Africa in 2010:

 

1. iPajero: 1162 finds

2. Leon St: 780 finds

3. Danie Viljoen: 758 finds

4. Elsies: 705 finds

5. Wormgeocash: 646 finds

 

The number of active caches in South Africa increased by 1158 in 2010. (I do not know what the number for the whole of Africa is.) This means that iPajero remains with just about the same number of unfound caches as at the end of 2009. The rest of us fell further behind!

[+Danie Viljoen]

Some elevation statistics:

 

The highest cache in Africa is GC10CTQ - Uhuru Peak, in Tanzania, at 5858m.

There are two more caches above 5000m, both on Kilimanjaro as well.

There are 8 caches between 4000m and 5000m, of which 6 are in Tanzania, one in Kenya and one in Morocco.

There are 14 caches between 3000m and 4000m, including South Africa's 3 highest caches.

There are 70 caches between 2000m and 3000m, of which 37 are in South Africa.

Of the 100 highest caches, 45 are in South Africa.

 

The lowest African cache is GCPAFJ - Lac Assal, Really Deep, in Djibouti, at -132m.

There are 4 more caches below sea level (excluding snorkelling and diving caches) all in northern Africa.

 

The average elevation of all the (active) African caches is 842m.

 

South African elevation statistics to follow.

[+Danie Viljoen]

South African elevation statistics:

 

The highest cache in South Africa is GCF9FC - Just Climb It, at 3071m.

It is followed by GC1BWCM - Guts Gorge.

Third highest: GCGCEM - Dragons Cave

Interesting, all three are in the Free State - not what one would have expected!

 

As for the lowest - there are about 141 caches on beaches, piers and rocks, all below 5m. The resolution of the elevation data is not good enough to determine which one is the lowest. As far as I can tell, we have no caches below sea level.

 

The average elevation of all the South African (active) caches is 870m, and the standard deviation is 628m.

Almost 19% of all the caches lie below 100m, and 13% lie between 1400m and 1500m.

[+Danie Viljoen]

Gauteng elevation statistics:

Highest caches:

1. GC1PAMB - Hoogste punt: Gauteng: 1902m

2. GCPHF8 - Machiavellian Perrin?: 1790m

3. GC2AC1 - JOHANNESBURG SOUTH-1C: 1777m

Lowest cache: GCJ9NX - Tswaing2: 1067m

Average elevation: 1506m, standard deviation: 123m

 

Free State:

Highest:

1. GCF9FC - Just Climb It: 3071m

2. GC1BWCM - Guts Gorge: 3008m

3. GCGCEM - Dragons Cave: 2990m

Lowest: GC1PHK1 - Burgher Monument: 1146m

Average elevation: 1465m, standard deviation: 205m

 

North West:

Highest:

1. GC1HKKZ - Mining Series 1 - Ithembalethu: 1735m

2. GC1H85M - Mumsie’s Magic: 1729m

3. GCE74 - Magaliesberg 1(Maanhaarrand- North West Province): 1702m

Lowest: GC18WAD - Kosama: 1061m

Average elevation: 1305m, standard deviation: 143m

 

Mpumalanga:

Highest:

1. GC1PAMC - Hoogste punt: Mpumalanga: 2323m

2. GC1GQH6 - A Squirrel's View: 2241m

3. GCR7TC - Mauchsberg: 2199m

Lowest: GC1N1V5 - Hippo Pools Wind Holes: 171m

Average elevation: 1230m, standard deviation: 438m

 

Limpopo:

Highest:

1. GC17BJQ - In Heaven: 2121m

2. GCMA61 - The Towers at Marakele: 2042m

3. GC17BJR - Dirk se Klip: 2025m

Average elevation: 1117m, standard deviation: 386m

 

Northern Cape:

Highest:

1. GC11M96 - Ouberg Pass Two: 1385m

2. GC1ZTNW - Colesberg: 1377m

3. GC2DRTZ - On your way from E to W Biggest Windmill: 1342m

Lowest: 2 caches below 5m.

Average elevation: 891m, standard deviation: 382m

 

Natal:

Highest:

1. GC1YX6K - Ice Pick: 2969m

2. GC2G2DH - Tugela Plateau: 2951m

3. GC12TZ8 - Twins Peak: 2844m

Lowest: 28 caches below 5m.

Average elevation: 673m, standard deviation: 583m

 

Eastern Cape:

Highest:

1. GCV2M7 - Carlisle’s Hoek Falls: 2398m

2. GC191JM - Bastervoetpad: 2233m

3. GC12GZ9 - Transkei View Cave: 2170m

Lowest: 14 caches below 5m.

Average elevation: 386m, standard deviation: 499m

 

Western Cape:

Highest:

1. GCG097 - Higest in Western Cape: 2220m

2. GC1BWFF - Towercache: 2053m

3. GCY3RE - Point of No Return: 2044m

Lowest: 96 caches below 5m.

Average elevation: 272m, standard deviation: 327m

[+Danie Viljoen]

Cachers who have found most of the 25 highest South African caches:

iPajero: 10

hosta: 7

Blackjack Bailey: 5

gerhardoosMPsa: 5

iNokia: 5

Danie Viljoen: 4

3 LittlePigs: 3

BAKGAT: 3

Megaben: 3

Rhino and Hedgehog: 3

Tricky Vicky & Mickey: 3

Urban Campers: 3

Wazat: 3

cownchicken: 3

dakardrix: 3

hennieventer: 3

melval: 3

Edited January 13, 2011 by Danie Viljoen

[+Wazat]

Just wondering where these stats come from, my cache on Sterkhorn is at 2970m I believe Rhino peak is also up above 3000... Twins and Mitre are around 3000m and the archived Cathedral was at 3004m Something wrong with the stats here... Also I have the current highest cache in Southern SA at 3345m Lost Way point. Also including the ones all up in Lesotho pushes a whole lot of names into the list, but we are looking at SA here... Which are the highest 25 caches in SA?

[+DiePienaars]

How is this stats calculated where Multi’s and Puzzles concern as I know one off Rhino’s caches final you would need a boat to get to. That brings me to the fact that he has caches above 3000m and at sea level.

[+Danie Viljoen]

Just wondering where these stats come from, my cache on Sterkhorn is at 2970m I believe Rhino peak is also up above 3000... Twins and Mitre are around 3000m and the archived Cathedral was at 3004m Something wrong with the stats here... Also I have the current highest cache in Southern SA at 3345m Lost Way point. Also including the ones all up in Lesotho pushes a whole lot of names into the list, but we are looking at SA here... Which are the highest 25 caches in SA?

I used the new Elevation GSAK macro to get the elevation data. It uses the Aster database (30m resolution), and when this does not work, it defaults to the Google Earth elevation data. For puzzle caches and multis I either calculated the final position or I took an educated guess. For this list I only looked at South African caches.

 

My elevations for the mentioned caches are:

Mount Memory - Sterkhorn: 2827

Rhino Peak: 2785

Twins Peak: 2844

MITRE: 2715

Cathedral Peak: 2722 (This one doesn't count, because it has been archived)

The Forgotten Waypoint: 3328

 

If you know for a fact that my data is wrong, I'll update it gladly.

 

According to my current elevation data, the highest 25 active South African caches are:

1. GCF9FC Just Climb It: 3071

2. GC1BWCM Guts Gorge: 3008

3. GCGCEM Dragons Cave: 2990

4. GC1YX6K Ice Pick: 2969

5. GC2G2DH Tugela Plateau: 2951

6. GC12TZ8 Twins Peak: 2844

7. GC1EKZH Mount Memory - Sterkhorn: 2827

8. GC1QX8J Rhino Peak: 2785

9. GC12TZN MITRE: 2715

10. GC15WEB Cathedral Peak 2nd Prize: 2701

11. GCV2M7 Carlisle’s Hoek Falls: 2398

12. GCRP6E nomans land: 2391

13. GC1PAMC Hoogste punt: Mpumalanga: 2323

14. GC12GZG The Pig: 2308

15. GCN8JX Platberg: 2251

16. GC1GQH6 A Squirrel's View: 2241

17. GC191JM Bastervoetpad: 2233

18. GC2132Q Sleeping Beauty Cave: 2222

19. GCG097 Higest in Western Cape: 2220

20. GCR7TC Mauchsberg: 2199

21. GC12GZ9 Transkei View Cave: 2170

22. GC1TP9R The Boot: 2155

23. GCX5VE Don't Know Why: 2140

24. GC17BJQ In Heaven: 2121

25. GC1QX8M Pillar Cave: 2104

Edited January 14, 2011 by Danie Viljoen

[+Danie Viljoen]

The 5 best caches in South Africa:

The caches with the most favourite points are

1. Little Netherlands TB Hotel: 17

1. Sentinel View: 17

3. Ipanema: 16

4. Sailor's Star: 15

5. Longfinger: 12

 

Two of these (Ipanema and Longfinger) were planted by louwtjievdw. Quite an accomplishment oom Louwtjie!

[+mr panda]

Cool!

can you get this data with a PQ?

Any idea how they rank up according to percentage of finders who favorited? This seems like such a better way to rank caches.

 

Capedoc turned me on to this script: http://www.lildevil.org/greasemonkey/favorites-percentage

 

With it I get:

 

1. Little Netherlands TB Hotel: 17 or 12.8%

1. Sentinel View: 17 or 14.9%

3. Ipanema: 16 or 32%

4. Sailor's Star: 15 or 7.2%

5. Longfinger: 12 or 27.9%

 

Compare to Cism's Orpheus in the Underworld that only has 9 favorites, but sits at 34.6%

or Capedoc's Earth, Wind, Fire, Water with only 6, but is 46.2%

or Oceans247's Pristine at 5/62.5%

 

The script only seems to work on the cache page, so these were just guesses on caches that I knew had few finders, but lots of faves.

I'd love to see actual percentage stats if possible.

[+Wazat]

Just wondering where these stats come from, my cache on Sterkhorn is at 2970m I believe Rhino peak is also up above 3000... Twins and Mitre are around 3000m and the archived Cathedral was at 3004m Something wrong with the stats here... Also I have the current highest cache in Southern SA at 3345m Lost Way point. Also including the ones all up in Lesotho pushes a whole lot of names into the list, but we are looking at SA here... Which are the highest 25 caches in SA?

I used the new Elevation GSAK macro to get the elevation data. It uses the Aster database (30m resolution), and when this does not work, it defaults to the Google Earth elevation data. For puzzle caches and multis I either calculated the final position or I took an educated guess. For this list I only looked at South African caches.

 

My elevations for the mentioned caches are:

Mount Memory - Sterkhorn: 2827

Rhino Peak: 2785

Twins Peak: 2844

MITRE: 2715

Cathedral Peak: 2722 (This one doesn't count, because it has been archived)

The Forgotten Waypoint: 3328

 

If you know for a fact that my data is wrong, I'll update it gladly.

 

OK cool I have seen that in GSAK too. Cathedral is 3004m. My mistake my Sterkhorn cache is 2950m not 2970m and for Forgotten Waypoint I had a reading of 3345m. I can half imagine Google data been wrong cause their maps tend to be a few meters out. You go just a few meters to the north or south of Cathedral and you get a few hundred meters drop in elevation.... The same would go for Sterkhorn. I would have to check on The boot but that seems just about right. I have a Barometric Altimeter in my eTrex Vista HCx so I will trust it is pretty accurate. Maybe Rhino can back us up on the altitude of Rhino Peak.... but that is as far as I know over 3000m. Mitre is 3023m and Twins is 2899m Although I am not sure where in relation to these heights the caches are. Sentinel is 3165m.The Ampitheater is just over 2970m and above.... Would be great if there was a field for the listing to insert elevation data, maybe Groundspeak should look at that as an optional.....

[+Danie Viljoen]

can you get this data with a PQ?

Any idea how they rank up according to percentage of finders who favorited? This seems like such a better way to rank caches.

No, I don't think it is possible to get the number of favourites via a PQ, and so the percentage will have to be calculated on a cache by cache basis.

[+Wazat]

Keeping on height, who are the top owners of the highest caches in SA. I have a few above 2000 already, would be interesting to know who has a high percentage of high altitude caches. Off hand I can think of 4 that I have above 2000 and one in Lesotho.

[+Danie Viljoen]

Of the 25 highest active South African caches:

3 were placed by Rhino and Hedgehog

2 were placed by Adventure King

2 were placed by batsgonemad

2 by Blackjack Bailey

2 by Fish Eagle

2 by Wally & Chippy

 

(If one includes Lesotho, Wazat also has 2.)

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Danie, can you please verify this one if you have time.

 

I noticed that a cacher that visit an EC of mine (GC1WK35) have the elevation as a minus on his stats.

 

Just recently we said that there is no cache below zero ASL in RSA. At first I thought the cacher tricked the figures a bit so I checked my database – it is given as -2 meters. So I done a quick check on all other caches and the query returned no results.

 

If this is true then I have the only cache below zero ASL. That will be nice. But on the other side of the coin that also means that everybody in RSA can visit this cache and have a cache below zero ASL except me. Are you interested in adopting this cache for about one day – I need to log it? Yep, the guys will fry me alive.

Gerhard

[+Danie Viljoen]

The coordinates place your cache in the ocean, so unless it is submerged, I assume the elevation should be 0? For what it is worth, Aster gives 7m, GoogleEarth 2m and MapSource 3m.

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Danie the waypoint is below zero. You can not get to this way point during high tide. You need to do it during low tide but that is not important to me and if a cacher is using any other point for a photo then it is fine with me. But the actual EC waypoint can only be done if the tide is low. If you look at the archived caches close to this one you will also notice that the specific cache could also be done during low tide. I only use what GSAK is giving me as the official elevation and that is given as -2 meter. If you visit this one during low tide you will find that you are in the sea according to your GPS. With my last visit it was quite funny to see that I can walk on top of the water according to my GPS. Gerhard

[+Hesamati]

Gerhard is it only me or does "Highest fossil dune in RSA" and -2m not compute...?

[MnCo]

According to my current elevation data, the highest 25 active South African caches are...

 

Is there any way to get a list of "highest" caches, in terms of ascent rather than just overall height?

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Yep Hesamati that gave me a smile, highest versus the lowest. Thanks for the funny part on this one. Next time I stand in the sea with the tide rushing in looking up to the high point I am sure these words will be somewhere in my mind. Gerhard

[+Jors]

Danie the waypoint is below zero. You can not get to this way point during high tide. You need to do it during low tide ....

I've had a quick look at Simonstown and Port Elizabeth's tidal guage measurements, and it would seem that the difference between low and high tide is about two meters, zero being roughly halfway between the extremes.

 

That would imply that you might at best, be at 1 meter below zero, but quite possible.

 

Nice!

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Thanks Jors for the extra effort, so we have a cache below zero, even 1 mm will also do. Someone will need to verify the way point at low tide. Danie what are you doing this weekend?

 

After my attempted armed robbery yesterday on my way to a cache I also feel a bit below 0 ASL and somewhere between high and low tide. But this one belongs to the annoying side of geocaching or rather life on planet earth.

 

Gerhard

[+Danie Viljoen]

Jors, is sea level (even averaged) necessarily at 0m along the South African coast, assuming that we use WGS84?

[+DamhuisClan]

When we were travelling up Sani Pass, Jors'es GPSr and my GPSr, both Garmins, reported a difference in hight of about 6 meters.

If this were true the car was leaning heavily towards one side, and we would be screaming rather than looking at our GPSrs.

 

From this I have concluded that the height above sea level, is not to be trusted.

 

I think we should have another test of all the GPSrs. Maybe at the next techno event, and each GPSr gets a chance to state what it thinks the height above sea level is of a specific point.

Edited January 22, 2011 by DamhuisClan

[MnCo]

When we were travelling up Sani Pass, Jors'es GPSr and my GPSr, both Garmins, reported a difference in hight of about 6 meters.

 

It stands to reason this would be true because GPS's provide a point in 3 dimentional space (although Z is elevation from a known plain rather than a coordinate), so if the differntial between the hider and finders GPS can be as much as 5-6m then the vertical error can be the same.

Edited January 22, 2011 by MnCo

[+Wazat]

You need to get a barometric altimeter. A lot more accurate.

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Danie, I did not page back at this discussion but these are the questions that are my mind for a while.

 

• How many RSA cachers have found all 9 provinces and who was the first person that achieved it?

• Is it at all possible to discover which RSA cacher logged the highest altitude cache in RSA? This could be impossible as the cache is definitely outside RSA.

• How many cachers have found all 52 municipality districts and who was the first person that achieved it?

• Who have the longest log in RSA?

• Name the top 10 cachers that can write a story or two on cache find logs based on average log find length?

• Who will achieve the 2000 finds mark during 2011 based on present rate of finds per day and their expected date of achieving this?

 

Gerhard

[+Danie Viljoen]

• How many RSA cachers have found all 9 provinces and who was the first person that achieved it?

43. I do not know how to determine the first person - maybe DamhuisClan can help with this.

 

• Is it at all possible to discover which RSA cacher logged the highest altitude cache in RSA? This could be impossible as the cache is definitely outside RSA.

Not sure what you mean? Only two cachers have logged the highest South African cache: Just Climb it (Deanvdm and Schnipps). There are 70 logs for Uhuru Peak, the highest cache in Africa.

 

• How many cachers have found all 52 municipality districts and who was the first person that achieved it?

One, iPajero

 

• Who have the longest log in RSA?

As far as I know, the log length is limited to 4000 characters. Two cachers have written 4000 character logs - Berg_man for his find of Filander se cache, and one other cacher who is not known for his brief logs - gerhardoosMPsa, for Kransroete. (I think I once saw a longer log, where the cacher had continued his story in a second log, but it is not easy to find this.)

 

I'll get to the rest later.

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Danie,

I just recently received my Emerald badge for the "The Author". I am only an average of about 6 words per log away from the diamand so I have to keep the pose.

 

The other night I was a bit bored so I started to search for finds on the highest caches In Africa for example Kilimanjaro. I noticed a couple of RSA cachers with finds on them. But I think this is impossible to search. The highest caches are all over the world and you probably need every single cache find both available and archived in order to run a proper query. I will keep on guessing. Thanks for the effort and this topic is really interesting.

Gerhard

 

forgot to add:

Danie, I done a search a while back on bookmarks containing the highest caches on this planet. One was found and I downloaded all of the caches. I never kept it up to date. I have 53 high caches in this database. Just recently I ran the macro called cpxcref and a name popped up. Mr Larks from Johannesburg has done all 6 caches on Kili. This place him second on the list that I have but not up to date. He quietly spent his holiday on Kili during December 2010 and we all missed it. So how many more cachers are there that climb around the mountains not in RSA only but all over that we are not aware of. Gerhard

Edited January 22, 2011 by gerhardoosMPsa

[+Jors]

Jors, is sea level (even averaged) necessarily at 0m along the South African coast, assuming that we use WGS84?

Yes Danie, elevations are by definition relative to mean sea level (MSL), and WGS84 did not change that.

GPS heights are adjusted to conform to MSL by using a mathematical model of the geoid believed to be accurate to 0,07m.

Just don't use your handheld GPSr for elevation measurements!

[+Jors]

When we were travelling up Sani Pass, Jors'es GPSr and my GPSr, both Garmins, reported a difference in hight of about 6 meters.

... the differntial between the hider and finders GPS can be as much as 5-6m then the vertical error can be the same.

Actually, vertical errors are generally at least twice the horizontal error, due to the geometry of the satelites.

[MnCo]

• Who have the longest log in RSA?

As far as I know, the log length is limited to 4000 characters. Two cachers have written 4000 character logs - Berg_man for his find of Filander se cache, and one other cacher who is not known for his brief logs - gerhardoosMPsa, for Kransroete. (I think I once saw a longer log, where the cacher had continued his story in a second log, but it is not easy to find this.)

 

If malo mystery's log on my cache, The Quest (GC22F7H), is not the longest, then it must certainly be up there near the top. With a total of 5427 characters, it spans two log entries.

[+Louise_Gerhard]

Wow, if I have to do it with two logs then I will visit the owner for a chat. On a serious note - rather give me the book then SL on the listing.

 

I agree the next time we have a gathering we should check height ASL with the various GPS's. I think that will be quite interesting. G