Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

1.6k · October 9, 2014

Finders of the most South African Premium caches:

1. iPajero:	   88
2. TechnoNut:	   44
3. Antron:	   41
4. BruceTP:	   40
4. Louise_Gerhard: 40
6. Wormgeocash:	   36
7. The Huskies:	   34
8. Danie Viljoen:  31
8. Fier:	   31
8. cownchicken:	   31
8. pannie&medusae: 31

(My data is about a week behind - I do not have the logs of the recent Mega yet.)

2.3k · October 9, 2014

Finders of the most South African Premium caches:
1. iPajero:	   88
2. TechnoNut:	   44
3. Antron:	   41
4. BruceTP:	   40
4. Louise_Gerhard: 40
6. Wormgeocash:	   36
7. The Huskies:	   34
8. Danie Viljoen:  31
8. Fier:	   31
8. cownchicken:	   31
8. pannie&medusae: 31
(My data is about a week behind - I do not have the logs of the recent Mega yet.)

Interesting. Why would somebody place a Premium Only cache? I have done a couple both here and overseas and don't see any reason why I would place one. Just asking.

1.6k · October 10, 2014

[interesting. Why would somebody place a Premium Only cache? I have done a couple both here and overseas and don't see any reason why I would place one. Just asking.

I have heard that the owner of a Premium cache gets notified of who looks at the cache listing. Maybe one of the owners can confirm this? Some years ago we had a huge problem in Pretoria when a specific person systematically (and repeatedly) removed a whole series of caches on the Magaliesberg. I heard that he was identified by this means.

1.6k · October 13, 2014

MEGA statistics:

Up to now, 136 cachers have logged attendance of the recent KZN Mega. (It is still early days, and I expect the number to grow.) The final number for the Pretoria MEGA was 213.

47 Cachers have attended both MEGAs

October 13, 2014

MEGA statistics:

Up to now, 136 cachers have logged attendance of the recent KZN Mega. (It is still early days, and I expect the number to grow.) The final number for the Pretoria MEGA was 213.

47 Cachers have attended both MEGAs

Thanks Danie.

Once the dust has settled (in a fortnight or so?) it would be good to see some stats for finds in KZN, and # of unique finders over the MEGA period compared with before and after ....

4.2k · October 13, 2014

I know a few cachers who place PMO caches as they have put a lot of time, effort or money into their caches and want to ensure that only committed cachers get to find them and the cache container is not muggled or destroyed.

4.2k · October 13, 2014

We missed you at the MEGA Danie.

Thank ou for your stats - and we look forward with anticipation to the raft of stats the last month has delivered - especially the peak in KZN cache finds in particular.

7.3k · October 13, 2014

MEGA statistics:

Up to now, 136 cachers have logged attendance of the recent KZN Mega. (It is still early days, and I expect the number to grow.) The final number for the Pretoria MEGA was 213.

47 Cachers have attended both MEGAs

That's interesting that there are so many events with the word "MEGA" in the title, when they clearly don't qualify as "mega" according to the Guidelines:

Mega-Events are (you guessed it) large-scale geocaching events that are usually held annually. Most Mega-Events begin as regular Event Caches, and then once there is documented attendance of over 500 geocachers, Mega-status may be awarded by Geocaching HQ. In consideration of the significant resources we devote to publicizing the Mega-Events, Geocaching HQ reserves the right to deny or retract publication of Mega-Events sponsored by other commercial geocache listing services, as well as parent and affiliated companies, unless written permission has been granted in advance by Geocaching HQ.

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

Does South Africa receive special exemptions/permissions from HQ to list all these regular events as "mega"?

B.

1.6k · October 13, 2014

Does South Africa receive special exemptions/permissions from HQ to list all these regular events as "mega"?

I am no expert on the rules regarding Mega Events, but as far as I know the number of 500 refers to registered attendees. I know the first Mega easily qualified using this rule, and I assume the same for the second. My statistics number is the number of cachers who have logged "Attended" on the website. Maybe one of the organizers can tell us what the number of attendees for the second Mega was?

1.6k · October 13, 2014

I am guessing now, but the number of active cachers in South Africa must currently be about 2000. To get even 200 of them in the same place at the same time in a relatively big country like South Africa is a major undertaking.

October 13, 2014

Does South Africa receive special exemptions/permissions from HQ to list all these regular events as "mega"?

I am no expert on the rules regarding Mega Events, but as far as I know the number of 500 refers to registered attendees. I know the first Mega easily qualified using this rule, and I assume the same for the second. My statistics number is the number of cachers who have logged "Attended" on the website. Maybe one of the organizers can tell us what the number of attendees for the second Mega was?

I was not going to reply to the post by Pup Patrol. But ....

Much as I dislike "policemen", I will comment as follows. All figures are provisional. First let me correct an error by the OP on this topic. According to the Groundspeak Knowledge Book ...

"Mega-Events are the ultimate gatherings for geocachers. Officially, events must surpass the 500 attendee mark to qualify for "Mega" status" (emphasis is mine)

There were in excess of 340 registered people for the Mega, and added to this were many walk-ins, and in excess of 150 MTBikers who all attended bits and pieces of the activities surrounding MEGA. Logs are still coming in, but even the final number of logs will not in itself be an indicator of the number of attendees, as many logs speak for two or more people.

But certainly, the 500 attendee mark was well exceeded and many new people were exposed to Geocaching!

Note that logbooks are optional for all event types (including Mega and Giga events}.

October 13, 2014

Does South Africa receive special exemptions/permissions from HQ to list all these regular events as "mega"?

Only one event was listed as a MEGA event and this had the necessary approval from Groundspeak .

The other events (normal events and CITOs) were associated with MEGA, but did not have Mega status.

I trust this satisfies your query.

2.3k · October 13, 2014

I know a few cachers who place PMO caches as they have put a lot of time, effort or money into their caches and want to ensure that only committed cachers get to find them and the cache container is not muggled or destroyed.

I have an issue with people thinking that only Premium Members are committed cachers. I know of many cachers who couldn't be bothered to be a PM due to various reasons but are committed cachers - perhaps even more committed than PM cachers. I also know of PM cachers who are certainly not committed cachers.

But at the end of the day I suppose the CO does what he does as it blows his hair back! That's what I like about this game - we all play uit for different reasons, differently!

October 14, 2014

Interesting. Why would somebody place a Premium Only cache? I have done a couple both here and overseas and don't see any reason why I would place one. Just asking.

In my case, it's out of respect for landowners who have given permission for caches at sensitive locations on their property.

I never used to have any PMO caches because in principle I don't like them - but out of necessity, now I have some.

Have I had problems before - yup.

Has PMO stopped such problems - yup.

4.2k · October 14, 2014

I know a few cachers who place PMO caches as they have put a lot of time, effort or money into their caches and want to ensure that only committed cachers get to find them and the cache container is not muggled or destroyed.

I have an issue with people thinking that only Premium Members are committed cachers. I know of many cachers who couldn't be bothered to be a PM due to various reasons but are committed cachers - perhaps even more committed than PM cachers. I also know of PM cachers who are certainly not committed cachers.

But at the end of the day I suppose the CO does what he does as it blows his hair back! That's what I like about this game - we all play it for different reasons, differently!

I'm not sure "committed" is the correct term - perhaps more along the lines of "sensitised" or "educated" cachers would be better.

I think a newbie who has been along for a short time who then bumbles out and does all the wrong things - trespassing - burying caches - upsetting land owners - walking across sensitive areas etc. are the issue that a PMO "could" (note could) alleviate.

I do agree that the US Dollar exchange rate can make Premium Membership a luxury for many in Africa - and the relative small amount of caches in places like Zimbabwe or Namibia would not have the same benefit as elsewhere.

So yes - there is a place for PMO caches in Africa - but in general I do think that they are useful are value adding as elsewhere (more cache dense areas) - My 2c (ZAR) worth

2.3k · October 14, 2014

Apologies if the thread was hi-jacked. It wasn't intentional.

4.2k · October 27, 2014

Stats gurus ----- we await your magic after the MEGA.....

4.2k · October 27, 2014

To start the Stats - we have a fair change in the South African most FAVOURITED caches.

2 caches associated with the recent MEGA (MEGA Surprise and Nailed!) both move into the Top 20. We have 3 caches that are currently disabled or archived that remain in the Top 20 (strikeout text)

12 from Western Cape

6 from Gauteng and

2 from KZN

CapeDoc remains the undisputed FP national champion and the Table Mountain TB Hotel seems dafe for the foreseeable future in the #1 spot. Good to see we have 11 caches now with more than 50 FPs. A pleasing trend.Also pleasing to see a mix pof traditionals / earthcaches / puzzles/ WhereI Gos and multis in the mix.

[Rank / # F points / Cache name / Owner / GC Number / Location]

254 Table Mountain Travel Bug Hotel by CapeDoc | GC31WXR | Western Cape, South Africa
99 Stellenbosch TB Lodge by Hesamati | GC2X329 | Western Cape, South Africa
78 MEGA SA 2012 -Voortrekker "Uitspan" Travellers Inn by dolos | GC3WXRQ | Gauteng, South Africa
74 SS: Lusitania by paddawan | GC2D9WC | Western Cape, South Africa
64 MEGA Suprise by heatherlisa777 | GC5CW9M | Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
64 Little Netherlands TB Hotel by GEO936 | GC1GZ0K | Gauteng, South Africa
62 Table Mountain - Cape Town by spuzva | GC1ABZK | Western Cape, South Africa
57 Table Top Trove by Richter Family | GCMYYZ | Western Cape, South Africa
53 Size does matter by paddawan | GC44XCJ | Western Cape, South Africa
52 Sentinel View by Prof Charles Merry | GC185 | Western Cape, South Africa
50 Sailors' Star by vespax | GCVDHN | Western Cape, South Africa
47 Curse of the FTF # 3 - Gauteng (Guardhouse) by Leon St | GC2EX44 | Gauteng, South Africa
47 Hiddingh Security TB Hotel by Mr Panda | GC2CG7X | Western Cape, South Africa
45 Nailed! by TechnoNut | GC4QNAT | Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
44 Good Hope by MnCo | GC23KTY | Western Cape, South Africa
44 Cape Agulhas by Peter Scholtz | GC77E | Western Cape, South Africa
43 2 Oceans by Littleclan | GC1H9WR | Western Cape, South Africa
41 9Icon Walk - Trek for the Voortrekker Treasure by GoSA | GC3W9N8 | Gauteng, South Africa
41 Da Vinci Code by TeamDJ* | GC3KM3K | Gauteng, South Africa
41 German Letters, Portuguese Stamps by GEO936 | GC2ABAX | Gauteng, South Africa

Edited October 27, 2014 by Carbon Hunter

1.6k · December 10, 2014

Farthest point from a cache in South Africa:

It is surprisingly difficult to calculate the distance between points on the surface of the earth accurately. The great-circle formula is usually used, but this can be wrong by more than 2km for widely spaced points in South Africa. (GSAK uses this technique.) The reason for these errors is that the earth is not a sphere, but an oblate spheroid. Fortunately there is a way to get to sub-meter accuracy, the Vincenty formula (an iterative formula). Currently the point farthest from a cache in South Africa is at S30 09.065 E20 34.853, which is 161.126km from the nearest three caches. (This formula does not take elevation into account, but because the three equi-distant caches all lie at about the same elevation it does not matter.) The centre of this 81561 square kilometer cacheless circle is right next to the R27, about 36km north of Brandvlei in the Northern Cape.

1.6k · December 10, 2014

Active caches per province:

For some unexplained reason the growth in the number of active caches in Gauteng stopped during August:

And lastly the whole of South Africa:

4.2k · December 11, 2014

Active caches per province:

For some unexplained reason the growth in the number of active caches in Gauteng stopped during August:

]

Welcome back Danie - EXCELLENT to see the stats again.

Trust all is well.

Perhaps the Gautengers were so focused on the MEGA in KZN they forgot to place caches?

4.2k · December 11, 2014

Next question - is when is Gauteng going to break through the 3000 cache mark? Can't be far away?

1.6k · December 11, 2014

Next question - is when is Gauteng going to break through the 3000 cache mark? Can't be far away?

The following graph shows just how badly caching has stagnated in Gauteng:

From 30 October to 5 November there were in fact exactly 3000 active caches in Gauteng, but the number has been dropping since then.

December 11, 2014

Re. the 'stagnation' of Gauteng caching, the drop in total caches from the maximum 3,000 to the current 2,990 is a mere 0.33% and so not really significant or (yet) identifiable as a trend.

1.6k · December 11, 2014

Re. the 'stagnation' of Gauteng caching, the drop in total caches from the maximum 3,000 to the current 2,990 is a mere 0.33% and so not really significant or (yet) identifiable as a trend.

If one compares it with the traditional growth (see the following graph), it does become a matter for concern.

Compared to the roughly 20 month trend, (unfortunately I don't have data further back than that), Gauteng currently has more than 100 fewer caches than it should have had. (About -4.5%.) I notice on this graph that a similar thing happened last year; hopefully things will improve during December. What I can't explain is why this only happened in Gauteng - the rest of the country shows steady growth during this period. I'll look at the number of finds next.

December 11, 2014

Re. the 'stagnation' of Gauteng caching, the drop in total caches from the maximum 3,000 to the current 2,990 is a mere 0.33% and so not really significant or (yet) identifiable as a trend.

If one compares it with the traditional growth (see the following graph), it does become a matter for concern.

Compared to the roughly 20 month trend, (unfortunately I don't have data further back than that), Gauteng currently has more than 100 fewer caches than it should have had. (About -4.5%.) I notice on this graph that a similar thing happened last year; hopefully things will improve during December. What I can't explain is why this only happened in Gauteng - the rest of the country shows steady growth during this period. I'll look at the number of finds next.

aaaaah - now I see thanks! The wonder of statistics!

1.6k · December 11, 2014

Monthly finds per province:

(Each bar represents the number of finds logged in this province during a 30 day period.)

It is difficult to draw conclusions here - there has been a continuous decrease from July onwards, but one will have to compare it with data from previous years to see if it is a seasonal effect.

The MEGA in October stands out - about three times the monthly average!

And for the whole of South Africa:

4.2k · December 11, 2014

Danie - any idea how many finds there were in Oct 2012 with the first MEGA for South Africa?

4.2k · December 11, 2014

Also interesting to see that Easter weekend/April seems to be the most popular cache holiday/weekend of the year.

1.6k · December 11, 2014

any idea how many finds there were in Oct 2012 with the first MEGA for South Africa?

17553 finds in South Africa over 30 days (to make it comparable).

2.3k · December 11, 2014

Monthly finds per province:

(Each bar represents the number of finds logged in this province during a 30 day period.)

It is difficult to draw conclusions here - there has been a continuous decrease from July onwards, but one will have to compare it with data from previous years to see if it is a seasonal effect.

The MEGA in October stands out - about three times the monthly average!

And for the whole of South Africa:

I see that North West is no longer a province?

4.2k · December 12, 2014

Heading towards 2000 caches in KZN - watch this space
KZN:          1999
Gauteng:      2956
Western Cape: 2180
Eastern Cape: 1267
Mpumalanga:    736
Free State:    649
North West:    332
Limpopo:       315
Northern Cape: 158

Total:       10592
South Africa recently crossed the 10000 mark for findable active caches - we currently stand on 10070.

I see that North West is no longer a province?

I know the stat is a bit old - but I think you need to get North West out of position 6 to make Danie's stats :anitongue:

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

1.6k · December 12, 2014

For those who believe North West is still a province of South Africa :rolleyes: :

The following graph shows the number of finds per month in North West during the last year:

1.6k · December 12, 2014

Number of cachers active in South Africa, per month:

The following graph really surprised me:

What this graph does NOT show is a significant increase in October, during the MEGA. After yesterday's graph showing the huge increase in finds during the MEGA, I really expected to see considerably more cachers having been active during October. One explanation can be that contrary to expectations, the MEGA did not attract lots of otherwise inactive or foreign cachers, but only the usual crowd who would have been active in any case.

4.2k · December 12, 2014

For those who believe North West is still a province of South Africa :

The following graph shows the number of finds per month in North West during the last year:

North West sleeps over Easter?

1.6k · December 12, 2014

Number of new cachers:

This graph shows the number of first-time cache finders per month in South Africa:

Once again it does not show any significant increase during the MEGA month. In fact, 4 of the 12 months shown had more new cachers than October!

Edited December 12, 2014 by Danie Viljoen

1.6k · December 12, 2014

North West sleeps over Easter?

It looks as if they sleep all the time... <_<

2.3k · December 12, 2014

North West has QUALITY!!!!

1.6k · January 2, 2015

2014 statistics:

(These statistics exclude late logs of course.)

Most African finds:

1.  iPajero:	   1485	finds
2.  AdieA:	   1416	finds
3.  The Huskies:   1083	finds
4.  Voëlhond:	   1013	finds
5.  TechnoNut:	    996	finds
6.  GorNat:	    898	finds
7.  Team Venter:    848	finds
8.  heatherlisa777: 835	finds
9.  Mixs:	    825	finds
10. Spesbona:	    823	finds

Most South African finds:

1.  iPajero:	   1484	finds
2.  AdieA:	   1416	finds
3.  The Huskies:   1078	finds
4.  Voëlhond:	   1012	finds
5.  TechnoNut:	    994	finds
6.  GorNat:	    897	finds
7.  Team Venter:    848	finds
8.  heatherlisa777: 835	finds
9.  Mixs:	    825	finds
10. Spesbona:	    823	finds

1.6k · January 2, 2015

Number of new South African caches:

The rate of increase seems to be flattening.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Danie Viljoen

1.6k · January 2, 2015

Number of active caches in the World and South Africa:

1.6k · January 2, 2015

Most new South African caches published in 2014:

1.  PieterM:	       74 caches
2.  AdieA:	       62 caches
3.  Louwtjie&Vroutjie: 53 caches
4.  TechnoNut:	       51 caches
5.  waco&winnie:       46 caches
6.  SKATTIE@1:	       45 caches
7.  LegoMikey:	       35 caches
8.  Team_Bateleur:     34 caches
9.  Sclanders Clan:    31 caches
10. KINGOSRIC:	       31 caches

1.6k · January 2, 2015

Oldest active South African caches:

To be among the oldest 50% of active South African caches, a cache needs to have been published before 27 Feb 2012 (at least 34 months old)

Oldest 25%: Before 27 Mar 2010 (4.8 years)

Oldest 10%: Before 10 Nov 2007 (7.1 years)

Oldest 5%: Before 13 Aug 2006 (8.4 years)

Oldest 2%: Before 27 Aug 2005 (9.4 years)

Oldest 1%: Before 11 Jul 2004 (10.5 years)

1.6k · January 2, 2015

2014 Finds per day: South Africa:

The day with the most finds was 5 Oct: 3006 finds (MEGA)

The day with the fewest finds was 10 June: 98 finds

The average number of finds per day was 428.

The following graph is a smoothed version of the above. (I replaced the daily finds with the average for the week around each day):

The two big peaks are the MEGA event and the December holidays respectively.

The quietest week was 1 - 7 March.

The busiest week was 3 - 9 Oct. (MEGA)

Edited January 2, 2015 by Danie Viljoen

1.6k · January 2, 2015

Average number of finds per day of the week:

For South Africa, 2014:

2.3k · January 2, 2015

Most new South African caches published in 2014:

1.  PieterM:	       74 caches
2.  AdieA:	       62 caches
3.  Louwtjie&Vroutjie: 53 caches
4.  TechnoNut:	       51 caches
5.  waco&winnie:       46 caches
6.  SKATTIE@1:	       45 caches
7.  LegoMikey:	       35 caches
8.  Team_Bateleur:     34 caches
9.  Sclanders Clan:    31 caches
10. KINGOSRIC:	       31 caches

Danie - thanks for the new stats - they are great. How would this one look by Province?

1.6k · January 3, 2015

Most caches placed in 2014, per province:

Western Cape:

1. PieterM:	      70
2. Louwtjie&Vroutjie: 52
3. SKATTIE@1:	      44
4. Suikerbossies:     24
5. Evolutionaries:    22

Gauteng:

1. AdieA:	      62
2. SpiderFinder:      26
3. SyntaxSA:	      25
4. Leon St:	      23
5. geocacher_coza:    17

KZN:

1. TechnoNut:	      47
2. waco&winnie:	      46
3. LegoMikey:	      35
4. Team_Bateleur:     34
5. KINGOSRIC:	      31

Eastern Cape:

1. erenei:	      28
2. NaviMate:	      27
3. ChrisDen:	      26
4. George c12:	      20
5. iPajero:	      19

Free State:

1. HCXT1:	      27
2. Nicklaas:	       6
3. Team Redelinghuys:  5

North West:

1. cincol:	      20
2. Thrips:	       5
2. Team Tip Top:       5
4. Bekster77:	       4

Mpumalanga:

1. Bouts777:	      17
2. mvubu147:	      15
3. surreptitious007:   9
3. Scooby-Doo101:      9
5. Xpedition.co.za:    6

Limpopo:

1. Bekster77:	       5
2. hennieventer:       4
3. minidinipics:       3
4. Mooiman:	       2
4. Scooby-Doo101:      2

Northern Cape:

1. Karoodogter:	       5
2. iPajero:	       4
3. PieterM:	       3

1.6k · January 3, 2015

Number of active caches in Gauteng:

And the cache drought in Gauteng continues...

1.6k · January 3, 2015

At the end of 2014 there were 11035 active caches in South Africa. Only 429 of the active caches (3.9%) have not been found at least once during the year.

The average number of finds per active cache during 2014 was 13.5 (14.8 in 2013).

1.6k · January 3, 2015

During 2014 a total of 8083 cachers found 156086 caches in South Africa, for an average of 19.3 finds/cacher. (The numbers for 2013 were 5809 cachers, 154402 finds, average of 26.6)

The number of cachers is in other words 39% up, but the total number of finds only increased by 1.1% and the average number of finds/cachers decreased by 27.3%

Of these 8083 cachers, 2078 were "active", in the sense that they found an average of at least 1 cache/month during 2014. (15% more than the 1806 in 2013).

Edited January 3, 2015 by Danie Viljoen

Statistics - bend it anyway you like!

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