Institute of Physics geocaching trails

[Physics.org]

Dear geocachers,

 

I work in the outreach team at the Institute of Physics, based in London. We are a scientific charity devoted to promoting physics. You can read about some of our team's work at http://www.iop.org/activity/outreach/Activ...page_18890.html

 

Last summer we ran two geocaching trails in partnership with Oxford Arboretum. We lent visitors GPS units free of charge and they hunted for caches containing outdoor physics experiments (eg measuring the sun's UV index, estimating the height of a tree or using coloured filters to decode a secret message). These proved successful, attracting around 850 visitors, almost all of them complete novices. See http://www.iopblog.org/iop-develops-hightech-treasure-trail/ for more information on the trails.

 

Whilst we will be running these trails again next year, we would also like to hide some caches in London aimed at a more adult audience. These would possibly be themed around physics related locations in London.

 

In order to draw in the widest possible audience, we'd like it if geocaching novices could use their iphones / other GPS enabled phone to find caches. We recently tried our hand at urban geocaching using a Garmin Geko and a Blackberry, but we found it quite difficult to get a decent signal and struggled a bit to find caches. Would you say it geocaching in London is realistic for complete novices? The last thing we want is for people to get frustrated and give up. Do you have any tips for optimising our trail to suit phone users?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Alex Cheung

 

Outreach Officer

alex.cheung@iop.org

www.physics.org

[+Team Noodles]

stay away from tall buildings and try to base everything around more open areas (there are plenty of those) and you should be fine. inner city caching can be very very annoying.

[+ChaceGuild]

As a newbie myself and GPS-enabled-phone user to boot, here's a couple of things I can suggest:

1) Tell newbies they can *only expect* the GPS to direct them to the general area of a cache - when it says "You've arrived" they then have approx. 20-40ft square to search.

 

2) Once in the general area of the cache, put the phone away! Looking at it constantly saying "It says it's HERE!" is distracting, and will cause immediate stress. I know. I've done it

 

3) It's a good idea, if planting caches for newbies, to leave them somewhere hidden (obviously) but not too much so. Obvious hiding places would be best, e.g. if there's a single large stone, place it under that

 

4) If geocaching in a high-traffic area, give them ALL hi-vis vests. This not only makes it safer for them to be identified if someone goes missing, but provides some "urban camouflage". A bunch of people walking about in hi-vis, carrying clipboards and devices, are just going to look like work crews. Nobody will mind that they're looking in "weird" places.

 

Hope that's of help, and best of luck with your event!

[+Guanajuato]

A friend helped out in the Lab in a Lorry a couple of years back (and is now a physics teacher). In my youth I did quite a lot of lackey work for the IOP journal, putting stuff into LaTeX for them (oooerrr Phnarrrr).

 

Does the IOP have a nice big HQ in London like the engineering institutions? If so, you could quite easily hide a really big cache just outside your doorway. A chained-up Wheelie Bin for example? Maybe with a combination padlock on, just to stop it being USED as a wheelie bin! The combination could be got from clues in the local area or maybe from physics-based questions. Just a thought anyway.

With a big cache you could put some EXCELLENT experiments in there.

 

One thing to bear in mind is that Groundspeak have a bit of a thing about promoting charities and other such like without their express permission. I'd suggest you get in touch with 'The Powers That Be' at Groundspeak HQ - If you get in touch with Deceangi, he might be able to give you a specific person to deal with.

 

Being a bit of a techy geek hobby I'm sure they'd be up for letting you do it, as long as your not soliciting payments of any kind.

[+MartyBartfast]

Make sure you get the best co-ords you can when placing, take several readings with a good quality GPS on a couple of different days if possible then check your position on Google Maps.

 

Your cachers can then use google maps on their phone to pinpoint the co-ords. There's a particularly tricky cache in Canary Wharf where the GPS is all but useless, but google maps pinpoints it precisely.

 

Include a good (encrypted) hint.

 

Also, if during placing you find that the GPS accuracy is dodgy then say so on the web page.

[+The Blorenges]

I'll just mention this now, to avoid any later disappointments...

 

When considering possible locations for your cache placements please remember that physical geocache containers have been banned from the London Royal Parks.

 

MrsB

[+Teuchters]

Alex

I also work for the IoP (as a Teacher Network Coordinator) and have run events for school pupils.

You are welcome to get in touch with me to discuss your plans.

Nick

[Physics.org]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the tips, and nice to see that a few of you are already involved with the IOP!

 

The impression I get is that the trail is possible, but that we will have to think very carefully about the locations and supply plenty of clues for back up. Shame about Royal Parks banning caches. But outside the IOP building is a good idea.

 

Googlemaps is an interesting way of doing phone based geocaching since you don't even necessarily need a gps enabled phone to use it. But when I went geocaching with my team, we used it and it seemed very inaccurate at times (not because of GPS signal - the location of coordinates on the map was just very different to what the garmin GPS was telling us!). Does anyone know any more about this?

 

We had some trouble getting our caches listed on the site last year as they were a bit unusual - but thisyear will get talking to the admin people much earlier. We won't be charging anything / promoting anything commercial so hopefully there won't be a problem.

 

Alex

[+The Blorenges]

Re the google maps and Garmin being different. One reason could be the map datum being used. What settings did you have the Garmin GPS on (the coordinate format and map datum)? It should be Lat and Long in Degrees and Decimal minutes like this N51°12.711 W3°58.668 on the WGS84 map datum. If you were using it on OS grid (WGS36) then you may see a difference. Worse is if you have the GPS on OSGB but the WGS84 map datum as that throws you out by about 100 meters.

 

You also need to be aware of cache saturation and proximity. London is getting very heavily cached now so the reviewers are quite strict that the proximity guideline is met to avoid having just too many caches there. The proximity applies to the cache itself and any physical stages of the cache. Check the guidelines.

 

Contact the local reviewer early with your ideas so there is time to get any problems ironed out.

 

Chris (MrB)

[+ChaceGuild]

Just a note on GoogleMaps - I don't use it for coordinates How I use it (if a little longwinded), is to compare the given visual on the individual cache page of Geocaching.com, then plop a point on GoogleMaps on my phone!

 

This is quite often far better than relying on GPS coords alone, and with GoogleMaps having the "Find My Location" feature, it will guide you quite accurately to the point you placed.

 

Best of luck with this

[markandlynn]

You are aware that this site fuzzes google map locations of the caches to try and make sure no one uses them to find geo caches ? other than that its usually a datum issue or refresh issue (sat nav in driving maode rather than walking mode for example) if two sets of equipment differ that wildly

[Physics.org]

Hi all and thanks again for your help.

 

We are ready to hide a few caches now but just wanted to check a couple of things.

 

It says in the cache guidelines that caches with an agenda are not allowed - even if this is a charitable agenda (http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#solicit ).

 

Our intention is to hide 3 or 4 micro caches in London to mark the locations of interesting discoveries in physics. We would like to link back to out website (www.physics.org) from the cache description and possibly use our logo. We are not trying to sell anything or ask for donations - simply promote an awareness of physics.

 

Do you think this falls foul of guidelines? And who at Groundspeak could I discuss this with?

 

Thanks

Alex

[+Happy Humphrey]

Do you think this falls foul of guidelines? And who at Groundspeak could I discuss this with?

AFAIK the guidelines in this area are unchanged from last year, so if you succeeded then you should be OK this time too. But any of the reviewers (e.g. Deceangi or Graculus) will be able to advise.

[+SkiBums (UK)]

i don;t think they suceeded last year though as they didn't actually list their caches then.

 

Speak to a local reviewer or email GS directly, don't think you will be able to use your logo but you might be able to link to the website.

[+The Wombles]

The reviewer for London is The Bee Keeper and will help advise you.

[+sTeamTraen]

It says in the cache guidelines that caches with an agenda are not allowed - even if this is a charitable agenda (http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#solicit ).

 

Our intention is to hide 3 or 4 micro caches in London to mark the locations of interesting discoveries in physics. We would like to link back to out website (www.physics.org) from the cache description and possibly use our logo. We are not trying to sell anything or ask for donations - simply promote an awareness of physics.

 

Do you think this falls foul of guidelines? And who at Groundspeak could I discuss this with?

Do it subversively.

 

I'm guessing that a link back to www.physics.org in the "Related Web Page" field should be OK. A couple of short paragraphs about some cool physics phenomenon, possibly peripherally related to the cache (eg, "This cache is located outside the XYZ lab, when Prof. Bigboffin discovered that quasineutrinos taste like chocolate", followed by something about how quasineutrinos are now used in everything from iPods to Muller Corner yoghurt) should also be fine. Putting your logo on the cache page might be borderline, even if you're a non-profit - but what actual good does your logo do in these circumstances anyway?

 

What the reviewer probably won't like is stuff like "This case has been placed by the Institute of Physics. We're here to promote the awareness of physics in the UK. Please visit our Web site and read about how cool physics is." That's what you want to happen, of course, but substitute "Toyota" or "Church of Scientology" for "Physics" and you can see where the problems might start.

 

The bottom line is that the cache itself (the box, its placement, the "way it is") can promote physics in many ways. For example, you could place a box shaped like a time machine or you could base a puzzle to find the coordinates on Maxwell's equations. It's more likely to be the words and pictures in the cache listing where you might fall foul of the guidelines in this respect.

Edited June 24, 2010 by sTeamTraen

[+needaxeo]

It says in the cache guidelines that caches with an agenda are not allowed - even if this is a charitable agenda (http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#solicit ).

 

Our intention is to hide 3 or 4 micro caches in London to mark the locations of interesting discoveries in physics. We would like to link back to out website (www.physics.org) from the cache description and possibly use our logo. We are not trying to sell anything or ask for donations - simply promote an awareness of physics.

 

Do you think this falls foul of guidelines? And who at Groundspeak could I discuss this with?

 

Thanks

Alex

 

Science isn't an agenda imo. I guess it's just for things like, for example, years ago folk did stuff like carrying signs with "free Nelson Mandela" on them but when you asked them for one, they'd be all "One what? We're not giving anything away"

 

Just make sure one cache is called "Higgs boson" then we can say "Yeah I found higgs boson the other day. How? I just used a GPSr." Make it a bit heavier than the others.

 

If "physics related locations" means we'll end up at the at the Royal Observatory where Doctor Who confidential was the other day I'm sure my son will drag me along.

 

I did add here that would presumably also give us a chance to see a longitude of all zeros on the GPS, but google tells me it won't Ah well.

 

As you've suggested yourself, if you did some kind of multi-cache with clues you probably wouldn't need a GPSr per se, so poor reception wouldn't be a huge issue.

Edited June 24, 2010 by needaxeo

[Physics.org]

Hi all,

 

Sorry thought i had replied but apparently my message didn't get entered!

 

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

I agree sTeamTraen that using our logo and name isn't necessary - we are trying to promote physics as a whole more than just the Institute of Physics. But if we can link to physics.org so interested people can find out more that would definitely be a good thing.

 

Nice idea needaxeo about the Higgs boson! Hopefully if our first caches are successful we will design a trail, and that could be the end point.

 

And f any of you are in Oxford be sure to try out our trails at the Arboretum (see http://www.physics.org/article-activity.asp?id=71). We haven't been able to get them listed on geocaching.com unfortunately, but last summer they introduced over 800 novices to geocaching.

 

Thanks again,

Alex

[Physics.org]

Our first cache has been hidden!

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...93-0dd9d316ee95