New Developments in Geocaching

[+Team GeoBlast]

Aloha Everyone,

 

We are putting together a seminar on Geocaching and one of the sections we are debating is "New Developments in Geocaching." Our audience will be 150 Park and Recreation professionals from all over the country.

 

In your opinion, what are significant developments in the past 2-3 years that we could highlight that changed or altered the direction of the game? Examples might be changes in global policy of Groundspeak, upgrades to the website, new services offered, new partnerships with other agencies, hardware releases, new mobile applications but as long it was influential on a broad spectrum of cachers, this could be just about anything.

 

TGB

[+ADTCacheur]

Wherigo and (I believe, but it might have been earlier) the first entirely geocaching based GPS

[+geodarts]

The rise of iphones (and other smartphones) for caching.

 

Groundspeak banned ALRs during this time, but I can't imagine your audience would particularly care about that. What they might be interested in is how various parks and recreation sites have adapted to the game within that time (but maybe that is covered in another topic?). Last year, my state parks system (California) adopted initial geocaching rules. Different agencies have also done so in different ways -- and then there is the south carolina legislation.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Erickson

[GOF and Bacall]

The mainstreaming of geocaching to the point that anyone can walk into REI and buy a Geomate Jr. preloaded with tons of caches.

[knowschad]

Aloha, Mike! LTNS!!

 

One big one that you may not want to mention to your particular audience, is the apparent lifting of the so-called "power trail" guideline that culminated (well... so far, at least) in the infamous or famous, depending on your point of view, "Trail of the Gods" along the California/Nevada border.

[+Prime Suspect]

The adoption of the GPX file standard by GPS manufacturers. This is an acknowledgment that a good portion of their sales are being driven by people buying a GPS specifically for the purpose of geocaching.

[+Team GeoBlast]

Aloha, Mike! LTNS!!

 

One big one that you may not want to mention to your particular audience, is the apparent lifting of the so-called "power trail" guideline that culminated (well... so far, at least) in the infamous or famous, depending on your point of view, "Trail of the Gods" along the California/Nevada border.

 

Hello my friend. A little advance warning.. This gig is in your own backyard.. Minneapolis in October.

[knowschad]

Aloha, Mike! LTNS!!

 

One big one that you may not want to mention to your particular audience, is the apparent lifting of the so-called "power trail" guideline that culminated (well... so far, at least) in the infamous or famous, depending on your point of view, "Trail of the Gods" along the California/Nevada border.

 

Hello my friend. A little advance warning.. This gig is in your own backyard.. Minneapolis in October.

Ohboy. I know people.

[+JL_HSTRE]

The influx of smartphone cachers seems significant. I've see the topic come up a fair amount, particular with concern about the accuracy of some of their hides. But it definitely makes geocaching more accessible. I don't know that I would buy a GPS just for this, but starting was easy with my friend & fellow cacher having an iPhone. It's certainly encouraged me to upgrade to an smartphone myself.

[+Too Tall John]

Ohboy. I know people.

Besides Chad?

[+StarBrand]

The adoption of the GPX file standard by GPS manufacturers. This is an acknowledgment that a good portion of their sales are being driven by people buying a GPS specifically for the purpose of geocaching.

Agreed.

[knowschad]

Ohboy. I know people.

Besides Chad?

Need I know more?

[knowschad]

Oh yeah, one more thing... the bomb squads still haven't managed to figure out our little activity. Not sure how that figures into "New Developments" aside from the fact that is isn't one, but should be.

[Keystone]

The growth of GeoTourism cache series is a significant development in the past three years. Yes, cache-friendly park systems have been hiding their own "official" caches for years. But nowadays, rarely does a month go by without some organization or park system sponsoring a big promotion that's designed to draw attention to the properties they manage. Arkansas, Ohio and Texas are among the many state park systems with system-wide "challenges." Even the National Park Service has sponsored a "geo-trail" in Maryland, highlighting the history of the War of 1812. (A far cry from the effective "Ban" in NPS properties years ago!) Smart civic groups in rural areas of great natural beauty are sponsoring cache series to attract GeoTourists even in the absence of a state park, historic site, etc. The Allegheny GeoTrail in Northwest PA was a pioneering example of that kind of promotion. This year we have seen partnerships between Groundspeak and the Boy Scouts of America for their 100th anniversary, and between Groundspeak and Public Television stations, promoting the PBS series about Dinosaurs.

 

I see this trend of "official" cache series continuing to grow. I think it is a good thing that demonstrates the popular mainstream acceptability of our activity.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

The adoption of the GPX file standard by GPS manufacturers. This is an acknowledgment that a good portion of their sales are being driven by people buying a GPS specifically for the purpose of geocaching.

Agreed.

I have to agree that this adoption of a GPX standard and the fact that GPS manufacturers now develop applications directly for geocaching, and use geocaching as a selling feature in their advertisements, is an indication that geocachers have become a large part of their consumer base. That's change driven by increased participation, however, and doesn't really change how the game is played.

 

I have switched to a Blackberry instead of a dedicated GPS, but that's just an evolution in hardware and not a difference in how the game is played.

 

So, as far as the game itself, I can't see that there has been any major change in the last few years other than continued growth.

 

I still cache pretty much the way I did in 2003... and that's a good thing! It's rare that something springs to life fully formed, but geocaching did, and despite the growth of Groundspeak, geocaching.com, participation and some tweaks to the basic guidelines of play it is still pretty much the game it was when it got started.

[+briansnat]

Even the National Park Service has sponsored a "geo-trail" in Maryland, highlighting the history of the War of 1812. (A far cry from the effective "Ban" in NPS properties years ago!)

 

I think the change in the NPS's attitude toward geocaching is a big development. They are not totally on board yet, but have left the decision in the hands of the local park management. In the past higher ups were known to overrule local managers who allowed the sport.

[+geodarts]

The growth of earthcaches has helped expand geocaching into many NPS areas. It took a year before Yosemite approved their first earthcaches on a trial basis and ended up enthused about the project and asking for more. Earthcaching has been featured on several park sites and has created a real partnership with the parks, the geological society and the caching community.

[+eric-n-sohyun]

The growth of earthcaches has helped expand geocaching into many NPS areas. It took a year before Yosemite approved their first earthcaches on a trial basis and ended up enthused about the project and asking for more. Earthcaching has been featured on several park sites and has created a real partnership with the parks, the geological society and the caching community.

 

My wife and I just did the natural bridge, va earthcache today and will be logging it first thing in the morning! was tons of fun!

 

Earthcaches have created a new interest in a lot of national parks and areas around the country.

 

I think the biggest thing that has helped geocaching is the smartphone's ability to work with gps and a geocaching app. That's how my wife and I got involved and we're seeing more and more people do the same. It truly creates a more accessable way to geocache without the investment in a GPS unit seperately for the fun. We are a little worried, however, at the accuracy of our iphone's GPS system, as it has been spot on at times, and then way off on others. satallite imagery does help, especially since I work with it often for my job

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The adoption of the GPX file standard by GPS manufacturers. This is an acknowledgment that a good portion of their sales are being driven by people buying a GPS specifically for the purpose of geocaching.

 

The G in GPX doesn't stand for Geocaching. GPX is an acronym for GPS Exchange Format and can be used for waypoints and routes that have nothing to do with Geocaching. In fact, the basic GPX schema doesn't include anything in it specific to geocaching. It's the Groundspeak extensions that make it really useful for geocaching as those are the tags which contain all the useful information for a Geocache waypoint (difficulty, terrain, hints, recent logs, etc). Try capturing a waypoint with your GPS then importing into a waypoint manager such as ExpertGPS and you'll find that it doesn't contain any geocache specific information other than possibly the icon used to identify the waypoint.

[+Prime Suspect]

The adoption of the GPX file standard by GPS manufacturers. This is an acknowledgment that a good portion of their sales are being driven by people buying a GPS specifically for the purpose of geocaching.

 

The G in GPX doesn't stand for Geocaching. GPX is an acronym for GPS Exchange Format and can be used for waypoints and routes that have nothing to do with Geocaching. In fact, the basic GPX schema doesn't include anything in it specific to geocaching. It's the Groundspeak extensions that make it really useful for geocaching as those are the tags which contain all the useful information for a Geocache waypoint (difficulty, terrain, hints, recent logs, etc). Try capturing a waypoint with your GPS then importing into a waypoint manager such as ExpertGPS and you'll find that it doesn't contain any geocache specific information other than possibly the icon used to identify the waypoint.

But the GPS manufacturers who create units that include paperless geocaching DO utilize the Groundspeak extensions. The point remains.

[Team Misguided]

Keystone beat me to my post, he's always on top of things!!

 

GeoTourisim is a very real thing. We've seen this happen with many small communities in Oregon hosting geocaching challenges and people will come from miles away, stay in hotels, dine in resturaunts and spend their money locally while they hunt for caches.

 

When you consider mega-events like Geo-Woodstock or the Midwest GeoBash the economic impact of geocachers is signifigant.

[+ArmyFanGeo]

 

Ok although this isn't a New Development (since it hasn't been developed yet obviously)...it should definately be one...

 

If you just have a GPS (no smartphone/iPhone) but want to GeoCache to a spot where you forgot to download some caches, it should instantly pop-up. Like every cache not just like the GeoMate Jr. or whatever that shows you like 7 out of 10 caches...every single one.

 

No more downloading at all for GeoCaching, just simply have Garmin have a system on GPSrs where you can freely upload caches using internet, and even log your visit look at the clue if you need, etc. That would make all those caches I missed from not downloading or looking on the computer for caches in the area I was heading - count.

[+Cache O'Plenty]

Considering your target audience being "Park and Recreation professionals". Some of them may be familiar with "Virtual Caches". In the past, when approached for permission for physical caches they were hesitant but had no problem with virtuals. That solved the issue for them. Now that they are gone from Geocaching.com, they may want to revisit their position.

 

Personally, I'd like to see QUALITY Virtuals return but that's a completely different thread.

[+geodarts]

Considering your target audience being "Park and Recreation professionals". Some of them may be familiar with "Virtual Caches". In the past, when approached for permission for physical caches they were hesitant but had no problem with virtuals. That solved the issue for them. Now that they are gone from Geocaching.com, they may want to revisit their position.

 

Personally, I'd like to see QUALITY Virtuals return but that's a completely different thread.

 

I have seen wilderness areas that refer to Waymarking as part of their policy of restricting caches to virtuals. So between that, earthcaches, and virtuals listed on other sites, the rationale is still out there. It would be interesting to present information about parks that have actually expanded their policy to include traditional geocaching in one form or the other, after previously limiting it to virtuals -- if parks have done this it could be an important change indicating that caching is becoming more accepted and mainstream.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Erickson

[+chasclifton]

It's kind of a downer, but would you want to bring up the recent thread about the "Forest Defender" who thinks that he (I've gone back to thinking that this vandal is male) is defending Washington state parks from the evil geocachers and their "litter"?

[+Team GeoBlast]

Considering your target audience being "Park and Recreation professionals". Some of them may be familiar with "Virtual Caches". In the past, when approached for permission for physical caches they were hesitant but had no problem with virtuals. That solved the issue for them. Now that they are gone from Geocaching.com, they may want to revisit their position.

 

Personally, I'd like to see QUALITY Virtual return but that's a completely different thread.

 

I think it is an excellent idea to revisit the discontinuing of virtual caches when there is a municipality that is struggling with something physical being hidden. I hear a lot of requests for a hybrid of some sort and expanding on the idea of an earth cache to include areas of historical significance. This is the focus of many recreation and parks departments marketing efforts right now.

 

Parks and Recreation departments all over are looking for ways to promote their spaces. They spend millions annually to get people out and appreciate their open spaces. It is sometimes amazing to me how it isn't always a natural connection between parks departments and Geocaching, but it isn't.

[+Team GeoBlast]

It's kind of a downer, but would you want to bring up the recent thread about the "Forest Defender" who thinks that he (I've gone back to thinking that this vandal is male) is defending Washington state parks from the evil geocachers and their "litter"?

 

Not really.