Commemorative Brick Cache

[+GopherBaroque]

Hello,

I have a cache idea that has a twist on cache design and did not find guidance in the regular cache FAQ.

 

I am not sure if this will work, so let me ask the question in a generic way to see if it fits Geocaching.

"I have this friend, who knows about a niche cultural non-profit that has a fund-raiser underway. The fund-raise features commemorative bricks that will be placed outdoors on their property. I think, er, my friend thinks, it would be neat to donate a brick as a Geocache. But I haven't figured out a clean way to include a box/log book locally. So it would be kind of like Waymarking, but the challenge wouldn't be just to see the historic building on the grounds, but to find the specific brick.

 

So I am asking you seasoned veterans and guiding lights if this idea is appropriate for the sport. If it is appropriate, I would also appreciate guidance on coordinating getting the cache listed with getting the brick made. Not that it would be awhile before the brick would actually be on display -- the process is to raise the money to repair the building, then place the bricks after the big heavy work trucks have gone away.

 

thanks, GB

[+Chokecherry]

Well I would probably not use it as the cache itself but step 1 in series or something.

[+SpaceGamer]

Having the actual GPS coordinates on the brick would be awesome for the first stage of a multi. You would just want to make really sure the cache is going to be at those coordinates for a long time.

[+Chokecherry]

I was thinking coordinates on the brick too then I worried about the cache not staying at where ever that next location would be... Unless the same non-profit has some public-ish land elsewhere where they would be willing to babysit a cache... It could be a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

Although thinking about commemorative bricks here most agencies that sell them prefer if they're not used for advertising anything in particular and would rather see actual names on the bricks versus businesses/other groups etc.

 

Might want to check with the non-profit on how they feel having one of their bricks used for this. It will likely increased traffic to where ever these bricks are placed which may or may not make them comfortable.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Chokecherry

[+simpjkee]

The idea of coords on the brick won't work. The brick could potentially be there for as long as the building is there. That could be over a hundred years. I would imagine a brick with coords would be out of service as a cache a vast majority of those years. I mean, the oldest geocache on this site is what, 10 years old?

 

I would probably be more sneaky with it. Like make a brick that says

 

In Memory of Katy Brown

We miss and love you.

 

Then on the cache page you say the cache is at N 33 XX.XXX and W 111 YY.YYY. To find XX.XXX and YY.YYY, find Katy Browns dedication brick and count the letters in each word. The first sentence is the N coords and the second sentence is the W coords. Then in this case it would be:

 

N 33 26.245

W 111 24.343

 

Then when you're done with the cache, the brick can stay and no one will know the difference. You would have to work out the details, but something along these lines would work. And if you want to get more geo involved. You could make the person the brick is dedicated to: G. O. Cash or G. O'Cash or something like that to be creative while still following your numbering scheme.

Edited May 9, 2010 by simpjkee

[+ihorn]

You could also have a cipher on the cache page that would tell you where to look, and what each letter corresponds to. such as

 

look for the third letter of the first word. In this case lets say its a T.

 

Then you could make the cipher where T=3

[+simpjkee]

You could also have a cipher on the cache page that would tell you where to look, and what each letter corresponds to. such as

 

look for the third letter of the first word. In this case lets say its a T.

 

Then you could make the cipher where T=3

 

YES! That would work better than the number of letters in the words. If the cache had to be moved, you could just change the cipher code on the cache page.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Katy Brown.

Make the letters numbers A=1 B=2 etc.

Then have a formula on the cache page K-A, Y-O, A+A, etc to make the co-ordinates.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

I like hte idea a lot!

 

You could also have numbers on the brick (say a pair of dates) that inlcude all ten digits:

 

"In memory of Kay Brown"

5/4/78 - 10/23/96

 

The listing then reads:

 

"On Katy Brown's brick are some dates:

 

A/B/CD - EF/GH/IJ

 

AA BC.HGJ North

HG AD.EFG West"

 

It might be fun to be playful on the brick. "In Memory of Geo. Cache", etc.

 

(Edited to make things clearer)

Edited May 10, 2010 by BBWolf+3Pigs

[+WatchDog2020]

I would do a blatant one time number pad. In 20 -50 years someone researching the bricks would find it, discover it's a encrypted message and go crazy trying to figure who placed it, why and where the 'treasure is'.

 

I would'nt repeat ANY of the letters so you could move the cache anyplace and add to the mystery

 

On the brick

EACFH NODIJ BMGKL

 

Straight out number / Letter on the cache page or 'puzzle' to get them.

 

a-2 b-4 c-1 d-0 e-4 f-5 g-0 h-0 i-7 j-6 k-8 l-1 m-8 n-8 o-6

 

 

Gets you the cache location

42. 15.086 076 48. 081

 

One Time Number Pad Link

Edited May 10, 2010 by WatchDog2020

[+briansnat]

I think coords on a brick are a great idea. So what if the cache eventually goes missing? It will be archived, then for the next 50 years people will be wondering what those coordinates are for.

[+Touchstone]

Of course a brick is nice, but if you really want to boggle future generations, you could do something like this

 

Kryptos sculpture at CIA HQ

[Mr.Yuck]

I think coords on a brick are a great idea. So what if the cache eventually goes missing? It will be archived, then for the next 50 years people will be wondering what those coordinates are for.

 

I'll +1 this one, I like the idea.

 

I like your little story about as told from the perspective of "your friend", I got a kick out of it. But that's probably mostly because it reminded me of the guy from Montreal who started a thread about "his friends" long since abandoned Geocache cheating website (which was soon shown to be his).

[+simpjkee]

I think coords on a brick are a great idea. So what if the cache eventually goes missing? It will be archived, then for the next 50 years people will be wondering what those coordinates are for.

I suppose you could just say 'so what' and do it anyway. Of course, if the cache needs to be moved once, the cache wouldn't work anymore. It'd be a bummer to pick a spot and coords for the brick and then the a couple days later someone puts a cache within 528 feet of the spot and you're out of luck unless you get the reviewer to 'reserve' the spot for you while waiting for the brick to be placed.

 

What do you think about the potential of people going to the coords to see what's going on? If people see the coords on the brick and see that they lead to the same general area, they may be curious enough to go look. As long as they are friendlies, that would make for some really cool logs. I picture some people searching for BURIED treasure though. And lets say after 50 years the cache location changes to being private property or something. Would the property owners ask that the brick be removed?

 

You never know what could happen, ya know?

[GermanSailor]

I would also appreciate guidance on coordinating getting the cache listed with getting the brick made. Not that it would be awhile before the brick would actually be on display -- the process is to raise the money to repair the building, then place the bricks after the big heavy work trucks have gone away.

I'm afraid your geocache will be against the guidelines.

 

Not promoting an agenda comes to mind. Even if it is a very noble cause, it usually won't get published. Why don't you register it as a Waymark?

 

GermanSailor

[Mushtang]

I think coords on a brick are a great idea. So what if the cache eventually goes missing? It will be archived, then for the next 50 years people will be wondering what those coordinates are for.

I suppose you could just say 'so what' and do it anyway. Of course, if the cache needs to be moved once, the cache wouldn't work anymore. It'd be a bummer to pick a spot and coords for the brick and then the a couple days later someone puts a cache within 528 feet of the spot and you're out of luck unless you get the reviewer to 'reserve' the spot for you while waiting for the brick to be placed.

 

What do you think about the potential of people going to the coords to see what's going on? If people see the coords on the brick and see that they lead to the same general area, they may be curious enough to go look. As long as they are friendlies, that would make for some really cool logs. I picture some people searching for BURIED treasure though. And lets say after 50 years the cache location changes to being private property or something. Would the property owners ask that the brick be removed?

 

You never know what could happen, ya know?

Make it a 3 stage cache. Have the coordinates on the brick point to a place that will likely be around for a long time (power pole, billboard pole, back wall of a building, etc) and put a different set of coordinates there which will lead to the container. You could change these as needed if your container had to be moved for some reason.

 

I just think seeing the coordinates on a brick would be cool and would make a lot of muggles wonder what it means.

[+simpjkee]

I think coords on a brick are a great idea. So what if the cache eventually goes missing? It will be archived, then for the next 50 years people will be wondering what those coordinates are for.

I suppose you could just say 'so what' and do it anyway. Of course, if the cache needs to be moved once, the cache wouldn't work anymore. It'd be a bummer to pick a spot and coords for the brick and then the a couple days later someone puts a cache within 528 feet of the spot and you're out of luck unless you get the reviewer to 'reserve' the spot for you while waiting for the brick to be placed.

 

What do you think about the potential of people going to the coords to see what's going on? If people see the coords on the brick and see that they lead to the same general area, they may be curious enough to go look. As long as they are friendlies, that would make for some really cool logs. I picture some people searching for BURIED treasure though. And lets say after 50 years the cache location changes to being private property or something. Would the property owners ask that the brick be removed?

 

You never know what could happen, ya know?

Make it a 3 stage cache. Have the coordinates on the brick point to a place that will likely be around for a long time (power pole, billboard pole, back wall of a building, etc) and put a different set of coordinates there which will lead to the container. You could change these as needed if your container had to be moved for some reason.

 

I just think seeing the coordinates on a brick would be cool and would make a lot of muggles wonder what it means.

 

I don't think making it a 3 stage multi addresses any of the situations I presented.

 

Coords on the brick would be cool, muggles know what coords mean though and they'd be able to find the spot pretty easily. If you want to confuse the muggles, I'd go with the straight up cipher on the brick like in post #10

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

 

I'm afraid your geocache will be against the guidelines.

 

Not promoting an agenda comes to mind. Even if it is a very noble cause, it usually won't get published. Why don't you register it as a Waymark?

 

GermanSailor

 

Depends on how the cache listing is written.

 

"At the posted coordinates, look for a brick with the name Katy Brown. On the brick are two dates:

 

AB/CD/EF - MN/OP/QRST.

 

The final can be found at AB MN.EFF North and ST QR.ABD West."

 

No agenda there.

[+niraD]

Another option for handling changes to the final location would be to include an offset in the cache description. The coordinates on the brick may or may not be somewhere interesting, but the cache location might be +0.123' N and -0.234' W from that location. If you need to move the cache, then just change the offset.

[+ConRed]

Another option for handling changes to the final location would be to include an offset in the cache description. The coordinates on the brick may or may not be somewhere interesting, but the cache location might be +0.123' N and -0.234' W from that location. If you need to move the cache, then just change the offset.

 

That's an interesting idea. You could have the coordinates go to some random park in the general area of the cache, then to find the actual cache location, post the offset in the cache description. (Or make geocachers find it somehow...)

[+aviatrix22]

There is already a multi cache here in Seattle that uses a commemorative brick as the waypoint for one of the stages of the multi. It is ingenious and was awarded Cache of the Month a few years ago. When you get to the coordinates, your jaw drops when you look down and see the coordinates.....like, who thought of THAT??! It is by a friend of mine, Markta, and if you are coming to Geowoodstock, it is one of the must do csches in Seattle...it is called "Something NICE on Queen Anne", and the other WPs are also great! Check it out!