Earthcache type

[+terratin]

I was just wondering why earthcaches became a seperate geocache type.

 

I know it's different from Virtuals in the sense of the educational part (though there are a number of virtual -and other- caches with educational content) and the USGS involvement, but why geology related caches as a seperate type and not f.i. archaeology/history?

 

Mr. Terratin

[+GEO WALKER]

I was just wondering why earthcaches became a seperate geocache type.

 

I know it's different from Virtuals in the sense of the educational part (though there are a number of virtual -and other- caches with educational content) and the USGS involvement, but why geology related caches as a seperate type and not f.i. archaeology/history?

 

Mr. Terratin

My guess would be the element of Cartography is far stronger in geology than say archeology. As an older Geologist, I remember doing ALL mapping by hand. With the introduction of Geographical Information Systems a.k.a. GIS, cartography and be done and edited in a matter of days, minutes and seconds rather than months & weeks. GPS is a fantastic means of folding in field data, and changes to that data, into a GIS. The USGS has converted a good bit of their data to an electronic format and GSA being a professional organization with many of its members using this type of informational format it just seems a natural fit.

My interest in Geocaching as well as Earthcaching is a direct result due to being a professional w/a background in GIS.

Of course this is what I’m seeing… but then again I may be wrong????

[+Von-Horst]

...why geology related caches as a seperate type and not f.i. archaeology/history?

 

The EarthCache program is run by the Geologcal Society of America and I guess that they're keener on geology than anything else.....

 

If a reputable organisation were to approach Groundspeak and offer to coordinate (i.e. set up and pay for!) a globally inclusive educational caching program related to historical sites then I'm sure we'd soon be surrounded by historicaches!

[+Touchstone]

It should also be pointed out that the GSA has been a great advocate for Geocaching, working with a variety of institutions that manage our Public Lands.

 

If some similarly inclined organization were to be a champion for Geoaching, I'm pretty sure Groundspeak would be all ears

[Narnian Rockhound]

Archeology, although popular from Indiana Jones etc., is really not a very large field compared to geology or history. I also think it would be extremely tough for the average cacher to come up with good archeology based locations.

 

History sites, however, sound really cool and possible. Hope that someday comes to be! So long as they were well managed (and I'm sure some professional organization would need to be involved, like GSA for ECs) I would think there would be some really great possibilities out there.