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Can you hide a geocache indoors?


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I think the current deal is yes, as long as the listing does not promote the business and the geocacher does not need to interact with the employees.

 

Not that it sets any sort of precedence but I am thinking of a cache I found in a hotel lobby. It is a fake book on a mantle above a fireplace in an area of couches and chairs. The listing does not mention the name of the hotel, it just says something like "in the lobby of this building" and you can go in and sign it 24/7 without speaking to the folks at the front desk. Obviously they know it's there and have given explicit permission.

 

If done like this it should avoid commercial cache guidelines. Work with your Reviewer.

Edited by TheAlabamaRambler
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Wouldn't any cache inside a building be promoting somebody go inside that building? If it's a business, isn't it commercial by definition?

That's going to be the Reviewer's judgment call, but to me your logic would include caches at any business, yet obviously there are plenty of caches at/in businesses. I think the commercial guideline is intended to discourage enticements or inducements to do business rather than to prohibit business locations.

 

In the example I gave there is absolutely no reason or suggestion that the cacher would feel the need to do any form of business even though it is located in a commercial building.

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Wouldn't any cache inside a building be promoting somebody go inside that building? If it's a business, isn't it commercial by definition?

That's going to be the Reviewer's judgment call, but to me your logic would include caches at any business, yet obviously there are plenty of caches at/in businesses. I think the commercial guideline is intended to discourage enticements or inducements to do business rather than to prohibit business locations.

 

In the example I gave there is absolutely no reason or suggestion that the cacher would feel the need to do any form of business even though it is located in a commercial building.

 

For the record, I completely agree with you, I just wanted to see who/how it would be justified. Bored at work, it's a slow night. I'd actually like to see some of the guidelines loosened up a bit. I know it won't happen, and I agree with why, but that doesn't change the fact I think they're a bit tight. I like playing by the rules though.

 

If you are going to place a cache inside a building, please make sure everyone who works there knows where and what it is. Just talking to one manager or one employee doesn't mean that the word will get passed to everyone. I see bad things happening when one employee who is left out of the loop gets suspicious about people poking around their establishment...

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The common "inside a building" geocache is inside a library. Caches inside municipal (not for profit buildings) can be published, though a common problem with the design of these caches is lack of gps use.

 

A cache inside any commercial building cannot be published under the current guideline, unless the cache owner FIRST emails to contact@geocaching.com and gets permission:

 

"Commercial caches will not be published on geocaching.com without prior approval from Groundspeak....

The geocache is presumed to be commercial if the finder is required to go inside a business...."

 

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

 

When caches inside businesses come up for review, they are archived, and the cache owner can go to appeals@geocaching.com. Better to start by using the contact email address. I've never had one come back with the okay for publication.

 

Keystone published a cache in a hotel lobby (possibly the cache TAR is referring to), with permission from Groundspeak. A TB hotel in a hotel, in a city that was hosting a Mega event at that time.

Edited by palmetto
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One of the all-time great caches is in a skyscraper. The coords take you to the security desk. When you finally work up the nerve to ask about the cache, they call the Building Engineer, who will take you to the top of the building and let you into the Cache Room. The cache is just about directly above the security desk. It is one of my all-time favorites ... and one of the biggest I've ever found.

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One of the all-time great caches is in a skyscraper. The coords take you to the security desk. When you finally work up the nerve to ask about the cache, they call the Building Engineer, who will take you to the top of the building and let you into the Cache Room. The cache is just about directly above the security desk. It is one of my all-time favorites ... and one of the biggest I've ever found.

 

WOW, sounds really cool. What's the GC#?

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Reviewers sure are different. I have been asked to remove the name "McDonald's" and "Snapple" from a cache pages along with removing a "related web page" link because it linked to a relevant newspaper article. (The newspaper web site has ads.)

 

Yet oddly enough we can have an event inside a restaurant.

 

Yes you can hide a geocache indoors. Have fun with it and just make it a traditional with coords. This will really wreak havoc for some folks! :mad: No. You might not want to do that!

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One of the all-time great caches is in a skyscraper. The coords take you to the security desk. When you finally work up the nerve to ask about the cache, they call the Building Engineer, who will take you to the top of the building and let you into the Cache Room. The cache is just about directly above the security desk. It is one of my all-time favorites ... and one of the biggest I've ever found.

 

WOW, sounds really cool. What's the GC#?

 

+1

 

Especially if its in the Los Angeles area.

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Although I have not yet searched for it, I know that there is a cache "indoors" at a nearby university.

 

There are a large number of long underground tunnels between the campus dorms and the other school buildings. Apparently they are all open to the general public.

 

The cache site describes how the GPS takes you to one of the tunnel entrances, and then after that you need to follow hand written notes (that you need to copy down ahead of time) that will guide you the rest of the way. It says your GPS will not operate underground.

 

Sounds cool!

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Do caches placed indoors need to be listed as an unknown cache type?

 

Could make a good Letterbox Hybrid.

 

FYI, a letterbox requires a stamp. Hopefully a stamp that matches the theme of the box. If you've got that, then yes a letterbox hybrid using coordinates and directions would work. (Some people think a letterbox means you get to the cache using directions instead of coordinates. It actually means that the cache contains a signature stamp that remains with the box i.e. it's not a trade item).

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One of the all-time great caches is in a skyscraper. The coords take you to the security desk. When you finally work up the nerve to ask about the cache, they call the Building Engineer, who will take you to the top of the building and let you into the Cache Room. The cache is just about directly above the security desk. It is one of my all-time favorites ... and one of the biggest I've ever found.

 

WOW, sounds really cool. What's the GC#?

 

+1

 

Especially if its in the Los Angeles area.

 

I presume its the one in New Orleans that gives you the best view of the city that you will find anywhere (View Carre'). It is indeed one of my all time favorites. I sent my sister to it when she was there on a business trip, and she just missed out on being the 1000th finder.

 

During a recent trip, I did one that was in a historical bar in a semi-ghost town in the Nevada desert (Goodsprings) -- bullet holes were still in the walls from its hey-day; a memorial room had some great pictures; and it was the cheapest place to get a beer that we visited. It was my favorite traditional cache of the trip and we had a great time exploring the area. I was only sorry that we could not stay longer but we had to catch a flight later that day. I probably would never have visited the town but for that particular cache. And I certainly would not have gone if the cache had been placed in the nearby Coyote Ranch.

 

While I normally do not see any particular need for a cache inside a building, these two (and a few others) prove that there are exceptions.

Edited by mulvaney
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