geocaching app for iphone

[uyb]

ok first off. i stumbled upon a geocache while hiking at lake powell now im hooked for life. what an awesome community we have here!

 

i downloaded a free intro to geocaching app on my iphone and i have a few questions.

 

1) after looking up nearby caches on the webpage i found there are many more near my house that the iphone app isnt showing me. is this because the intro app only shows "easy" ones?

 

2) when using the iphone app to find a cache it gets confused, tells me 5 ft south...i walk 5ft. it says 8 ft north... and so on and so on. is this because my iphone gps isnt that accurate or what?

 

3) i have no problem spending the 8 dlrs or whatever on the full version of the iphone app, would just like to know a little more about it? can i search while viewing a map like how on the site it syncs up with googlemaps? do i still need to pay for a premium membership to find some of the "special" ones? what other cool things does the app do?

 

thanks all

 

happy hunting!

 

uyb

[+GeoGeeBee]

 

2) when using the iphone app to find a cache it gets confused, tells me 5 ft south...i walk 5ft. it says 8 ft north... and so on and so on. is this because my iphone gps isnt that accurate or what?

 

 

Welcome!

 

I don't know anything about the iPhone app, so I'll let someone else answer that part. But I can handle this question.

 

It's not specific to your iPhone, that's just the way GPS works. It's basically triangulating your position by measuring how long it takes the signal to reach it from several satellites in orbit over your head. Those satellites are moving constantly, and there is also some stuff going on that distorts their signals... atmoshpheric disturbances, signals bouncing off of walls creating echoes, etc.

 

In short, when your iPhone says the cache is 10 feet away, you ARE at ground zero. As you are approaching the cache site, once the iPhone (or any other GPS receiver) says you are around 15 feet from the cache, it's time to put it away and just start looking for hiding places.

[+Castle Mischief]

when using the iphone app to find a cache it gets confused, tells me 5 ft south...i walk 5ft. it says 8 ft north... and so on and so on. is this because my iphone gps isnt that accurate or what?

 

With civilian model GPS units, 20-30' of deviation is pretty much the norm.

[+Jeepster++]

1) after looking up nearby caches on the webpage i found there are many more near my house that the iphone app isnt showing me. is this because the intro app only shows "easy" ones?

That's correct, the intro version of the app only shows the easier caches. If I remember correctly, it will only show those with a difficulty/Terrain rating of 2/2 or less.

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the GPS and Technology forum.