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Questions for geocachers around the world


TheEnablers

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We are students in Occupational Therapy in Canada. We are currently writing a project

about geocaching for our coursework. We would like to know if geocaching is a similar

experience universally (ie regardless of your culture or ethnicity, we want to know why

you geocache). We have a couple of questions and would be greatly appreciative if you

were to answer them.

 

1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

 

2) Why do you geocache?

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the

law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc...

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to

Canada.

 

Thank you very much!

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1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

Hungary. - I don't understand the second part. Maybe post-communist ?? or what?

 

2) Why do you geocache?

I don't. But I used to. It was fun.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the

law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc...

Being shot by a hunter. Especially the Italians are dangerous. (But they ususally shoot each other)

However, I'm afraid of dogs. In the outskirts and in rural areas, among the farms these dogs terrify me.

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to

Canada.

We use geocaching.hu where the rules are different. There is a password in each cache and you can log your find only with this password. There is a jury or moderators who decide if your cache can appear on the site. Your listing has to be beautiful and informative with pictures and correct spelling. The cache must be placed at a significant location. (Not a car park.) You can create virtual caches too. There are some mobile caches that you can take with you to another place.

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1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

I live in California, USA. I live in Northern California, so I am not the "beach bum Malibu girl" people see on TV. I identify with rural, farming culture and suburban culture. I was raised in small-town central Ohio, so I'm a little bit of a "red neck". :laughing:

 

2) Why do you geocache?

I enjoy geocaching because it brings me outdoors to places within my community that I never would have known about otherwise. I also enjoy the diverse types of people I meet at events.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the

law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc...

Because of the diverse terrains and climates within the USA, I cannot speak for all of the risks in different regions. Even within my state the climate and terrain varies widely. In my area, there are the "average" risks such as poison ivy, poison oak, ticks, spiders, and snakes. In the more forested regions there may be bears or coyotes, but very rarely. In the urban environment there are risks like muggers, rapists, etc, same as any big city.

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to

Canada.

I've never been to Canada but I think the terrain is different. From what I've heard, much of Canada is forest, and mountainous. In my area, it's pretty flat and rocky, without much treecover. Also, our climate is semi-arid and temperate; we don't get snow and we really only have two seasons: summer and fall. Summers hit temperatures between 80 and 110 degrees F, and winters are generally 50 and above. We don't face many challenges like ice or snow, but heat stroke and sun burn are very real risks. However, I speak only for my area of Northern California-- the rest of the state and country is very different.

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1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

I live in Czech Republic. What culture? European, I guess?

 

2) Why do you geocache?

Geocaching combines many things and activities that I enjoyed earlier - outdoor sports, hiking, travel, history, computers, gadgets... It is also a great family activity.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country?

The main risk (and danger :) ) is that my wife will get really angry when I am late for dinner. And it happens, especially when I am caching without my daughter, i.e. it takes me much longer to find the cache...

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to

Canada.

I've been to Canada still in pre-geocaching times, but I have been caching quite a few times in the USA. So, assuming (naively) that there are some caching similarities between the two North American countries, the main differences are:

- Higher concentration of Czech geocaches

- More mystery, multi and Wherigo caches

- Typically much longer and information rich listings

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1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

Southern California (Malibu beach bums)

We consider our culture to be different from the rest of the world. We are called Southern Californians.

 

2) Why do you geocache?

We love to be outside. It doesn't matter what gets us out there. Since it is mostly city and urban here, we don't hunt for animals. I think this geocaching satisfies that need, as it allows us to "hunt" without killing animals.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the

law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc...

We are always in Summer mode here. The risks are mostly weather and heat related. However, as stated before, we have all types of terrain in just our small part of the state.

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to

Canada.

Here is what you need to know. We DRIVE to all the caches. In Europe, most events are hiking events. They park the car and walk from cache to cache.

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1) What country do you live in? What culture do you consider yourself to be part of?

I live in Hungary. I consider myself as being Budapester, Hungarian, European, Cosmopolitan, Roman Catholic, Christian, Middle-class, Urban, Straight, Rightist, Green, Geographer and Geocacher. You might like to argue whether all of these are cultural issues, anyway, these came into my mind.

 

2) Why do you geocache?

I’m a geographer and like travelling, I like the nature and always on the move, geocaching gives an extra as there’s something you’re going for, there’s goal to reach. It takes me to places to where I won’t go otherwise. I like the idea of being a geocacher and not a tourist. I prefer the nature over television and geocaching is a good excuse to not to stay at home.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc...

Wild boars, ticks, rabid foxes, dogs. TBs getting lost as people who play on geocaching.hu don’t know the difference between them and ordinary trading items. Being shot by hunters, but you may wear a high vis jacket whick looks weird in the woods. National Parks have some restrictions.

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to Canada.

Geocaching is Budapest-centred (as everything else like population, education, railways, etc.) which is prety much in the middle of the country, whereas in Canada stuff is concentrated to a relatively narrow southern strip. More caches found during the summer, when the temperature is 25-30 ºC, and less during winter with its temperature below 0 ºC. Some people use the geocaching.hu website, it is running parallel to geocaching.com, it is a bit like OC, they have rules and moderators, while we have guidelines and reviewers (note the difference), they place virtuals up until now and have locationless caches, passwords are required to log a find. Some play on gc.hu, some on gc.com and some on both sites. I personally don’t see the point of having two sites.

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1) What country do you live in? A) United Arab Emirates What culture do you consider yourself to be part of? A) American

 

2) Why do you geocache? A) It is a great way to get out in the open, and see things you would perhaps have not noticed before. And a good way to get a little more activity and blood flowing.

 

3) What are some of the risks (danger) of geocaching in your country? For example, the

law may forbid you do in some places, terrain, weather conditions etc... A) The weather is a bit of a challenge during the summer (hot) and the winter (rain). Terrain is a little of an issue, traveling with others is a must if headed in the empty areas of the desert.

 

4) Tell us something that might be different about geocaching in your country compared to Canada. A) Hmmm...the heat and the fact that it is a desert.

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