Microsoft Tag for Geocaching

[djklmnop]

I just learned about this new Microsoft Tag thingy where you can create your own tags that contains a message or takes you to a website, or to exchange phone numbers.

 

You download the tag application for your phone and the program will activate your phone camera. Point it at any tag and it'll automatically decode it and take you to a site or display the intended message.

 

Think of the possibilities for geocaching. Finding a cache with a tag and scanning it to get the next clue

 

Log in to your microsoft passport account and create your own tags - as many as you want. Print the image and stuff it in your cache

 

http://tags.microsoft.com - completely free!

 

Thoughts?

Edited December 3, 2010 by djklmnop

[+Semper Questio]

I'd like to see geocaching.com take a position on these and put an inclusion/exclusion attribute in the system for them before they got incorporated into caches. I'd sure hate to go after a cache, get out there, then find out that I need a phone that I don't have to complete the cache. An attribute, as with the Chirp, would help me filter those out as long as I don't have the equipment to complete them.

 

Perhaps that's the direction Groundspeak needs to go. Have a more general attribute that says you need some kinda gadget other than a basic GPS to find the cache. That would cover specific phone types, apps, chirps, and whatever else someone comes up with next.

[+user13371]

Been around for a while. So have QR and a few other barcode variants which some folks use for puzzle caches. No big deal, "awesome" might be a bit of a stretch.

Edited December 3, 2010 by lee_rimar

[djklmnop]

So nothing to get excited over? I personally have not been exposed to this concept, but at first sight it seems really intriguing. Would be a great way to reveal hints, etc..

[+user13371]

The thing is... there are LOTS of ways to conceal (and reveal) hints for puzzles. Some even require some ingenuity to devise and unravel. By itself, there's not much novelty or ingenuity in using a barcode. So it's not gonna change the game much.

Edited December 3, 2010 by lee_rimar

[+geojibby]

I'm sure the first tag I scanned would result in the blue screen of death. HAR HAR HAR.....

[+Chrysalides]

Personally, I prefer QR to Microsoft Tag.

 

QR encodes the information in the 2D barcode itself. You scan and decode it, you get the information. That's all there is to it.

 

For Microsoft Tag, when you scan and decode it, you get an ID number. You have to query Microsoft's servers to determine what is the information behind this ID number.

 

Listing the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems is left as an exercise to the reader.

[+ace862]

Check these two caches out: GC1MPEX & GC1MT82

Cheers!

[+Snwjnky]

Personally, I prefer QR to Microsoft Tag

So which QR Code Generator do you like the best? All this is new to me also.

[jbuffethed]

The first time I saw the Microsoft tag I was out with a friend who had a smart phone. He said he already solved it. I just kept staring at the image wondering how the heck he got coords out of it. Now that I have a Droid, its a piece of cake.

[+ArcherACT]

Yes, as has already been pointed out, the Microsoft Tag requires a data connection. While the amount of information in the tag is huge, realistically, it's not really stored in the tag. It's stored in a database. While I don't think that it's a Big Brother rationale to explore what they're being used for, it's really nothing more than a large remote database entry with a pictographic representation for a query.

 

QR codes however have an integral data storage capacity OR linking capability. They're a published standard that can be used without paying royalties to the Nippon Denso corporation. They're accessable to make without specified software on the Internet, OR with readily available free software and can be read with a wide variety of smartphones. Software for which is available for free.

 

With a bit of luck, QR codes will penetrate further into our lifestyles and give real life hyperlinks to information. Not just caches.

[+Chrysalides]

Personally, I prefer QR to Microsoft Tag

So which QR Code Generator do you like the best? All this is new to me also.

Google charts probably has one of the most comprehensive free generator - you can tweak just about anything. Not exactly easy to use, and you could generate invalid QR codes that can't be read by other apps if you're not careful.

 

http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html

 

ZXing has a bare bones one you can use - not much options, but drop dead easy to use.

 

http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/

[+ATXTracker]

I like the idea of using it somehow in a geocache. I've definately seen a puzzle cache before with a bar code puzzle, but I've never bumped into one while out caching. That could be fun, even if I had to come back some other time with the right sort of device.

 

Maybe less cool for me than Chirp. Chirp caches have just passed 100 in the US and over 220 globaly. Watch out Wherigo.

[+SCCS]

I ran into a multi with this type of codeing. Drive all the way out there and find out I need an Iphone app.

Not good if you don't have one of these devices. Owner of caches gave me some puzzles to solve to get to the final. All Iphone apps for geocaching _uck!!!!

[+mark_ca]

I ran into a multi with this type of codeing. Drive all the way out there and find out I need an Iphone app.

Not good if you don't have one of these devices. Owner of caches gave me some puzzles to solve to get to the final. All Iphone apps for geocaching _uck!!!!

 

The app is for Android devices is as well.

 

I know which multi you're talking about and thought it was a pretty cool multi. Still wonder how the heck the first stage got muggled with where it was at.

[+Pudsemand]

Hi. I am new here, but I think you sould take a look at this, it is somthing I dont know what is. GC2HZ6Z

I have to tell you that it is in Denmark.

[+ecanderson]

Looks like a difficult night cache that depends upon a UV light source to reveal the details.

[+Pudsemand]

Yes and no, you can find it in daytime too, but it was the mystery I was thinken about, I have never looked at one like it before.