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Questions that only a newbie should have....


Team Eccentric

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But I've just never asked them. I actually GeoCache a lot, I just forget to log them because my GPS didn't have a feature to mark them as found (yes, I have one THAT old and it only recently died). Not really important questions, mind you, just want to know (inquiring minds and all that)

 

Is there a reason why people refer to GPS units as GPSr now? We always called them just a plain GPS (back in the day). I'm feeling left out of the loop.

 

Why is it that so many EarthCaches require a picture of a GPSr? (For example, do they hate iphones and will give you less credit for one? I know I do... :rolleyes: )

 

Can I buy the EarthCache geocoins even if I haven't reached that level, or are they something you have to earn first? (I might get there eventually, but right now I just think they are cool)

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Team Eccentric
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...snip..

Is there a reason why people refer to GPS units as GPSr now? We always called them just a plain GPS (back in the day). I'm feeling left out of the loop.

...snip...

 

Thanks in advance.

 

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. Only the US government has a GPS although the Chinese and the Europeans are working on them too.

 

Most cachers have a radio receiver that picks up the signals from the GPS and works out where they are—a GPS receiver or GPSr for short.

 

Sometimes I use GPSr and sometimes I just use GPS, it depends on how pedantic I'm feeling.

 

Hands up those who say "DVD disc" or "CD disc"?

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1. As Huntleigh said it, GPSr is, and always has been, the correct terminology. But I admit to being lazy and almost always abbreviating it as GPS. (It's not so much that extra letter, it's changing from caps to lower case that does me in.)

 

2. As of January 1st, pictures of your GPS® at an Earthcache are strictly optional. New Earthcaches will not have this requirement, and older Earthcaches should be modified to make them optional.

 

3. Don't know about the geocoins.

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I know others have already answered your question, but I couldn't resist throwing in my 2 cents.

 

A GPS, or Global Positioning System, really has 3 components to it: the Space Segment (satellites), the Control Segment (control stations, ground antennas, and monitoring stations), and the User Segment (the GPS receivers, or GPSr).

 

Now with that said, it's always been a pet peeve of mine when people say GPSr. I know it's technically more correct, but it's pretty obvious when I talk about my GPS, I'm not talking about the system as a whole. You would be just as correct to continue calling it your GPS unit though.

 

Funny story somewhat related to that. I worked in an office where I trained people in the use of mapping and recreational grade GPS units. I had a call one day from one of our remote offices asking if I could send up another satellite. "Umm, excuse me?" What they really wanted was an extra external antenna because they had broken the cable on theirs. I just thought it was kind of funny. "Sure, let me just call Lockheed Martin and see if they have a spare one kicking around somewhere and I'll launch it into space for you".

 

As for the photo of your GPS, you don't have to worry about that any more as the new guidelines have made photos optional. Originally people asked for photos of the cacher to be posted. Then the rules were changed so that you couldn't require people to show their faces in the photographs, so most photo requests became "a picture of you and/or your GPS". Of course, that's not easy to do if your GPS is also your camera. So that is why you see that requirement often, but people should be changing their listings to comply with the most recent guidelines, which is to make all photo requirements optional.

 

So did you get yourself a fancy new GPS unit now that the old one finally died?

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Why is it that so many EarthCaches require a picture of a GPSr? (For example, do they hate iphones and will give you less credit for one? I know I do... :rolleyes: )

 

The reason for these requirements is to show proof that a visitor went to the site intentionally to do the the Earthcache and aren't just digging out an old vacation picture in order to log it.

 

For various reasons, Earthcache owners can no longer ask for this sort of picture (you may, of course, provide one if you wish).

 

The origins of this sort of requirement pre-date the proliferation of GPS-enabled phones. Having your camera and GPSr in one device does make things difficult.

 

I don't see why there's any reason to hate on iPhones and similar devices. For many people it's simply more convenient and affordable to have everything in one device, and there are lots of people who only geocache casually and don't need to drop a wad of cache on a dedicated device. They're also great for paperless caching. I'm not crazy about the idea of dropping an iPhone in the swamp, but we all cache our way.

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Thank you all for your replies.

 

I knew that the "r" stood for receiver, but I was wondering if the rest of the GeoCaching community knew of people who cache with something different, like a navigator and it was called something else (like, not the best thing to use). Again, from the way old "GeoCaching with a GPS? Of course that means receiver. Why use extra letters or words to specify what everyone knows." school of thinking, I thought I should make sure. And now I know that GPSr is just more specific. I never say DVD disc or CD disc, so you see where I fit. I do say Licorice Pizza when referring to LPs, though. Makes my kids laugh.

 

Junglehair, I got a GPSMAP 60cs for Christmas. It looks kind of like my old one (enough so I won't get confused) and has the ability to mark that I found (or didn't find) a cache, and it will get a signal inside my house (so I can find my way to the bathroom at night). I also have an eTrex Legend that was a gift a few months back (it was thoughtful, but not quite what I was looking for). I let my kids use it so they can search, too. (If it falls in a puddle, who cares? It's pretty tough, though not so accurate)

 

narcissa,

re: the iphone. It was a joke about giving fewer points to people depending on what they cache with. (Note the rolly eyeballs.) I have a problem with a lot of any phone USERS (iphone is commonly known, so I used that) because I consider it rude to be talking on the phone instead of checking out in line, or talking to the person who is physically with you, or chatting about your problems with your alcoholic husband, druggie son, etc. in Target in an extremely loud voice (because someone cannot hear how loud they are talking with that thing plugged in their ear), but not really the phones. Although I will admit, I'm an Android fan and might give fewer points to an iphone user, but that is just me. I have a weird sense of humor, I hope you can roll with it, no offense intended.

 

I also understood the requirement for the Photo (and the reason why some people would have a problem with posting one), but didn't understand how showing a GPSr proved you were there. Couldn't it have been great Uncle Ernie's hand with the GPSr? And if you were in the photo, why need the GPSr showing? I can Photoshop a picture of myself WITH a GPSr as easily as one without. (although what the point of that is escapes me, but I don't want anyone to address that, please. These were real questions, and I don't want this going south)

 

Thank you very much for all of your information. I really appreciate it.

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Can I buy the EarthCache geocoins even if I haven't reached that level, or are they something you have to earn first? (I might get there eventually, but right now I just think they are cool)

 

I believe anyone can buy the coins, although I thought there were sold out quite some time ago?

 

The Groundspeak store has this one:

 

Official Earthcache Geocoin

I got one of those from Groundspeak, I use it to dip in my EC finds to keep record.

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