+UKCacheMag Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) I have recently been in discussion with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust about placing caching in there site. They are about to embark on some projects I may be getting involved with allong the SOwe Valley. Anyhow - they have asked I shhare this with the caching community. Hi Adam, Great to talk to you. In case I don’t make it tomorrow evening can you please pass on the following to the group… We are beginning to place caches on our reserves. Our geocache username is ‘warwickshirewildlife’ so any you see posted by this will be ‘official’ Trust caches. Some caches will have treasure in and some are likely to be virtual, requiring a photo to be taken and uploaded as proof of a find. With regards to other placing caches on our reserves we would like to ask everyone to please follow geocaching rules and ask us first. Whilst we may say yes, there is likely to be the odd condition such as ‘must be next to the footpath’ and it’s possible that there may be areas on the reserves that are completely out of bounds. Also, we don’t own all our reserves so we may have to refer to contracts and speak to the landowner ourselves about locating any caches. The first cache going out will ask people to leave their postcode. This is partly due to the fact that it is going out as part of the Sowe Valley Project which is an Access to Nature funded project. Postcodes of those who visit the cache can help us with the monitoring of the project and supports our target figures. Please, please can folk leave their postcodes when they find it! Also, if future Trust caches ask for postcodes, then it will probably be for a similar reason… The Sowe Valley Project is a three year project running until August 2012. It’s funded mainly by Access to Nature which is Big Lottery money administered by Natural Engand. The idea of the project is to get folk out and about into the green space along the River Sowe in Coventry. We’re running a mixture of activities including volunteer days, kids activities, training sessions, community events and healthy walks. If it’s ok with you, I’d like to send you the next volunteer programme to circulate for everyone to see. If anyone would like more information on the project and things we’re getting up to, please don’t hesitate to contact me – details below. With reference to the idea of the monthly meetings/gatherings, if I don’t make it tomorrow evening, I’m sure I could make another one at a later date. Also, after talking to a couple of colleagues, it’s possible that we may have an idea for a geocache event that could tie into one of your gatherings. Let me see how the idea progresses and I’ll get back to you… Cheers Lucy Lucy Hawker Sowe Valley Training & Education Officer Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Brandon Marsh Nature Centre Brandon Lane Coventry CV3 3GW Tel: 024 7630 2912 Mobile: 07818 579302 Email: lucy.hawker@wkwt.org.uk Web: www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk Edited April 4, 2011 by geohatter Quote Link to comment
+Graculus Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 That is good news. An agreement to go in the GAGB Landowner Database would be very useful. It would also be very useful to have a map of the reserves so people can see exactly where they are located. The MAGIC Map doesn't always show such reserves. I've managed to either 'hand draw' such maps or obtained digital mapping from the organisation (see the Hampshire and IoW Wildlife Trust entry in the database - link at the bottom to Google Maps. These maps also very useful for us reviewers when checking a new cache as we can see whether it is or isn't in a reserve. Would you be able to ask the reserve management if such digital maps are available? Chris Graculus Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk Geocaching.com Knowledge Books Quote Link to comment
+The Patrician Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Are the requirements to take photos and leave postcodes not contrary to Groundspeak's rules for normal caches? I thought the only requirement was to sign the log. Quote Link to comment
+SXParx Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 also thought virtuals were no longer approved - or have I missed a recent rule amendment? Quote Link to comment
+The Blorenges Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Are the requirements to take photos and leave postcodes not contrary to Groundspeak's rules for normal caches? I thought the only requirement was to sign the log. Correct. But I think it would be fine to put a note on the logbook with a polite request that Finders add their postcode. also thought virtuals were no longer approved - or have I missed a recent rule amendment? Correct. But they're coming back soon (in May, apparently) in some format. Cue that row of people cheering which I used here. (Maybe) MrsB Quote Link to comment
+The Patrician Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) If the OP, Mr DivingDJ, is in contact with them it may be worth pointing them here: http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx before they spend a lot of time and effort setting a series of caches that ain't going to be approved on this site (and if they're published on any other site I can't somehow see the crowds pouring in). Edited April 1, 2011 by The Patrician Quote Link to comment
+Morton Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Without wanting to pour cold water on what's obviously an extremely positive development, I do wonder whether they've entirely thought through the thing about the postcodes. Postcodes aren't highly sensitive information, but they're still something an organization would be expected to take reasonable care over, at least when they can be matched back to individuals. The issue I see is that anyone visiting the cache could swipe a copy of the postcodes - and would most likely be able to reconcile that with gc.com user names, even if the list of postcodes is separate from the logbook. Again, I'm not suggesting that's the worst thing in the world. But it bothers me slightly; apart from anything else, logs on gc.com are a good way of knowing when I'm not at home. I can see the whole thing creating a bit of bad blood - with one side resenting even being asked to leave their postcode, and the other resenting the ungrateful visitors who won't comply with what (to their minds) is a very modest request. In contrast, if for example there were cards in the cache to fill in and mail back, I'd have no problem with that at all. The response rate would obviously be lower, but the data would be secure. Or perhaps collecting just the first part of the postcode (EH9 in my case) would be enough? That covers thousands of people, so it's a much less personal piece of data. I don't want to make trouble, but perhaps it would be possible to pass this feedback on? Quote Link to comment
+Louis Lovers Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) For the record, I'd have no issue leaving my post code. I do take offence at green text though, bloody difficult to read. Edited April 1, 2011 by Louis Lovers Quote Link to comment
+NickandAliandEliza Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 ........ Or perhaps collecting just the first part of the postcode (EH9 in my case) would be enough? That covers thousands of people, so it's a much less personal piece of data.......... I wouldn't put my full post code in a cache. I'd guess that the first part should be fine for their purposes and I wouldn't have a problem with this. Quote Link to comment
+HazelS Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Yeah, I agree... I wouldn't leave my full postcode in a cache or give it to any organisation I don't know much about etc... I'd be more than happy to give them the CH62 bit, but not the rest. I DO think they need to look at the cache guidelines though - imagine if a newbie does one of theirs that MIGHT not be fully compliant, and then set their own cache in the same vain... we've seen it happen with micros... newbies just do a handful of micros and then spawn a load of toshy micros in laybys... Just a thought.... Quote Link to comment
+bones1 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 what a great idea and lots of work to get them interested in geocaching, ever since the 80s when we were told "not to talk to strangers" security and identification has gone nuts, our post code before we have ever visit is HP38SJ patandjeff=bones1. Quote Link to comment
+UKCacheMag Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Sorry about the green - i have copied and pasted below and asked a mod to try and help out Hi Adam, Great to talk to you. In case I don’t make it tomorrow evening can you please pass on the following to the group… We are beginning to place caches on our reserves. Our geocache username is ‘warwickshirewildlife’ so any you see posted by this will be ‘official’ Trust caches. Some caches will have treasure in and some are likely to be virtual, requiring a photo to be taken and uploaded as proof of a find. With regards to other placing caches on our reserves we would like to ask everyone to please follow geocaching rules and ask us first. Whilst we may say yes, there is likely to be the odd condition such as ‘must be next to the footpath’ and it’s possible that there may be areas on the reserves that are completely out of bounds. Also, we don’t own all our reserves so we may have to refer to contracts and speak to the landowner ourselves about locating any caches. The first cache going out will ask people to leave their postcode. This is partly due to the fact that it is going out as part of the Sowe Valley Project which is an Access to Nature funded project. Postcodes of those who visit the cache can help us with the monitoring of the project and supports our target figures. Please, please can folk leave their postcodes when they find it! Also, if future Trust caches ask for postcodes, then it will probably be for a similar reason… The Sowe Valley Project is a three year project running until August 2012. It’s funded mainly by Access to Nature which is Big Lottery money administered by Natural Engand. The idea of the project is to get folk out and about into the green space along the River Sowe in Coventry. We’re running a mixture of activities including volunteer days, kids activities, training sessions, community events and healthy walks. If it’s ok with you, I’d like to send you the next volunteer programme to circulate for everyone to see. If anyone would like more information on the project and things we’re getting up to, please don’t hesitate to contact me – details below. With reference to the idea of the monthly meetings/gatherings, if I don’t make it tomorrow evening, I’m sure I could make another one at a later date. Also, after talking to a couple of colleagues, it’s possible that we may have an idea for a geocache event that could tie into one of your gatherings. Let me see how the idea progresses and I’ll get back to you… Cheers Lucy Lucy Hawker Sowe Valley Training & Education Officer Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Brandon Marsh Nature Centre Brandon Lane Coventry CV3 3GW Tel: 024 7630 2912 Mobile: 07818 579302 Email: lucy.hawker@wkwt.org.uk Web: www.warwickshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk Quote Link to comment
+Happy Humphrey Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 I would probably not give a postcode either; not because of some security concern but because it's not really in the spirit of geocaching (IMHO). I prefer to get away from surveys, forms and other bureaucracy and just enjoy finding odd containers that people have stashed in a nicely amateurish fashion. I know it would only take a minute but I'd prefer to discourage it. Signing the log is fine, but that's simply part of the game. All that Warwickshire Wildlife have to do is check the profiles of everyone that logs online and they'll get the required info anyway. What I mean is that people either give their home location, or you can deduce it from where they've placed caches (or where their caching is centred on). Quite a bit more work, I know, but if you want information you have to expect to work for it. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 >snipped< All that Warwickshire Wildlife have to do is check the profiles of everyone that logs online and they'll get the required info anyway. If they can't guess where I'm from, from reading the log book... Quote Link to comment
+Delta68 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Geocaching used to be 'cool' 'Official' Geocaches set by public bodies are just naff! Mark Quote Link to comment
+Louis Lovers Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Geocaching used to be 'cool' 'Official' Geocaches set by public bodies are just naff! Mark If it were Tescos setting the cache I'd agree, but if it's some kind of "green" agency looking to find a way to get the kids more interested and aware then I think a little give-and-take with them is perfectly reasonable. Shame on you! Oh, and: "geocaching" and "cool" don't really go; we're a bunch of geeks, deal with it. Quote Link to comment
+alexsim2004 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Its nice to see a local organisation that is embracing geocaching, rather than shunning it. And I think the postcode requirement might be ok if it was just the first part as someone suggested earlier, I wouldnt want to leave the whole part next to my username though. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.