+mrplug Posted September 3, 2002 Share Posted September 3, 2002 I searched all the forums for a discussion on this topic but came up with nada. So here I go. Where do you think this hobby/sport is going in the future? What trends will we see developing in the next few years as technology advances? Here are some of my ideas: 1) Bluetooth enabled caches will notify any gpsr in their vicinity of their proximity. So if a cacher is driving down the road and gets within say a mile or so of any cache, their gpsr will receive some sort of notification. 2) Travel bugs will be equipped with transponders that can be activated if they become lost. The bugs will send out a homing beacon that allows them to be located no matter where they are. They last cacher to grab the bug will receive an email notification that the beacon has been activated. Still, there are some serious privacy issues with this concept. 3) Bluetooth enabled gpsr's will have an option that allows them to ackowledge one another when in proximity. I was leaving a neat cache in Mississippi over the weekend and didn't find out till later that the couple that pulled up right behind me as I was leaving were also there to search for the cache. If I had known they were caching it would have been fun to chat with them. 4) Caches will be equipped with inexpensive passive RF (radio frequency) tags. This will allow a cacher who is in the right area but unable to locate the cache to press a button on his gpsr and receive a signal from the tag attached to the cache which reveals it's precise location. 5) Travel bug tags will be equipped with digital readouts that show their travel goal and how many miles they have traveled. What do you think? Link to comment
+RiverCacher Posted September 3, 2002 Share Posted September 3, 2002 that featured Apple Computer brand electronic post-it notes...they looked like little half-sized palm pilots...you wrote on the screens once, stuck the note to the fridge, and then threw it away when done. I suppose that when bluetooth technology gets cheap enough to put in caches, or when travel bugs have digital displays, something even "better" will be on the horizon to tempt geo-junkies. As for me, as a Revoluntionary War reenactor who portrays a surveyor/military engineer, I still marvel at how a plain ole GPS works. Scott Lynchburg, Virginia Link to comment
Dinoprophet Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 quote:4) Caches will be equipped with inexpensive passive RF (radio frequency) tags. This will allow a cacher who is in the right area but unable to locate the cache to press a button on his gpsr and receive a signal from the tag attached to the cache which reveals it's precise location. That's actually a separate game already, called "fox hunting". There are several posts on it here in various threads. I read an article some time ago about GPS glasses that would display info about buildings and landmarks you're looking at, provide maps, etc. Heads-up GPS, that's what I want. Link to comment
+CYBret Posted September 4, 2002 Share Posted September 4, 2002 In the year 2012, the last year recorded by ancient Mayan civilization, the great GPS satellites will fall to earth like unto wormwood. 400 years later, archaeologist studying a section of the Great Pacific Northwestern rainforest believed to be untouched since the pre-apocalyptic days, stumble across a tribe of proto-mutants that call themselves the "G-O-Cazherzz." This tribe is distinguished by the strange totems they wear around their necks--small hand-sized devices that they stare as they walk in crooked circles, apparently part of some ancient fertility ritual (although it seems to do nothing to attract the opposite sex). In an attempt to embrace this lost civilization, anthropologists quickly assemble a "relic container" which they mark with the bright colors (blue, green, yellow and orange) and hide on the outskirts of the G-O-Cazherzz settlement. The tribe is immediately agitated as they begin jumping and running, "hooting" with excitement while rushing to find the container. The first tribe member there is immediately recognized as the alpha-male and the others pay him homage by presenting him gifts of small beads, bits of string, and molded plastic trinkets in the shape of fried potatoes and red-haired clowns. Upon returning to the encampment, the alpha-male records his hunt in pictographs on animal skins, and makes a mark on the wall of his hut to indicate the number of victories he has achieved. That night he sits at the campfire with the rest of the tribe and tells stories that greatly exaggerate his prowess. Tonight the G-O-Cazherzz great god "Jerzimee" has been satisfied, and tomorrow they will live to hunt again. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Link to comment
+15Tango Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 CYBret--(Off topic)--I found that book in a library years ago and really enjoyed it, but now I'm drawing a blank on the title and author--can you enlighten me? 15T Think Globally, Act Locally Link to comment
BassoonPilot Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 quote:Originally posted by mrplug:I searched all the forums for a discussion on this topic but came up with nada. So here I go. Where do you think this hobby/sport is going in the future? What trends will we see developing in the next few years as technology advances? Here are some of my ideas: Let's see, From your scenario we won't have to: Plan our excursions Walk any distance Search for the cache Experience failure Have any fun? Gee, the only thing missing is the motorized La-Z-Boy. No, I'm wrong ... we won't leave the house at all; we'll just send out our cute, almost-natural looking robotic creature, sit in front of our 120" TV and watch as the robot navigates itself (via all the latest technology described in the original post) directly to the cache. We will then select the "bootynugget of desire" from the convenient pulldown menu, in between bites of hero sandwich and swigs of beer. Nah, I see geocache becoming an escape to the "simple life" of the past ... just a guy/gal with their gps out on the trail, away from it all. Link to comment
BassoonPilot Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 quote:Originally posted by mrplug:I searched all the forums for a discussion on this topic but came up with nada. So here I go. Where do you think this hobby/sport is going in the future? What trends will we see developing in the next few years as technology advances? Here are some of my ideas: Let's see, From your scenario we won't have to: Plan our excursions Walk any distance Search for the cache Experience failure Have any fun? Gee, the only thing missing is the motorized La-Z-Boy. No, I'm wrong ... we won't leave the house at all; we'll just send out our cute, almost-natural looking robotic creature, sit in front of our 120" TV and watch as the robot navigates itself (via all the latest technology described in the original post) directly to the cache. We will then select the "bootynugget of desire" from the convenient pulldown menu, in between bites of hero sandwich and swigs of beer. Nah, I see geocache becoming an escape to the "simple life" of the past ... just a guy/gal with their gps out on the trail, away from it all. Link to comment
+CYBret Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 quote:Originally posted by 15Tango:CYBret--(Off topic)--I found that book in a library years ago and really enjoyed it, but now I'm drawing a blank on the title and author--can you enlighten me? There's a book like that?!? Seriously, I don't know. It was just one of those things that fly out of my head. Probably influenced by a lot of stuff. Why can't I ever have an original thought!?!? Bret "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Link to comment
+CYBret Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 quote:Originally posted by 15Tango:CYBret--(Off topic)--I found that book in a library years ago and really enjoyed it, but now I'm drawing a blank on the title and author--can you enlighten me? There's a book like that?!? Seriously, I don't know. It was just one of those things that fly out of my head. Probably influenced by a lot of stuff. Why can't I ever have an original thought!?!? Bret "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44 Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 Very created Bret - I liked it. I may be dating myself but I remember an original Star Trek episode where some natives find a copy of the American Constitution. I believe they make it into a god and pay homage to it. Anyone remember the exact details? Alan Link to comment
+wcgreen Posted September 6, 2002 Share Posted September 6, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Alan2:Very created Bret - I liked it. I may be dating myself but I remember an original Star Trek episode where some natives find a copy of the American Constitution. I believe they make it into a god and pay homage to it. Anyone remember the exact details? Alan It is "The Omega Glory", in which the Yangs, whose society is based on a tattered copy of the Constitution, battle the Comms. ST also did "A Piece of the Action", in which the planet's culture is based on an Earth book about Chicago mobs during Prohibition. wcgreen -- Wendy Chatley Green wcgreen@eudoramail.com Link to comment
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