+UncleJimbo Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I searched around the site and forums for an answer, but could not find one. I am trying to increase the radius from home for which I will receive instant notifications (for event caches). I can't seem to get it to go higher than 50 miles (in fact, anything 50 miles or greater gets set to 49.7 miles). Is there an unwritten limit? Quote Link to comment
+Lil Devil Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. Quote Link to comment
+UncleJimbo Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. Thanks. I also found this unwritten rule mentioned in this thread: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=277015&view=findpost&p=4758761 I wonder why Groundspeak does not spell this out on the Instant Notifications set up page? http://www.geocaching.com/about/premium.aspx#anchorNotify Quote Link to comment
Moun10Bike Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. Actually, it's 80 km. Quote Link to comment
+UncleJimbo Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. Actually, it's 80 km. Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Don't forget that you can set up more notifications based on other center points. It would take a little geometry skill, but with a little work the effective radius is virtually unlimited. Quote Link to comment
Moun10Bike Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Performance. Checking for all notifications every time a cache is published or otherwise logged is a much harder database hit than a once-a-week listing of nearby caches. Also, notifications aren't especially useful at larger distances in most areas. Quote Link to comment
+farrtom Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I get notifications for two locations. One where we used to live and visit often and the other where we currently live. Quote Link to comment
+Lil Devil Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 One of the primary reasons for notifications is being FTF. Seriously, are you really going to consider running out for a FTF 50 miles away or more? For most other reasons that you would want to know about new caches, there are better ways to get the data. Hint: first initial is P and the second is Q. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Performance. Checking for all notifications every time a cache is published or otherwise logged is a much harder database hit than a once-a-week listing of nearby caches. Also, notifications aren't especially useful at larger distances in most areas. On a similar note, I have on a few occasions want to search an area that had very few caches over a wide area and ran into the 500 mile limit. For example, if I search for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and set a radius of 500 miles I get back five caches. Sure, I can search by country and get back all 12 caches, but then I'd have to search in neighboring countries to see caches that are just over the border, or figure out a set of lat/long coordinates in various parts of the country and do multiple countries. It seems to me, that if a search with a the maximum allowable radius only returns a handful of hits, then increasing the radius to a point where, say 200 caches are returned, wouldn't cause performance issues. The number of results returned in many cases is going to be far fewer than a search with a radius of 5 miles in some cache rich areas. Quote Link to comment
+UncleJimbo Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Performance. Checking for all notifications every time a cache is published or otherwise logged is a much harder database hit than a once-a-week listing of nearby caches. Also, notifications aren't especially useful at larger distances in most areas. I suspected as much. As others mentioned, many notifications are for FTF hounds (a miniscule fraction of geocachers), but I only wanted an expanded radius for Events. I will just have to remember to check the Weekly Newsletter for these. Cheers Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Performance. Checking for all notifications every time a cache is published or otherwise logged is a much harder database hit than a once-a-week listing of nearby caches. Also, notifications aren't especially useful at larger distances in most areas. I suspected as much. As others mentioned, many notifications are for FTF hounds (a miniscule fraction of geocachers), but I only wanted an expanded radius for Events. I will just have to remember to check the Weekly Newsletter for these. Cheers Since you're a premium member you can also create a pocket query that just returns events with a radius up to 500 miles and since Events are always published well in advance of the event there really isn't any need for an instant notification. I've an Event PQ that I created but don't even put it on the schedule, but I can preview it any anytime and get a complete list of Event within 100 miles. Quote Link to comment
+Coldgears Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. There goes my plans to buy a seperate geocaching account tie it to an e-mail of someone I hate and do a 3000 mile radius of all logs on every geocache. DANG IT! Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Is there an unwritten limit? Yes. 50 miles. There goes my plans to buy a seperate geocaching account tie it to an e-mail of someone I hate and do a 3000 mile radius of all logs on every geocache. DANG IT! Nice thought, but wouldn't your target need to verify that addy before anything (beyond the verification email) was sent? Quote Link to comment
+UncleJimbo Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Any idea why? Just curious since the radius used in the Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter is much larger. Performance. Checking for all notifications every time a cache is published or otherwise logged is a much harder database hit than a once-a-week listing of nearby caches. Also, notifications aren't especially useful at larger distances in most areas. I suspected as much. As others mentioned, many notifications are for FTF hounds (a miniscule fraction of geocachers), but I only wanted an expanded radius for Events. I will just have to remember to check the Weekly Newsletter for these. Cheers Since you're a premium member you can also create a pocket query that just returns events with a radius up to 500 miles and since Events are always published well in advance of the event there really isn't any need for an instant notification. I've an Event PQ that I created but don't even put it on the schedule, but I can preview it any anytime and get a complete list of Event within 100 miles. This is a good suggestion. I would actually have a regular use for a PQ other than for the the few times a year that I travel. Quote Link to comment
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