Multi-cache or Wherigo

[+ScoutDadNC]

I have found a walking tour of houses in the historical district of our town. It contains 48 homes and a little history of each.

 

There are no Wherigo caches nearby where I live.

 

I have also started placing more caches as part of geocaching in my county. We do not have a multi-cache yet.

 

The multi-cache would have the homes as virtual points, and then the final would be an actual cache as part of the series.

 

What would you like to see if you had the choice. I have all the information. I just wanted to get a starting point.

[+Two Ton Whale]

If I had the choice, then Wherigo. But only if it was well made and thoroughly tested to get rid of bugs.

 

I suppose people might veer towards a multi however because not everyone has access to a Wherigo player.

 

[+JL_HSTRE]

Wherigo is much more accessible now with smartphones. Be sure to test the cartridge. They can be a bit of a pain to program.

 

Part of the answer might be how many stops you want to make. 6-8 stops with info to gather for a 'walking tour' style multi isn't unusual. But if you're visiting more than 10 places then I'd say definitely Wherigo because otherwise the recordkeeping and calculations would probably get tedious.

[Mr.Yuck]

No offense, but I can't believe the first two posters recommended Wherigo over a multi. Wherigo has essentially been abandoned by both Groundspeak and Garmin. Not to mention it never worked right in the first place. No way, in my opinion!!

[cezanne]

I suppose people might veer towards a multi however because not everyone has access to a Wherigo player.

 

There are many other reasons for preferring a multi cache. On the one hand, there are many technical issues with Wherigos (saving, restarting after crashes etc can easily spoil the enjoyment) and on the other hand, I prefer by much being able to concentrate on the real world and not having to look all the other onto a small display and read something there on a small screen and have to play around with buttons. Wherigos might be an option if a cache is set up like a computer game and the game character is playing the essential role, but the technical issues are still there.

 

With a multi cache description printed on paper, it is much easier to decide which part of the provided information one wants to read while doing the cache, which at home and which probably never at all. For caches with a historic, geological or similar focus, I'd prefer a well done multi cache by far to any sort of game set up.

 

Cezanne

Edited May 29, 2012 by cezanne

[+nikcap]

I have found a walking tour of houses in the historical district of our town. It contains 48 homes and a little history of each.

 

There are no Wherigo caches nearby where I live.

 

I have also started placing more caches as part of geocaching in my county. We do not have a multi-cache yet.

 

The multi-cache would have the homes as virtual points, and then the final would be an actual cache as part of the series.

 

What would you like to see if you had the choice. I have all the information. I just wanted to get a starting point.

 

What's wrong with the Blue Question Mark option?

 

Personally, I don't think multi's should be that complicated and more straight forward. The Puzzle/Unknown style fits the virtual points scenario, I always think of multis as being sequential. (stage one leads to stage two leads to stage three) If the goal is to get people to visit the houses, a Puzzle/Unknown, I think feels better.

 

Wherigo's are interesting, but they need to be done right. However, I think a Wherigo will also generate more visits, as people tend to seek those out more than multis. Just because some people feel Wherigo's are abandoned and dead, I would still encourage that placement of a Wherigo. If more Wherigo's were placed, I'm sure they would get a little more love from TPTB.

 

Good luck!

[jholly]

No offense, but I can't believe the first two posters recommended Wherigo over a multi. Wherigo has essentially been abandoned by both Groundspeak and Garmin. Not to mention it never worked right in the first place. No way, in my opinion!!

Yep, abandoned by Groundspeak, and in fact Jeremy has commented that the use of a 3rd party tool is the way to go. Snowballs will probably have a chance in the warm place before Groundspeak does any more development on Wherigo. As of the Oregons Garmin dropped support. And even the ones that have it have some software bugs that are not being fixed. The other vendors never did support it. Smartphone? I suppose, they are common, but of course you need the app. Those that still geocache old school without an oregon or colorado simply don't look at them. And the lifetime closed on colorados and I'm sure we will see the Oregons starting to drift off into the sunset. Without a doubt multi.

[+CanadianRockies]

If you want lots of people to visit the historic homes, then your best bet probably would be to place traditional caches near the houses, if possible. If you still want the flavor of a multi, then each traditional cache could contain a clue. Gathering 6 to 10 clues would enable a geocacher to figure out the coordinates of a bonus puzzle cache, which you also could place near a featured home.

[cezanne]

If you want lots of people to visit the historic homes, then your best bet probably would be to place traditional caches near the houses, if possible. If you still want the flavor of a multi, then each traditional cache could contain a clue. Gathering 6 to 10 clues would enable a geocacher to figure out the coordinates of a bonus puzzle cache, which you also could place near a featured home.

 

Personally, I would not like that setup at all and would prefer by far the concept mentioned by the OP with virtual stages at the houses. In this manner one could concentrate on the houses and the history and does not need to invest time into searching, taking care of muggles etc

 

Cezanne

[+chillypenguin]

I like the idea of a Wherigo history tour. We have only done one Wherigo ourselves but very much enjoyed it as it was different. And in the case of the one we did very well written.

[Mr.Yuck]

I have found a walking tour of houses in the historical district of our town. It contains 48 homes and a little history of each.

 

There are no Wherigo caches nearby where I live.

 

I have also started placing more caches as part of geocaching in my county. We do not have a multi-cache yet.

 

The multi-cache would have the homes as virtual points, and then the final would be an actual cache as part of the series.

 

What would you like to see if you had the choice. I have all the information. I just wanted to get a starting point.

 

What's wrong with the Blue Question Mark option?

 

Personally, I don't think multi's should be that complicated and more straight forward. The Puzzle/Unknown style fits the virtual points scenario, I always think of multis as being sequential. (stage one leads to stage two leads to stage three) If the goal is to get people to visit the houses, a Puzzle/Unknown, I think feels better.

 

Wherigo's are interesting, but they need to be done right. However, I think a Wherigo will also generate more visits, as people tend to seek those out more than multis. Just because some people feel Wherigo's are abandoned and dead, I would still encourage that placement of a Wherigo. If more Wherigo's were placed, I'm sure they would get a little more love from TPTB.

 

Good luck!

 

You bring up some good points, as did Johism. I hope I didn't alarm anyone with my "are you guys crazy?" post. Well hey, at least Jholly agrees, that has to count for something. I even went to Wherigo.com to see if there was ever an official abandonment announcement. There isn't but a few things stick out. It says the website is "Beta". It say's the Wherigo builder is "alpha". I can't speak for the Oregon or Colorado, since I don't own one, but both the PocketPC Player, and Wherigo builder say "last updated 5/29/2008."

Edited May 29, 2012 by Mr.Yuck

[+ScoutDadNC]

Thanks for the suggestions. To answer some of the questions that many of you have posted.

 

The use of a traditional with multiple points and caches - These houses are too close together. Some of them are right next to each other. This is a small town. So it could not be done with the .10 mile rule.

 

To assist in the speed of the system, I plan on every so many houses having a clue or something that you have to look at the house and gather the information.

 

I am trying to figure out where the final is going to be. There is a museum in the area, but there is already a cache there. (Great Hide)

 

Like I said, there are 48 houses on the register. So it would have MANY waypoints, a lot of them close together.

 

The walk is about 1.4 miles through the residential district of town. It ends with you being back at your starting point.

 

That is some more of the information that I have so far.

[+Phizy]

Please...do a multi. I think Wherigo shouldn't even be a part of this site. It really requires very specific devices capable of viewing it.

 

If you do a Wherigo you will only bring a small set of people to it. Make it multi so EVERYONE can enjoy it.

[+St.Matthew]

I am going out on a limb here, but could you do both? Those without the capability for he Wherigo could do just the multi, and those with capability could do both. They would, however, have to have two separate final locations with two separate containers.

[AZcachemeister]

Well, here's a bizarre suggestion...

 

Why not do both?

 

Yes, it would be approved published.

 

IF you can manage to build a workable cartridge, those who want to get to the final that way can do so.

Those who want to use the old-school way can do so.

 

Naturally you would need to list it as one or the other type, probably a multi, so those looking for the Wherigo icon are out of luck.

[+ngrrfan]

I have found a walking tour of houses in the historical district of our town. It contains 48 homes and a little history of each.

 

There are no Wherigo caches nearby where I live.

 

I have also started placing more caches as part of geocaching in my county. We do not have a multi-cache yet.

 

The multi-cache would have the homes as virtual points, and then the final would be an actual cache as part of the series.

 

What would you like to see if you had the choice. I have all the information. I just wanted to get a starting point.

IMHO.... a 49 (48 stops + final) step multi is a bit much.

Wherigo, in my area, has died. A few were published but then nothing. Ask yourself this.... How many people in my area have Wherigo capability? Then ask, How many visitors to my area will have the capability? The answers to those two questions should tell you how to proceed.

[Pup Patrol]

Thanks for the suggestions. To answer some of the questions that many of you have posted.

 

The use of a traditional with multiple points and caches - These houses are too close together. Some of them are right next to each other. This is a small town. So it could not be done with the .10 mile rule.

 

The Guidelines for multicaches deal with that saturation rule:

 

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=304

 

7. Physical elements of different geocaches should be at least 0.10 miles (528 ft or 161 m) apart. A physical stage is defined as any waypoint that contains a physical element placed by the cache owner, such as a container or a tag with the next set of coordinates. Non-physical caches or stages, including reference points, trail-head/parking coordinates and/or a question to answer waypoints, are exempt from this guideline.

 

Additionally, within a single multi-cache or mystery/puzzle cache, there is no minimum required distance between physical elements. The graphic below shows a few examples of what is and is not acceptable in terms of cache saturation. EarthCaches are exempt from this guideline as they do not have physical waypoints.

 

I would hunt a multicache like that. They're my favourite type of cache, actually.

 

We don't do Wherigoes, because we don't have a Wherigo-compatible gps and we don't have a smartphone.

 

 

B.

[+ScoutDadNC]

Well, to give you some ideas on what you are looking for when doing this, most, if not all (I will double check) the houses have very visible placards on them.

 

You can walk, enjoy the tour and history lesson, and find a cool cache in the end. I think I will go through and start working on this series soon.

 

I might even see if the historical society wants to get in on this and make a coin or path tag.

[+CanadianRockies]

The use of a traditional with multiple points and caches - These houses are too close together. Some of them are right next to each other. This is a small town. So it could not be done with the .10 mile rule.

You could place traditional caches where possible and create multi-cache(s) (with virtual stages) and/or a Wherigo(s) to highlight the houses where saturation is an issue.

 

The best solution depends on what your goal is. If you want a very memorable cache, then a well done 49-stage multi likely would fit the bill for the relatively few people who opt to take it on. If you want to attract lots of geocachers to these historic homes, then a 49-stage multi probably isn't the way to go.

Edited May 30, 2012 by CanadianRockies

[+JesandTodd]

I vote for the Wherigo!!! I love doing them!

And the app is free...

[+lamoracke]

I vote for Wherigo too. Yes, some wherigos I have done have been PITAs but if written right, they are cool. I think Wherigo have a really high favorite point percentage compared to multis and have enjoyed most of mine. Yes, I know they are undersupported. Jeremy has personally told me they have not abandoned the Wherigo, but, will agree I have seen no movement in that (not that I would know if it was done right away).

 

But still, I would vote Wherigo. They can work on phones and Oregons, as long as they are written right and not too complicated.

[+jellis]

I guess firennice is busy or hasn't notice this to respond. I did his Wherigo in Utah called Historic Homes Tour of Provo. Nicely done with nice walk. I think a Wherigo works better in these instances then a multi. You have to becareful of the zones. Too tight and you might make players head up to the front door just to get into the zone.

[+jellis]

I vote for Wherigo too. Yes, some wherigos I have done have been PITAs but if written right, they are cool. I think Wherigo have a really high favorite point percentage compared to multis and have enjoyed most of mine. Yes, I know they are undersupported. Jeremy has personally told me they have not abandoned the Wherigo, but, will agree I have seen no movement in that (not that I would know if it was done right away).

 

But still, I would vote Wherigo. They can work on phones and Oregons, as long as they are written right and not too complicated.

If there was a way to make it easier to create there would be more of them. I saw somewhere a step by step instructions but they were outdated and no longer followed the new builders being used now.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I vote for the Wherigo!!! I love doing them!

And the app is free...

 

The app may be free but the smart phone it runs on isn't. The few handheld GPS devices it runs on are midrange to higher models that some people can't justify or plan just can afford to bud. I have the app on my phone and have a GPS which supports Wherigo but I've never done one. That may be because that closest one to home is about 65 miles away and there are only 3 within a hundred miles.

[+Phizy]

Something else you can consider. Are the homes relatively in a line? You can do a multi cache but make some of the houses waypoints of your multi. At each waypoint there could be a question to answer to solve the final coordinate location, (i.e. what color is this house? Take the number of letters in the color, that is A, and A would be some digit in the final coordinate).

 

This way, you can direct people along a route of houses.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Something else you can consider. Are the homes relatively in a line? You can do a multi cache but make some of the houses waypoints of your multi. At each waypoint there could be a question to answer to solve the final coordinate location, (i.e. what color is this house? Take the number of letters in the color, that is A, and A would be some digit in the final coordinate).

 

This way, you can direct people along a route of houses.

 

That's what I was thinking. It wouldn't be necessary to create a waypoint at each house. If the goal of the cache is bring people within view of houses along the route, cherry picking specific houses for the waypoints would probably satisfy that goal.

[+ScoutDadNC]

I think that what I may do is go through and first get the way-points for all of the houses. The tour also includes some old business buildings and the courthouse.

 

The descriptions include things like the architecture of the houses and who they may have been built for.

 

I like the idea of doing both. I might start with a multi. And let that run while I work on building the Wherigo. What are the thoughts on that. The reason why I was thinking about holding off on the Wherigo is because I have never tried making one and will have to look over the software and see what some of the specs are. What kind of saturation requirements or zone requirements there are.

 

I have been getting a lot of feedback. I am still trying to figure it out, but I just need to get things together. I just need to go and get the way-points once this storm passes and start.

[+ngrrfan]

Something else you can consider. Are the homes relatively in a line? You can do a multi cache but make some of the houses waypoints of your multi. At each waypoint there could be a question to answer to solve the final coordinate location, (i.e. what color is this house? Take the number of letters in the color, that is A, and A would be some digit in the final coordinate).

 

This way, you can direct people along a route of houses.

And what you do at that waypoint is say: "Get the third number from the address of this house, count how many steps are on the front porch of the next house east, and how many birdhouses in the third house east?" Now you've gotten the people to all 3 houses via 1 waypoint.

[+ScoutDadNC]

If I have it to where you go through and walk along gathering the required information, would it be a multi or a puzzle.

 

I am thinking that the Wherigo is going to have to wait. I seem to be having technical difficulties with the program. I may have to try again later today.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

If I have it to where you go through and walk along gathering the required information, would it be a multi or a puzzle.

 

Typically, that would be a multi. If you're simply gathering numbers from each of the locations and plugging them as values for A, B, C, etc. it would be a multi. For example,

 

A = number of steps on the porch at the blue house.

B = the last digit of the address of the yellow house

C = ....

 

The final coordinates are; North AB CD.EFG West HIJ KL.MNO

 

However, if you require gathering information that is used for a formula more complex than basic arithmetic or are using something at the locations which might have to be "decoded" to derive a number I'd make it a puzzle.

 

Personally, for a cache that would require someone to travel a route that passes 40 something houses I'd try to keep it simple. It seems to me that the goal of your cache is to take people along on a tour of some historical houses and forcing people to do something complex to derive the final coordinates would just detract from the tour.

[+JesandTodd]

I vote for the Wherigo!!! I love doing them!

And the app is free...

 

The app may be free but the smart phone it runs on isn't. The few handheld GPS devices it runs on are midrange to higher models that some people can't justify or plan just can afford to bud. I have the app on my phone and have a GPS which supports Wherigo but I've never done one. That may be because that closest one to home is about 65 miles away and there are only 3 within a hundred miles.

 

Many people have smartphones nowadays. My point was, wherigos aren't as exclusive as they once were.

 

When I lived in Az the nearest Wherigo was 120 miles away. I drive through phx and made a side trip to complete it. And my cartridge didn't work. It was a bummer.

 

It took over a year later to finally get the chance to do another one. And I DNF'd it (missing final cache) again, humongous bummer.

 

I think I've done 4 now. And I really like doing them. I just wish there were more to do!!

[+Ike 13]

My favorite Wherigo is very similar http://coord.info/GC2NMVT in Durham. A well done Wherigo would be preferable to a multi but with the plaques a multi could also really work out well.

 

You could split the houses into two caches. Have the coordinates for the multi and Wherigo slightly offset (maybe one for each side of the street). All the waypoints will be virtual so no saturation issues. Then just find a park with room for two caches .1 to .2 miles apart and place the finals there. People can choose which to do or do both at the same time.

[cezanne]

My favorite Wherigo is very similar http://coord.info/GC2NMVT in Durham. A well done Wherigo would be preferable to a multi

 

Why? The cache you refer to does not offer any historic or other type of background information and a small display is certainly not the place where

I would like to read such information. I guess the information provided in the Wherigo concentrates on the very basic facts. In a multi cache one can more easily serve different audiences at the same time.

 

Cezanne

[+Harry Dolphin]

Does anyone really do Wherigos? It's a very limited audience. I wonder why anyone bothers? Go for the multi. You'll get a lot more finders.

[+lamoracke]

Does anyone really do Wherigos? It's a very limited audience. I wonder why anyone bothers? Go for the multi. You'll get a lot more finders.

 

perhaps you should borrow someone's Oregon or something and find one, maybe a past finder or the CO. Do not know how you can say or anyone can say they are not worth the bother if you have not found one. There are some nice wherigos in Reno, some nice ones in Portland, as far as ones I have done...and certainly must be nice ones in Germany, Czech Republic, or nearer the USA, Michigan and Ontario as that is where the most are states or provinces. I think every state has one.

 

You are in New Jersey I believe...here are some I see at a glance.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3d4fe0df-180a-41dd-a1d6-5f976dcbbf80

Johnson Park Zoo, 34% favorite ratio

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=9e8389c6-7aa2-4911-8721-95378fb0cd5d

East Jersey Olde Towne, 46% favorite ratio

Edited May 31, 2012 by lamoracke

[+JesandTodd]

Does anyone really do Wherigos? It's a very limited audience. I wonder why anyone bothers? Go for the multi. You'll get a lot more finders.

 

Does anyone really do 5/5s? It's a very limited audience. I wonder why anyone bothers? Go for a 1/1, you'll get a lot more finders..,

[+Ike 13]

My favorite Wherigo is very similar http://coord.info/GC2NMVT in Durham. A well done Wherigo would be preferable to a multi

 

Why? The cache you refer to does not offer any historic or other type of background information and a small display is certainly not the place where

I would like to read such information. I guess the information provided in the Wherigo concentrates on the very basic facts. In a multi cache one can more easily serve different audiences at the same time.

 

Cezanne

Sure you can write pages of text with photos on a cache page. Not many read the cache page and those who do read will skim over a short novel on the history of buildings. A Wherigo can take you to the building and then tell you the history in short snippets. You can still skim, but by breaking it down it is more manageable. You can also use photos to highlight an area of the house (changes over the years, specific architecture, etc) And the cartridge can store all data needed for the multi aspect. A Wherigo is really just an interactive multi and that's why I like them.

 

Now I guess you do have a point that the screen size is smaller than a computer and may not be for everyone, but not everyone does Whereigos.

[+ScoutDadNC]

OK I have been trying to make a Wherigo cartridge. I think that there may be an issue with my computer. I will have to try again later and see if it works.

 

I am thinking about making it into a multi with virtuals and needed data collection.

 

Maybe later I can go through and make a Wherigo and set a separate final.

 

I am not trying to down play the Wherigo caches. Just seems that right now I am having some computer issues.

[+The_Incredibles_]

I"m not sure if it's your computer, I had 'computer trouble' also, when trying to write a Wherigo. Finally gave up. And I have lots of programming experience (but apparently not as much patience as I used to) The technology is far from perfect, with lots of bugs in it and not all devices being able to play them.

 

I would say do the multi. Then if you really want to, make the Wherigo, so people can choose.

[+GrievousAngel]

No offense, but I can't believe the first two posters recommended Wherigo over a multi. Wherigo has essentially been abandoned by both Groundspeak and Garmin. Not to mention it never worked right in the first place. No way, in my opinion!!

 

+1

[+GrievousAngel]

No offense, but I can't believe the first two posters recommended Wherigo over a multi. Wherigo has essentially been abandoned by both Groundspeak and Garmin. Not to mention it never worked right in the first place. No way, in my opinion!!

 

+1

[+jellis]

No offense, but I can't believe the first two posters recommended Wherigo over a multi. Wherigo has essentially been abandoned by both Groundspeak and Garmin. Not to mention it never worked right in the first place. No way, in my opinion!!

 

+1

I guess it depends on where you are. We have plenty Wherigo's here. In fact someone put out two recently and a series of 8.

Oh and I don't use my Garmin much for it. I use my iphone.

Edited May 31, 2012 by jellis