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How do I scan a travel bug barcode


zaphodikus

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OK, so I order a TB online, I get it, and than aim my mobile at it, and hey, no scan. Is the barcode "bug" printed on the tag actually supposed to be scannable? I mean it looks like a legit barcode, but it is not, is this some kind of rude joke or is my mobile phone needing an update?

Probably opening up a can of possibilities here, I hope not.

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Thanks Dave

I thought I was missing an act in that play (just noticed my terrible grammar above too). I was expecting that the scanning question was common knowledge, and thought it rather strange that I appear to be the first person to ever ask it of google. The Travel Bug certainly looks as if it has a barcode - I guess I underestimated the geocaching community's propensity for fooling around. No doubt someone out there has just googled this posting, and is thinking, 'What a dufus'.

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It will now be your job to make a one-off aluminum tag which looks exactly like the official GC dog tag, but of course with a bug that's actually scannable. Then attach it to a dog tag and send it off.

 

The barode could contain UTM coordinates for a secret bonus cache, the tracking code for a geocoin (which the scanner is allowed to discover virtually) or something else. In-jokes are always cool.

 

:ph34r:

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Hmmm that sounds like a challenge.

You do spend more time playing than I do by far, but I am thinking of a way to get someone to etch some aluminium or copper and dye it black to create a 1d or 2d barcode. It's a great idea for multicaches, so long as one makes the cache description clear that a mobile will be needed to complete a find. Anyone else would need to go back home first. A very crafty plan is brewing :-)

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I would check with the reviewer if a cache like that would even be allowed. That's an ALR, Additional Logging Requirement, and that isn't allowed. Not everyone has access to a smart phone. Ask your reviewer before you put too much into it. Look at the bottom of local cache pages to see who the reviewer is.

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I would check with the reviewer if a cache like that would even be allowed. That's an ALR, Additional Logging Requirement, and that isn't allowed. Not everyone has access to a smart phone. Ask your reviewer before you put too much into it. Look at the bottom of local cache pages to see who the reviewer is.

It never hurts to check with your Reviewer, but I totally disagree with Eartha's post. Needing a boat is not an ALR. Needing climbing gear is not an ALR. Needing a ladder is not an ALR. Needing a smart phone should not be an ALR. I seriously doubt it is. Of the four items I named, I have a ladder. I can borrow a boat. The other two will just go unfound by me. Not an ALR. Not a problem.

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I would check with the reviewer if a cache like that would even be allowed. That's an ALR, Additional Logging Requirement, and that isn't allowed. Not everyone has access to a smart phone. Ask your reviewer before you put too much into it. Look at the bottom of local cache pages to see who the reviewer is.

 

I don't see it as an ALR. The barcode idea is a special tool used to find a puzzle cache. It's really not any different if you have a TB that's a key to a puzzle cache.... Or a local puzzle cache that you have to decode a bar code on the cache page to get coordinates. I'm not seeing it on the map right now, so I don't have the GC at my fingertips. I'll have to do some searching to find it.

 

Don't feel so bad. My gf, who I just converted from a muggle, asked me the same question about 2 weeks ago. In fact, every person who I describe geocaching to asks that when they se my mileage TB on my GPS.

Edited by gustav129
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What I meant above was that the TB would travel around in a geographically limited area, and that the barcode contained the coordinates to a secret bonus cache. There is a famous low-tech version of this circulating in the area where I live: http://coord.info/TBG41Y

 

My take on the barcode is that it isn't an ALR. There are many, many geocaches I can't log since I lack either the right equipment, unlimited funds or having all the time in the world. If we follow the ALR logic here to it's conclusion, physically walking to a geocache may even be an ALR. Nobody's entitled to find and log everything.

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IMHO, requiring a smartphone, or other device to scan a barcode/QR code, without offering some other way to access the information (such as a website with a code to enter or other type of puzzle/clue etc.) is an ALR... needing a boat or climbing gear is not an ALR, it is equipment potentially needed to get to the cache, not to log the cache itself and get credit for it... even multi or (most) puzzle caches do not have ALR, since most people who place multi or puzzle caches (in my area at least) if they have a QR or bar code, they offer a puzzle or other type of clue to be able to get to the final stage and log the cache....

 

And this is just my humble opinion, nothing more....

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IMHO, requiring a smartphone, or other device to scan a barcode/QR code, without offering some other way to access the information (such as a website with a code to enter or other type of puzzle/clue etc.) is an ALR... needing a boat or climbing gear is not an ALR, it is equipment potentially needed to get to the cache, not to log the cache itself and get credit for it...

Not every cache can be found by everyone. However, logging a geocache is ultimately about solving problems, and seeing a QR code without immediately being able to scan it in order to extract the information, is just another problem. You can get the info out of a QR code without owning a smartphone. Having access to climbing gear or some kind of boat to log T5 caches is in my opinion not any different from having access to equipment that can scan QR codes.

 

Then there's always the ignore list. It's becoming quite long even for a newbie like me ...

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Thanks Dave

I thought I was missing an act in that play (just noticed my terrible grammar above too). I was expecting that the scanning question was common knowledge, and thought it rather strange that I appear to be the first person to ever ask it of google. The Travel Bug certainly looks as if it has a barcode - I guess I underestimated the geocaching community's propensity for fooling around. No doubt someone out there has just googled this posting, and is thinking, 'What a dufus'.

Actually, many of us are googling this post because we are wondering the same thing. :)

Seems only reasonable that a barcode should scan, especially since so many use their iphones for geocaching. Right? =D

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Seems only reasonable that a barcode should scan, especially since so many use their iphones for geocaching. Right? =D

This thread is a little old, but I have a question that might be good here. What exactly would the barcode say? I have a URL format that goes directly to the Trackable's page and types the tracking number for you. It's like this:

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?tracker=[Number Here]

 

However, some of the ones I see online are tiny URL versions of the above URL. So should the barcode be run through a "tiny URL" service first? That way there's not as much data to cram onto the barcode. Or is the above link format OK? And would it specifically be a "QR Code" (which contains more data in a small space)? In that case, that kind of kills the idea of making a real "barcode bug" that can be scanned. But it might make logging a Trackable a little simpler with a Smartphone.

Edited by kunarion
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I would check with the reviewer if a cache like that would even be allowed. That's an ALR, Additional Logging Requirement, and that isn't allowed. Not everyone has access to a smart phone. Ask your reviewer before you put too much into it. Look at the bottom of local cache pages to see who the reviewer is.

The need for a smartphone is not considered an ALR. I had one that required a android phone that was approved and look up inter caching, I have one of those where you need four smartphones gathered in one location.

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On 7/24/2012 at 9:12 PM, GrandPotentate said:

i completely agree with fotimyr, to find the geocache on International Space Station, you have to have some type of rocket that will propel you into orbit, and VERY few people have access to one of those. So I don't think you can say that qr codes that need a smart phone to scan are "illegal".

I'm with GrandPotentate on this one. Just like him I have a multi cache using qr codes as WayPoints and I got that cache (GC96M2X) published no problem. I will add that I have a TOTT (Special Tool Required) attribute listed on the cache page but it doesn't really make a difference

  • Funny 1
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I also wanted to mention I recently met a geocacher looking for one of my caches and asked him to log my TB dog tag. I gave him the tracking code but he said he could just scan the barcode. I realise this topic is a little old but I thought it might help some other internet surfers looking for an easier way to log TB. 

  • Funny 1
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