Countries without caches

[+AneMae]

I have been going over the global map. So far I have only found 1 country with no Geocaches. North Korea.

Any others out there? Anyone planning on a hide in the DPRK anytime soon?

 

Note: The screenshot is zoomed out so far that it shows large areas without caches- zoom in for a more detailed view.

I note that cache saturation on the US and Western Europe seems to be the heaviest.

 

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

There just may be a reason there are no caches placed in the DPRK.....

 

Take your GPSr there and see how it goes over. Be sure and tell us, when you get home.

 

Can't remember just what they are, but there are a couple of other countries where geocaching is "politically unpopular", also.

[+AneMae]

I know the shortest distance between caches is 163m re: The Proximity rule.

I wonder what the greatest distance between any two caches (any type) is?

 

If I ever find myself in the DPRK (which I could) I will place a Nano. How I will get the coordinates recorded is my little secret.

[+The Blorenges]

If you go to the Advanced Search page and search by using the countries in the drop-down list you'll find a few that have no caches as yet. Poor ol' Bouvet Island is one of them - still in a state of cachelessness. There used to be a lot more cacheless countries in that list. Several countries have just one or two listed, sometimes they've never been found.

 

MrsB

[+SwineFlew]

I dont think a reviewer will published a cache in DPRK.

 

Any reviewers in here that will answer this question?

[+SwineFlew]

Ok... I will start a list.

 

DPRK

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea

Liberia

Cote D'lvoire

Equatorial Guinea

Edited August 19, 2012 by SwineFlew

[+Gravitysmith]

Although North Korea may currently be popular to pick on these days, there are several countries through out the world that don't have caches. A quick search revealed the following places where I could not find any caches, and I am sure there are others:

 

• Equatorial Guinea
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Liberia
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

 

Note: all the above countries have flags as recognized by the CIA factbook, and can also be found on the Wikipedia list of sovereign states

https://www.cia.gov/...oftheworld.html

http://en.wikipedia....oldid=508038948

[+SwineFlew]

Tokelau

Wallis and futuna

Jarvis Island

Edited August 19, 2012 by SwineFlew

[+Harry Dolphin]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

[JASTA 11]

If I recall correctly, there were no caches in Petoria before the U.S.-led invasion.

 

(Not sure about 'Joehio' though)

 

[+The A-Team]

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

I'm not sure about the current situation, but when I visited a couple of years ago, there were 2 traditional caches there. They were hidden within the outside of the wall around the city, and so were technically located within the boundary and were classified by the site as being in the Vatican City State. It was a great accomplishment to clear out an entire sovereign state in less than an hour!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

I'm not sure about the current situation, but when I visited a couple of years ago, there were 2 traditional caches there. They were hidden within the outside of the wall around the city, and so were technically located within the boundary and were classified by the site as being in the Vatican City State. It was a great accomplishment to clear out an entire sovereign state in less than an hour!

 

I just took a look. I found the two traditional caches that *used* to be there a couple of years ago. Both were along the vatican walls. One of them (the first placed there called Vialle Vaticano) is still there and the other has been archived. There's another one there now that is also along the wall, but it appears to be missing.

 

A year or so ago I did some stat collection for the number of caches in each country and this is the list of countries I got which had no caches:

 

Ivory Coast

Liberia

Pitcairn Islands

St Barthelemy

St Pierre Miquelon

Solomon Islands

Somalia

Tuvalu

Wallis And Futuna Islands

Bouvet Island

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

French Southern Territories

Guinea

Mayotte

Tokelau

Western Sahara

Burundi

Central African Republic

Comoros

Equatorial Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

 

Some of these countries may have a cache now but I haven't recollected stats recently (it's fairly time consuming without the API). I haven't checked lately but at the time GS recognized 248 different countries/sovereign states. There were seven countries with only 1 cache, and about 90 that had fewer than 10 caches and only about 30 countries in the world that have more than 1000 caches.

[+Gravitysmith]

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

I'm not sure about the current situation, but when I visited a couple of years ago, there were 2 traditional caches there. They were hidden within the outside of the wall around the city, and so were technically located within the boundary and were classified by the site as being in the Vatican City State. It was a great accomplishment to clear out an entire sovereign state in less than an hour!

 

Interesting ... I actually saw those two, but I was checking by viewing the map and it appeared to me that they were outside the boundary. If the site says they are inside the boundary, then I was mistaken about the Vatican City not having any caches.

 

It is fascinating to see how many countries still do not have caches. It seems like geocaching is everywhere, and yet we still have a long way to go to make it a truly global game.

[+redsox_mark]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

 

I think it makes sense to answer this in the context of what Groundspeak lists as a country.

 

The world is complicated. There are 193 UN member states, but there are various places which are territories of some sort with a connection to one of those UN states. The details of those connections are varied. The relationship between Jersey and the UK for example is different than between Puerto Rico and the USA. So it can get complicated distinguishing being part of country X and a territory which is governed in some way by country X. Interestingly Puerto Rico has it's own "National" Olympic Committee so they competed in the olympics separate from the US.

 

Overall I think Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable.

[+Harry Dolphin]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

 

I think it makes sense to answer this in the context of what Groundspeak lists as a country.

 

The world is complicated. There are 193 UN member states, but there are various places which are territories of some sort with a connection to one of those UN states. The details of those connections are varied. The relationship between Jersey and the UK for example is different than between Puerto Rico and the USA. So it can get complicated distinguishing being part of country X and a territory which is governed in some way by country X. Interestingly Puerto Rico has it's own "National" Olympic Committee so they competed in the olympics separate from the US.

 

Overall I think Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable.

 

I guess I do not understand how "Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable" can negate the political reality of the world! Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, except to Groundspeak.

While Wikipedia is not noted as being very accurate, here is what it has to say about France:

Overseas regions and territories

 

Main article: Overseas departments and territories of France

 

Among the 101 departments of France, five (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion) are in overseas regions (ROMs) that are also simultaneously overseas departments (DOMs) and are an integral part of France (and the European Union) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan departments.

 

In addition to the 27 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic also has five overseas collectivities (French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna), one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), one overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island).

France considers these to be part of France. The five overseas departments are an integral part of France. (Except to GrundSpeak.) The 'overseas collectivities' are also part of France. At least France thinks so. They have elective members of the French Parliament. If you live there, you are a French citizen. (Except to Groundspeak.) "Reasonable" does not counter "reality".

Hey! Let's declare Hawaii a separate country! It's far away. That's what seems to matter to Groundspeak.

I think Groundspeak should get a grip on reality! If Northen Ireland is an integral part of The United Kingdom, then so be it! That's reality! Saint Martin is part of France. At least the French think so. Hawaii is part of the USA. Saint Pierre et Miquelon is part of France. Greenland is part of Denmark.

Reality is reality. Slicing up countries for being 'reasonable' is beyond inane.

Let's get a grip on reality here.

[+SwineFlew]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

 

I think it makes sense to answer this in the context of what Groundspeak lists as a country.

 

The world is complicated. There are 193 UN member states, but there are various places which are territories of some sort with a connection to one of those UN states. The details of those connections are varied. The relationship between Jersey and the UK for example is different than between Puerto Rico and the USA. So it can get complicated distinguishing being part of country X and a territory which is governed in some way by country X. Interestingly Puerto Rico has it's own "National" Olympic Committee so they competed in the olympics separate from the US.

 

Overall I think Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable.

 

I guess I do not understand how "Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable" can negate the political reality of the world! Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, except to Groundspeak.

While Wikipedia is not noted as being very accurate, here is what it has to say about France:

Overseas regions and territories

 

Main article: Overseas departments and territories of France

 

Among the 101 departments of France, five (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion) are in overseas regions (ROMs) that are also simultaneously overseas departments (DOMs) and are an integral part of France (and the European Union) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan departments.

 

In addition to the 27 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic also has five overseas collectivities (French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna), one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), one overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island).

France considers these to be part of France. The five overseas departments are an integral part of France. (Except to GrundSpeak.) The 'overseas collectivities' are also part of France. At least France thinks so. They have elective members of the French Parliament. If you live there, you are a French citizen. (Except to Groundspeak.) "Reasonable" does not counter "reality".

Hey! Let's declare Hawaii a separate country! It's far away. That's what seems to matter to Groundspeak.

I think Groundspeak should get a grip on reality! If Northen Ireland is an integral part of The United Kingdom, then so be it! That's reality! Saint Martin is part of France. At least the French think so. Hawaii is part of the USA. Saint Pierre et Miquelon is part of France. Greenland is part of Denmark.

Reality is reality. Slicing up countries for being 'reasonable' is beyond inane.

Let's get a grip on reality here.

Did you found a cache in one of those "country" and Groundspeak change it on you and said it isnt French anymore?

[+JoLTeam]

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

 

True. Both puzzle caches are in reality not inside Vatican City (one is hidden very close to the border though) and the traditional is in fact hidden in the city walls (which make up the border), at the Italian side. So in reality there are no geoaches in Vatican City.

[+OZ2CPU]

>So in reality there are no geoaches in Vatican City.

 

so no reason to go there..

 

----

 

where is the highest consentration of caches vs area in a whole contry ?

when I look at Germany, I think they got every spot in use :-)

 

how to calculate number of caches pr area in a contry ?

and list them ?

[+OZ2CPU]

Try to zoom in on the geocaching europe map..

look at north part of Germany and the Poland border,

very strange to see the concentration change so much with the border ?!?!

why ??

 

also scroll a bit right and up, look at

Lituania and Latvia

alot higher concentration over Poland, but still alot under Germany level,

now look at Belarus, amazing, only a handfull caches in this huge area.

 

I am trying to understand why ?

rules ?

regulations ?

people ?

money ?

free time to play ?

just not heard about this hobby ?

internet access ?

wireless access ?

does this reveal technologic/level or access to it, of the population there ?

Edited August 21, 2012 by OZ2CPU

[cezanne]

Try to zoom in on the geocaching europe map..

look at north part of Germany and the Poland border,

very strange to see the concentration change so much with the border ?!?!

why ??

 

also scroll a bit right and up, look at

Lituania and Latvia

alot higher concentration over Poland, but still alot under Germany level,

now look at Belarus, amazing, only a handfull caches in this huge area.

 

 

As Poland is regarded, oc.pl is very successful and takes away from gc.com. It is a bit like Hungary where also the national site is more successful. Belarus has other problems than geocaching. In the border regions to Germany, there are also many caches hidden by German cachers.

 

Cezanne

Edited August 21, 2012 by cezanne

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The Vatican City in Rome has two puzzle caches listed, but no caches with an obvious physical presence inside the area.

 

True. Both puzzle caches are in reality not inside Vatican City (one is hidden very close to the border though) and the traditional is in fact hidden in the city walls (which make up the border), at the Italian side. So in reality there are no geoaches in Vatican City.

 

Do you know for a fact that the walls make up the border. The walls are set back from the roads surrounding Vatican city and there are wide grassy areas between the walls and the roads that may or may not between the "official" geographic bounds. In case, when entering in the location for a new cache listing it is not based upon the geographic or political bounds. It's based on what the CO has entered for the location. I found a cache once that, to me, clearly looked like it was on the Nevada side of the Nevada/California border (by about 4 feet) but the CO listed it as California. After several queries in the logs the CO eventually changed it to Nevada.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

 

I think it makes sense to answer this in the context of what Groundspeak lists as a country.

 

The world is complicated. There are 193 UN member states, but there are various places which are territories of some sort with a connection to one of those UN states. The details of those connections are varied. The relationship between Jersey and the UK for example is different than between Puerto Rico and the USA. So it can get complicated distinguishing being part of country X and a territory which is governed in some way by country X. Interestingly Puerto Rico has it's own "National" Olympic Committee so they competed in the olympics separate from the US.

 

Overall I think Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable.

 

I think it's reasonable as well. Groundspeak has to use some sort of definitive list for countries/sovereign states and in the context of geocaching, as long as we're all using the same list it really doesn't matter. If you look at the geopolitcal ontology produced by the United States it makes a distinction between self-governing and non self-governing and although it might make sense to use something like the U.N. geopolitical ontology it's worth noting that it changes fairly often. Coincidentally, I had dinner last night with someone that works at the U.N. (at FAO, in Rome) and she specifically mentioned the geopolitical ontology we were using in a semantic web application we're working on was not using the latest version as it recently changed.

[+Mike & Jess]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

You nailed it on the head about bringing GPS units into some countries.

 

As for the last bit, When you send a letter or package to Puerto Rico, do you write the address as "something, something USA"?

[+Straight-Cache-Homey]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

 

I think it makes sense to answer this in the context of what Groundspeak lists as a country.

 

The world is complicated. There are 193 UN member states, but there are various places which are territories of some sort with a connection to one of those UN states. The details of those connections are varied. The relationship between Jersey and the UK for example is different than between Puerto Rico and the USA. So it can get complicated distinguishing being part of country X and a territory which is governed in some way by country X. Interestingly Puerto Rico has it's own "National" Olympic Committee so they competed in the olympics separate from the US.

 

Overall I think Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable.

 

I guess I do not understand how "Groundspeak's list of "countries" is reasonable" can negate the political reality of the world! Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom, except to Groundspeak.

While Wikipedia is not noted as being very accurate, here is what it has to say about France:

Overseas regions and territories

 

Main article: Overseas departments and territories of France

 

Among the 101 departments of France, five (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion) are in overseas regions (ROMs) that are also simultaneously overseas departments (DOMs) and are an integral part of France (and the European Union) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan departments.

 

In addition to the 27 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic also has five overseas collectivities (French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna), one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), one overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island).

France considers these to be part of France. The five overseas departments are an integral part of France. (Except to GrundSpeak.) The 'overseas collectivities' are also part of France. At least France thinks so. They have elective members of the French Parliament. If you live there, you are a French citizen. (Except to Groundspeak.) "Reasonable" does not counter "reality".

Hey! Let's declare Hawaii a separate country! It's far away. That's what seems to matter to Groundspeak.

I think Groundspeak should get a grip on reality! If Northen Ireland is an integral part of The United Kingdom, then so be it! That's reality! Saint Martin is part of France. At least the French think so. Hawaii is part of the USA. Saint Pierre et Miquelon is part of France. Greenland is part of Denmark.

Reality is reality. Slicing up countries for being 'reasonable' is beyond inane.

Let's get a grip on reality here.

 

You're definitely right on about St Martin. I cached there this summer while on vacation. There's a French side and a Dutch side.

 

When I cached on the French side, I got credit for "St Martin"...

 

When I cached on the Dutch side, I got credit for the Netherlands??

 

Huh?

[+FalconMJ]

I think there would be loads of great places for caches in Central Africa, with all the safari's.

Somebody should place one... but if there isn't many cachers nearby, it won't get found.

 

I noticed there are 2 in Rwanda, which only have about 5 finds each.

[+FalconMJ]

Also, there isn't many in China, yet South Korea is over crowded with caches.

[+ly2kw]

look at

Lituania and Latvia

alot higher concentration over Poland, but still alot under Germany level,

now look at Belarus, amazing, only a handfull caches in this huge area.

 

I am trying to understand why ?

I would guess there are no regulations in Belarus that ban geocaching or possessing and using a GPS receiver. The lack of information causes the country be pretty geodeserted. I also think tech guys have their own gps oriented game so they simply don't stick with the geocaching.com. The number of hides is slightly increasing in Belarus though. I too own a couple of caches there. Latvians and Lithuanians have well organized local communities of geocachers who share ideas on local forums. The game gets a lot of attention in the mass media lately so with gps equipment getting cheaper new geocachers are emerging everyday there. Also, there is a sizable percentage of hams among Lithuanian geocachers, you know what I mean.

[+SwineFlew]

North Korea and Cuba do not permit use of/posession of GPS units. Really tough to hide a cache requiring the use of a GPS when a GPS is not permitted.

Then, of course, Groundspeak is totally out of touch with reality as to what constitutes a 'country'. Saint Martin and St Pierre et Miquelon are integral parts of the Republic of France. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Yeah. Pretty sure Puerto Rico is part of the US of A. Unless you ask Groundspeak. Nop! That's a separate country! Well. Only to Groundspeak.

So, you would have to define what a 'country' is to determine this.

You nailed it on the head about bringing GPS units into some countries.

 

As for the last bit, When you send a letter or package to Puerto Rico, do you write the address as "something, something USA"?

Yep... my aunt and her hubby were missionary in Puerto Rico for 15 years and I know a few things about that island. Its USA, but no voting power.