address feature improvement

[cachman9]

Every time I type in my address, it says, "your location can not be found." Why? I think this feature needs to be improved.

[+Lil Devil]

Please elaborate. Where are you entering your address?

[cachman9]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Understand that with a world full of differing types/styles of "addresses", zip codes, postal codes, etc., it may behoove you to try a different method of search.

 

Edit to add: city or region names fair about as well as do addresses.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Gitchee-Gummee

[cachman9]

Understand that with a world full of differing types/styles of "addresses", zip codes, postal codes, etc., it may behoove you to try a different method of search.

 

Edit to add: city or region names fair about as well as do addresses.

 

Well I have to!! The address feature will not work for me.

[+T.D.M.22]

How are you typing your address. To get most accurate you should use number, street, direction( some places need south east, south west for example) city, postal/zip code, province/state, then country. Just like sending a letter.

 

If you just put 742 Evergreen Terrace, the system has to guess which of the millions of cities to search. If you put Springfield, the system has to guess which Springfield. I always used the city and province and have never had it not bring up anything.

[+T.D.M.22]

Understand that with a world full of differing types/styles of "addresses", zip codes, postal codes, etc., it may behoove you to try a different method of search.

 

Edit to add: city or region names fair about as well as do addresses.

 

Well I have to!! The address feature will not work for me.

 

Tell us exactly what you are entering. Someone can attempt to do it exactly the same- if others get the same results there's a problem on the website, if its just you there's likely a problem on your end. Or maybe it's one of those simple mistakes that one of us can spot.

[cachman9]

num. rd. city. state. ZIP code

[+T.D.M.22]

num. rd. city. state. ZIP code

 

I see one of two problems. One-you did not follow my directions. You did not tell me what EXACTLY you put in. Or two-you really do live at a place called "num. rd. city. state. ZIP code " and the computer can't find it.

[cachman9]

Why do you want me to tell the whole geocaching community my address? I've found that some can be quite rude.

[Pup Patrol]

I've never used the address option to find caches to search. In my area, that would be not much help as it would list caches on the other side of a large lake. They may only be a few kilometers away as the crow flies, but driving to them would add a lot of mileage.

 

If you're looking for more caches in an area where you've already found some, then just use the Geocaching.com Map that is on each cache page.

 

Or choose from the search options on a cache page:

 

...other caches hidden or found by this user

...nearby caches of this type, that I haven't found

...all nearby caches, that I haven't found

 

and get lists of caches that fit one of those perimeters.

 

 

 

B.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

cachman9, if you haven't done so already, enter your home coordinates (if you like, enter coordinates NEAR your home) on this page: http://www.geocaching.com/account/ . Don't forget to [save] at the bottom of the page.

 

Your coordinates will then default into the search window on the Geocaching.com opening page. All you need to then is to click on the magnifier icon within that window.

 

There is no need to enter any address, city, state, country.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+T.D.M.22]

cachman9, if you haven't done so already, enter your home coordinates (if you like, enter coordinates NEAR your home) on this page: http://www.geocaching.com/account/ . Don't forget to [save] at the bottom of the page.

 

Your coordinates will then default into the search window on the Geocaching.com opening page. All you need to then is to click on the magnifier icon within that window.

 

There is no need to enter any address, city, state, country.

 

While this will work-as we now know the OP is trying to search from the home location, there is still a problem of searching by address that the OP is apparently having.

 

Edit-you don't even have to look up co-ords near home-On the home page on the left, under the box to search for nearby geocaches, you can select "find my location" and use those co-ords.

 

Why do you want me to tell the whole geocaching community my address? I've found that some can be quite rude.

 

I never said your address. I said what address you're entering. I would not have known it was yours unless you said something. The search by address works for me...and works for others as well, so we can make the conclusion it is something on your end. I was trying to help-but it's hard to help people when they don't follow directions. So unless someone else is now willing to help you I guess we'll never know.

Edited December 4, 2013 by T.D.M.22

[+Thoric67]

Already tried to enter from rough to fine?

 

ZIP city street number

[+Walts Hunting]

why not just use zip code? Does it really have to be your exact location?

[+dprovan]

Why do you want me to tell the whole geocaching community my address? I've found that some can be quite rude.

Actually, we expected you to provide some other address that exhibited the same problem without telling us. Among other things, if you tried another address, it might work, and that might give you a better idea where to look for the problem. I've run into problems like this once or twice, and it turned out to be a street name that wasn't in their database. That's why people are suggesting you be less specific.

[cachman9]

Then why don't I give you a street name and they can put it in their database? Moun10bike probably needs to see this though.

[Moun10Bike]

I've been watching this thread, but don't have much to go on. Most of the suggestions that have been posted here are things I would have said, too. Can you provide some elements of the address(es) you are trying to use (without giving away your home location) that will help identify the issue?

[cachman9]

Polk County Line Rd, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Then why don't I give you a street name and they can put it in their database? Moun10bike probably needs to see this though.

 

As far as I know, Groundspeak doesn't have a database of locations, but rather uses existing geocaching services that will return a set of lat/long coordinates. Basically, they're taking whatever you type in the "by address" form and sends it to a service. If you're in the U.S. generally, entering the city, state (i.e. Springfield, Illinois) will work. Outside the U.S. I enter the city, country (i.e. Rome, Italy). If you want a more specific location, you can enter lat/long coordinates directly or use the GC code of an existing cache. As someone else suggested, you should set your home location and if you want to see caches close to your home location, use the Search for geocaches near you home location link.

 

[cachman9]

Well it seems then that this feature is not effective.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Polk County Line Rd, Rutherfordton, NC 28139

 

It looks like the geocoding service doesn't even recognize Rutherfordton, NC. so you might just want to use lat/long coordinates.

 

Here's a little trick. If you go to maps.google.com and enter in the address you provided above, then right click on the map, it will bring up a pop-up. Click on the "what's here" link and it will place a green arrow at that location and put the lat/long coordinates (as decimal degrees) into the search box. You can copy and past those into the Find and Seek a cache page under the Latitude Longitude search form in the Decimal Format: elements.

 

 

 

[+Walts Hunting]

When I google that I get a list of addresses on the road. When I plug that address into GS search by address I get an error. When I plug it into Mapsource I find it. It looks like one of those things we may never see a reason for.

[+Harry Dolphin]

why not just use zip code? Does it really have to be your exact location?

 

Zip codes are notoriously bad. If I put mine in, I get a spot four miles to the north. I do better with the town name: Town, State. Check out 07801. It points to a spot in Hibernia (which has a different zip code.)

 

Then again (which might be the OP's problem) the search does not recognize some town names. Try Guttenberg, NJ. It has been a municipality for over 100 years, but GS search does not recognize it. (It does show on the maps!) It does share a zip code with West New York, NJ.

 

I realize that this is not Groundspeak's problem. It is a problem with the modern software that pays no attention to reality. It's on the Internet! It must be right.

Edited December 6, 2013 by Harry Dolphin