Wherigo

[+VladMordock]

Dear Groundspeak,

 

Why don't you care about the Wherigos anymore?

Is there some long time development plan for wherigos? Currently the player is stuck at the revision from 5/29/2008 (with the highlighted and totally embarrassing "NEW!" icon) and builder was not updated since 5/29/2008 .

Is there any future for Wherigo caches?

 

Please don't answer with the usual corporational "empty" talk; I think most of the GC community would expect clear and straight answers about this topic and - don't get me wrong - hiring a few developers who will move things forward should not be a problem for company like GS.

 

Thanks in advance for understanding and clear statements.

 

PS. If this post will "disappear" I will keep posting it here and at the FB page as long as you will provide the straight answers.

 

Yours sincerely,

VladMordock

Edited January 30, 2014 by VladMordock

[+Walts Hunting]

Maybe because so few people care about them. Garmin has even stopped putting it on their devices.

[Moun10Bike]

hiring a few developers who will move things forward should not be a problem for company like GS.

 

 

Methinks you have an idea of Groundspeak that differs from reality. We are not a big, rich company, and development resources are very scarce. As a result, we've had to shift our resources to focus on Geocaching in order to keep up with the growth there.

 

Wherigo is a very great idea that the company still loves. Our founders even have patents related to it. But its current implementation is mired in dated technology. It would take a significant overhaul to bring it up to modern standards designed with smartphones in mind.

 

Since this forum is intended for feature discussions and bugs related to Geocaching.com, I'm moving this thread to the Wherigo forum.

[+tozainamboku]

Methinks you have an idea of Groundspeak that differs from reality. We are not a big, rich company, and development resources are very scarce. As a result, we've had to shift our resources to focus on Geocaching in order to keep up with the growth there.

 

Wherigo is a very great idea that the company still loves. Our founders even have patents related to it. But its current implementation is mired in dated technology. It would take a significant overhaul to bring it up to modern standards designed with smartphones in mind.

If Groundspeak is such a small company that it can't put resources on Wherigo Development, then why not establish a Open Source program to maintain and develop Wherigo. Groundspeak could certainly retain control of their patents and copyrights by licensing them to an organization that would take responsibility for developing Wherigo.

 

Elsewhere, RangerFox has an on-going thread on his efforts to establish the Wherigo Foundation that would license the Wherigo name and the existing IP from Groundspeak and run an open source Wherigo development. However, Groundspeak continues to delay negotiating with him and thus has prevented this project from moving forward. It would seem to me that even little Groundspeak could have a lawyer draw up a licensing agreement that protects Groundspeak's interest while allowing Wherigo development to shift to an open source model.

[+VladMordock]

Methinks you have an idea of Groundspeak that differs from reality. We are not a big, rich company, and development resources are very scarce. As a result, we've had to shift our resources to focus on Geocaching in order to keep up with the growth there.

 

With all the respect, but this exactly kind of the answer I consider as "empty" talk. You can pretend to be the small and poor company as long as you want, but you should at least play fair with the community (after all we are the people who pay your bills ).

 

I don't believe that there was no way to push topics forward since 2008 - the matter (and the core of my question) is the reason, why didn't you want to move the development forward?

 

And once again - what is the plan for the Wherigo and if are there any left?

 

You should really learn the lesson from the other company which name starts with the letter G - it's a very short path from being an cool and fun company to being the "evil one", just follow the "don't listen to the users" roadsigns...

Edited January 31, 2014 by VladMordock

[Ranger Fox]

And this is why the Wherigo community itself is doing something about it. All the current builders and players were created by the community. You're going to start seeing a lot by the Wherigo Foundation this year, starting with some player apps at Wherigo v1.0, Groundspeak's spec. In a year or whenever after that, you'll start seeing the apps handle things with Wherigo v1.1, which necessitates a new listing service due to the Wherigo API we're developing. Two years after finalizing v1.1, you'll start seeing the beginnings of v2.0 come out, which is the entire reason I'm in this. I've invited Groundspeak to support us in this endeavor, but they're still too focused on geocaching to figure out what to do with what's happening. But, at least, they're not telling us no. Oh, and no one has tried something like this before, so I think they don't quite know how to proceed.

 

Moun10Bike is providing you with an accurate assessment regarding Wherigo. From experience, I can say coming out with v2.0 will take a good amount of time and will result in a significant overhaul. From my personal dealings with Groundspeak, one of the frequent themes is Groundspeak's resource issue--or, more accurately stated, trying to convince those with decision-making power (after the mistake that was Geocaching Challenges, power was further distributed through the company in hopes something like that wouldn't happen again) that Wherigo is a good use of resources. Considering how much money Groundspeak would have to pump into Wherigo if they employed a team full-time, it's easier for them to wait until the Wherigo Foundation completes its activities. If you were to employ a team like what we have with the Wherigo Foundation, Groundspeak is looking at spending at least $400,000USD a year. Working full-time, it might take more than two years until Wherigo becomes financially viable, and probably another three on top of that before you're operating in the black. It would be shrewder to wait for the Wherigo Foundation to come out with something good, then step in and acquire everything at rock-bottom prices. The danger of this is another company could attempt to infringe upon Groundspeak's patents and claim Groundspeak wasn't enforcing them with regard to the Wherigo Foundation. Another danger is the people within the community will not want to cooperate with an acquisition.

 

Tozainamboku, the current hold up with the Wherigo Foundation is in the development, not with Groundspeak. It's slow because we can't work full-time on this project (everyone has jobs and a personal life). My original intent was to have the new site out by August or September 2013. I will admit this did not happen because I was trying to work with Groundspeak on the licensing thing, which ended with Groundspeak being all noncommittal. Currently, the situation is with the app development. Those working on the apps want to come out with a v1.0 compliant app before they dive into v1.1. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. The new site is only necessary because the community needs a Wherigo API (a way for the builders and players to communicate with the site). To have an API, we need access to the site and its data. Thus, we have to come out with a new site so we can have an API and data for it to access. Wherigo v1.1 is what needs an API, not v1.0. Thus, I have elected to keep the site in development until the first player app is two months away from being released. I will continue working on the site, adding new features and improving workflows I'm not happy with. There always has been plenty for me to do. If you'd like to see what the site looks like, I have the link active in my signature line. As long as you offer feedback, you can feel free to play around with it and upload your own cartridges.