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Announcing the Giga-Event!


Keystone

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The news from Geocaching HQ is official! The new Giga-Event geocache type is being announced in this week's Geocaching Newsletter beginning today. Yesterday, the organizers of Project MUNICH2014 made the announcement on their cache page about the first Giga-Event, and you can now see the new icon on their Giga-Event Cache Listing.

 

7005.gif

 

The Giga-Event -- attended by 5,000 or more geocachers -- is like a Mega-Event of mega proportions. The geocache type shows a new level of appreciation to events that engage, entertain and inform geocachers on a massive scale. The name arose from the geocaching community -- primarily in Europe -- and it stuck.

 

Here are some of the places where you may notice a change on the website, and where you can go to learn more information to share with your friends:

 

Geocaching Guideline Changes:

 

Listing requirements for Giga-Event Caches from the Geocaching Guidelines.

Giga-Events are the natural extension of Mega-Events. These are the rarest of all event types. After attendance of over 5000 geocachers is documented at a particular Mega-Event, Giga status may be awarded by Geocaching HQ. And just like Mega-Events, Geocaching HQ reserves the right to deny or retract publication of Giga-Events sponsored by other commercial geocache listing services, as well as parent and affiliated companies, unless written permission has been granted in advance by Geocaching HQ.

 

To learn more about Giga-Events and how to get your event to Giga-status, check out the Giga-Event Help Center Article.

 

Link for logging requirements for Event Caches from the Geocaching Guidelines.

Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache.

 

Help Center FAQ:

 

Giga FAQ in Help Center.

What is a Giga-Event Cache?

This is one of the rarest geocache types available. A Giga-Event Cache is an event that is attended by 5000+ people. These events are similar to Mega-Events and may include activities, could last several days and are usually held annually. Since Giga-Events are so rare, they attract geocachers from all over the world.

 

Will it have its own cache type/icon?

Yes! Here it is: 7005.gif

 

Will it count in my stats?

Absolutely!

 

Why is Giga 5000?

Yes, we know that the metric system prefix giga stands for 1,000,000,000. We co-opted the term to stay in line with our current system of events and Mega-Events. The name Five-thousand-event didn’t have the same ring to it.

 

Why add the Giga-Event type?

A handful of events have grown much faster and larger than most other events. We wanted to show appreciation to the event organizers and attendees and distinguish these unique experiences with a new event-type.

 

When/where will the first Giga-Event be?

GC4K089, Project MUNICH2014 - Mia san Mega! on August 15–17, 2014 in Munich, Germany.

 

How do I get Giga status for my event?

Your Mega-Event has to set a precedent of having enough attendees before being eligible for Giga status. We'll review all Mega-Events to see if they qualify for Giga status.

 

Can my event get Giga status retroactively?

Unfortunately not. However, there is a silver lining. If you believe your event had enough attendees in previous years to achieve Giga status, then you may get Giga status for the next iteration of the event.

 

It's not fair! I'll never make it to a Giga!

To get 5000+ people in attendance takes quite a bit of work—and very few events will attract that many geocachers. To make a Giga-Event happen near you, focus on creating the most amazing event possible. That way it will attract more and more geocachers and potentially end up with Giga status.

 

Knowledge Book Article:

 

Link for Giga-Event Guidelines Knowledge Book.

Giga-Event Classification

Giga-Events are the largest and rarest of the Event Cache types. Giga-Events offer plenty of planned geocaching activities and attract geocachers from all over the world. It isextremelyrarefor an event to be classified as a Giga-Event.

 

Geocaching HQ will sponsor and support Giga-Event organizers with their event. We recognize that hosting an event for 5,000+ geocachers is a big deal and we appreciate all of the hard work that goes into the organization of these events. For this reason we grant Giga-Event status very selectively.

 

How do you submit an event for Giga status?

The Giga-Event selection process is primarily based on attendance at previous years' events. Event organizers should simply complete the Mega-Event request form and Geocaching HQ will determine if your event qualifies for Giga status. Once your Event Cache has been created, please submit your official request for a status upgrade here:

2014 Status Upgrade Request

2015 Status Upgrade Request

 

General Guidelines for Giga-Events

  1. The Giga-Event listing should clearly contain the actual location of the event with both coordinates and an address.
  2. Giga-Events must take place at one main location and last for 1–3 days.
  3. Giga-Event status is determined by Geocaching HQ based on submissions for Mega-Event status. Mega-Event upgrade requests must be submitted a minimum of eight weeks prior to the event. Giga-Event status will not be issued to any event after it has ended.
  4. Giga-Events should not be used for purposes of generating a profit for event organizers or any other party. Giga-Events may include optional fee-based activities, but pricing should justifiably reflect the cost to host the activity. Giga-Event status requires ongoing consistency with the commercial geocache guidelines.
  5. Geocachers must not be required to pay any fee to the Giga-Event organizers in order to log their attendance for the Giga-Event. This means that geocachers who choose not to participate in fee-based activities associated with the Giga-Event are permitted to log the Giga-Event as "Attended".
  6. Giga-Event titles may not contain any commercialization or the word "Giga". We do not award Giga status to an event as a means of attracting attendees. The designation of Giga-Event status will only be granted on the merits of the actual event and must be re-granted annually for each iteration of the event.
  7. Only one Giga-Event can take place at a time worldwide. Geocaching events should support each other and not be scheduled to compete with other nearby events. Mega-Event status generally will not be granted to satellite events held in conjunction with Giga-Events.
  8. Giga-Events must demonstrate that they will reach 5,000 attendees before they will be upgraded from Mega-Event status. This will usually be verified based on the "Attended" logs from a previous event held in the same place and/or hosted by the same organizer.
  9. Giga-Events must list Geocaching as a primary sponsor on all support materials and web pages that are created for the event. Geocaching should be the sole listing service sponsor. If you have tiers of sponsorship, Geocaching must be listed at the highest level of sponsorship.
  10. If your event has a separate website, a link should be added at the top level of your site navigation pointing back to the Giga-Event's listing on Geocaching.com. Generally the text "Giga-Event" plus the GC Code on it will work. Example: "Giga-Event GC4K089"
  11. Giga-Event listings can be posted up to one year in advance.

The above guidelines have been established as a guide for event organizers in their planning process. At our sole discretion, Geocaching HQ may grant exceptions to these guidelines if we believe an event is consistent with the intent and spirit of the guidelines. Any exceptions granted will not serve as precedent for future events.

 

Geocaching HQ has the final say in Giga-Event upgrades and has the right to regulate any misconduct, dishonesty, or general tomfoolery. That being said, please don't make us do that.

Edited by Keystone
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I have closed the prior thread about Giga-Events in order to give the discussion a fresh start, now that the announcement is official.

 

When posting in this discussion, please keep the following in mind:

 

1. The European community has been clamoring for this change, and Groundspeak is happy to deliver on it. The name "Giga-Event" was already in use by their community. Just because YOU didn't have an abiding desire for a new event type, don't assume that others weren't asking loudly and often.

 

2. This is an international game. Please be respectful of geocachers from other communities around the world. Disparaging remarks about the hosts and attendees at the first Giga-Event are not positive contributions to our forum discussion.

 

3. I know that others would prefer to have seen other features developed first. Fine, bump the threads asking for those features. I know that others would prefer to see new cache types for, as an example, challenge caches. Bear in mind that it's way easier for Groundspeak to roll out the Giga-Event type, because the change is applied on their end. Adding a cache type that's available for selection by any cache owner is a whole lot more programming work.

 

I hope that the above notes will help in promoting a fun, respectful discussion of the newest event cache type.

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Over in the United Kingdom and Ireland forum, there's a great example of a positive discussion about the Giga-Event in Germany. Organise a coach trip to carry UK geocachers to the event! There is a lot that UK geocachers do right. They host awesome events of their own, and they aren't afraid to travel to other cool events on the continent. If you are from the UK community, you may want to follow the linked thread and join in the fun!

Edited by Keystone
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The news from Geocaching HQ is official!

Though I think it's intriguing that another size of event was something even being considered as a cache type, I do love that Groundspeak is encouraging freaking massive geocaching events :laughing:

Undoubtedly they'll be very rare, much moreso than mega events, thus something that'll by nature attract a bit more attention, both in these communities and the general public.

And your points 1-3 for discussion are 100% understandable and respectable!

 

I hope someone's already working on ideas for a giga event in Ontario ;P

Edited by thebruce0
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As already noted, "Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache."

 

Using this thread to take a veiled swipe at "regular" event owners with different standards for an "attended" log is not a proper discussion subject for a thread about the new Giga-Event type.

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This proves you can add new icons without a problem. Why haven't Challenges gotten their own icon yet?

You may have missed the end of my Post #2:

I know that others would prefer to see new cache types for, as an example, challenge caches. Bear in mind that it's way easier for Groundspeak to roll out the Giga-Event type, because the change is applied on their end. Adding a cache type that's available for selection by any cache owner is a whole lot more programming work.

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I just don't understand what such a "rare" event type brings to the caching community at large.

 

No harm done. If you do not care about the icons, then its of no consequence to those folks if folks go there or not for the icon. If this new icon helps folks mobilize larger events and advertise more, great. If this icon encourages folks who want each icon to travel somewhere they might not have gone too, well, they now have a reason to travel.

 

I will hold out hope that one is created in the United States some day, if not, well, perhaps its an excuse to go to Prague or wherever the next one could be.

Edited by lamoracke
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As already noted, "Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache."

 

Using this thread to take a veiled swipe at "regular" event owners with different standards for an "attended" log is not a proper discussion subject for a thread about the new Giga-Event type.

I would guess that many people make the assumption that people will know who attended a regular event whether or not there is a log to sign. I suppose there could be a newbie wallflower who shows up at the restaurant and doesn't interact with anyone, but the general case is if someone is faking a log they're going to be called out. At a giga event there is no way to detect a bogus attended log.

 

However since it's not really an Attended log but a WIGAS log (or in this case a WIGASAAI (Woohoo! I'm getting another smiley and another icon) log, I suppose it really doesn't matter.

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Well, I think it would be nice if there were different event types for varying sums of people.. 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 15000, ect. But calling it a Giga kinda limits any further expansion, as giga is actually a million. What would 10000 be, a Teraevent? This seems to be just a different type of numbers padding IMO. :laughing:

Edited by 4wheelin_fool
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I just don't understand what such a "rare" event type brings to the caching community at large.
Yeah, my first reaction to the news about giga-events was surprise that there would be enough mega-events that are huge enough (even by mega-event standards) to warrant creating a new cache type. But clearly, I am not really in touch with the mega-event culture, or the European geocaching culture.

 

And I get that it's easier to create a new type when the type is used rarely, and is fully under the control of Groundspeak. Maybe this will help Groundspeak shake the bugs out of the process, and we'll see the creation of new types (Challenge Caches), sizes (Nano), and attributes (Numbers Run Trails) in the future.

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As already noted, "Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache."

 

Using this thread to take a veiled swipe at "regular" event owners with different standards for an "attended" log is not a proper discussion subject for a thread about the new Giga-Event type.

I would guess that many people make the assumption that people will know who attended a regular event whether or not there is a log to sign. I suppose there could be a newbie wallflower who shows up at the restaurant and doesn't interact with anyone, but the general case is if someone is faking a log they're going to be called out. At a giga event there is no way to detect a bogus attended log.

 

However since it's not really an Attended log but a WIGAS log (or in this case a WIGASAAI (Woohoo! I'm getting another smiley and another icon) log, I suppose it really doesn't matter.

 

This is a big change to the Guidelines.

 

Event Cache Logging Guidelines

 

Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

 

The first Giga already has an "attended" log...from last year.

 

 

B.

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This proves you can add new icons without a problem. Why haven't Challenges gotten their own icon yet?

You may have missed the end of my Post #2:

I know that others would prefer to see new cache types for, as an example, challenge caches. Bear in mind that it's way easier for Groundspeak to roll out the Giga-Event type, because the change is applied on their end. Adding a cache type that's available for selection by any cache owner is a whole lot more programming work.

 

I thought most of the problems were making the GPX file and all the programs

understand another option, along with the stats page and PQ's, etc.

 

I don't see how making it part of the dropdown list any harder. There's 10(?) other ones that you can copy 99% of the code from!

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This is a big change to the Guidelines.

 

Event Cache Logging Guidelines

 

Any Event Cache (including Mega, Giga and CITO Events) can be logged online if the geocacher has attended the event. Event Cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an Event Cache.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

 

That's been optional for as far back as far I can remember? Although the requirement to document attendance at a Mega was removed a while back when the guidelines were updated, at the same time the wording on events on the same day was changed.

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The first Giga already has an "attended" log...from last year.

Yes, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=79649afd-a719-4b63-a0ba-5d430e2fa204 .

But thats a not very active Basic Member with ~50 finds and not yet an event under the belt. The log content only gives the number of people he wants to take with him. Most probably he just choosed the wrong logtype unintentionally. Just one wrong out of over 3000, that's a rather low error count.

 

BTW: The listing was published last year.

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My whole opinion about the Giga Event is "meh" but I would be curious to know just how many Mega Events in the US would qualify for Giga status. I know some of you are in love with making graphs (I am not one) but if you want something to do between caches, maybe you could plot out the attendance from all the US Mega events last year. Bottom line....I am wondering how likely we are to see one or more of these any time soon on US soil.

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My whole opinion about the Giga Event is "meh" but I would be curious to know just how many Mega Events in the US would qualify for Giga status. I know some of you are in love with making graphs (I am not one) but if you want something to do between caches, maybe you could plot out the attendance from all the US Mega events last year. Bottom line....I am wondering how likely we are to see one or more of these any time soon on US soil.

 

The 2013 Geowoodstock and Midwest Geobash were both just under 2,000 attended logs. Not even a chance, although there's the whole thing of people who were there not signing the log. For example, my kid an his cousin were at Midwest Geobash for 4 hours, but there is no online log in either case. Actually, I was thinking of possibly being in Munich right around August, but in 2015, not 2014. I wonder if they'll do it again.

 

I guess we shall have to wait and see if they confer Giga status on Geowoodstock this year, you never know.

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Remember when Mega-Events were introduced? I do. There was grumbling then, because "only Geo-Woodstock will qualify." Now Mega-Events can be found all over the world in places where Geocaching has "matured." There are two this year in Ohio, where Geocat is from, and I know of a third event that's trying to achieve Mega status right in Geocat's home area. Event organizers used to aspire to "go Mega," now they can aspire to "go Giga."

 

Some examples of how huge events have gotten to be in Europe:

 

http://coord.info/GC2GPHN - Geocoinfest Europe 2011, Cologne, 2,565 attended logs

http://coord.info/GC3JJJJ - Geocoinfest Europe 2013, Prague, 2,908 attended logs

http://coord.info/GC3TECK - Project Eck 2013, Koblenz, 3,180 attended logs

 

As Mr. Yuck notes, a single "attended" log could be for a retired couple, a family with three kids, or other caching "team."

Edited by Keystone
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Although it may be a rare icon right now, only one person has it :anicute:

 

After the first event 5,000 + people will have it so not that rare anymore.

 

Is there a time limit on an event? Can I hold a year long event and get the 5,000 people?

Edited by Roman!
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Is there a time limit on an event?

Yes.
Can I hold a year long event and get the 5,000 people?

No.

 

It's not a productive exercise to dream of ways around the clear language of the listing guidelines. Others have tried, and that precedent factors into the current guideline language and its interpretation by the volunteer reviewers and Geocaching HQ.

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A few questions: What proof is required to achieve Giga status? Since you can't require a log to be signed how can it really be proven that 5K+ people were there? If you go by just the number of attended logs on the event what's to stop someone from just letting anyone log it to get a sufficient amount? How are the numbers going to be extrapolated? 1.5 possible attendees for each actual attend log? 2/1? If that's not going to be done, what if 5K people don't log it? How long do they have to see if that many people log it? Will the Giga status be rescinded if it doesn't meet the threshold? If not, how close is 'close enough'?

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I agree, just because there haven't been any events of this size in our neck of the Earth doesn't mean there won't be, and now having a reason to actually attempt an event of that size could very well mean that we'll start seeing them pop up a couple of times a year at least. From the other perspective, with only a Mega-event type, who would in their right mind have even tried to push for an event with at least 5000 attendees? :P (obviously in other places it was a natural occurrence, thus the new giga type in recognition).

Now that we have a reason to have such large events, maybe we will. Man... we, the western world, are so conservative... :ph34r:

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My whole opinion about the Giga Event is "meh" but I would be curious to know just how many Mega Events in the US would qualify for Giga status. I know some of you are in love with making graphs (I am not one) but if you want something to do between caches, maybe you could plot out the attendance from all the US Mega events last year. Bottom line....I am wondering how likely we are to see one or more of these any time soon on US soil.

 

I don't think that we should be evaluating features based upon whether or not they're available in the U.S. As keystone mentioned in the OP, geocaching is an international game. However, to me, that doesn't just mean places around the world with a high density of geocaches and geocachers (basically, the U.S., Canada, and several countries in Europe). International, to me, goes far beyond the handful of countries that could realistically hold a mega-event, let along a giga event.

 

Mega-events in the U.S., Canada, many countries in Europe are fairly common. There might be a handful of other countries (e.g. Australia) and there's even one in Africa schedule for October this year (however, so far there are only 294 will attend logs). But, what about the rest of the world? Has there ever been a mega-event in South America, any of the countries in Asia, or in any of the other countries in Africa (other than South Africa)? It seems to me, that if a features is described as "international" then it shouldn't effectively exclude 5 of the 7 continents.

 

 

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Well, "exclude" is a strong word... technically, it's all available to all countries. Anyone can make use of the feature, so there's no active exclusion. But clearly the event was created because some regions have a better chance (demonstrated) at making use of it. There's nothing stopping the other locations from working towards creating one (whether mega or giga). No one's being excluded; rather a few places are being, perhaps, 'favoured' due to demonstrated ability/desire for the feature...

 

Heck maybe someone or some people who've done one before could travel and go all out, making an event in one of those other countries just so that there is one for the people there :) Maybe there are loads of people who would go, but fewer people who would even think of organizing one :P

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Well, "exclude" is a strong word... technically, it's all available to all countries. Anyone can make use of the feature, so there's no active exclusion.

 

That's why I wrote "effectively exclude". Although anyone could theoretically find the ISS cache, in reality it's only available to astronauts and someone that has lots and lots of money.

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Well, "exclude" is a strong word... technically, it's all available to all countries. Anyone can make use of the feature, so there's no active exclusion.

That's why I wrote "effectively exclude". Although anyone could theoretically find the ISS cache, in reality it's only available to astronauts and someone that has lots and lots of money.

Well sure, but in that context 'exclude' (ok 'effectively exclude') loses all practical meaning... all 1.5T+ caches effectively exclude those bound to wheelchairs. Scuba caches effectively exclude those who don't have certification or simply can't swim. Allowing caches in trees effectively excludes anyone who can't climb, won't climb, or believes climbing any tree is disrespectful to the tree. Could go on...

 

So, sure, giga-events 'effectively exclude' regions where no event has ever come close to that attendance.

... *shrug* :omnomnom:

Edited by thebruce0
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Serious question...We never post attends logs for events, rather notes (Sorry Chief...if you ever get close we may reconsider, but doubt it). Now, we've never attended an event that had more than about 30 people, but this thread got me thinking. Since size matters, we could go to a big event with 499 or 4999 others and spoil the whole status thing by posting a note. Or' we could skip the event and there would still only be 499 or 4999 attended logs. I don't think there is a difference other than the former may make us a target by icon hounds. This is such a complex game we've created. :laughing: OK, it started serious, but I couldn't keep a straight face.

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I think... I'm guessing... if I recall... Groundspeak just makes a judgement call on whether to award mega (or giga) status for an event, not necessarily by any measurable data element (will attends, etc), just by gauged interest (boosted by posted WA's). Kind of like A-GPS boosts GPS locating speed in smartphones :laughing:

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I think... I'm guessing... if I recall... Groundspeak just makes a judgement call on whether to award mega (or giga) status for an event, not necessarily by any measurable data element (will attends, etc), just by gauged interest (boosted by posted WA's). Kind of like A-GPS boosts GPS locating speed in smartphones :laughing:

 

So I guess what the enterprising mischief-maker needs is a group of, say, 4999 co-conspirators to log a "will attend" on their proposed event to get the newfangled G icon, then find that on the day of the event there's a mystery outbreak of malignant apathy so none of them bother to turn up and the plotmeister gets to visit the local phone box with 4999 others who promised to be there in spirit and log a giga event.

 

Alternatively, if a mega event can have associated events then presumably a giga event can have associated mega events and regular events, which makes it easier to qualify for those "8 cache types in a day" type challenges. Pick up some litter along the way and get a giga, mega, event, and CITO towards your 8.

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No. For both Mega-Events and Giga-Events, the test is the number of geocachers attending at the posted coordinates for the event.

 

5,000 people have to be at the posted co-ordinates? That's going to be awful crowded ground zero. I hope they only all have to be within a certain proximity of the actual exact co-ordiantes.

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5,000 people have to be at the posted co-ordinates? That's going to be awful crowded ground zero. I hope they only all have to be within a certain proximity of the actual exact co-ordiantes.

 

No they have to stand on each others' heads. Unfortunate for those who will be standing in thin, or no atmosphere... but hey, the things some people will do for a WIGAS...

Edited by thebruce0
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You'd think we were discussing what is a reasonable number of geocachers to make a challenge attainable. TPTB have clearly made a "better" mistake by trying to define mega and giga events based on the number of attendees. I think it would have be much better to define them with more subjective criteria.

 

Most geocaching events are local. Sure geocachers from out-of-town can show up at events - some events have the purpose to get to meet with geocachers who happen to be in town on a geocaching vacatio - but the attendees are primarily locals.

 

Mega events were first proposed to deal with events that were organized to attract geocachers from a large area - maybe a statewide or a regional event. A significant portion of the attendees were expected to come from out-of-town and probably spend the night. Because of the extra logistics involved, mega events could be listed more than the usual three months in advance, and the geocaching newsletter is used to promote such events worldwide.

 

I'm not really sure that there is a need a for a giga-event. But there are clearly some mega events whose intent is to be worldwide. These events may also extend over several days. Even without reaching some mythical 5000 attendees, I would argue that Geowoodstock would fall into this category.

 

However since some people can't deal with subjective ideas, the guidelines are filled with what would otherwise be meaningless numbers. These number may make great rules-of-thumb, but they make lousy guidelines (or more accurately, guidelines that are too easy to take potshots at).

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5,000 people have to be at the posted co-ordinates? That's going to be awful crowded ground zero. I hope they only all have to be within a certain proximity of the actual exact co-ordiantes.

 

No they have to stand on each others' heads. Unfortunate for those who will be standing in thin, or no atmosphere... but hey, the things some people will do for a WIGAS...

Just as unfortunate for those at the bottom with several thousand other's weight on their shoulders... I hope they are standing on bedrock, or it might be tough to dig them out - maybe that's a CITO?

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I think... I'm guessing... if I recall... Groundspeak just makes a judgement call on whether to award mega (or giga) status for an event, not necessarily by any measurable data element (will attends, etc), just by gauged interest (boosted by posted WA's). Kind of like A-GPS boosts GPS locating speed in smartphones :laughing:

Groundspeak has been researching how to accurately estimate actual event attendance for a while, using previous events as reference. They now base it on Attended logs, with a multiplier to estimate actual bodies on site. Will Attends are not as accurate as indicators. Edit to add: They also adjust for events where folks log multiple Attendeds for unpublished caches.

Edited by hydnsek
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1. The European community has been clamoring for this change, and Groundspeak is happy to deliver on it. The name "Giga-Event" was already in use by their community.

 

I will not comment on the giga event idea (personally, I even think that mega events are a bad idea).

 

I just like to add to following comment to what you wrote above.

 

I rather think that some groups from certain countries in Europe asked for giga events (Germany for sure be in the list). I've never heard before about the term giga event before (even though I live in a country where several mega events have taken place) and when a friend told me about giga events I first thought this must be a joke.

 

There are many countries in Europe where even mega events are out of reach. There are countries in Europe with very few caches and cachers and there are countries with extremely high numbers of caches and cachers like Germany, the Czech Republic etc.

 

Cezanne

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I will not comment on the giga event idea (personally, I even think that mega events are a bad idea).

I kinda think you just did.

 

There are many countries in Europe where even mega events are out of reach. There are countries in Europe with very few caches and cachers and there are countries with extremely high numbers of caches and cachers like Germany, the Czech Republic etc.

Not everyone has to get every icon.

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I will not comment on the giga event idea (personally, I even think that mega events are a bad idea).

I kinda think you just did.

 

There are many countries in Europe where even mega events are out of reach. There are countries in Europe with very few caches and cachers and there are countries with extremely high numbers of caches and cachers like Germany, the Czech Republic etc.

Not everyone has to get every icon.

 

I think she was commenting on the fact that All of Europe (say Romania or Slovenia) wasn't "clamoring" for the Giga event type. Then again, driving to Munich for them would be like me driving to Illinois or something. :P

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1. The European community has been clamoring for this change, and Groundspeak is happy to deliver on it. The name "Giga-Event" was already in use by their community. Just because YOU didn't have an abiding desire for a new event type, don't assume that others weren't asking loudly and often.

I'm a bit active in several German geocaching forums and reading European (as well as other) blogs. I'm in the Munich geocacher mailinglist and know one or another cacher personally. However, Keystone's post is the first thing I read about the "European community wishing Giga status for events". I searched but I've yet to see a discussion about that over here (beside some bashing on the Munich Giga-organizers after the new event type was announced).

 

Can you please point me to an online reference, where cachers come up asking for "Giga"? I can't imagine a private conversation between Groundspeak and the whole European cacher community...

 

I'm certainly not against it. In fact I do not care about cache icons/types and I would attend the Munich event anyway, since it's just around the corner. I'm just curious where this wish really comes from and why I as well as all of my cacher friends never heard of it before beeing announced, allthough we're technically part of this European (cacher) community. Thanks a lot!

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