"Resurrection Caches"

[+kurchian]

I've seen challenge caches that involve finding a cache that had not been found for a long period of time. They are often called "Resurrection Caches".

 

Two questions:

 

1. How do you identify caches that have not been found for a long time?

 

2. How do you find caches that you have already found that might already fulfill the "resurrection challenge" criteria?

 

I don't have access to GSAK as I am a Mac user.

 

Thanks

[+Corfman Clan]

For Massachusetts, try: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?state_id=22&sortdir=asc&sort=lastfound

 

Basically, on geocaching.com, select the caches you want (perform a search), then when the list comes up, sort by last found. It will then show the most recently found caches. Sort by last found again, and it will sort by the longest since last found. Un-found caches will show up first but then the longest since last found will show.

[+GeoTrekker26]

For Massachusetts, try: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?state_id=22&sortdir=asc&sort=lastfound

 

Basically, on geocaching.com, select the caches you want (perform a search), then when the list comes up, sort by last found. It will then show the most recently found caches. Sort by last found again, and it will sort by the longest since last found. Un-found caches will show up first but then the longest since last found will show.

 

That will only find caches that are currently "resurrection" candidates. It will not find those that went unvisited for an extended time in the past, which is the second question asked. I don't have an answer to it.

[+Gill & Tony]

Without GSAK or something similar, question 2 becomes very difficult.

 

It is possible to run GSAK on a Mac under emulation, then there are a number of macros which can help. I may be wrong but I don't think there is anything equivalent running on a Mac natively.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Gill & Tony

[+cerberus1]

As to #1, I simply look at the map and if one's in the middle of a game lands, park or mountain area, I click on it.

Odds are the caches all around it are still hit regularly, while that one (often only two miles or less) in the middle might not have been hit in years.

[+MartyBartfast]

Without GSAK or something similar, question 2 becomes very difficult.

 

 

So are you saying GSAK can achieve point 2? If so is it via a macro?

[+RobDJr]

There is a GSAK macro called 'Lonely Caches', although I haven't used it and can't tell you how well it works. I think it only works on caches you've already found.

[Pup Patrol]

There's something on project.gc.com, "lonely caches", but I think you need to be a paid member there to use it. I'm not sure, maybe I'm just not doing something correctly.

 

"Lonely caches" are the name I'm familiar with, and have made a bookmark list with that name.

 

 

B.

[+Gill & Tony]

Without GSAK or something similar, question 2 becomes very difficult.

 

 

So are you saying GSAK can achieve point 2? If so is it via a macro?

 

Yes.

 

There is a long setup process, then it is quite straightforward.

 

Assuming you have all your finds in a GSAK database you need to load all logs for all found caches. This can take a VERY long time - think a few days if you have several thousand finds. Best run it in batches, leave it running overnight.

 

Then run a macro called LogCleaner to delete the logs you don't need. This also takes a long time.

 

At this point you run a macro called PreviousFind which adds two custom fields to the database, the previous find date and the number of days between your find and the previous find.

 

Now you have the data and you can filter as needed. There is a macro LongLostCaches which creates an HTML file for adding to your profile. Have a look at my profile under the "Special" tab to see the result.

 

Once you have done this once, you just need to repeat the process for newly found caches. This typically takes a few minutes for a few finds. It is only the first pass which takes forever.

 

Disclaimer: I wrote the above macros for my own use and released them for public consumption. Use at your own risk.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Gill & Tony

[+MartyBartfast]

Without GSAK or something similar, question 2 becomes very difficult.

 

 

So are you saying GSAK can achieve point 2? If so is it via a macro?

Yes.

 

There is a long setup process, then it is quite straightforward.

 

Thanks, I did think getting all the logs for 4000+ caches going back 10 years was going to be the difficult bit!

[+Gill & Tony]

Not difficult. Just tedious.

 

It should be quicker now. GSAK throttles the calls to the API so you stay within Groundspeak's guidelines. There was a situation where this got out of synch and there would be a delay of up to 2 minutes where nothing happened. I think that this has been fixed so it should be quicker.

 

It is never going to be quick, though.

[+kurchian]

There's something on project.gc.com, "lonely caches", but I think you need to be a paid member there to use it. I'm not sure, maybe I'm just not doing something correctly.

 

"Lonely caches" are the name I'm familiar with, and have made a bookmark list with that name.

 

 

B.

 

The Lonely Caches function on project.gc.com is pretty cool. It generates a list of caches and ranks them based on last found date. You can also filter it down to country, state and county. But it does not help you identify caches that you have already found that might be a qualifier for a resurrection cache.

[+noncentric]

There's something on project.gc.com, "lonely caches", but I think you need to be a paid member there to use it. I'm not sure, maybe I'm just not doing something correctly.

 

The Lonely Caches function on project.gc.com is pretty cool. It generates a list of caches and ranks them based on last found date. You can also filter it down to country, state and county. But it does not help you identify caches that you have already found that might be a qualifier for a resurrection cache.

If you're referring to this function, then it's not actually showing caches that haven't been found in a long time.

 

That function categorizes something as "lonely" by dividing the age of the geocaches (in days) by the number of finds. For example, PGC ranks this cache as the 5th most lonely cache in my county, even though it was found 2 months ago. While they rank this cache as the 20th most lonely, even though it has been found in 3 years and is actually more 'lonely' than the cache ranked as 5th.

 

The LonelyCache function on PGC is available to non-paid PGC users.

[+kurchian]

There's something on project.gc.com, "lonely caches", but I think you need to be a paid member there to use it. I'm not sure, maybe I'm just not doing something correctly.

 

The Lonely Caches function on project.gc.com is pretty cool. It generates a list of caches and ranks them based on last found date. You can also filter it down to country, state and county. But it does not help you identify caches that you have already found that might be a qualifier for a resurrection cache.

If you're referring to this function, then it's not actually showing caches that haven't been found in a long time.

 

That function categorizes something as "lonely" by dividing the age of the geocaches (in days) by the number of finds. For example, PGC ranks this cache as the 5th most lonely cache in my county, even though it was found 2 months ago. While they rank this cache as the 20th most lonely, even though it has been found in 3 years and is actually more 'lonely' than the cache ranked as 5th.

 

The LonelyCache function on PGC is available to non-paid PGC users.

 

Thanks for the correction.