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What is the point of Field Notes?


ShoesBologna

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As in the notes on the log a find page or the personal notes?

I use the personal notes to place info on solved puzzles, locations for stages in multi-caches if I cannot complete the journey in one trip.

 

I use the notes on the Log a find section for writing about my journey to a multi if I had not been able to complete it, instead of a DNF, since I never made it to the end yet. I'll also write a note to the CO or a finder of my cache. have also used it as an extension page if I ran out of characters in the Found Log.

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When I cache with my Garmin GPSr, each time I mark a cache as Found / DNF etc. that gets stored in a text file on the unit called geocachevisits.txt (or something very close to that - I'd have to power the unit on to check and I'm too lazy to do that :unsure: ) That text file = my field notes.

 

Anyhow - when I get home I use the feature on the website to Upload my field notes - and then use those field notes to guide my logging. There's no content in there (even though the GPSr supports the addition of actual notes and I could add some - but thumbing them out on a tiny touch screen would be laborious) but it means I don't have to remember what I found or didn't find or in what order that happened - because I have that nice list in chronological order and I can just log them and tick them off as I go :)

 

I rarely cache using my android but I guess if I did it more I might make some field notes on there as memory joggers about my experience at each cache - and then repeat the above process.

 

As it is, if I'm doing a lot of caches and need memory joggers so that I can write specific logs for each cache (I rather dislike cookie-cutter copy-and-paste logs) then I'll tend to make notes in a pad as it's just more convenient.

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As in the notes on the log a find page or the personal notes?

I use the personal notes to place info on solved puzzles, locations for stages in multi-caches if I cannot complete the journey in one trip.

 

I use the notes on the Log a find section for writing about my journey to a multi if I had not been able to complete it, instead of a DNF, since I never made it to the end yet. I'll also write a note to the CO or a finder of my cache. have also used it as an extension page if I ran out of characters in the Found Log.

 

The OP is referring specifically to Field Notes - which aren't what is described above.

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Image below a screen capture of my current Field Notes page (uploaded to the site from a Garmin gps, caches marked as Found in the field, per Team Microdot post above mine).

Practically, notice the date and time stamp next to the cache name, very useful on a day that you might find a bunch of caches. The Compose Log link takes you directly to the cache's logging page, with Found it! log type and the correct date already selected.

 

Below that an image from my personal profile page, of the reminder that I have Field Notes pending. You can make that go away by clicking the red X if you prefer not to see it.

 

9e996607-40ed-480c-84f5-7db20939a49d.jpg

 

511cd4e3-ad38-4e59-82a4-e7eca870b8f4.jpg

 

Some caching software, like GSAK, can take your field notes (including whatever text you might have created at the time for each cache) and submit logs for all with just a couple of operations. I've not used this option, but I can see using it if I were ever to do a major powertrail, say the 1000 caches of the ET. As many other cachers have done, write one nice log, and then a cut and paste thank you, auto-posted through GASK to the others that are marked found in my field notes.

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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B and R provides the definitive response.

 

Notes done in the field which can be edited, after uploading, into a full-blown log.

Writing the complete log in a field note is a tedious process... the methodology is just plain wrong for doing that.

 

This does a number of positive things:


  •  
  • Never logging a cache wrongly -- that is... wrong cache/wrong log. It happens. Make field note @ the cache site.
  • Noting a TB drop in the correct cache -- happens a lot... really a lot. So noted in these forums**.
  • Remembering just what may have occurred in hunting/finding that particular cache. A big deal after a long day-week-month of caching.

 

One notable negative caveat -- uploading field notes and altering into a full log, DOES NOT necessarily record those finds in proper chronological order. If your are nearing a milestone Find and want a specific cache logged for that milestone, don't do it as a field note.

 

 

**"How do I correct a TB logged into the wrong cache? I don't have the number anymore!"

Using field notes, including the TB tracking code - which you edit out BEFORE submitting the log - prevents this from happening.

 

Edit to add: If using a phone in area with no signal, use field notes instead of trying to send a signal from where you cannot.

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
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One notable negative caveat -- uploading field notes and altering into a full log, DOES NOT necessarily record those finds in proper chronological order. If your are nearing a milestone Find and want a specific cache logged for that milestone, don't do it as a field note.

 

The only circumstances I can think of where my field notes aren't in the proper chronological order is where I've forgotten to record the facts by marking my finds / DNF's when the happened i.e. in the proper chronological order.

 

I would say that anyone nearing a milestone Find who wants a specific cache logged for that milestone simply needs to find that cache in the correct chronological order and mark it as found in the correct chronological order.

 

I can imagine that if I had found a particular cache as a milestone find - in the correct chronological order - and had forgotten to mark it as found at the correct point then the field note arising from that would indeed not match with the facts - and I'd need to remember to log any affected caches by creating a Found log for the affected ones from scratch, rather than from the field note entry.

 

I thought at first you were suggesting bending the facts to make it look like a particular cache was a milestone find - but then realised that were merely pointing out that field notes appearing in the correct chronological order does actually depend on remembering to record them at the correct points on one's device :) Fairly obvious really - but worth pointing out to anyone who hasn't used the feature before.

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Handheld unit :

 

I like to log in the order that I found the caches. As I marked them as Found in the handheld, an entry is created in the field notes. When I upload this file, it makes logging the caches easier when I have more than 5 finds in a day.

 

Geocaching smartphone app : why use field notes instead of just logging find?

 

1) logging a find on the phone is time consuming if I type in a full log, and I prefer not to edit a log since a CO doesn't get notified on the edit.

 

2) messes up the log display order when you log using app as well as through website on the same day (logs entered with app has actual time, logs entered from website are timestamped at 1900 PDT / 2000 PDT which translates to noon UTC).

Edited by Chrysalides
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As in the notes on the log a find page or the personal notes?

I use the personal notes to place info on solved puzzles, locations for stages in multi-caches if I cannot complete the journey in one trip.

 

I use the notes on the Log a find section for writing about my journey to a multi if I had not been able to complete it, instead of a DNF, since I never made it to the end yet. I'll also write a note to the CO or a finder of my cache. have also used it as an extension page if I ran out of characters in the Found Log.

 

The OP is referring specifically to Field Notes - which aren't what is described above.

 

Never used them, learn something new every day!

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Field Notes.

Marks the cache as Found/DNF etc.

 

Save 2 or 3 words about the cache to jog my memory later.

(Condition of cache, anything traded -rare!- TBs in/out, anything seen eg views, animal-life etc around the cache or on the way to it.)

 

Get home, open Field Notes on the computer, write a fuller log.

 

I first used field notes to log our finds on Geocaching site. The field notes is a list of all the finds in the GPS including any info you typed in the gps when found. I would prepare a generic log for all the caches and paste it in each of the caches, adding any information that I might have put in the gps.

 

I now publish logs with GSAK.

 

I first go to GSAK and write the story of our caching. GSAK obtains the list of logs in the GPS. I could then simply click publish and all the logs would immediately been published. Hundreds of caches could be logged in minutes.

 

However, I may have additional information that I want to add to some of the logs. When I find a cache I may type info into the gps; this info is in the field notes and GSAK shows me that information which I can add to the log. Being a lousy typer, I type in codes to remind when I am doing the logging at home. I am sure others do something similar. Here are some of the codes I use

 

W wet log / WNL wet log added new log / FNL log full added new log / F favorite /TT tough find more T's if really tough./

If cords seemed off I simply put the number of meters. / If I add a trackable, I write the three last letters of the code/ H I needed the hint/ G found on ground, placed where it belongs. / etc...

 

To help the cache owner notice the additional information, I place it at the top of the log rather than at thebottom.

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I usually only use my smartphone out caching to occasionally search for nearby caches that aren't loaded on my GPS and to log field notes. I find field notes very useful in keeping my finds (and DNF's) in the proper order when I get home to log them. I used to do all that manually and field notes is so much easier. Now, if I'm somewhere without data coverage, I feel lost without being able to post field notes.

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I usually only use my smartphone out caching to occasionally search for nearby caches that aren't loaded on my GPS and to log field notes. I find field notes very useful in keeping my finds (and DNF's) in the proper order when I get home to log them. I used to do all that manually and field notes is so much easier. Now, if I'm somewhere without data coverage, I feel lost without being able to post field notes.

 

I use my phone app to immediately record and post field notes after finding a cache. I usually use the "voice to text" function of the phone and record a couple brief comments. This posts to the Field Notes section of the Geocaching web site immediately. Once back at home with a real keyboard, I can edit and embellish the field notes properly and post them to logs. I do it this way because:

1. If I don't make some sort of note right away, I won't remember which cache was which at the end of the day.

2. By posting to online Field Notes right away, they are saved online and available, even if my phone dies or I lose it, etc. I started caching with a notebook but it got wet once or twice and I lost it in the woods once. Then I got a smartphone and discovered I could enter field notes on the phone. I had the phone crash once and I lost all the saved field notes. Now I upload as I go. It's a difference of tapping "Post" instead of "Save" after recording a field note on the phone. I also have the option of posting directly to an online log, but I rarely do that, except with an FTF or logging a trackable.

3. The time stamp in the log corresponds to when the cache was actually found and the field note was posted, not when the actual final log gets posted.

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