Suggestion for improving GeoTours and caches

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

I have two suggestions related to GeoTours. Both of these suggestions are designed to make it easier to be notified of new GeoTours.

 

First, I would love to see a date created column added to the web page and to your spreadsheet. This will help me find new GeoTours worldwide.

 

Second, I have and will travel a fair distance for a good GeoTour. So, I created a pocket query that reports new caches with the GeoTour attribute set. This pocket query covers most of the US and Canada. The problem is, not all caches in the GeoTours have this attribute set. (Talk to Katie, I have sent her a couple of lists of caches that do not have the GeoTour attribute set.) So, I would suggest that Groundspeak put a process in place to make sure that caches in a GeoTour have the GeoTour attribute set.

 

By the way, my first experience with GeoTours was in Lane County, OR. They did a great job. I have done all four of their GeoTours. I am hoping that others are just as good, and am in the planning stages of doing at least two more this year.

 

Thanks, Skye.

[+MissJenn]

Skye,

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I appreciate your suggestions. More suggestions are certainly welcome from you and others.

1. As a potential solution, know that the GeoTours in our global directory are currently displayed in that list based on date published. The ones at the top are newer than the ones at the bottom. Not what you asked for, I know. Still helpful, hopefully.
2. Also we are so very thankful for that list of GC Codes you sent to Katie - caches that were missing the attribute. If you check back, you'll see that they have been adjusted. Well, mostly. There is a bug currently whereby we cannot assign that attribute to EarthCaches, which is obviously a problem since all cache types are fair game to be included in a GeoTour.
3. I encourage you to start a new thread in this forum section - call it the Eugene Cascades and Coast GeoTour - that talks about your Lane County, Oregon experience. Many people would benefit from it. I would certainly appreciate it.

[+MissJenn]

By the way, have you ever used the very special Download this GeoTour feature found at the top of each GeoTour page?

It's essentially a Pocket Query that is available to all geocachers, both Basic and Premium.

 

The little "pop up tip" explains:

You can download all the caches in this GeoTour and save it directly to your GPS device.

Most newer devices allow you to copy the file directly to the internal memory of your

GPS device using a cable provided by the manufacturer. If you are having trouble consult

the manual for your device or seek assistance from the community discussion forum.

[Rock Chalk]

Hi Skye,

 

I smiled when I read that you'd love to see a column for date in the spreadsheet. That's actually something that IS in the spreadsheet, but was hidden because most folks around the office who viewed the sheet felt that the date wasn't necessary. Personally, I like knowing when a GeoTour or geotrail started because I find that the newer ones are more likely to still have rewards :-)

 

So, I've unhidden the Date Created column so that everyone can now see it.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

By the way, have you ever used the very special Download this GeoTour feature found at the top of each GeoTour page?

It's essentially a Pocket Query that is available to all geocachers, both Basic and Premium.

 

I use the Download this GeoTour feature all the time. This is how I find the caches without the GeoTour attribute. I would download every GeoTour into a special GeoTour database in GSAK, and then filter on the caches that did not have the GeoTour attribute set.

 

I should also mention that I use the GeoTour attribute when setting up my GPSr units. I have three GPSr units that support a limited number of caches, and two that support unlimited. So, on my limited units, I place caches that I am most interested in, my so called 'high value targets'. GeoTour caches are part of my definition of 'high value caches'.

 

Also, speaking of downloading the Tours, I believe most of the GeoTour GPX files are version 1.0. These means that I need to refresh the cache in GSAK to get the attributes, and other 1.01 features. I would like to see all GeoTour GPX files upgraded to 1.01.

 

Thanks, Skye.

[+MissJenn]

Also, speaking of downloading the Tours, I believe most of the GeoTour GPX files are version 1.0. These means that I need to refresh the cache in GSAK to get the attributes, and other 1.01 features. I would like to see all GeoTour GPX files upgraded to 1.01.

 

We are working to make GeoTours more easily discoverable by the general public *and* easier to use both on your GPS and smartphone.

GPX files in v 1.0 are compatible with a wider range of devices which is why we chose that option.

[+Path Pacer]

I'd like to see a way to log a completed geotour, maybe even get a souvenir for each one. It would have nice to have something online to mark the accomplishment.

[+MissJenn]

Path Pacer, i absolutely agree with you. That *would* be very nice indeed.

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

In a different forum, I suggested a way for a GeoTour (or any reward trail) CO to give out a souvenir.

 

Looking at some of the GeoTours and reward trails, I noticed the following:

 

Some will have multiple reward levels; the WA State Parks GeoTour has a silver level (50), and a gold level (100). Not all have a fixed set of caches; some of the reward trails in OR are find X out of this list, and Y in the area. The Idaho BLM reward trail has districts. Four caches per district, each district with its own reward, and another reward level if you get all of the districts. I haven't looked at every GeoTour or reward trail, there may be other criteria that I am unaware of.

 

So, I really couldn't put together an easy algorithm that could be used to automatically assign a souvenir. My suggestion was to allow any CO to create a souvenir, and give them a web page where they could assign the souvenir to a cacher. This should be relatively simple to program, and because it puts the onus on the CO to determine if a cacher qualifies, it shouldn't add much more work for the lackeys. Groundspeak would want to vet the CO, and approve the souvenir, but outside of that, there shouldn't be much else.

 

Thanks, Skye.

[GeoToursHQ]

Also, speaking of downloading the Tours, I believe most of the GeoTour GPX files are version 1.0. These means that I need to refresh the cache in GSAK to get the attributes, and other 1.01 features. I would like to see all GeoTour GPX files upgraded to 1.01.

 

We are working to make GeoTours more easily discoverable by the general public *and* easier to use both on your GPS and smartphone.

GPX files in v 1.0 are compatible with a wider range of devices which is why we chose that option.

 

Resurrecting an older topic.

Wet Pancake Touring Club, the GPX file should now respect the user's GPX version preference (i.e. 1.0 vs 1.0.1) based on their account settings.

Try it with one of these GeoTours: https://www.geocaching.com/play/geotours

[+PathfinderMark]

It works for "real" GPS devices, but much harder on the iphone, UNLESS using an app other the official branded app.

By the way, have you ever used the very special Download this GeoTour feature found at the top of each GeoTour page?

It's essentially a Pocket Query that is available to all geocachers, both Basic and Premium.

 

The little "pop up tip" explains:

You can download all the caches in this GeoTour and save it directly to your GPS device.

Most newer devices allow you to copy the file directly to the internal memory of your

GPS device using a cable provided by the manufacturer. If you are having trouble consult

the manual for your device or seek assistance from the community discussion forum.

[+PathfinderMark]

Hi Skye,

 

I smiled when I read that you'd love to see a column for date in the spreadsheet. That's actually something that IS in the spreadsheet, but was hidden because most folks around the office who viewed the sheet felt that the date wasn't necessary. Personally, I like knowing when a GeoTour or geotrail started because I find that the newer ones are more likely to still have rewards :-)

 

So, I've unhidden the Date Created column so that everyone can now see it.

 

I wish there was a field that the Geotour owner could MAKE A NOTICE that was "searchable" that indicated if there WAS a geocoin/treasure/collectible AND if it was still available.

[Rock Chalk]

 

I wish there was a field that the Geotour owner could MAKE A NOTICE that was "searchable" that indicated if there WAS a geocoin/treasure/collectible AND if it was still available.

 

Just to be clear, this list is a mix of official GeoTours and geotrails that aren’t affiliated with Geocaching HQ. The “owners” of these GeoTours and geotrails do not maintain the list.

 

We keep the reward availability as current as possible -- by checking all of the affiliated websites on a regular basis. But as it stated in the post where we link to the list, “…if you're planning to travel somewhere to attempt a GeoTour or reward geotrail, it's always a good idea to call or email ahead to be sure rewards are still available.”

 

Much as I would like for every GeoTour or reward geotrail operator to keep us apprised of their reward availability, we simply aren't able to construct a system for that.