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Release Notes (Website: New Search) - March 11, 2015


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Read the previous release notes

 

We're excited to announce that the new Search tool is now available to all Geocaching members. It's faster, easier to use and helps you find the exact adventure you want—and it's all thanks to the geocaching community. Geocaching Premium members took a sneak peek at the new tool and we appreciate all the feedback and suggestions we've received to date!

 

Go ahead and take it for a spin by searching for Pi Day events and Mystery Caches near you so you can earn your Pi Day souvenirs on March 14.

 

While you’re at it, be sure to test drive some of our favorite searches:

 


  •  

  • Find the Mystery Caches you have solved, but not yet found.
  • Plan a geocache outing with your geocaching buddies.
  • Find the most Favorited geocaches in your area.
  • Find geocaches in your state with the D/T combination that you need to complete your Fizzy Grid.

And don’t worry. We know you’re excited to download these powerful searches to your GPS device and/or sync them with the Geocaching app. (We are 100% with you there!) Our team will be working hard on building this functionality into the Search tool in the near future.

 

Visit this FAQ to learn more about Search (including how-to’s for all our favorite searches).

 

And speaking of new upgrades to Geocaching.com, check out the new Hide a Geocache page. It’s designed to be more helpful for new geocache hiders and streamlined for seasoned geocachers.

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OK I tried to do a search for event, but it for only 30 miles from the location. Is there a way to get more distance. I know there more events near me but greater then 30 miles. And trying to look through the event page will take way too long.

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OH Man does this ever need to be rolled back. The search is useless.

I used to be able to open up a state (Kentucky or Indiana) and see all the new caches and events that are coming up. Now all I can search for is within 30 miles, and even then if you don't know the zip code or city of the area you are going then this option is useless. If nothing else, have the list come up for recently released caches and events by the state that you entered.

 

Also if you search for a state (Kentucky, Indiana), it just gives you a random search result.

Edited by kayak-cowboy
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OK I tried to do a search for event, but it for only 30 miles from the location. Is there a way to get more distance. I know there more events near me but greater then 30 miles. And trying to look through the event page will take way too long.

 

Don't enter a location in the search bar on the Search page. Then click "Change Filters," deselect everything but Events, Add your state to "Search Only In..." and "Click Update Search."

 

You can bookmark the resulting URL for easy future reference.

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OK I tried to do a search for event, but it for only 30 miles from the location. Is there a way to get more distance. I know there more events near me but greater then 30 miles. And trying to look through the event page will take way too long.

 

Don't enter a location in the search bar on the Search page. Then click "Change Filters," deselect everything but Events, Add your state (or multiple states) to "Search Only In..." and "Click Update Search."

 

You can bookmark the resulting URL for easy future reference.

 

I did this very search and it came up with 2 events that said it was within 24 miles. I clicked on the event and it was actually 110 miles away in northern Indiana.

 

Correction I did have Indiana in the first search bar. After taking that off and searching as stated above it did give me all the events in Indiana.

It still seams to be a lot of steps that I did not have to do before to get the same information.

Edited by kayak-cowboy
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OK I tried to do a search for event, but it for only 30 miles from the location. Is there a way to get more distance. I know there more events near me but greater then 30 miles. And trying to look through the event page will take way too long.

 

Don't enter a location in the search bar on the Search page. Then click "Change Filters," deselect everything but Events, Add your state (or multiple states) to "Search Only In..." and "Click Update Search."

 

You can bookmark the resulting URL for easy future reference.

How do you add multiple states? I can't seem to get past just South Dakota. :blink:

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Unfortunately this does not work. Please get the old seach-possiblities back!!!!

I have logged most of the caches in my area so I have almost no intreset in the nearby ones.

 

When I search I most of the times uses country and then state/region. The possibility to use the map from that list is what I use most of the time.

 

I tried to search for Sweden, I got 109 caches in southmiddle Sweden. There is a lot more of them here. I tried with my state/region Jämtland and ended up with 82 caches a very long away from Jämtland.

I was going to Will attend an event in May about 500 kilometers from home. I dont know how to find it.

 

The planning of a trip to Germany or Great Britain - How do I do that?

 

No! Please get tho old search back!!!!

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How do you add multiple states? I can't seem to get past just South Dakota. :blink:

 

That's my bad. I had it in my mind that you could do that, but that's not the case. I'll edit my post, accordingly.

 

BTW, kudos on your username.

Maybe that could be an addition down the road? Just a wild thought. I get those from time to time, as a civilian. :D

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I tried to search for Sweden, I got 109 caches in southmiddle Sweden. There is a lot more of them here. I tried with my state/region Jämtland and ended up with 82 caches a very long away from Jämtland.

I was going to Will attend an event in May about 500 kilometers from home. I dont know how to find it.

 

You are searching with "Sweden" as an origin, which limits you to 30 miles from the coordinates that are identified as the middle of Sweden. Instead, do an originless search with Sweden as the region:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?c=10

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Don't enter a location in the search bar on the Search page. Then click "Change Filters," deselect everything but Events, Add your state to "Search Only In..." and "Click Update Search."

 

You can bookmark the resulting URL for easy future reference.

 

I did try this and found the event in Dalarna I was looking for. Now for the next one. I was looking for an event in Germany but I do not know in which state it is. How do I do that?

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Don't enter a location in the search bar on the Search page. Then click "Change Filters," deselect everything but Events, Add your state to "Search Only In..." and "Click Update Search."

 

You can bookmark the resulting URL for easy future reference.

 

I did try this and found the event in Dalarna I was looking for. Now for the next one. I was looking for an event in Germany but I do not know in which state it is. How do I do that?

 

Due to the number of caches in the US and Germany (and the impact that sorting results would have on performance), those two countries are not offered in the regional breakdown in the UI for doing whole-country queries.

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Actually just selecting caches I haven't found gives me a DNF.

 

I spoof logged in as you using the latest searches that you ran and I am getting results. Either you corrected your query or something is up with your browser.

 

I am using safari on iPad, it does work if I enter a location.

 

Edit, odd, now it works fine even with no location.

Edited by Roman!
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The new search really badly needs more instructions to assist with its use. As has been demonstrated by posts above (and in the forum discussion during the preview), the new search expects users to adjust to its way of doing things, rather than the other way 'round. It simply isn't intuitive.

 

Please add some text on the page to make it crystal clear that the main field is only for searching within a limited distance (at this time) of a single point, and that you can do region-based searching by leaving that field blank and using the additional filters. Those of us who were following the discussion here in the forums - and those at GSHQ - know this is how it works, but it's unlikely that a member-off-the-street would figure that out right away. It just isn't the way you'd expect it to work.

 

Edit to add: I just checked, and the "DNF" message is still woefully vague and unhelpful. It needs to provide more guidance about which are the key fields. In its current form, it's essentially saying "No results found, but we're not going to tell you why or how you can fix it". IMO, this search is nowhere near ready for production and needs lots more work and user testing.

Edited by The A-Team
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There seems to be a lot of bad feedback. I have looked at this and actually like it. It gave me the results i wanted. I can filter down to find specific caches such as Church Micro's or Challenge caches. All thats missing the facility to download the results on my GPS.

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How do you add multiple states? I can't seem to get past just South Dakota. :blink:

 

That's my bad. I had it in my mind that you could do that, but that's not the case. I'll edit my post, accordingly.

 

BTW, kudos on your username.

Maybe that could be an addition down the road? Just a wild thought. I get those from time to time, as a civilian. :D

 

We're definitely looking into adding support for multiple region searches. Which is probably why my brain fart happened.

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In an attempt to add some new features you have taken away some of the features I find most useful. I can no longer search by State and see all the newest caches. I also used the State search to see all upcoming Events. Now I can't find all the events in my State. Bring back the old search capability and make the new stuff an additional option. It has made everything much worse for me. I don't like it at all!

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In an attempt to add some new features you have taken away some of the features I find most useful. I can no longer search by State and see all the newest caches. I also used the State search to see all upcoming Events. Now I can't find all the events in my State. Bring back the old search capability and make the new stuff an additional option. It has made everything much worse for me. I don't like it at all!

 

The types of searches you mention are possible if you omit an origin and instead add a filter for the region you want to search on. For example, use this query for the newest caches in Massachusetts:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?r=22&sort=PlaceDate&asc=False

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The new search really badly needs more instructions to assist with its use.

 

+1

 

I'm quite disappointed in the way this has gone live. All the questions/problems/queries raised here were raised when we had the "sneak peak" and were fed back on the forums, so TPTB had a very good idea of what needed clarifying/explaining but have done diddly squat about it, which makes me wonder why we wasted our bandwidth on giving feedback :mad: and I'm not sure I'll bother in future B)

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Add me to the growing list of discontnted members with this "new" search engine. Seems to me its pretty much a glorified pocket query. I too prefer to look at an area (big or small) and then figure out where and what I want to go for. I tried the filtered approach, and did an "only" search for NV....aparently there are now only about 200 caches in the city of Las Vegas (there should be about 2000). If I wanted just a random search, I would have asked for one.... I too also miss the listed cache page... seems like a lot of geekism being brought forward at little to no gain...

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Further to my last post, the number of times TPTB have had to explain how to use the new search both in the preview discussion and several forum discussions today are strong indicators that the tool is not intuitive. I can't imagine how many requests the main HQ support email will be getting regarding the new tool.

 

I urge Groundspeak to roll back this last site update and spend some more time tweaking the tool, especially adding more instructions and guidance.

 

Some of the most important tasks that I feel need to be dealt with in the very near future (but not necessarily immediately) are:

1. Add functionality to do something with the results other than mapping them. Examples include Send to GPS, PQ, add to bookmark list, etc.

2. Resolve the database issues that necessitate the limiting of results by distance and US/German regions

3. Recognize entries in the main field that match Geocaching.com regions and automatically convert the search to a regional filter.

 

The latter is evidently how quite a few people want to use the tool (based on the confused posts here in the forums), so implementing that would help greatly with its intuitiveness.

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It looks like there are a lot of neat features with this new search. I really like the improved keyword search and the "map these results" option.

 

It seems like a lot of people are having trouble figuring out how to use the new search. Maybe a tips and tricks page would help, possibly linked to the DNF page.

 

I'm not sure I like the new list yet. The lines are bigger, meaning I can't see as many caches at once. Also, the all white background makes it kind of hard to see where the list items start and end. Maybe adding back the gray shading on every other line would help break up the list visually.

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Finally the "hide" and "find" pull down menu entries have been separated.

I didn't bother to go thru all the tips for hiding a cache (since I've hidden 20+ cahces B)! ), but it is at least the right way to go!

The search is a bit tricky, but I haven't used it, so no worries.

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No! Please get tho old search back!!!!

 

+1

 

The new search is terrible

 

I guess I will have to use a lot of bookmarks reverting to old search commands.

 

The new search is not only terrible, but so is the output list.

Edited by cezanne
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Not liking this at all. It is imposable to find events in our area. There needs to be a return to where we can find out the newest caches and all event for each state. If this is what we get for our subscription I am not liking it. You took away the state button in our profile some months ago but we could still use the old search to find out the newest caches in the state as well as the events that were coming up. Perfect example of what is wrong with this format is that I am trying to find out all the events leading up to the Geowoodstock in may, the way thing are now I do not know how that could be done. All I can say is HELP!

Edited by Turtle3863
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The way this is now, no on will come to your events that you hold except for people who just happen to come by your town and see the icon on the map

 

Bookmark this

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?&State_id=18&tx=69eb8534-b718-4b35-ae3c-a856a55b0874

 

By replacing the state id number with something else it works for states other than Kentucky

and by replacing the tx part by something else for other cache types.

 

Quite tiresome however and so annoying as all what is needed for the old search is still there.

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The way this is now, no on will come to your events that you hold except for people who just happen to come by your town and see the icon on the map

While the new search has its flaws, I don't see how it's so bad that it would prevent people from hearing about events. The many other ways that are likely used much more often to learn about events (including the Event Calendar, Instant Notifications, Pocket Queries, newsletter, mobile apps/API, word-of-mouth, etc.) are unchanged.

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In an attempt to add some new features you have taken away some of the features I find most useful. I can no longer search by State and see all the newest caches. I also used the State search to see all upcoming Events. Now I can't find all the events in my State. Bring back the old search capability and make the new stuff an additional option. It has made everything much worse for me. I don't like it at all!

 

The types of searches you mention are possible if you omit an origin and instead add a filter for the region you want to search on. For example, use this query for the newest caches in Massachusetts:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?r=22&sort=PlaceDate&asc=False

 

Strange this query does not produce anything for me.

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I tried to search for Sweden, I got 109 caches in southmiddle Sweden. There is a lot more of them here. I tried with my state/region Jämtland and ended up with 82 caches a very long away from Jämtland.

I was going to Will attend an event in May about 500 kilometers from home. I dont know how to find it.

 

You are searching with "Sweden" as an origin, which limits you to 30 miles from the coordinates that are identified as the middle of Sweden. Instead, do an originless search with Sweden as the region:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?c=10

 

Oh now I understand - you made the country search a PM feature!

You could also have mentioned that with the new search you then apparently took away quite a basic functionality of the site for basic members.

 

I just cannot understand why as everything needed for the old search is still there.

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In an attempt to add some new features you have taken away some of the features I find most useful. I can no longer search by State and see all the newest caches. I also used the State search to see all upcoming Events. Now I can't find all the events in my State. Bring back the old search capability and make the new stuff an additional option. It has made everything much worse for me. I don't like it at all!

The types of searches you mention are possible if you omit an origin and instead add a filter for the region you want to search on. For example, use this query for the newest caches in Massachusetts:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?r=22&sort=PlaceDate&asc=False

Strange this query does not produce anything for me.

I think I might know why. It's due to this little blurb in the newsletter I just received:

Add more features like filters and sorting in the new search by upgrading to Geocaching Premium.

If I'm reading that correctly, the new search is effectively neutered for basic members. The link above uses both filters and sorting, and you're now a basic member, so that's probably why it doesn't work.

 

Boy, without the filters, the new search in its current state is next to useless for basic members (all they can do is a 30 mile/50 km radius search for all caches around a point). I had no idea they were going to do that. <_<

 

Edit: Whoops, cross-posted.

Edited by The A-Team
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The way this is now, no on will come to your events that you hold except for people who just happen to come by your town and see the icon on the map

While the new search has its flaws, I don't see how it's so bad that it would prevent people from hearing about events. The many other ways that are likely used much more often to learn about events (including the Event Calendar, Instant Notifications, Pocket Queries, newsletter, mobile apps/API, word-of-mouth, etc.) are unchanged.

 

I don't know. My most common method was looking for the newest caches in a region.

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In an attempt to add some new features you have taken away some of the features I find most useful. I can no longer search by State and see all the newest caches. I also used the State search to see all upcoming Events. Now I can't find all the events in my State. Bring back the old search capability and make the new stuff an additional option. It has made everything much worse for me. I don't like it at all!

The types of searches you mention are possible if you omit an origin and instead add a filter for the region you want to search on. For example, use this query for the newest caches in Massachusetts:

 

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?r=22&sort=PlaceDate&asc=False

Strange this query does not produce anything for me.

I think I might know why. It's due to this little blurb in the newsletter I just received:

Add more features like filters and sorting in the new search by upgrading to Geocaching Premium.

If I'm reading that correctly, the new search is effectively neutered for basic members. The link above uses both filters and sorting, and you're now a basic member, so that's probably why it doesn't work.

 

Boy, without the filters, the new search in its current state is next to useless for basic members (all they can do is a 30 mile/50 km radius search for all caches around a point). I had no idea they were going to do that. <_<

 

Edit: Whoops, cross-posted.

 

 

its a 30 mile limit for premium also..

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its a 30 mile limit for premium also..

 

No, apparently those can use the commands that have been posted here while I cannot.

 

It's pretty sarcastic to write

We recognize the contributions of our Premium members by allowing them exclusive access to tools that take geocaching beyond the everyday

 

and making the most elementary and basic search that has worked since I started geocaching in 2002 impossible for basic members and not even mentioning it.

I really do not care about fancy filters, but if the search stays like that it is a encouragement to take away all my caches from the site and I see it as breaking the famous promise of keeping the basic game free of charge.

Edited by cezanne
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The new search really badly needs more instructions to assist with its use. As has been demonstrated by posts above (and in the forum discussion during the preview), the new search expects users to adjust to its way of doing things, rather than the other way 'round. It simply isn't intuitive.

 

Please add some text on the page to make it crystal clear that the main field is only for searching within a limited distance (at this time) of a single point, and that you can do region-based searching by leaving that field blank and using the additional filters. Those of us who were following the discussion here in the forums - and those at GSHQ - know this is how it works, but it's unlikely that a member-off-the-street would figure that out right away. It just isn't the way you'd expect it to work.

 

Edit to add: I just checked, and the "DNF" message is still woefully vague and unhelpful. It needs to provide more guidance about which are the key fields. In its current form, it's essentially saying "No results found, but we're not going to tell you why or how you can fix it". IMO, this search is nowhere near ready for production and needs lots more work and user testing.

 

I agree that it needs better instructions and that was something that I suggested during the sneak peak. A *lot* of people were confused by how the search box works vs. the "Search Only in" filter. That said, once you understand how it works, it works pretty well. For example, enter "Buffalo, NY" in the search box and select "United States: New York" in the "Search only in" filter. It will give you a list of caches with a center point in Buffalo but restrict the list to caches which won't require a border crossing.

 

As someone else mentioned, I also saw some weirdness with the distance calculation. I selected "Canada" for the search only in filter and just did a search without a location. The first cache in the list was 113 miles from my home location. When I looked at the results on the map, it looked like there were a few caches that were closer. When I looked at one of them, the cache listing indicated that it was 104 miles from my home location. When I change the search only in filter to "Canada: Ontario" the first cache on the list is 103 miles away. I'm going to guess that, because it's showing "1000 of 15,000+" results that it's excluding some caches from the results (perhaps by placed date).

 

I have a couple of gripes.

 

The 30mi./50km proximity limit is a killer and is something that I and others mentioned many times during the sneak peak. Perhaps if you live in a relatively cache dense area and/or have not been caching long (and thus haven't found most of the closest caches to home) a 30 mile limit might be reasonable, but for those that live in cache sparse areas and typically have to travel 30 miles or more to find a cache, the limit effectively makes the new search engine useless.

 

Perhaps using an algorithm that executes before the filter page renders that does a count of the number of unfound caches within ones home or selected coordinates and adjusts the maximum radius accordingly it could provide more useful results. For example, if I do a search using my home location and have found all caches within 20 miles (as I did several years ago), it could raise the proximity limit to 50 miles so I get a reasonable number of results. If I do a search for Seattle, Washington where there are over 1800 caches I haven't found within 10 miles so there would be no need to raise the proximity limit.

 

While the "Map these results" shows the results on a map it's not very useful. Even though it uses the same page URL for the map page it appears to be passing in an encoded string that turns off the side panel with no ability to toggle it back on. That side panel includes a rather useful link: "Save as Pocket Query". As it's currently implemented, the "Map these results" feature is just a tease.

 

 

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Not liking this at all. It is imposable to find events in our area. There needs to be a return to where we can find out the newest caches and all event for each state. If this is what we get for our subscription I am not liking it.

 

Go to the Filters without entering anything in the search box. Enter your state in the "Search only in" field. Select "deselect all" for the cache types, then select Events and execute the search. It'll show all events in order from the distance to your home coordinates. Click on the "Placed by" column header and now they're sorted by date. What am I missing?

 

 

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Not liking this at all. It is imposable to find events in our area. There needs to be a return to where we can find out the newest caches and all event for each state. If this is what we get for our subscription I am not liking it.

 

Go to the Filters without entering anything in the search box. Enter your state in the "Search only in" field. Select "deselect all" for the cache types, then select Events and execute the search. It'll show all events in order from the distance to your home coordinates. Click on the "Placed by" column header and now they're sorted by date. What am I missing?

 

 

we shouldn't have to do this tho.... the old system worked perfectly

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I never used the search function before, I just set up Different PQS for different info and just previewed them as needed an it works awesome.

 

After playing with the new search I like it, the only 2 things that could be improved is increase the distance if you select a location and the ability to creat a PQ of the search results.

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Please, Please, Please bring back the old "Hide and Seek a cache" - This release is not user friendly enough and I think its going to chase off newer members!

 

I'm not sure how you feel that the old format was broken... so why are you trying to fix it?

 

I also like to search for new caches and try to be FTF - Most of my "competition" has a tool that messages or texts them when a cache is published - I depend on my computer and cant seem to find a list of "recently placed".

 

I placed a search for nearby caches and clicked on one I didn't recognize - it said it was .2 miles from my home, when opened its was over 50 miles

Edited by MountainViewFarmTeam
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Can you tell me how to look for caches placed in a certain month? I was looking for caches placed in July and August of 2000????

 

On the old page and format... I was going state by state AND finding the caches I was looking for..

NOW I am having a great deal of problems climbing around this new setup and the &*! limits of number of caches that come up..

Edited by redagain
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Not liking this at all. It is imposable to find events in our area. There needs to be a return to where we can find out the newest caches and all event for each state. If this is what we get for our subscription I am not liking it. You took away the state button in our profile some months ago but we could still use the old search to find out the newest caches in the state as well as the events that were coming up. Perfect example of what is wrong with this format is that I am trying to find out all the events leading up to the Geowoodstock in may, the way thing are now I do not know how that could be done. All I can say is HELP!

 

I am able to find the events near the date of Geowoodstock by going to Find a cache, clicking Add Filters. Once you see the criteria page, deselect all cache types except Event and enter Maryland in Search only in (when you see United States: Maryland, click on it.

 

Then Click Search.

 

Once you have the list of events, click on Placed On to reverse the sort.

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Can you tell me how to look for caches placed in a certain month? I was looking for caches placed in July and August of 2000????

 

On the old page and format... I was going state by state AND finding the caches I was looking for..

NOW I am having a great deal of problems climbing around this new setup and the &*! limits of number of caches that come up..

 

Goto search

click change filters

enter your state in the "search only in..." box.

click search

click "placed on".

Click it again.

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Can you tell me how to look for caches placed in a certain month? I was looking for caches placed in July and August of 2000????

 

On the old page and format... I was going state by state AND finding the caches I was looking for..

NOW I am having a great deal of problems climbing around this new setup and the &*! limits of number of caches that come up..

 

Goto search

click change filters

enter your state in the "search only in..." box.

click search

click "placed on".

Click it again.

 

Ok, Thank you for the feed back ......and can we still look for caches by zip codes?

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