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


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It might be that Groundspeak is seeking to increase their coffers by requiring premium membership in order to find caches with the convenience non-premium members had before. And that is "hidden" in the guise of "Here's our new search page with NEW features."

 

I need to admit that to me in particular the way they came along with the new search and try to sell it as something superb for everyone makes me feel like when someone is trying to pull my leg.

 

Have a look e.g. at the search result page for basic members when the results contain PM-only caches.

Now instead of listing D/T, size, hidden date and last found date there is a full sentence telling that these are PM only caches and a link to subscribe. Another such link and the mention of PM-only appears in the leftmost column for each such cache.

This all adds to the subscribe to link in the right top part of the page.

 

Somehow it's a bit too explicit and at some point the "upgrade" link dominates the provided information.

 

Why hide D/T ratings, cache size etc from basic members? Of course some might decide to become PMs if they happen to be looking forward to all those PM-only caches in an area, but then it could happen that they realize that most of this caches are of no interest to them (maybe all T=5, all micros etc). Removing valuable information that did not give the cache location and cache listing away and replacing it by the same sentence all the time is somehow making me really wonder whether a single person at gc.com has tried out the site with basic member rights and used it for geocaching.

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This just gets worse and worse....now I can't get any response from the stupid new search. Following some of the instructions that folks have kindly put together, I leave the window blank and go to 'add filters'. I could sometimes get some results by putting in a location. I put in "Cleveland, OH" and all it does is cycle me back to the opening page. No error notice, no information on what is wrong, just back to the opening page.

 

So I guess you have to do a whole state, not a city. How incredibly stupid and annoying! I'm going on a road trip this weekend, but I'm not covering the entire state of Ohio! Why can't I search for Cleveland, OH?

 

I'm very thankful for the work of other cachers putting together instructions and links, so glad to have access to the old search where I could put in the zip code and get a sensible result.

 

This new search is just a horrible disaster and is completely ruined the useability of the site and the enjoyment of the game.

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So We look around some more and find she now has access to the Map page - something that used to be only accessible to Premium members but now is given to everyone - with the exception that they can't filter out their previous Finds.

I don't know what You are talking about. Displaying the map with all caches on it was available before for everyone. Only the filtering-features was enabled for premium-service-subscribers. Or am I missing something?

 

Regards

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I don't know what You are talking about. Displaying the map with all caches on it was available before for everyone. Only the filtering-features was enabled for premium-service-subscribers. Or am I missing something?

 

 

The availability of Pm caches on the maps has changed back and forth several times.

Edited by cezanne
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When I tested this before had no idea it was going to replace the old search tools. It was a nice addition, but is in no way a suitable replacement. I am very disappointed. I have many issues with it, but I will just post one for now. Where is the ability to find an archived cache? Putting in the GC# finds nothing.

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Can you help me find the oldest cache in a state, in a few easy steps? A few features are clever, but I have to agree that most of the new search features severely limit my searches. I'm glad I had my recent PQ's all set up before they changed the search. I spent a lot of time planning my week long, multi-state trip. I believe it would be impossible to plan it now with the new searches. It would be nice if we could toggle back and forth between the old and the new methods.

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Can you help me find the oldest cache in a state, in a few easy steps?
Here you go:
  • In the top menu bar, select "Play", then select "Find a Geocache".
  • IMPORTANT: Leave the main input field blank, since you don't want a search radius.
  • Click "Add Filters" button below the main input field.
  • In the "Search Only In..." field, enter "United States: California" (or whatever).
  • Click "Search".
  • In the search results, select the "Placed On" heading. You'll see the newest cache listings first.
  • Select the "Placed On" heading again. You'll see the oldest cache listings first.

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While using the search function and switching to map function it is not possible to create any PQ from map site (the tool bar at the left site of the page is totally missing)

 

Why isn't it possible to create a PQ of the shown filtered cache list. This would be very helpful and avoid downloading caches you really don't need.

 

Why isn't it possible to use search function page with a GC-Code (you are looking only for 1 cache and not for any other result, this function should be added by any filter and not in general)

 

Why isn't it possible to create an PQ from my filtered searching results?

 

Why is the map toolbar only shown when i'm changing to map by using search function at the gc.com mainpage?

 

Searching results from mainpage have still the old design and are not adapted to new search-function styleguide.

 

Using "play" and "view map" searching by GC-Code is not possible. some citys in germany are existing more than one time. It is not possible to select anything (example Meckenheim postal code 53340 and 67149)

 

Why isn't it possible to use the same filter functions for "find a geocache" and "View a geocache map"?

 

my routes function:

Why isn't it possible to delete any of my not public shared created routes (this could save many data storage)?

 

I think this should be enough for first comment

B)

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I cannot tell you how much I hate the new search function. Yes, there are some nice new features that I might use once a month or so, but my daily searching has now become a nightmare so bad that I no longer use the search engine, I just try and find the cache on the map. Except sometimes I can't - an archived cache that I know the name of, the GC code for and the cacher who hid it, yet it does not come up on a search. To look for a cache I just found 5 minutes ago, I have to do an advanced search because nothing I put in the search engine comes up with anything but a DNF. Unknown cache logging is now a total pain because the original coordinates are up to 3 km away (in Adelaide that's a thousand cache icons to check on the map). Multis are impossible to find unless they are next to the starting coordinates.

 

You either need to issue a users' manual to tell us how to do the things that we used to be able to do so very easily on the old search engine, give us the option of using the old search engine instead of the new one or just admit you stuffed up in a seriously major way and get rid of this turkey of a search engine and give us the old one back.

 

+me and countless others !!!

 

+me too!!!

 

Seriously, does Groundspeak (or whoever the shadowy characters are behind the scenes) even acknowledge that this is a problem? Have they responded at all to the complaints? I haven't seen anything but stone cold silence....no change to make the search results more readable, no change to the ridiculous 30 mile limit, not even a link on the search page to a list of instructions on how to use the darn thing, nothing!

 

At the very least, they could simply leave a link up to the old search.

 

+ us and most of the local (Hawaii) cachers who never come to the forums...

 

I used to have an old car. I had a mechanic who was reliable, I could call him up and talk to him (or his one assistant) on the phone. He'd help me decide if I needed to bring the car in right away or not...

When he was done he'd show me the hole in the hose, or the old worn out parts and ask if I wanted them back. He always believed there was something wrong it I told him the engine was making a funny noise or the brakes were squeaking too much.

 

Now I have new car, it's fancy enough to come with "free" routine maintenance, for which I have to return to the dealer. I don't talk to a mechanic (or anyone who works on cars). I have a "service advisor" who never answers the phone. I get to play phone tag with someone who doesn't know much about me or my car. After the visit, the service advisor seems most concerned about the ratings I will give on the survey I'm going to get in an email. I miss the mechanic.

 

I am beginning to think Groundspeak has gone the way of the car dealer... It seems no one who works on the code or designs the site has been here to tell us why they messed with our perfectly usable search engine & why we can't keep it.

jrr

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This just gets worse and worse....now I can't get any response from the stupid new search. Following some of the instructions that folks have kindly put together, I leave the window blank and go to 'add filters'. I could sometimes get some results by putting in a location. I put in "Cleveland, OH" and all it does is cycle me back to the opening page. No error notice, no information on what is wrong, just back to the opening page.

 

So I guess you have to do a whole state, not a city. How incredibly stupid and annoying! I'm going on a road trip this weekend, but I'm not covering the entire state of Ohio! Why can't I search for Cleveland, OH?

If you want to search for an area smaller than an entire state, then you'll want to put the location in the main search box...instead of leaving it blank. For example, enter "cleveland, oh" in the main search box.

-- If you then click the search icon (magnifying glass on the right), then it will search within 10 miles of the center of Cleveland.

-- If you click on "add filters", then you can increase the distance up to 30 miles and/or apply the other filters (cache type, not found, etc).

 

Example of search results: Cleveland, OH -- 20 mile radius -- Enabled only -- Sorted by Favorite Points, with most FP's at top

 

Have a great trip.

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One other thing I don't understand with the new search page:

 

On the main page you can see 3 frames: "Home coordinates", "Current Location" and "Top-rated geocaches in your region".

 

I have my questions with the last one. It says: "Search for geocaches in your state or country sorted by Favorite Points."

GC-TopRatedGeocaches01_zpspebws9v1.png

 

If I click the "search now" button I get the following results in a list:

GC-TopRatedGeocaches02_zpsuy2leerp.png

 

 

I have to say that those aren't geocaches in my region!!! You can see that in the column with the distance in it. So why does the first screen say: "Top-rated geocaches in your region" ???

Then when I sort on distance I get geocaches in my area but they have 0 favorite points!?!?!? Are those the top-rated geocaches in my area???

 

Once again I think there's a lot of work to be done to make this whole new search feature a good one.

I do encourage the work IT people do or will do but it has to be for the better, not for the worse.

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I have my questions with the last one. It says: "Search for geocaches in your state or country sorted by Favorite Points."

 

I have to say that those aren't geocaches in my region!!! You can see that in the column with the distance in it. So why does the first screen say: "Top-rated geocaches in your region" ???

Not sure I see the problem with this, unless you are not in Belgium? The search is showing you caches in your region (Belgium) with the most favorite caches at the top. It's going to take someone's state (in US/Germany) or country (outside US/Germany) and then sort those results by FP's.

 

Then when I sort on distance I get geocaches in my area but they have 0 favorite points!?!?!? Are those the top-rated geocaches in my area???

Did you want the search to only show you the "top-rated" geocaches and exclude the caches that are not "top-rated"? If so, then how would one define the "top-rated"...and then apply that definition to every region? This could be problematic if the highest count of Favorites in some regions is only 100, and in other regions top highest is 2500.

 

I suppose it could be something like "top 20%"...so the minimum number of FP's in search results would be different for different regions. Not sure how feasible that is for query performance, and not sure it's worthwhile if such searches can be done using the filters. I think those three boxes are meant to be 'quick views' and not necessarily completely refined searches, because people can refine the searches themselves. Even if the search results were only the top 100 caches in a region, then it's still possible the "top-rated" caches could be far away from you...but should still be within your region.

 

In any case, I think the search results reflect exactly what the box says it will show "Search for geocaches in your state or country sorted by Favorite Points".

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I have my questions with the last one. It says: "Search for geocaches in your state or country sorted by Favorite Points."

 

I have to say that those aren't geocaches in my region!!! You can see that in the column with the distance in it. So why does the first screen say: "Top-rated geocaches in your region" ???

Not sure I see the problem with this, unless you are not in Belgium? The search is showing you caches in your region (Belgium) with the most favorite caches at the top. It's going to take someone's state (in US/Germany) or country (outside US/Germany) and then sort those results by FP's.

 

Then when I sort on distance I get geocaches in my area but they have 0 favorite points!?!?!? Are those the top-rated geocaches in my area???

Did you want the search to only show you the "top-rated" geocaches and exclude the caches that are not "top-rated"? If so, then how would one define the "top-rated"...and then apply that definition to every region? This could be problematic if the highest count of Favorites in some regions is only 100, and in other regions top highest is 2500.

 

I suppose it could be something like "top 20%"...so the minimum number of FP's in search results would be different for different regions. Not sure how feasible that is for query performance, and not sure it's worthwhile if such searches can be done using the filters. I think those three boxes are meant to be 'quick views' and not necessarily completely refined searches, because people can refine the searches themselves. Even if the search results were only the top 100 caches in a region, then it's still possible the "top-rated" caches could be far away from you...but should still be within your region.

 

In any case, I think the search results reflect exactly what the box says it will show "Search for geocaches in your state or country sorted by Favorite Points".

 

Okay ... indeed I'm from Belgium so I have to follow what you say that the results are showing me geocaches in Belgium. But why are there geocaches in the results with 0 favorite points??? That is something I really don't understand. 0 means "not top-rated", no?

But yes ... if you want the top-rated geocaches of your region (not whole country) you don't have to use this box. Therefor we have the additional search options or even the PQ's. It was just something my eyes fell on. I don't find it very logic.

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Okay ... indeed I'm from Belgium so I have to follow what you say that the results are showing me geocaches in Belgium. But why are there geocaches in the results with 0 favorite points???

The 0 appear in your example because you re-sorted the results by distance, and the closest caches to you do not have any FP's. The search achieved by clicking in the box shows the caches with highest FP's first. If that results list is then adjusted, then it's no longer the same search as described in the original box.

 

something I really don't understand. 0 means "not top-rated", no?

I suppose it's possible that some regions could have no FP's, in which case 0 would be in the "top-rated". :blink:

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Okay ... indeed I'm from Belgium so I have to follow what you say that the results are showing me geocaches in Belgium. But why are there geocaches in the results with 0 favorite points???

The 0 appear in your example because you re-sorted the results by distance, and the closest caches to you do not have any FP's. The search achieved by clicking in the box shows the caches with highest FP's first. If that results list is then adjusted, then it's no longer the same search as described in the original box.

 

something I really don't understand. 0 means "not top-rated", no?

I suppose it's possible that some regions could have no FP's, in which case 0 would be in the "top-rated". :blink:

I do understand what you're saying but in my opinion geocaches with 0 favo's should not even be in that list of results.

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What the search is doing I believe is searching all the caches in the region. When you change the criteria, you are shown the caches that fit the new criteria. That is why when I create a pq around the motel and I want to choose the ones with the most favorite points I limit the area to one that includes less tha than 1000 caches.

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Then when I sort on distance I get geocaches in my area but they have 0 favorite points!?!?!? Are those the top-rated geocaches in my area???

 

When you choose 'top caches', you're not actually setting a filter property. The only filter applied is for caches in your region. So the result set includes all those caches. By asking for 'top caches', you're merely sorting them by favorites points first. If you reverse the sort, or sort by distance, it's no longer 'top caches in my region', it's "closest caches to me in my region", for example.

 

If you want to filter for actual top caches, then set the filter for minimum favorite points. Then you could sort by distance and see which over say 1000 points, are closest or farthest from you (in your region).

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Due to the fact that my membership was expired and I was interested in exploring the new design, I renewed my membership and was immideately frustrated on what I saw:

 

  • My first attempt was to find a cache that was found by a friend, but I was not able to find something like "Found by... " anymore. I´m personally not interested by "Not found by.."
  • I tried to find the cache "JS Hunderunde #9" but I could not find it even when entering the Name at the field "Geocache Name Contains ..."
  • When seeking for "Has personal cache note" I was missing my personal found date, seems to be missing on every result page.
  • The Result Page is terrible for me, you have to scroll much more than before, the Icons are to large, the maximul number of entries I can see on one page is 8! I don´t know how that looks like on a mobile device
  • The loading loading of the next pages takes much more time that before.

When there will be no change I will not renew my membership any more.

 

I agree with some other posts "The old style was "old" but it was working".

Cheers

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[*]My first attempt was to find a cache that was found by a friend, but I was not able to find something like "Found by... " anymore. I´m personally not interested by "Not found by.."

There are several people that find the 'not found by' option useful. Particularly for planning an outing with multiple cachers. If I'm going caching with others, then the 'new' search allows filtering for caches where the other cachers (up to 5) also haven't found the cache...so then we can go look for those caches.

Finding caches 'found by' others is still possible, by looking at their profile. Several people seem upset that 'found by' is not longer so easy. I don't understand why it's so important to be able to see what other cachers are doing. It doesn't seem like a few extra clicks is so problematic, and for privacy reasons I rather prefer that someone has to expend a little more effort to see what I've been up to. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, there's an option to block people from seeing a list of 'my finds'...sure, they'd be able to see a 'found it' log on an individual cache page, but then they'd have to go through every cache page to see if I had found it or not.

 

[*]I tried to find the cache "JS Hunderunde #9" but I could not find it even when entering the Name at the field "Geocache Name Contains ..."

The 'name' searching requires "Search Only In..." to be populated. Not intuitive, but easy to use once you realize it. This post from another thread might be helpful for you. The image is an example for New Zealand, but you can substitute Austria or another country...except for US/Germany you cannot search by country, but just state.

 

For example, I just ran a search for Austria that contains the word "Hunderunde": Search Results sorted alphabetically by Geocache Name If the search results work for you, then you can click on "Change Filters" and see how the search was set-up, and you could change filters to get different results...such as selecting just the Traditionals in the "Geocache Types" filter.

 

[*]The loading loading of the next pages takes much more time that before.

I've seen a few people mention this. I haven't noticed a different in page loading, but maybe it's a geographical thing? I'm 15 minutes from GS HQ, so maybe that helps me.

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I did a filtered search and I have 148 caches in front of me that I need to put into a PQ. How do I do this? I was told it can't be done but I am confident that Groundspeak didn't take this away from us so I am asking ... How do I save this to a PQ now that I have EXACTLY what I want on the computer screen in front of me?

 

Now if Groundspeak did take this away from us.... What were you thinking? What is the purpose of the search? It looks nice on the computer but that "ain't" where I need the results to be. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get input from people who actually go caching and need the search results in a GPX file.

 

Tom

Night-Hawk

Edited by Night-Hawk
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I did a filtered search and I have 148 caches in front of me that I need to put into a PQ. How do I do this? I was told it can't be done but I am confident that Groundspeak didn't take this away from us so I am asking ... How do I save this to a PQ now that I have EXACTLY what I want on the computer screen in front of me?

 

Now if Groundspeak did take this away from us.... What were you thinking? What is the purpose of the search? It looks nice on the computer but that "ain't" where I need the results to be. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get input from people who actually go caching and need the search results in a GPX file.

 

Tom

Night-Hawk

 

You've never been able to generate a PQ from the results of a search, so GS didn't take it away from you as you never had it in the first place.

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FYI -- A Lackey did comment on some of the issues that several people have expressed dissatisfaction with. It's likely many people that jumped into the thread after the post didn't read it, so I'm linking it here: Post #133 on Page 3

 

Essentially, there are some aspects of the new search that they are already working on. Personally, I'm going to be optimistic that there will be improvements.

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The new search feature has made the search so much more difficult than it needs to be, that I want to quit entirely. It's been ruined for me. This is by far the saddest change since I began caching 2002. I wish Groundspeak would put it back the way it was. It caused quite a lot of anguish in this neck of the woods. It's not just me. The fun is gone. I can no longer pull up upcoming events searching by state. Why not?

We don't need change for the sake of change.

This is indeed a sad time for me. You have to know where events are going to be held to look up the zip code. Bring it back please!

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What?!?! Another unwanted and useless "update"?!?! Yet again?!? :blink:

 

The new layout looks bad, really bad... And more than that, you messed up all old the menus! Why?!? What's the point of this?

 

In the last 6 months you have made a lot of (very) bad releases, one after another. Is hard to remember the last smart&useful release... You really want to change almost everything, just for the sake of change something. Why to waste resources to change good features into bad features?!? What's the point? You don't have any better things to do?!? :unsure:

 

Why don't you send all the players a poll via weekly e-mail and ask them what they want to change regarding the website and the game? Don't you think that would be much better? Just asking... But, as far as I have seen recently, you really don't care about your users. You change something, most of them are very upset. So what?!? Who cares about users?!? You have much more "good ideas" that you like them... A very healthy attitude!

 

I am profoundly dissapointed by your attitude and by the fact the release after release you ruin the website as well as the game. An no, I'm not the only one who feels like this! Just read the forum!

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The new search feature has made the search so much more difficult than it needs to be, that I want to quit entirely. It's been ruined for me. This is by far the saddest change since I began caching 2002. I wish Groundspeak would put it back the way it was. It caused quite a lot of anguish in this neck of the woods. It's not just me. The fun is gone. I can no longer pull up upcoming events searching by state. Why not?

We don't need change for the sake of change.

This is indeed a sad time for me. You have to know where events are going to be held to look up the zip code. Bring it back please!

 

The directions on how to find events by state using the new search are posted in multiple threads including one posted by a lackey. I also think it is in the FAQs linked in the release notes. To find upcoming events in a state leave the search box on the first page blank. That page resolves whatever you enter into a set of coordinates and centers a search there. On the second page clear all cache types, except for events. Then start to type your state into the box and select United States Connecticut. Depending on where you live though you may find it more satisfactory to use a saved pq that you preview since you might also be interested in events in RI. MA, or NY.

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The new search feature has made the search so much more difficult than it needs to be, that I want to quit entirely. It's been ruined for me. This is by far the saddest change since I began caching 2002. I wish Groundspeak would put it back the way it was. It caused quite a lot of anguish in this neck of the woods. It's not just me. The fun is gone. I can no longer pull up upcoming events searching by state. Why not?

We don't need change for the sake of change.

This is indeed a sad time for me. You have to know where events are going to be held to look up the zip code. Bring it back please!

 

The directions on how to find events by state using the new search are posted in multiple threads including one posted by a lackey. I also think it is in the FAQs linked in the release notes. To find upcoming events in a state leave the search box on the first page blank. That page resolves whatever you enter into a set of coordinates and centers a search there. On the second page clear all cache types, except for events. Then start to type your state into the box and select United States Connecticut. Depending on where you live though you may find it more satisfactory to use a saved pq that you preview since you might also be interested in events in RI. MA, or NY.

Hi Planet, as Team Taran already mentioned...the statewide event search is indeed possible for Premium Members, so you should be able to find all events in Connecticut quite quickly. Team Taran's post describes how to do that, but sometimes a picture helps and so you can see a screenshot of searching for statewide events in this post. The linked results use North Carolina as an example, but you can replace your own state. Just make sure to select the state from the drop-down list that will appear when you start typing Connecticut.

 

Here is what search results for Connecticut events look like, sorted by date: https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?types=6&r=7

If this gives you results, then you can click "Change Filters" in the Results page and made adjustments to the filters (like selecting a different state or filtering to show only specific cache types), then click "Update Search".

The search results can be viewed on a map by clicking "Map These Results" on the Results page. The link is in the lower right corner of the mountains image that spans the top of the page.

 

As a PM, you also have the option of using a PQ to search events within a certain radius, so you might want to consider that option since there are several states near you.

Edited by noncentric
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I followed instructions. Problem is I don't have a home computer. I only have an android phone, and it doesn't work according to instructions. I did finally get it to work, but it's so many hoops to jump through on a small screen, that the thrill is gone. The app behaves the same way.

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I did a filtered search and I have 148 caches in front of me that I need to put into a PQ. How do I do this? I was told it can't be done but I am confident that Groundspeak didn't take this away from us so I am asking ... How do I save this to a PQ now that I have EXACTLY what I want on the computer screen in front of me?

 

Now if Groundspeak did take this away from us.... What were you thinking? What is the purpose of the search? It looks nice on the computer but that "ain't" where I need the results to be. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get input from people who actually go caching and need the search results in a GPX file.

 

Tom

Night-Hawk

 

You've never been able to generate a PQ from the results of a search, so GS didn't take it away from you as you never had it in the first place.

 

Totally not true... you could elect to display the result in map view and from the map view you had the option to generate a PQ from the Map View.

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I did a filtered search and I have 148 caches in front of me that I need to put into a PQ. How do I do this? I was told it can't be done but I am confident that Groundspeak didn't take this away from us so I am asking ... How do I save this to a PQ now that I have EXACTLY what I want on the computer screen in front of me?

 

Now if Groundspeak did take this away from us.... What were you thinking? What is the purpose of the search? It looks nice on the computer but that "ain't" where I need the results to be. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get input from people who actually go caching and need the search results in a GPX file.

 

Tom

Night-Hawk

 

You've never been able to generate a PQ from the results of a search, so GS didn't take it away from you as you never had it in the first place.

 

Totally not true... you could elect to display the result in map view and from the map view you had the option to generate a PQ from the Map View.

 

I just tried to do what you describe. Totally Not True. From the map generated from search results, there is NO OPTION to make a PQ from that map. I can only create a PQ from the regular map.

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I am starting to think the new search may be OK but I miss the ability to scroll the map after I make my initial search and see the new caches pop up when I am planning an outing. Now I have to go back and research the edge of my first search to expand the territory. Any thought of allowing scrolling of the map. thanks dan

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The advantage of having the map locked to the results of the search is that you can explore your search results without accidentally including caches that don't meet your criteria. To get an unrestricted map just open a cache and scan the map you open from there.

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I am starting to think the new search may be OK but I miss the ability to scroll the map after I make my initial search and see the new caches pop up when I am planning an outing. Now I have to go back and research the edge of my first search to expand the territory. Any thought of allowing scrolling of the map. thanks dan

 

If you go to Play in the menu bar and then choose View Geocache Map you have what you want.

 

Of course this is not what you initially want: giving search preferences, watch them on the geocache map and having the ability to scroll the map where new geocaches appear. But if you use the way mentioned above you can filter on a location in the left column, select what geocaches you want, etc.

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The new search feature has made the search so much more difficult than it needs to be, that I want to quit entirely. It's been ruined for me. This is by far the saddest change since I began caching 2002. I wish Groundspeak would put it back the way it was. It caused quite a lot of anguish in this neck of the woods. It's not just me. The fun is gone. I can no longer pull up upcoming events searching by state. Why not?

We don't need change for the sake of change.

This is indeed a sad time for me. You have to know where events are going to be held to look up the zip code. Bring it back please!

 

The directions on how to find events by state using the new search are posted in multiple threads including one posted by a lackey. I also think it is in the FAQs linked in the release notes. To find upcoming events in a state leave the search box on the first page blank. That page resolves whatever you enter into a set of coordinates and centers a search there. On the second page clear all cache types, except for events. Then start to type your state into the box and select United States Connecticut. Depending on where you live though you may find it more satisfactory to use a saved pq that you preview since you might also be interested in events in RI. MA, or NY.

Hi Planet, as Team Taran already mentioned...the statewide event search is indeed possible for Premium Members, so you should be able to find all events in Connecticut quite quickly. Team Taran's post describes how to do that, but sometimes a picture helps and so you can see a screenshot of searching for statewide events in this post. The linked results use North Carolina as an example, but you can replace your own state. Just make sure to select the state from the drop-down list that will appear when you start typing Connecticut.

 

Here is what search results for Connecticut events look like, sorted by date: https://www.geocachi...rch?types=6&r=7

If this gives you results, then you can click "Change Filters" in the Results page and made adjustments to the filters (like selecting a different state or filtering to show only specific cache types), then click "Update Search".

The search results can be viewed on a map by clicking "Map These Results" on the Results page. The link is in the lower right corner of the mountains image that spans the top of the page.

 

As a PM, you also have the option of using a PQ to search events within a certain radius, so you might want to consider that option since there are several states near you.

So, we have to use 'back door' ways that are so difficult to understand that we need pictures to navigate the site now. And if you are not PM members anymore, you cannot use the site at all? Gee, thank you very much for making a site that is hard to use where it used to be so simple and fun.

 

Also, are the benchmark hunting links going to be put back onto the main page? No one is answering that question at all.

 

Just wondering the "Why" of all of the changes that do not make things easier for the people who still want to play here....

 

Shirley~

 

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Edited by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)
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Just noticed that the OLD SEARCH IS BACK...!

A link has been added on the bottom-right of the Advanced Search Screen that says: TAKE ME TO THE OLD SEARCH.

All is good again.

Yep, see here.

 

I still wouldn't count on it being there forever, though. They did say (bolding mine):

We recognize, though, that learning the ins and outs of the new tool will take some time. To that end, we’re keeping the old Search around a bit longer.

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WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

After having some kind of nasty stuff happen this week (Not at all geocaching related), I've been feeling down. But this has renewed my faith, that there is good in man kind and that there are folks out there that really do want to make things right for the rest of us. My basic member friend says that she can us the old search too again and is VERY happy about it as well.

 

Thank you to the folks at G/S that have brought back the old search. We complained and you listened. Thanks!

Edited by SirKarp
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The new Search is so lacking the flexibility of the old search.

#1 Only 30 mile max range, where before no limit

#2 only can search in one state at a time, compared to all states and countries before

#3 the search as it is now is pretty useless to most of us that have been using the original for years and years with no complaints. Why change something that is not broken. If you want to fix something that is broken, bring back Virtuals, web cams and allow pictures as proof. Everyone on the planet with a phone has a camera or a real camera they carry.

#4 one more complaint, I see no use for lab caches, they are just dumb and don't count as a real cache so what's the point to have them at all.

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The new Search is so lacking the flexibility of the old search.

#1 Only 30 mile max range, where before no limit

#2 only can search in one state at a time, compared to all states and countries before

We've recently been told that the new search is still considered to be in the beta stage, so it's very possible that these limitations will be reduced or removed at some point.

 

#3 the search as it is now is pretty useless to most of us that have been using the original for years and years with no complaints. Why change something that is not broken. If you want to fix something that is broken, bring back Virtuals, web cams and allow pictures as proof. Everyone on the planet with a phone has a camera or a real camera they carry.

They changed it because tons of people had been asking for change. People have been asking for years for better search functionality. TPTB have now given us at least some of the requested functionality, and you can now do many things that you couldn't do before. See the guide in my signature for more information on how to do various searches.

 

Virtuals were fundamentally broken, and there was (and still is) no easy answer for fixing them, so that's why they were grandfathered. If you want to learn more about how broken they were, do some searching using the keywords "virtual" and "WOW factor".

 

The Webcam Cache type and its associated "Webcam Photo Taken" log type are pretty self-explanatory. Allowing selfies would make no sense and would completely change the concept. Also, to extend what you said about cameras, those phone users could also bring up the webcam page and capture the required webcam image as intended by the cache type, so no selfie would be required.

 

#4 one more complaint, I see no use for lab caches, they are just dumb and don't count as a real cache so what's the point to have them at all.

Lab Caches are a way to experiment with possible new features. Nothing more. They were never originally intended to be treated as caches at all, but some people complained until they got TPTB to include them in the stats in a pseudo-cache, purgatory-like state.

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I realized today that there is no way to pull up a cache page for an archived cache. I needed to look at one when I was researching my qualifications for a challenge cache. The results it spits out are the closest active caches even when I search by the GC code. Archived caches are supposed to be available for viewing purposes but I see no way to get to them.

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