iPhone

[Jack4565]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

[steveo34]

I just used the Geocaching app (paid one)

Worked out ok

[+Bear and Ragged]

Take your time.

Take several readings. Average them if necessary.

 

Check you reading/s by walking away and using them to get back to the location. (several times, from different directions helps!)

[+Team Geofrog]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

 

Please don't use a phone. They are not accurate at all for placing caches. Hey are not bad for finding, however. Only use a dedicated GPSr if you want accuracy. I did a group school project plotting waypoints with cellphones. I told my classmates this in the beginning and no one believed me. The final project was useless as none of the 60+ points were where they should be and 3 were about a mile off.

[+Manville Possum]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

 

Please don't use a phone. They are not accurate at all for placing caches. Hey are not bad for finding, however. Only use a dedicated GPSr if you want accuracy. I did a group school project plotting waypoints with cellphones. I told my classmates this in the beginning and no one believed me. The final project was useless as none of the 60+ points were where they should be and 3 were about a mile off.

 

I have had the same experience. Google Earth has proven more accurate to me for plotting waypoints over a phone and app.

[+cerberus1]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

No app will give you exact coordinates.

Civilian GPS on it's best day will get you around ten foot accuracy.

- "Best day" doesn't happen too often.

There are a few waypoint averaging apps that might help you get a bit closer.

[+cerberus1]

Why not find a few first?

This way, you'd get the idea of how "accurate" your phone is with others.

[+Chief301]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

 

Please don't use a phone. They are not accurate at all for placing caches. Hey are not bad for finding, however. Only use a dedicated GPSr if you want accuracy. I did a group school project plotting waypoints with cellphones. I told my classmates this in the beginning and no one believed me. The final project was useless as none of the 60+ points were where they should be and 3 were about a mile off.

 

This is outdated thinking. A few years back when smart phones used cell tower triangulation to plot location this may have been true. Today's smart phones have a working GPS chip on board and any difference in accuracy compared to a handheld GPS is negligible. It's all about the care taken by the hider.

 

I think cell phones still get a bad rap as tools for hiding caches mainly because they are being used by inexperienced cachers. Experienced cachers who have been playing the game for awhile have usually obtained a GPS at some point, so of course they use it for hiding. But they also know that you should obtain several readings on different days and average the results, test your coordinates before submittal, etc.

 

. New players who have only found a few caches and only have a phone, also probably don't have the experience or knowledge to understand how to get accurate coordinates. So they grab one momentary reading and submit that as their coordinates. When the coordinates suck everyone complains that the phone is to blame, but really it's the inexperience of the user.

 

I placed my first hide with an iPhone and I've never received any complaints about the coordinates being off.

 

To the OP....do a search for "GPS Averaging" in the App Store....there used to be an app called Perfect Mark that I've recommended for a while, but I don't know if it's still available. There's another $0.99 app called GPS Averager that looks like it does the same thing.

 

Whatever app you use, just understand that when you obtain a reading, you should set your phone down at the hiding spot for a couple of minutes to let it settle down and get a good fix before geabbing a reading. Then come back later, preferably on a different day, and obtain another reding. Do this 3 or 4 times and calculate the average of those readings (or use one of those GPS averaging apps which will do it for you), and THEN you will have an accurate set of coordinates. If you take your time and use this method you shouldn't get any complaints.

[+Chief301]

Why not find a few first?

This way, you'd get the idea of how "accurate" your phone is with others.

 

There's that, too. I didn't realize the OP had no finds. The best way be a good hider is to be an experienced finder. Go out and find a few first....I'd suggest at least 20 or 30....before you think about hiding any. First, it will give you some idea of how caches should be hidden. Second, it will show you a little about how your GPS works and what sort of accuracy you should expect. Third, make sure you're going to stick with this game awhile before you accept the long-term responsibility of owning a cache. There are too many abandoned and archived caches out there from people who first discovered Geocaching on a Friday, found two caches on Saturday, hid 5 caches on Sunday and never played the game again. Don't be that guy.

[Pup Patrol]

I suggest that you find a variety of caches to get an idea of the game.

 

Try to find caches of varying Difficulty/Terrain settings and different sizes of caches. If possible, try to seek out Multicaches, so you can learn how to use your phone for inputting "additional waypoints".

 

Finding nothing but the same size or type of cache doesn't let one know the extent of what is available or how varied one experience can be from another.

 

 

B.

[+Team Geofrog]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

 

Please don't use a phone. They are not accurate at all for placing caches. Hey are not bad for finding, however. Only use a dedicated GPSr if you want accuracy. I did a group school project plotting waypoints with cellphones. I told my classmates this in the beginning and no one believed me. The final project was useless as none of the 60+ points were where they should be and 3 were about a mile off.

 

This is outdated thinking. A few years back when smart phones used cell tower triangulation to plot location this may have been true. Today's smart phones have a working GPS chip on board and any difference in accuracy compared to a handheld GPS is negligible. It's all about the care taken by the hider.

 

I think cell phones still get a bad rap as tools for hiding caches mainly because they are being used by inexperienced cachers. Experienced cachers who have been playing the game for awhile have usually obtained a GPS at some point, so of course they use it for hiding. But they also know that you should obtain several readings on different days and average the results, test your coordinates before submittal, etc.

 

. New players who have only found a few caches and only have a phone, also probably don't have the experience or knowledge to understand how to get accurate coordinates. So they grab one momentary reading and submit that as their coordinates. When the coordinates suck everyone complains that the phone is to blame, but really it's the inexperience of the user.

 

I placed my first hide with an iPhone and I've never received any complaints about the coordinates being off.

 

To the OP....do a search for "GPS Averaging" in the App Store....there used to be an app called Perfect Mark that I've recommended for a while, but I don't know if it's still available. There's another $0.99 app called GPS Averager that looks like it does the same thing.

 

Whatever app you use, just understand that when you obtain a reading, you should set your phone down at the hiding spot for a couple of minutes to let it settle down and get a good fix before geabbing a reading. Then come back later, preferably on a different day, and obtain another reding. Do this 3 or 4 times and calculate the average of those readings (or use one of those GPS averaging apps which will do it for you), and THEN you will have an accurate set of coordinates. If you take your time and use this method you shouldn't get any complaints.

 

As I've stated, I've already done a study with this. But to each their own. Maybe your results are better than the eight of us who worked on our project, or from the geocaches I've found where I know the hider and what they use to hide it with (cell or GPSr). Results may vary.

[+geodarts]

As I've stated, I've already done a study with this. But to each their own. Maybe your results are better than the eight of us who worked on our project, or from the geocaches I've found where I know the hider and what they use to hide it with (cell or GPSr). Results may vary.

 

I "placed" a moving cache yesterday. My iPhone 6 and Oregon 600 were within .001 of each other. I could have used either. But as you say, the results will vary depending on the care taken to mark coordinates, the conditions at the location, the normal variations with any commercial gpsr, and the controls used in any study.

[+Chief301]

Hi,

 

I am looking to hide a Geocache with my iPhone. What is an accurate GPS app that will give me exact co-ordinates. Free or Paid it doesn't really matter I just need accuracy.

 

Kind Regards

 

Jack

 

Please don't use a phone. They are not accurate at all for placing caches. Hey are not bad for finding, however. Only use a dedicated GPSr if you want accuracy. I did a group school project plotting waypoints with cellphones. I told my classmates this in the beginning and no one believed me. The final project was useless as none of the 60+ points were where they should be and 3 were about a mile off.

 

This is outdated thinking. A few years back when smart phones used cell tower triangulation to plot location this may have been true. Today's smart phones have a working GPS chip on board and any difference in accuracy compared to a handheld GPS is negligible. It's all about the care taken by the hider.

 

I think cell phones still get a bad rap as tools for hiding caches mainly because they are being used by inexperienced cachers. Experienced cachers who have been playing the game for awhile have usually obtained a GPS at some point, so of course they use it for hiding. But they also know that you should obtain several readings on different days and average the results, test your coordinates before submittal, etc.

 

. New players who have only found a few caches and only have a phone, also probably don't have the experience or knowledge to understand how to get accurate coordinates. So they grab one momentary reading and submit that as their coordinates. When the coordinates suck everyone complains that the phone is to blame, but really it's the inexperience of the user.

 

I placed my first hide with an iPhone and I've never received any complaints about the coordinates being off.

 

To the OP....do a search for "GPS Averaging" in the App Store....there used to be an app called Perfect Mark that I've recommended for a while, but I don't know if it's still available. There's another $0.99 app called GPS Averager that looks like it does the same thing.

 

Whatever app you use, just understand that when you obtain a reading, you should set your phone down at the hiding spot for a couple of minutes to let it settle down and get a good fix before geabbing a reading. Then come back later, preferably on a different day, and obtain another reding. Do this 3 or 4 times and calculate the average of those readings (or use one of those GPS averaging apps which will do it for you), and THEN you will have an accurate set of coordinates. If you take your time and use this method you shouldn't get any complaints.

 

As I've stated, I've already done a study with this. But to each their own. Maybe your results are better than the eight of us who worked on our project, or from the geocaches I've found where I know the hider and what they use to hide it with (cell or GPSr). Results may vary.

 

In the context of a scientific study, I can see where dedicated GPS units might perform better than cell phones to a measurable degree. Better antennas, etc. My contention is that for the purposes of Geocaching there's not enough difference in accuracy to matter. Coordinates obtained with a handheld may be measurably better but with proper technique a phone can obtain readings that are plenty accurate enough for Geocaching. Just as crappy coordinates can be obtained with a handheld if improperly done.

[+JL_HSTRE]

In a fairly open area there tends not to be much difference, but the dropoff in accuracy under tree cover often gets worse for smartphones than GPS in my experience.

[+NeverSummer]

A big issue is when you open the Groundspeak Apps (don't know about other geocaching apps, because I haven't used anything else by c:geo, and that was years ago), the GPS hasn't acquired accuracy.

 

So, if you pop open the app and take the coordinates before the app has time to catch up with the GPS and cell antennas, you'll get horrible coordinates.

 

Patience is the key, so you have to wait for the phone to "settle down", just as with a handheld GPS unit. I think many people (especially new to GPS technology; those who just expect GPS to "work", i.e.digital-age young adults and children) just turn on the app and think it should be all set to go. The nuance of GPS use isn't familiar to them, so they don't know to wait a bit so triangulation can occur with more accuracy...