my "shoulda coulda" application feature

[majormajor42]

Coming up on my eight year anniversary of caching. I've never been that ambitious of a cacher (not about the numbers, right?) and have less than 500 caches found. I'm gonna guess that most folks that consider themselves to still be cachers after as many years have far more finds than me.

 

I had paid for the android app and had full membership on and off over the years. Not currently. And when I recently switched to iphone (my job required me to) I never paid for the app on the iphone and get by with the "lite" version and the website.

 

So like I say, I'm not a cache hound. It isn't on my mind that often. But what I do find is that when I go on a day trip somewhere, I often look at the caches I could have gotten when I return home. I forget to think about it when I am out there in some new area.

 

I think it would be cool, and it shouldn't be that hard with the technology these days, to have a way of an app on my phone notifying me when I happen to be close to a cache that I have not yet found. This, I think, would get me to cache more often. I would pay for this feature too. I'm not technically inclined enough to know how much data, and battery power this would really use. Some people may not be comfortable with The Frog knowing where they are at all times (if the app is open I guess). I know that I get a notification when I am close to the cache I am looking for. Yeah, so how much more code and GC server power would it take to be notified that I am close to a cache that I am not looking for?

[+AustinMN]

In this area, that feature would be quickly turned off. Hundreds of times a day, I go past nearby caches that I have not found.

 

Just get in the habit of asking the app to find nearby. Then it won't harass you when you don't have the time.

 

wondering if this belongs in a different forum.

[+frinklabs]

SUBMITTED - (19153) [FEATURE] Proximity Alert for Geocache

[+Touchstone]

I'm not sure how much of a coding issue it is, but I'm pretty sure the battery on your mobile device would be dead a lot faster. I've been on some longer walks, and had a tracking app open for several hours, and if weren't for my external battery, there's no way I could keep my mobile device on for really extended periods of time, with the location services constantly running.

[majormajor42]

wondering if this belongs in a different forum.

considered which forum long and hard. Not specific to iphone or droid. There is no general "app" page that I see. Which do you suggest?

 

In this area, that feature would be quickly turned off. Hundreds of times a day, I go past nearby caches that I have not found.

So, turn it off. Ideally it would be manageable with filters and what not, for "distance from" or "favorite rating" to get to the caches you would want to be notified about.

 

Just get in the habit of asking the app to find nearby. Then it won't harass you when you don't have the time.

Uhh, after 8 years I am not in the habit and that's the thing.

[majormajor42]

SUBMITTED - (19153) [FEATURE] Proximity Alert for Geocache

 

Thanks! I tried searching for a previous mention. Even used the word "proximity". Good find. Probably didn't take you much effort either. Your google-foo is better than mine.

 

It was a good discussion. Things have advanced since 2011, perhaps even with respect to the demands of this proposed proximity feature.

 

I will say that one thing I noticed when switching from my Droid Samsung S3 to an iPhone 6, the battery conservation got a lot better. On the S3 I had to go in and disable the GPS all the time when I didn't need it to avoid the battery being run down. The iPhone seems to not have this issue. I rarely turn off the location services. I even leave apps open in the background such as Waze or Google Maps and it knows not to keep hunting for signals when I'm not on the move. I hope this improved battery management (I can't say if it is better on the 6 than previous versions), would help enable this type of new proximity feature.

 

So that was 2011, and now it is 2015. If it took another four years to make it work, I would be okay with that.

[+niraD]

If my app were loaded with every non-puzzle cache in an area, then this feature would be pretty useless; the alert would be going off all the time.

 

But I can see it being useful if my app were loaded with caches I am specifically interested in. Except that, as Touchstone indicated, the battery life would suffer. When I'm using my app to find multiple caches, after each cache I look at the location of the next cache, and then put my phone away. When I get close to the cache location, I take out my phone again. The GPS antenna drains the battery too fast to leave the app open and active all the time.

[majormajor42]

I'm not sure how much of a coding issue it is, but I'm pretty sure the battery on your mobile device would be dead a lot faster. I've been on some longer walks, and had a tracking app open for several hours, and if weren't for my external battery, there's no way I could keep my mobile device on for really extended periods of time, with the location services constantly running.

 

Yeah, back when I had the time to go on 12 - 18 miles day hikes through Harriman Park here in NY, I would track as well. I would then upload my tracks to openstreetmap at the end of the day and add the trails to the map, which is cool since they are now also on the gc.com map. I would have spare batteries with me for my droid since the GPS would be cooking all day long.

 

with my new iPhone, while I have not yet been on all day hikes (not since becoming a father) I find the battery life is much better. Plus, I wouldn't necessarily be using this "proximity feature" while hiking. When I hike, I am hyper-aware of the caches around me. It is one of the reasons I got into hiking years back. No, I'm more referring to day trips with the family nowadays. I'm in and out of the car. We drove upstate for apple picking, and stopped for dinner on the way back. I get home and now I see there were a couple caches nearby that I didn't know about. My mind was on apples, not hiking/caching so I didn't think to check. Battery life probably would not have been an issue in this case since we were only out of the car (with its charger) for three hours.

Edited September 28, 2015 by majormajor42

[+J Grouchy]

I dunno...if you've ever played 'Ingress', you'd know it will notify you if you are close to a portal to hack. It doesn't constantly notify, but it's obviously location-aware even when you are not running it. The 'Field Trip' app by the same developer does something similar, I believe, with points of interest or significance.

 

Also, iPhones and Android devices have settings that basically constantly tag your location. Just open the Google Maps app and look at the "Your timeline" feature in the menu. It will show the route you took throughout the day...for every day in the past that you had that device on you. iPhones have a similar feature. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to implement such a thing without killing your battery in minutes.

[+Bubbles&Bonkers]

Coming up on my eight year anniversary of caching. I've never been that ambitious of a cacher (not about the numbers, right?) and have less than 500 caches found. I'm gonna guess that most folks that consider themselves to still be cachers after as many years have far more finds than me.

 

I had paid for the android app and had full membership on and off over the years. Not currently. And when I recently switched to iphone (my job required me to) I never paid for the app on the iphone and get by with the "lite" version and the website.

 

So like I say, I'm not a cache hound. It isn't on my mind that often. But what I do find is that when I go on a day trip somewhere, I often look at the caches I could have gotten when I return home. I forget to think about it when I am out there in some new area.

 

I think it would be cool, and it shouldn't be that hard with the technology these days, to have a way of an app on my phone notifying me when I happen to be close to a cache that I have not yet found. This, I think, would get me to cache more often. I would pay for this feature too. I'm not technically inclined enough to know how much data, and battery power this would really use. Some people may not be comfortable with The Frog knowing where they are at all times (if the app is open I guess). I know that I get a notification when I am close to the cache I am looking for. Yeah, so how much more code and GC server power would it take to be notified that I am close to a cache that I am not looking for?

 

I don't have many caches after 7 years, either. High five! When I first started caching, my husband added a bunch of caches to our Garmin Nuvi. That's right, we cached with a Nuvi! And every time we passed one, it went "ding"! It became kind of annoying pretty quickly. I think you just have to rely on the ol' bean. I get excited going to a new city! Geocaching is often one of the first things I think about! Not sure why it's fun to cache in a whole different town...