Cache coords off, how to fix?

[hewittj8]

Hi,

 

I placed a cache and averaged the location 8 times. Yeah, eight separate times, over the course of about a month. The rest of the caches that I have placed and averaged with the same unit are accurate. But on this particular cache people are visiting it and saying it is off by like 50 feet! And that makes me upset. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thanks!

[+geocat_]

Not really sure but perhaps you could take another device and try again.

[+cerberus1]

Anything about that area not like the others (a lotta iron ore, in a gorge, etc)?

 

If so, I might be tempted to borrow anothers gizmo for an average.

[+Touchstone]

It happens. It could be your device, it could be theirs, it could be a combination of both.

 

I've seen some people ask in the Description for folks to post their coordinates in a log entry if they get a better read. No harm in asking, and it will improve the cache experience for others.

[+Manville Possum]

Have you viewed you listings coordinates in Google Earth?

[+Mn-treker]

One: did you use a phone or did you use a real GPS?

Two: go back to GZ and take a new hit. My GPS PN 60 has the average function

On it. I let it take 30 to 50 hits durring average function.

 

Three: go to cache page and log a visit. Choose update coords.

Write some BS about it. Then on that page there will be a spot to change the coords. Put in the new coords and submit that log. The cache page will be updated.

[+niraD]

If you don't trust your coordinates, or if others are complaining about your coordinates, then test them.

 

Enter your coordinates into your device, and then approach the cache location from at least 100ft/30m away. The arrow should point right at the cache location as you approach. Repeat the process, approaching the cache location from various directions, from at least 100ft/30m away each time. No matter which direction you approach from, the arrow should point right at the cache location.

 

If it doesn't, then adjust your coordinates until it does.

 

Bonus points for repeating the test on another day when the GPS satellites are in a different configuration.

 

Also, the Help Center article How to Get Accurate Coordinates should prove useful.

 

And of course, the Help Center article How do I update coordinates for my geocache?

[+barefootjeff]

One of my multis GC664DZ is in a gully that can only see a small strip of sky, so the GPS readings vary enormously depending on the satellite configuration at the time. Over the course of a couple of weeks I visited the site almost daily, taking as many readings of the waypoint and final coordinates as I could and averaging them, but at the end of the day it wasn't going to help the finders get much within 15 or 20 metres of the locations so I provided helper photos on the cache page and generous hints in each of the preceding waypoints. Some locations, while having beautiful natural features begging for a cache, just aren't made for GPS navigation.

 

Jeff

[+NYPaddleCacher]

One of my multis GC664DZ is in a gully that can only see a small strip of sky, so the GPS readings vary enormously depending on the satellite configuration at the time. Over the course of a couple of weeks I visited the site almost daily, taking as many readings of the waypoint and final coordinates as I could and averaging them, but at the end of the day it wasn't going to help the finders get much within 15 or 20 metres of the locations so I provided helper photos on the cache page and generous hints in each of the preceding waypoints. Some locations, while having beautiful natural features begging for a cache, just aren't made for GPS navigation.

 

Jeff

 

A few years ago I went to search for a cache and my GPS seemed to be bouncing around a bit. It seems to settle around area, with an accuracy estimate of 15, but there wasn't anything there except a telephone pole with a couple of guy wires (which I searched thoroughly). The nearest structure, though, was a large metal bridge about 120 feet away so I wandered over to it thinking that the coordinates were just not accurate. When I got next to the bridge by GPS once again indicated a 15' accuracy and I was able to find the cache in a spot under the bridge. I'm guessing that I was getting some sort of signal bounce from the large metal bridge that was tricking the GPS and had me searching 120 away from the actual location.