Missed by *that* much....

[+lee737]

As old Agent 86 used to say......

Obviously the rule is more than a 'general guideline'....

 

We went to the location of a recently archived cache, thinking we were safe, then couldn't find a spot for our regular sized cache, so we fanned out a bit, neglecting the other cache (which we have previously found, and know all about!) was looming closer.....

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

[+Manville Possum]

Three feet?

[+wmpastor]

 

...

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

I advise against anything tricky because it will be found out and ultimately fail.

 

However, your gpsr is probably not 100% accurate. Borrow a better one, note the new reading (hopefully in your favor), then (and this is important) photograph the gpsr at GZ with the landscape and the numbers clearly visible. Include this in the reviewer note (which is part of the listing but invisible to cachers).

 

If that doesn't work, then hopefully there is another spot nearby.

 

Or, could the other Cacher be persuaded to move his 3 feet? (That's a strategy with a high hassle-factor, though.)

 

Edit: additional idea. Are the other cache's coords accurate? If not, the slightest correction could take care of the problem!

Edited September 12, 2016 by wmpastor

[+lee737]

...

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

I advise against anything tricky because it will be found out and ultimately fail.

 

However, your gpsr is probably not 100% accurate. Borrow a better one, note the new reading (hopefully in your favor), then (and this is important) photograph the gpsr at GZ with the landscape and the numbers clearly visible. Include this in the reviewer note (which is part of the listing but invisible to cachers).

 

 

No GPSs is 100% accurate.... We never have probs with our coords on other caches, as we always take the time to average in a few measurements over a good 15-20 minutes at GZ.

Saying that - we were having GPS issues, the Garmin Oregon was crashing when I tried to look up a waypoint, distracted me not to properly check the surrounding caches.... I don't think this bug was affecting the accuracy of its positioning though.

 

Quite often when I average in coords, it will move the position by 2-3m (10'), might move it closer to the other cache too! Its hidden in one end of a pretty long log, I'll check out the other end of the log first, it's certainly more than 10' away..... Finding the time to do this will be the problem.

 

We haven't had a publication fail since our first try, feel like a newb!

 

[+Manville Possum]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

I know that I have geocaches published that because of altitude they are less than 528 feet from other persons geocaches, but blame that on reviewer inconstancy.

Also note that I ain't a flat-lander here in the mountains, and that is where the human element of the review process is helpful.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Manville Possum

[+lee737]

We checked, in as much as we were placing at the site of a freshly archived (physical) cache, then absent-mindedly wandered and had trouble checking the surrounds. I'm not being critical of the reviewer, just thought it humorous, if not a bit embarrassing for us.... We cache ethically, so will fix it without dodgy manoeuvres....

Edited September 12, 2016 by lee737

[+fizzymagic]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

Did you not bother to read the OP? Really, you should have.

[+justintim1999]

What dose a reviewer use to determine the distance?

[+palmetto]

What dose a reviewer use to determine the distance?

 

This is an automated site function, visible all over the site. Any search that starts with a location will provide a list of caches, and include a distance column. If you want to check a set of coords for distance to other caches, you can put those coords into the Search function. This will display distance to the listing coords only.

 

A site that comes very close to yielding the same distance is theBoulter Coordinate Distance Calculator.

I often provide hiders with this link, particularly when they're hiding and placing caches too close to each other.

You could also use it to check when placing a new cache near a staged cache when you do have those coords.

[+lee737]

What dose a reviewer use to determine the distance?

 

A site that comes very close to yielding the same distance is theBoulter Coordinate Distance Calculator.

 

 

Thanks for that - gives me the same answer....

I've only ever used the GPSr to measure the distance in the past, but have never cut it so close before.

[+wmpastor]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

Did you not bother to read the OP? Really, you should have.

 

Perhaps MP's question was rhetorical?

 

Did you not bother to consider that? Really, you should have.

 

Okay, enough kidding around - let's all be friends. We'll assume you were poking fun at the lecture-like tone of the post.

 

It could well be that if the other cache is moved to the other end of the 10' log (see, I read carefully! ), this could resolve it. The nature of the other hide wouldn't change at all and only an easy change of those coords is involved.

 

Of course, before going that route, confirm that *that* action would raise no proximity issue with *another* cache! That avoids more "did you not bother..." discussions.

[+palmetto]

I've only ever used the GPSr to measure the distance in the past, but have never cut it so close before

 

I'm a fairly prolific hider, and like you, use a GPSr to measure distance.

Typically I'm looking for at least .12 miles / 194 meters from my proposed cache site to any other physical stages/caches. This allows for error.

 

If I were looking at exactly the perfect spot, and it was reading close to the 528ft limit, I'd take coords, then go home and check with Geocaching.com if the other coords were visible on the site, or with Boulter if they were stage coords that I had. This can be done in the field via smartphone, if you've got cell connection.

 

I've only placed one cache spontaneously. Usually I take coords, go home, do some mapping, notice what other caches are in the area already, do coords checks for saturation, think about the right container and then go back. If I'm not interested enough to ever go back, two trips to hide, I probably don't want to own that hide anyway ;-)

[ohgood]

As old Agent 86 used to say......

Obviously the rule is more than a 'general guideline'....

 

We went to the location of a recently archived cache, thinking we were safe, then couldn't find a spot for our regular sized cache, so we fanned out a bit, neglecting the other cache (which we have previously found, and know all about!) was looming closer.....

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

seems like you could just see how far the two caches are away from you, and keep backing up until you have clearance, then place your cache?

[+hzoi]

I've only ever used the GPSr to measure the distance in the past, but have never cut it so close before

Typically I'm looking for at least .12 miles / 194 meters from my proposed cache site to any other physical stages/caches. This allows for error.

 

Same here.

 

I recently found a cache in a small park that had a perfect area for another cache. Unfortunately, the furthest I could get from the existing cache, without either going into the tidal marsh or crossing the fence into the abutting military reservation, was about 500 feet. I was momentarily tempted to ask the owner of the other cache if they could shift theirs a bit, but I did not. I'm only here for two years, after which any caches I hide apart from earthcaches have to go anyway. I'll find other spots.

[+J Grouchy]

This is where the whole 528 rule gets a bit....squishy. Fact is, merely adjusting one of the coordinates by 0.001 will likely take you out of the saturation range and wouldn't even require you to move the cache because you would still very likely be within the +/- 20 feet range of accuracy that is often expected. While I don't really recommend fudging the number, it's easy to justify since Groundspeak has set a hard limit like that.

Edited September 12, 2016 by J Grouchy

[+Manville Possum]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

Did you not bother to read the OP? Really, you should have.

 

I was not trying to be rude to the OP.

[+JL_HSTRE]

3 ft too close? Isn't a change of .001 equate to about 6 ft? 10 GPS readings on the same exact spot are almost certainly going to yield a .001 margin of error since the best commercial GPS has about 10 ft accuracy.

[+J Grouchy]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

Did you not bother to read the OP? Really, you should have.

 

I was not trying to be rude to the OP.

 

I hear ya...

One of the very first things I do when I place a cache is, when I'm at the potential GZ, open my [redacted] app and pull up the list of 'nearby' caches, which shows me the approximate distance to all listings in the vicinity. No, it doesn't account for mysteries/multis and no, it's not 100% precise...but it's definitely a good place to start and almost always helps me avoid having to go back and move it or take it away.

[+Manville Possum]

Did you not check the proximity to the other cache first? Really, you should have. Three feet short of 528 feet is still three feet short of what your reviewer has to work with.

 

Did you not bother to read the OP? Really, you should have.

 

I was not trying to be rude to the OP.

 

I hear ya...

One of the very first things I do when I place a cache is, when I'm at the potential GZ, open my [redacted] app and pull up the list of 'nearby' caches, which shows me the approximate distance to all listings in the vicinity. No, it doesn't account for mysteries/multis and no, it's not 100% precise...but it's definitely a good place to start and almost always helps me avoid having to go back and move it or take it away.

 

That was all I meant by my post to the OP. That's not the first time that fizzy cat has followed me around to post off key comments.

[+NanCycle]

 

One of the very first things I do when I place a cache is, when I'm at the potential GZ, open my [redacted] app and pull up the list of 'nearby' caches, which shows me the approximate distance to all listings in the vicinity. No, it doesn't account for mysteries/multis and no, it's not 100% precise...but it's definitely a good place to start and almost always helps me avoid having to go back and move it or take it away.

 

Similar to what I do, though I don't use any app. I have a PQ of all the caches in the area, including corrected coordinates of nearly all puzzles, which I load on my GPS before going out to hide a cache. Then while on site, I check for anything that is nearby. About the only thing that can trip me up is a cache that was just newly published, though that is unlikely because I usually have my cache page already created with prospective coordinates.

[+lee737]

As old Agent 86 used to say......

Obviously the rule is more than a 'general guideline'....

 

We went to the location of a recently archived cache, thinking we were safe, then couldn't find a spot for our regular sized cache, so we fanned out a bit, neglecting the other cache (which we have previously found, and know all about!) was looming closer.....

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

seems like you could just see how far the two caches are away from you, and keep backing up until you have clearance, then place your cache?

 

You would think! We made an error.

Having to restart the GPSr everytime I tried to access WPs didn't help us that day. Earlier in the day we hid a multi, and had found a nice trail, then noted we were 165m (541') from a mystery we had found before, we felt that didn't give enough breathing space, so chose somewhere else. Lucky the bad one is only a few minutes from home, will duck in today at lunch and fix.

If we were hiding a micro we wouls have had choice of heaps of spots at our first GZ, but we try and only hide bigger containers full of swag....

 

[ohgood]

As old Agent 86 used to say......

Obviously the rule is more than a 'general guideline'....

 

We went to the location of a recently archived cache, thinking we were safe, then couldn't find a spot for our regular sized cache, so we fanned out a bit, neglecting the other cache (which we have previously found, and know all about!) was looming closer.....

 

First I'll go back and average in another coordinate, might be enough to shift it over the line!

 

 

seems like you could just see how far the two caches are away from you, and keep backing up until you have clearance, then place your cache?

 

You would think! We made an error.

Having to restart the GPSr everytime I tried to access WPs didn't help us that day. Earlier in the day we hid a multi, and had found a nice trail, then noted we were 165m (541') from a mystery we had found before, we felt that didn't give enough breathing space, so chose somewhere else. Lucky the bad one is only a few minutes from home, will duck in today at lunch and fix.

If we were hiding a micro we wouls have had choice of heaps of spots at our first GZ, but we try and only hide bigger containers full of swag....

 

ahhhh, OK, got it. yup I'm familiar with the "why the heck is this stupid pos rebooting NOW, when I need it to shaddup and just WORK?" thing.... which is totally and ONLY in reference to my phones, so the garmin crowd can relax. ;-)

[+lee737]

hehe - my phone is perfect, I can be checking the web, having reminders go off, getting messages, and geocaching, it never crashes. The Garmin Oregon however - chokes on geocaches.... randomly starts freezing to the point you need to remove batteries - very, very annoying. I doubt my next GPS will be a Garmin......

[+hzoi]

If we were hiding a micro we would have had choice of heaps of spots at our first GZ, but we try and only hide bigger containers full of swag....

 

[+lee737]

Thanks hzoi....

The next two weekends have us on two geocaching road trips, well, one is a definite geocaching road trip, the other my sons birthday weekend to a very nice virgin caching ground for us, so a geocaching road trip too (my wife just doesn't know it yet!)..... with no spare time ahead, I took my bush clothes to work today, and shot off at lunchtime to fix this listing.....

 

The log the cache is hidden in is pretty long, maybe 20' - so I checked the far end, and what do you know, a nice hidey hole for our container - better than the original hide! Checked the iPhone - 170m (557'), GPS - 165m (541') - did a full 10 minutes averaging two separate coords, and the final is 170m from that other cache. Good enough! Resubmitted.....

We fully realise this may be a temporary cache, as a dirty big bypass road is planned to cut through here within the next couple of years.

 

 

[+Viajero Perdido]

The log the cache is hidden in is pretty long, maybe 20' - so I checked the far end, and what do you know, a nice hidey hole for our container - better than the original hide!

That's good news.

 

Of course, you could've simply (thrown your back out and) turned the log around.

[+lee737]

Published.... FTF took 25 minutes!