Has Jeremy stepped down and Bryan is now president?

[+thebruce0]

I agree, mobile development is the name of the game for Groundspeak. Hopefully though, the company will put a little bit into the website itself to keep it up to date as well. I know that for me, if it went south, i would too.

Hopefully they put effort into ensuring that the website is also still usable on desktop. Mouse and keyboard aren't obsolete. And a lot of the stylistic additions are wonderful for touchscreen devices, but awful for use on a desktop. Excessive whitespace and enormous text is just one such repeated concern... it is possible to optimize a single page design with different styles depending on the device

I don't think I've ever used as many custom stylesheets than for geocaching.com.

[+noncentric]

Hopefully new leadership can be for the better, but I don't see bringing back Virtuals or Web Cams as long as we have the Waymarking site.

Personally, I enjoy both Virtual and Webcam caches.

-- With Virtuals, there is indeed a lot of subjectivity with regards to what makes a "valid" site and I don't think the Reviewers should have to deal with the various complications involved with these caches. Additionally, with all of the information available online, it becomes easy to determine the answers for many virtuals without actually visiting the site. I've done several virtuals where I arrived at GZ and then realized that the necessary information could be determined without visiting GZ. I don't harbor any hopes of Virtuals ever coming back.

-- I would agree with an effort to bring back Webcam caches, although I also don't expect that retired cache types will be resurrected. These types of caches seem to have less subjectivity and the technology associated with logging webcams nowadays is better than what was available a dozen years ago.

 

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In regards to the management switch - I hope both Jeremy and Bryan enjoy their new roles and that their new roles are a better fit for what each of them wants to focus their time on.

[+Manville Possum]

These types of caches seem to have less subjectivity and the technology associated with logging webcams nowadays is better than what was available a dozen years ago.

 

I never logged a web cam when it was required to phone a friend or set up a time. Now it's as simple as taking a screen shot, but that is not anything like geocaching.

[+Gill & Tony]

I agree. I can't think of any experienced cacher in my area who uses the Groundspeak App as their main caching method. In fact, I'm finding it hard to think of any who use it at all.

[+cerberus1]

and I believe most geocachers use mobile apps over a GPS unit now.

 

This does not match my experience and even less when it comes to the Groundspeak apps (which is of relevance when it comes into which Groundspeak invests time and money).

I know many cachers who use their mobile phones for caching instead of dedicated GPS-devices but many use PQs and/or browers to access the web page. The majority of those I know who mainly rely on apps use third party apps.

I cannot think of any really experienced cacher in my area who mainly relies on the Groundspeak app and does everything from there including logging.

A bit OT, bolded mine, and I sorta agree.

 

Though many we know do have the "official" Geocaching app loaded too, most we've seen are using one that some say scrapes the site, or are still using a GPSr.

The other 2/3rds still has classic on her iphone (at least 'til March ), but can't fit time to cache 'til maybe August.

I have android now (from Windows), but won't use an app that doesn't quite seem ready (for me) yet.

Both of us still prefer a GPSr anyway, so the site is important for us.

[+Manville Possum]

I can't think of any experienced cacher in my area who uses the Groundspeak App as their main caching method. In fact, I'm finding it hard to think of any who use it at all.

 

Their app is one of six geocaching related apps on my phone. I can't see it being of any interest to a non premium member, but likely by design the company hopes to sell a membership to a newbie that is unaware of other apps for geocaching. It's not a bad app for a PM.