Hiding our first geocache

[Rin68nyr]

Hello...here is what I understand...

We need to be 500 some-odd feet from the nearest cache...the location we picked is fine.  I know we can't bury it, or do any damage to the trees, etc., in the area.  We got permission from the town, who owns the land, to place the geocache...we had to wait until November, and the town employee I dealt with sent me a reminder that we can now set it out...and is eagerly awaiting it, so she can find it.  We have a container, and all the stuff we need to put in it, and are ready to place it.  I understand that I need it to be reviewed before the page is approved...how do I go about contacting a reviewer (I'm north of Boston, in MA, USA), or is that automatic, when I submit it?  How can I find the exact coordinates, using an iPhone...or can I use the approximate coordinates generated by google maps?  Is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks!

[Keystone]

1. I suggest reading through the Help Center articles on hiding a cache.
2. It's not "500-some-odd feet," it's 528 feet.  If you're 509 feet away, be prepared for your reviewer to ask you to move the cache.
3. You got permission!  That's awesome.  Good job.
4. After you've made your cache page, the last step is to press the "Submit for Review" button.  When you do that, your cache appears in a queue of caches awaiting review by your friendly Community Volunteer Reviewer.
5. Do not use Google Maps to obtain coordinates.  Use your iPhone.  BUT do not use the native compass app that comes with your iPhone!  It does not report coordinates with sufficient precision.  Use a compass app, such as Commander Compass, or the official Geocaching.com app, or anything else that can measure coordinates in a format that has sufficient precision.

[Rin68nyr]

Thank you.  I wasn't worried about the exact number of feet between geocaches, because it's at least 1/2 mile away from the nearest one.  Thanks for the info. on the coordinates.  I got basic coordinates based on the address for the park, but the place we're putting it is a bit away from the parking lot.  I'll use the app for better accuracy.  Now I just need to figure out what to write on our page.  

Thanks!

[+NanCycle]

And note that the cache must be in place before you press the "Submit for Review " button. 

[Keystone]

10 minutes ago, NanCycle said:

And note that the cache must be in place before you press the "Submit for Review " button. 

I just finished disabling the caches I published last evening for a new hider.  The containers won't be in place until Sunday!

Don't be that guy.  All the people going after the FTF were pretty unhappy.

[Rin68nyr]

Nope!  We're placing it tomorrow, when I will get the coordinates, and then go home to set up the page. 

[+niraD]

It's a good idea to test your coordinates.

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.
 

[+NanCycle]

13 hours ago, Rin68nyr said:

Nope!  We're placing it tomorrow, when I will get the coordinates, and then go home to set up the page. 

You can have the page all set up and ready to go in advance, using estimated coordinates.  Then when you actually place the cache and get the exact coordinates, edit the coordinates and press "Submit."  (I have a cache in exactly this situation right now, the cache page and container all ready to go, just waiting for me to have a chance to take it out.)

[Rin68nyr]

okay. I couldn't find how to get coordinates using the geocache app (maybe you need premium for that?). So I am using commander compass, which is giving coordinates in the form of 2 digits each for degrees, minutes, and seconds. I see that in the how to section of the geocache site, it shows coordinates as degrees, and then 3 digits. Do I need to use this format, and if so, is it a matter of using minutes and seconds, and rounding it to a 3 digit number? Or can I list it as DD MM SS? 

 

Thanks!

[+NanCycle]

10 minutes ago, Rin68nyr said:

okay. I couldn't find how to get coordinates using the geocache app (maybe you need premium for that?). So I am using commander compass, which is giving coordinates in the form of 2 digits each for degrees, minutes, and seconds. I see that in the how to section of the geocache site, it shows coordinates as degrees, and then 3 digits. Do I need to use this format, and if so, is it a matter of using minutes and seconds, and rounding it to a 3 digit number? Or can I list it as DD MM SS? 

 

Thanks!

You need to use the minutes to 3 decimal places and, no, it isn't good enough to take the measurement in DMS and convert it.  I don't know about the commander compass, but the app I use, in the settings I can change the format to what I want.  So I'd say play around with the app, look for settings to see if you can change it.

[Keystone]

1 hour ago, Rin68nyr said:

okay. I couldn't find how to get coordinates using the geocache app (maybe you need premium for that?).

No, you don't need premium for that.  Go to where your cache is.  Let your iPhone acquire signal and settle.  Navigate to any other nearby cache.  Mark a waypoint at your cache location.

Quote

So I am using commander compass, which is giving coordinates in the form of 2 digits each for degrees, minutes, and seconds. I see that in the how to section of the geocache site, it shows coordinates as degrees, and then 3 digits. Do I need to use this format, and if so, is it a matter of using minutes and seconds, and rounding it to a 3 digit number? Or can I list it as DD MM SS? 

Commander Compass is configurable to display coordinates in all the common formats.  In "Settings," select "Coordinate Display Format" and change from the DMS format to the Decimal Minutes format used by Geocaching.com.

[Rin68nyr]

Thanks all! I got it figured out, put out the cache, and got a few readings on coordinates. I’ve submitted the cache, and hope to hear back soon!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

13 hours ago, Keystone said:

Commander Compass is configurable to display coordinates in all the common formats.  In "Settings," select "Coordinate Display Format" and change from the DMS format to the Decimal Minutes format used by Geocaching.com.

Actually it should be Degrees Decimal Minutes.  The three most common coordinates formats (there are others as well) are DMS (Degrees Minutes Seconds),  Degrees Decimal Mintues (DDM) and Decimal Degrees. For example, here are the coordinates of one of my caches expressed using the different formats

DMS: N 42° 20' 13" W  76° 20' 53"
DDM: N 42° 20.222' W 076° 20.897'
DD:  42.337033 -76.348283

The degree, minutes ('}, and seconds " symbols are usually optional.  Also note that for the Decimal Degrees format the hemisphere (N, S, E, W) is ommitted.  The use of a negative value for degrees can be used indicated if a point is South of the equator or West of the Greenwich meridian.  It is usually more common to use the N/S/W/E to eliminate all ambiguity. 

For display purposes on the Geocaching website and for entering  coordinates on it's forms, DDM is used.  The convention of always displaying DDM coordinates with the minute portion with leading and trailing zeros (e.g  W 076 20.890) is also used.  Although, that is the same as W 76 20.89) keeping the leading zero makes in more readable.  Although the space character between the N/S/E/W and the degree value is optional, the space between the degrees and minutes is not.   I may also be worth noting that while DDM format is used for displaying coordinates, under the hood, DD format is used (it's much easier to do coordinate math in that format).

Most applications what work with lat/long coordinates will have a setting which allows the user to change how coordinates are viewed.  If you set that to DDM you'll always be able to see locations expressed the same way.   If you do see coordinates in other formats, there are many online tools which can make the conversion. This site works well for that:  http://boulter.com/gps