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Release Notes (Geocaching® app) - December 20, 2017


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Release Notes (Geocaching® app) - December 20, 2017

Consistency is key both when it comes to geocaching streaks and the user experience in our app. That’s why with this release we’re focusing on small visual updates and bug fixes across both iOS and Android devices. 

Visual updates include:

  • Consistent styling for log entries for both geocaches and trackables
  • New assets for your hides and DNF’s
  • New map controls

In every release, we also fix bugs and make other small improvements to the Geocaching® app.

Ben (Ben H) from HQ’s Product Team is watching the thread to answer questions whenever possible.
 

Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Unrelated comments may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks! 

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1 hour ago, Sherminator18 said:

Is there anyway you could go into more detail about what the new assets for my hides and DNF's and new map controls actually are? I have the new update installed and I'm not seeing really any changes with the map.

Yes please. Back when I went to school (admittedly a very long time ago) assets were things with monetary value but I doubt an accountant would place much value on my DNFs.

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I can now filter the map based on type of cache, and size of container - I don't remember being able to filter  by those parameters before in the app.  You could filter by terrain and difficulty rating, but that was it.

I don't know what is meant by "New assets for your hides and DNF's" either.  I'm not seeing anything different, unless it's options while you are actually creating a log entry; I haven't yet had the opportunity to do that with the app.

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On 12/20/2017 at 11:43 AM, Sherminator18 said:

Is there anyway you could go into more detail about what the new assets for my hides and DNF's and new map controls actually are? I have the new update installed and I'm not seeing really any changes with the map.

 

On 12/20/2017 at 0:56 PM, barefootjeff said:

Yes please. Back when I went to school (admittedly a very long time ago) assets were things with monetary value but I doubt an accountant would place much value on my DNFs.

 

On 12/20/2017 at 11:50 PM, pingurus said:

Well, you can now turn the map for example and I guess the symbols in the right top corner are also changed.

But I agree that it would be nice if changes were communicated in more detail.

 

17 hours ago, CAVinoGal said:

I can now filter the map based on type of cache, and size of container - I don't remember being able to filter  by those parameters before in the app.  You could filter by terrain and difficulty rating, but that was it.

I don't know what is meant by "New assets for your hides and DNF's" either.  I'm not seeing anything different, unless it's options while you are actually creating a log entry; I haven't yet had the opportunity to do that with the app.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. The changes in this release were indeed subtle, which is why we chose to make it a 5.8.x release as opposed to 5.9. Sometimes we actually don't post release notes for these kinds of releases since they often lead to questions similar to these.

For the curious, the things that look a bit different following this release include:

  • The map controls (centering/swivel mode and map type selection) have switched from circular to square and are now larger and easier to see/tap.
  • The map icons ("assets") for caches you've DNFed and caches you've hidden have been updated for better accessibility.
  • The format for player logs in caches and trackables has been updated to use consistent type and spacing.

There was no change to filtering options in this release.

I hope those additional details help!

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On ‎12‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 8:57 AM, Geocaching HQ said:

Consistency is key...

I feel like a broken record, but I think it's still worth pointing out that the longstanding inconsistency between the size names on the website and app is still there. Will that ever be fixed, or is there a fundamental difference of opinion between the website and app teams that's preventing harmonization?

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7 hours ago, Optimist on the run said:

I've noticed one apparently new inconsistency between the Android app and the website: on the app the symbol for an owned cache is a star in a gold circle, on the website it's in a green circle. Not a major issue, but certainly noticeable.

The gold symbol is on the latest version of the app (5.8.1) - please let us know if it isn't showing up for you :)

8 minutes ago, The A-Team said:

I feel like a broken record, but I think it's still worth pointing out that the longstanding inconsistency between the size names on the website and app is still there. Will that ever be fixed, or is there a fundamental difference of opinion between the website and app teams that's preventing harmonization?

Definitely worth pointing out - now that there is only one official Geocaching app, the inconsistency is being resolved. It was less of a difference of opinion and more of a (long) testing period to see which naming system would best serve the Geocaching community. A decision has been made and will be reflected in the app in the coming months.

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22 hours ago, Optimist on the run said:

It is showing gold for me. However the website is green.

It turns out our intended timing was a little off. :lol: You are correct that the app is showing a gold star and the web is showing a green star right now. In this case, the app change preceded an upcoming web change to the gold star.

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11 hours ago, Ben H said:

It turns out our intended timing was a little off. :lol: You are correct that the app is showing a gold star and the web is showing a green star right now. In this case, the app change preceded an upcoming web change to the gold star.

And what about the rest of the longstanding inconsistencies?

On 1/2/2018 at 9:47 PM, The A-Team said:

I feel like a broken record, but I think it's still worth pointing out that the longstanding inconsistency between the size names on the website and app is still there. Will that ever be fixed, or is there a fundamental difference of opinion between the website and app teams that's preventing harmonization?

 

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17 hours ago, Ben H said:

It turns out our intended timing was a little off. :lol: You are correct that the app is showing a gold star and the web is showing a green star right now. In this case, the app change preceded an upcoming web change to the gold star.

Rather than trying to achieve consistency between the app and the website, I'd prefer to see some indication of whether a cache is Premium Only or not. This is one feature I really miss.

  • Upvote 2
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On ‎1‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 0:59 PM, also said:

Definitely worth pointing out - now that there is only one official Geocaching app, the inconsistency is being resolved. It was less of a difference of opinion and more of a (long) testing period to see which naming system would best serve the Geocaching community. A decision has been made and will be reflected in the app in the coming months.

Thanks for that. It's something that a number of us have been mentioning for a while and has led to confusion in a number of places, so it's good to hear that it will finally be resolved. I hope the "classic" size names will be the ones to win out, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Since you seem to imply that it's the app that needs to be changed, I have my fingers crossed. :laughing:

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11 hours ago, Optimist on the run said:

Rather than trying to achieve consistency between the app and the website, I'd prefer to see some indication of whether a cache is Premium Only or not. This is one feature I really miss.

Stupid question: Why!? You always see what your account allows you to see, so why should you be able to see an extra indicator? Planning for basic members? If they accompany you, they can easily log these, too?

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11 hours ago, monsterbox said:

Stupid question: Why!? You always see what your account allows you to see, so why should you be able to see an extra indicator? Planning for basic members? If they accompany you, they can easily log these, too?

Depending on what each of y'all are referring too, I believe the indicators are already there on the app--they show for me anyway when I tap on a cache and the info banner appears at the bottom of the screen. As for the website, it's clearly shown on the cache page. However, basic members cannot view any information about premium-only caches, much less log them, so there's a big limiter in that regard...

 

A side note about that info banner I refrenced earlier too: is there any way the D/T and size ratings could be added somewhere on that banner? Or at least could we have the option for it? That would make planning *so* much easier if I didn't have to pull the full details on every cache if I just need a quick P&G!

Edited by Saved by God's grace
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13 hours ago, monsterbox said:

Stupid question: Why!? You always see what your account allows you to see, so why should you be able to see an extra indicator? Planning for basic members? If they accompany you, they can easily log these, too?

Yes, planning trips with a basic member. The member in question chooses not to log premium caches. I can open each page individually, but it would be a lot easier if such information was instantly visible on the map, as it used to be.

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22 hours ago, thebruce0 said:

You could turn off including PM caches in the search.

Actually never mind, there's no filter option to hide PM caches.  That would be a good option to have.

It's not available directly from the map page in the app but one cache use the search filters on the web site to only show PM (or only show basic) caches in the results then view them on the map on the web site or save them as a list that can be shown in the app.  I just checked and there are only 10 PMO caches within 10 miles of where I live.  I've found half of them and it was interesting to see that 6 of the 10 were "golden ammo can tribute caches" (a common occurrence around here when someone hits 1000 finds).

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Hi, I’m really enjoying the improvements to the app in the last while. Any plan on refreshing the trails map with the latest version of OSM? I’ve been adding trails to the map for a while now, but there are trails I added back in the summer of 2016 that show up on OSM but still don’t appear in the app.

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3 hours ago, Max Roby said:

Hi, I’m really enjoying the improvements to the app in the last while. Any plan on refreshing the trails map with the latest version of OSM? I’ve been adding trails to the map for a while now, but there are trails I added back in the summer of 2016 that show up on OSM but still don’t appear in the app.

Thanks for the feedback. We absolutely do intend to update the OSM maps with new data regularly, but unfortunately it has proven elusive to implement updates in a way that works well with our map tile server solution. We do understand that players are anxious to see updated OSM data on geocaching.com and in the app and we're sorry that it's taking far longer than we expected to provide that updated data.

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8 hours ago, Ben H said:

Thanks for the feedback. We absolutely do intend to update the OSM maps with new data regularly, but unfortunately it has proven elusive to implement updates in a way that works well with our map tile server solution. We do understand that players are anxious to see updated OSM data on geocaching.com and in the app and we're sorry that it's taking far longer than we expected to provide that updated data.

Thanks for updating us on that; I was wondering about that myself!

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