Adventure Lab - new app for Lab Caches

[+baer2006]

1 hour ago, arisoft said:

Lab Guidelines do not mention anything about physical stages. I guess that saturation rules do not apply for them because of the temporary nature.

Lab Caches don't need to be temporary. And the saturation rule does apply to physical stages, but the current procedure to verify this is very clumsy.

[+arisoft]

2 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Lab Caches don't need to be temporary.

 

This is not what Lab guidelines are telling to us.

"These Adventures will remain active for at least six months, or potentially longer, for the community to enjoy."

If permanent Labs have physical stages and no need to obey saturation rules the situation is unbearable.

 

[+baer2006]

3 hours ago, arisoft said:

This is not what Lab guidelines are telling to us.

"These Adventures will remain active for at least six months, or potentially longer, for the community to enjoy."

Yes. "At least 6 months, maybe longer". That's what I meant when I said they don't need to be temporary.

3 hours ago, arisoft said:

If permanent Labs have physical stages and no need to obey saturation rules the situation is unbearable.

I said, that the saturation rule does apply to physical stages of lab caches.

[+arisoft]

2 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Yes. "At least 6 months, maybe longer". That's what I meant when I said they don't need to be temporary.

 

We must have different meaning for temporary. Let's consult some "authority". (Google)

 

temporary

/ˈtɛmp(ə)rəri/

adjective

adjective: temporary

1. 1.

   lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent.

2 hours ago, baer2006 said:

I said, that the saturation rule does apply to physical stages of lab caches.

 

I can't see anything in the guidelines. Do you know somehow that there is a way to review physical waypoints and saturation of Lab caches before publication?

[+baer2006]

2 hours ago, arisoft said:

5 hours ago, baer2006 said:

I said, that the saturation rule does apply to physical stages of lab caches.

 

I can't see anything in the guidelines. Do you know somehow that there is a way to review physical waypoints and saturation of Lab caches before publication?

I got one of the 250 Adventure Labs in the current "test phase". It came with instructions how to handle physical stages. Basically, you create a dummy listing of a multi-cache with the physical stage locations for the sole purpose of checking for proximity conflicts. After that check, the dummy listing is no longer needed. I know that this is just a work-around, and that there are a few obvious weaknesses. That's why I said above that the procedure is a bit clumsy.

[+baer2006]

2 hours ago, arisoft said:

5 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Yes. "At least 6 months, maybe longer". That's what I meant when I said they don't need to be temporary.

 

We must have different meaning for temporary. Let's consult some "authority". (Google)

 

temporary

/ˈtɛmp(ə)rəri/

adjective

adjective: temporary

1. 1.

   lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent.

Ok, one last try from me ... "At least six months, maybe longer" means, that the lower limit for the lifetime is 6 months, but there is no upper limit. So you can place a temporary lab cache, but you can also keep it permanently active. The same as for all other cache types, actually.

[+arisoft]

14 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Ok, one last try from me ... "At least six months, maybe longer" means, that the lower limit for the lifetime is 6 months, but there is no upper limit. So you can place a temporary lab cache, but you can also keep it permanently active. The same as for all other cache types, actually.

 

This is not the case. Normal geocache is intented to be permanent but at least 3 months.

 

" These Adventures will remain active for at least six months, or potentially longer "

 

There is no promise for more than 6 months. For an optimist it is eternity and for a pessimist it is only half a year.

Edited March 19, 2019 by arisoft

[+K13]

Proximity rules for the Adventure Lab I played a couple weeks ago were not enforced. The ALC tag placed at the location with the code word was within a couple hundred feet of existing Traditional geocaches for at least three of the locations.

In one location, I signed the cache log while my friend entered the code for the ALC stage standing next to me.

[+baer2006]

3 hours ago, K13 said:

Proximity rules for the Adventure Lab I played a couple weeks ago were not enforced. The ALC tag placed at the location with the code word was within a couple hundred feet of existing Traditional geocaches for at least three of the locations.

In one location, I signed the cache log while my friend entered the code for the ALC stage standing next to me.

It's not enforced by the ALC Builder tool. You can enter any coordinate you like, and if you decide not to have your physical locations checked with the "dummy multi-cache" work-around, then that's it. It's not much different from a normal multi-cache - there you can also "forget" to list a physical stage as a hidden waypoint, if it would violate the proximity rule.

[+arisoft]

3 hours ago, K13 said:

Proximity rules for the Adventure Lab I played a couple weeks ago were not enforced.

 

Proximity rules for physical waypoints apply only if a public ALC is available more than three weeks. Is the ALC still available?

[+K13]

3 minutes ago, arisoft said:

 

Proximity rules for physical waypoints apply only if a public ALC is available more than three weeks. Is the ALC still available?

 

Yes, still available.

[+DerDiedler]

I´ve installed the app on my mobile and lokked at one adventure. At first glance it seems to me like a Where I go, without the requirement of a physical log.

Is this impression totaly wrong?

[+thebruce0]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:24 AM, arisoft said:

Normal geocache is intented to be permanent but at least 3 months.

 

" These Adventures will remain active for at least six months, or potentially longer "

 

Normal cache: Minimum 3 months.

Adventure Labs: Minimum 6 months.

Clear as day.

You can say "permanent but at least 3 months", but in the end the implication is the same as "6 months or longer", unless a clause states that a Lab cannot be permanent.

Edited April 4, 2019 by thebruce0

[+ivans]

Advanture lab caches are a positive step in GC, we like it. 

 

We would like to help you with some improvements of the application as follows. 

• Too complicated control, e.g. swap between compass and map. Also selection of the map type was somewhere hidden during our game. We propose to use very clear and user friendly UX, i.e. “industry standard” implemented in the great Cachly application.
• It would be very nice to have possibility to export GPX file of visited lab caches for adjacent  processing in the GSAK database.
• It would be nice to open Q/A window on entering the zone (similarly to Wherigo).
• We didn’t catch a purpose of the Journal. When we finished journey, journal was still empty, no records with time stamp nor answer were there.

[+LVSciGuy]

On the cache trail last weekend with my caching buddy. He suggested doing an adventure lab cache up at Waterloo Village, NJ.  The hunt worked like a charm for him but for this once Premium member, not so good.  I use a GPS. This new cache type is invisible to me and therefore I have no way to log the caches I found. Like the WIGs before this, they will remain a part of the game that has no meaning for me unless I borrow equipment.

Here in PA and northern NJ, where phone signal can be spotty my GPS has filled in where my cache buddies go signal blind. It's nice that there are some new features but they are useless to me. I don't intend to "upgrade" to cell phone caching, just maybe a new hobby.

 

Feeling a less than Premium member,

LVSciGuy

[+arisoft]

1 minute ago, LVSciGuy said:

This new cache type is invisible to me and therefore I have no way to log the caches I found.

 

This makes me curious, what did you actually find and how?

 

If you were with a friend who told you that you found something, why didn't your friend let you to log this finding as supposed?

[+LVSciGuy]

He had the lab cache open and as we walked around the location the lab questions (stations?) would pop up. He was using the map view so we were weaving around old style (drunken bee). We'd arrive at the location, read the question, locate the answer. He'd input the answer and we'd move on when the chime sounded. The game was played through his account. Unlike our sign in on a physical find, there was no way for me to log my find even if I found the needed info. I'm guessing the only way to do that would be to borrow his phone, log in under my account, log into the lab adventure and re-walk the lab cache, logging the 'finds' again at each station. Not being a phone user, is their a way to have two accounts open on one phone?

 

 

[+arisoft]

31 minutes ago, LVSciGuy said:

I'm guessing the only way to do that would be to borrow his phone, log in under my account, log into the lab adventure and re-walk the lab cache, logging the 'finds' again at each station. Not being a phone user, is their a way to have two accounts open on one phone?

 

I think that it is possible to log both finds at every stage this way. No need to visit the stages again. It just takes more time to swap logins but it is possible.

[+LVSciGuy]

I was checking the GC desktop and filter settings - Adventure Lab caches, which are public(?), do not appear there. Evidently, they only visible with the app?  As to launching both account simultaneously, we will have to try that.

As to logging on cache trips together, I have heard that some folks in some SE US areas will expect others to move away from a find until it is rehiden so that each member of the team can find the cache for himself. Wow, does that make a cache day longer

 

[+thebruce0]

Yep. You need to be logged in to the app with your account to log the find on your accounts.

 

It's not a 'loss' for PM without a phone. It's a new feature of the game that didn't previously exist even while you already had PM. So it's a new feature developed for geocaching that PM never guarantee access to without a smartphone. If buying PM included the clause that premium membership would grant you access to every new future developed feature, that would be different. Since the vast majority of people and geocaching demographic now have a smartphone (even if not used for geocaching), it's for the most part a non-issue.

I agree it's unfortunate for people who don't have a smartphone, but there are many things people without a smartphone can't do these days. This is one more thing that may (or may not) lead to someone becoming a smartphone user. Guess it's a decision each person will need to make, eh?

[+LVSciGuy]

Indeed. Even "purist" an extinct term.  I have been asked to establish a geocaching experience for a Scout Jamboree - official lab caches now out.  I'll publish a few traditional types but then have the rest private stashes, I suppose.

 

An anachronistic premium member,

 

LVSG

[+arisoft]

3 hours ago, LVSciGuy said:

As to logging on cache trips together, I have heard that some folks in some SE US areas will expect others to move away from a find until it is rehiden so that each member of the team can find the cache for himself. Wow, does that make a cache day longer

 

The day is 24 hours long in both ways. It all depends what kind of experience you are looking for - geocaching or just hanging around with friends.

[+Lynx Humble]

Today I did the lab cache at the mega in Belgium and it wasn't a fun experience to wonder if you will be able to log your finds because the system was overload with all the players at the same time.

 

I was able to log them all after rebooting the app a couple of times...

 

Groundspeak seem to have underestimated the number of simultaneous players.

[+keksbande]

I tried to use the app yesterday the first time. Although my smartphone definitly had a GPS fix (Locus app worked as usual), the Adventure Lab App did not manage to talk to my GPS. Therefore the lab I would have liked to play was shown in a distance of x thousand kilometers... My smartphone still has an older Android version (4.4.2), but the app can be installed without problems on this version and therefore should also work. 

[+baer2006]

4 hours ago, keksbande said:

I tried to use the app yesterday the first time. Although my smartphone definitly had a GPS fix (Locus app worked as usual), the Adventure Lab App did not manage to talk to my GPS. Therefore the lab I would have liked to play was shown in a distance of x thousand kilometers... My smartphone still has an older Android version (4.4.2), but the app can be installed without problems on this version and therefore should also work. 

A friend of mine with a relatively recent Android version had exactly the same problem yesterday. And I had that problem two weeks ago, when I wanted only to look into the app to see if any ALCs are nearby. The only "common factor", which I can see for the bug's occurrences, is that access to Groundspeak's services was somewhat disrupted at the time.

[+AnnaMoritz]

4 hours ago, keksbande said:

I tried to use the app yesterday the first time. Although my smartphone definitly had a GPS fix (Locus app worked as usual), the Adventure Lab App did not manage to talk to my GPS. Therefore the lab I would have liked to play was shown in a distance of x thousand kilometers... My smartphone still has an older Android version (4.4.2), but the app can be installed without problems on this version and therefore should also work. 

 

Did you allow also Wifi and cell positioning? For me the Lab App never (during last month) worked without allowing that too.

 

And to me it seemed that the position in the Lab App is rotating between values obtained from GPS and values via cell positioning/wifi (you can notice that when in a park that hasn't wifi and no cell towers at every corner, GPS is at spot, everything else not really).

 

At some moments I was thinking GPS can't be used at all, the direction arrow was pointing up to 25° to another direction. But that might have other reasons.

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by AnnaMoritz

[+keksbande]

Well, I would never have guessed that activating WIFI would change anything... But after activting WIFI the app now seems to get a GPS fix. Thanks for this hint. Hopefully this will then also work, when I have the next chance to try the lab.

[+AnnaMoritz]

Well, I now had a closer look.

 

You don't need to activate WiFi using the 'normal' button for this and it isn't shown as symbol 'Wi-Fi on'' and you don't need to activate 'Use GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks' in Location access if your Location mode is set to 'Use GPS only' and Wi-Fi not active.

 

You only need to see the 'nagging screen' in the Adventure Lab telling you 'For a better experience, turn on device location, which uses Google's location service.' That won't go away anyway if you insist on clicking 'No thanks'. So you might choose to press 'Yes'. What happens?

 

 

On the screen for Location access (left in picture) nothing seems to be changed, still 'Use GPS only'. Looking at the status bar, no active Wi-Fi.

 

Only when looking at 'Scan setting' (the three dots in upper right corner) you see that 'Yes' activated 'allowing system apps and services to detect Wi-Fi networks at any time'.

Well, it seems the Adventure App user who doesn't like the device scanning for Wi-Fi at any time, even when 'Access my location' is turned off has to know without explanation what pressing the 'turn on device location' button in the Adventure Lab triggers and what the device then keeps on doing after closing the Adventure Lab until you manually disable Wi-Fi scanning again.

 

So be sure to turn Wi-i scanning off again after using the Lab Adventure App if you are one of those old-fashioned fossils that don't use Wi-Fi and don't want your device to continue scanning for Wi-Fi networks at any time, even if 'Access my location' is turned off.

 

Once you have got a GPS-Fix it seems you could turn off Wi-Fi scanning again if you don't mind clicking on 'No, thanks' every other second and if you are able to use the time in between the pop-ups to navigate, open the Lab and answer the question.

 

[+jellis]

iPhone 7

app keeps crashing 

[+noncentric]

I'm once again wishing that there were some Start/End dates displayed for the Adventures.  Does anyone know if  THIS  Adventure in Seguin, TX is still active?  I'm not able to find it in my app, on either Android or iOS.  I can see it in the "View Logs" section at labs.geocaching.com - as I completed it during a recent trip, but there's nothing on that website that indicates whether the Adventure is still active or not.

[+Raider74]

My husband and I tried out the new Adventure Lab app last weekend and really enjoyed it!   It felt similar to a Wherigo but with more complex graphics/information being displayed.  I also liked the fact that each location was like its own virtual and counted as a find.  We would love to try some more in the future!  

 

The only thing I would love to see is the ability to actually write a log instead of just have the "journal" that doesn't offer much except a short message after completing each stage.  I would love to be able to comment on each location just like you would with a virtual log.  This way it would also show up in your geocaching log history too.

 

[+Wal & Ol]

Is it possible to set up notifications for new Adventure Labs?

[Frau Potter]

4 hours ago, Wal & Ol said:

Is it possible to set up notifications for new Adventure Labs?

 

There is currently no notification for new Adventures. However, it is something the team has been thinking about potentially for the future. In the meantime, I recommend checking regularly since new Adventures are going live every day.

[+redsox_mark]

Having done my first Adventure Lab, my thoughts:

 

I like the interactive experience.    I also like AR caches and Wherigos (in general).    So another tool which allows caching to be augmented with interactive "storytelling" is good.   

 

I wish it was more integrated with the website and official geocaching app.   Specifically, I would like:

 

1. To be able to search an area/map for Adventure Labs (AL) , same as for geocaches.     (I know AL has it's own map, but it is separate, and not as flexible as searching on the website).   
2. To be able to get notifications when an new AL is created.
3. To be able to see my logs from an AL on the website, and the "smiley" on the map.     (I like to revisit the map from time to time and see what I've found where).  

I know Lab Caches were always different.  And with the old style Lab Caches, I was OK with that.   If I went to a Mega event and there were 10 lab caches there, I don't need to see those on the map, I can see my Mega attendance.    But if I go to a new city, and only have time to do an AL,  I won't see in my geocaching map that I "cached" in that city - only on the AL map.

 

With Adventure Labs being more like a virtual cache,  I'd prefer to see it more integrated.     

 

For the one Adventure Lab that I found, the creator did something I liked; she also created a "Mystery" type Geocache as a bonus.     This meant that, as well as having a physical cache to find, it meant I received the notification about this "bonus" cache; which is what told me there was an Adventure Lab.     And because of this, I was able to log my Adventure Lab experience on this "bonus" cache (as well as in the Adventure Lab app)... and I see the smiley on the map.  

[+elyob]

1 hour ago, redsox_mark said:

Having done my first Adventure Lab, my thoughts:

 

I like the interactive experience.    I also like AR caches and Wherigos (in general).    So another tool which allows caching to be augmented with interactive "storytelling" is good.   

 

I wish it was more integrated with the website and official geocaching app.   Specifically, I would like:

 

1. To be able to search an area/map for Adventure Labs (AL) , same as for geocaches.     (I know AL has it's own map, but it is separate, and not as flexible as searching on the website).   
2. To be able to get notifications when an new AL is created.
3. To be able to see my logs from an AL on the website, and the "smiley" on the map.     (I like to revisit the map from time to time and see what I've found where).  

I know Lab Caches were always different.  And with the old style Lab Caches, I was OK with that.   If I went to a Mega event and there were 10 lab caches there, I don't need to see those on the map, I can see my Mega attendance.    But if I go to a new city, and only have time to do an AL,  I won't see in my geocaching map that I "cached" in that city - only on the AL map.

 

With Adventure Labs being more like a virtual cache,  I'd prefer to see it more integrated.     

 

For the one Adventure Lab that I found, the creator did something I liked; she also created a "Mystery" type Geocache as a bonus.     This meant that, as well as having a physical cache to find, it meant I received the notification about this "bonus" cache; which is what told me there was an Adventure Lab.     And because of this, I was able to log my Adventure Lab experience on this "bonus" cache (as well as in the Adventure Lab app)... and I see the smiley on the map.  

 

That is a great idea, combining the Adventure Lab with an actual container cache (GC8G640).  Thank you for sharing.

[+bflentje]

My first Adventure Lab went public a few days ago. Overall I like the idea, or specifically, I like the potential this may have in the future. The only complaint I have of the builder in its current state is that I wish the 1000 character limit was higher. I know the limitation is probably the smartphone screen size but perhaps a paging function would help get past that. Even a bump to 2000 characters would have helped my specific situation.

Edited December 3, 2019 by bflentje

[+Twinklekitkat]

If you are taking suggestions here, I would like to mention this.  There is an adventure lab that was set up approximately 50 miles from my home base. One of the locations of this adventure is very close to my me but is about 50 miles from the published pin. Another location in this lab is approximately 50 miles in the opposite direction (100 miles from the published pin).  When I am out geocaching, I may look at the new app to see if there are any adventures nearby.  When I use "Search This Area" none are populated but if I were to open this particular adventure I would then see that there is indeed one lab cache near my home base and another 50 miles away (100 miles from the posted pin).  I would like to see all lab cache locations be visible on the app when using the  "Search This Area" function.  This would include the posted, starting pin for the adventure as well as all the locations within it.  The posted pin could remain orange and each location the smaller orange dot it is now and gray if the stops must be done in order.  It could work similar to the way clustering did on the geocaching app when it first came out.  If all the locations are near the posted pin you would only see them by zooming in.  If the locations are very spread out you would be able to see where they are easily.  It may help users to find lab caches when they are actually near them.  Otherwise, I have a feeling what will happen is people will be at an area geocaching, look for a lab and see there is none but then later, with further searching within the app or via word of mouth, will find out that there was a lab right where they had been and they didn't even know it.  That would upset me.  Currently there are not that many adventures for me to keep track of so I know where they are now, but as more are published it will become more difficult to keep all the locations in my head.  To summarize, I want to be able to see all adventure lab locations on the app at once, not just the published pins. It is cumbersome to have to open each lab to see where you need to go.

 

As for notification, the best solution is to set up a physical bonus that is published the same time as the adventure which is the Pro Tip suggested in the guidelines. It is currently the best way to get a notification when a new adventure is available IMO.

[+CAVinoGal]

I completed my first Adventure Lab cache today. (YAY!)  It was nice to get 5 smilies/finds added to my totals, but they don't show on the Found caches list of my profile; that shows 1776 caches, whereas my find count now shows 1781 on my profile.  You can go to the lab cache icon on my profile and see 5 caches there, and the 5 stages of the one I did.

 Click All Geocache finds to get this: 

 

Interestingly, the 5 stages show as being found on 2 different days, 2 today, 12/23/19, and 3 of them show as tomorrow. 12/24/19.  It does say UTC - so we must have timed it perfectly to find the last 3 just after midnight UTC.  My question is, does that mean it counts as two days of caching for this 3-2-1 promo souvenir?  I may or may not get the 6 days, and if I get a two-fer today, it would help!!  Even tho technically, it was all one day for me.

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by CAVinoGal
remove duplicate screenshot

[+CAVinoGal]

On 12/23/2019 at 8:58 PM, CAVinoGal said:

  My question is, does that mean it counts as two days of caching for this 3-2-1 promo souvenir? 

It seems it does count as two days.  Hubby was at 4 days (5 if this counted as 2 days) and we found a few more today, including another Adventure lab) and he got the souvenir today.  Which means I stand at 5 days now (really only 4) and one more day will get me the souvenir too.  We'll probably do enough to qualify regardless, but it's an interesting quirk.

[+thebruce0]

Yeah there are two types of 'find' stats - the count of Found It logs, and the total listings (whatever qualifies for a smiley) marked as 'found/completed'.  That's one reason I choose not to include Adventure Labs. They're not listings like any other cache, they don't have found it logs, or statistics like all others. Benchmarks are another exception with a unique implementation. I'm OCD like that, I like my stats to line up