I'm getting back into Geocaching after 13 years. What's new in the last decade or so?

[+WoodlandAlliance]

I noticed that Wisconsin state parks have caches now, that was forbidden back in the day.

 

I think some additional GPS satellites launched but I'm not certain.

 

I see a lot of people using smartphones for catching now. That just doesn't feel right to me so I bought a handheld GPS. Although it is really nice to look up coords on the map app and see exactly which tree they point to lol.

 

Almost all of my favorite caches are gone. A few are still out there and I plan to revisit them.

 

In the store I saw a ton of variations of the travel bug which is neat. I forget the name, but I didn't see any of those small non-trackable coins with the hole at the top. I still have a few that I collected.

 

I feel like a newbie again because I struggle to find easy caches. But I'll get my skills back.

[+Smitherington]

Welcome back.  It is just the same as it was.  Only different.  Locationless caches are gone.  Virtuals are only  awarded occasionally.  Adventure Labs are big.  My goals change periodically.  I like the smart phone with its capabilities.  In fact I would not want to go back to just the GPS but I would if necessary.  Keep us posted on your experiences as a re-newbie.  And maybe others who have gotten back into geocaching will comment too.

[+cerberus1]

 

 

3 hours ago, WoodlandAlliance said:

Almost all of my favorite caches are gone. A few are still out there and I plan to revisit them.

 

In the store I saw a ton of variations of the travel bug which is neat. I forget the name, but I didn't see any of those small non-trackable coins with the hole at the top. I still have a few that I collected.

 

I feel like a newbie again because I struggle to find easy caches. But I'll get my skills back.

 

JIC you think you're "relogging them" when you revisit, multiple finds on one cache haven't been a thing since 2017.

 - You no longer can log your own caches either.  We thought that behavior was bizarre. People logging their own caches when doing maintenance...

Groundspeak has never sold those "small non-trackable coins with the hole". 

 - They belong to a different company, most are signature coins, and people collect/trade them or use them as swag.

Like riding a bike.   

[+JL_HSTRE]

Power Trails are a thing now.

 

More total geocaches in general.

 

35mm film cans are almost extinct. Ammo cans and Decons got rarer. Preform tubes (think plastic test tunes with soda bottle lids) are en vogue

 

Earthcache requirements have gotten stricter.

 

Trackables in the wild are rare. Swag is less common.

 

Favorite Points exist, and are generally useful. 

 

Pocket Query improvements and the API make finding the geocaches you're interested in (and filtering out the rest) easier.

[+GeoElmo6000]

A lot of improvements have been made, including making the game more accessible to a new generation of geocachers through the use of the free Groundspeak geocaching app and other third party geocaching apps.  I love that you can just be sitting someplace unplanned, like a highway rest stop, pull out your phone, search for nearby caches, and find one nearby.  I started 11 years ago with a Garmin eTrex H without a serial cable and had to type in all the coordinates  that I wanted to find by hand, using the enter - up - down - back buttons.  Finding the 32 stage multi cache "The Bridges and Arches of Central Park" was brutal planning-wise (though still my favorite cache ever).

 

Adventures have been introduced, which I describe as a location-based game created by Groundspeak that is not geocaching but similar to it.  You need a separate app for Adventures.  Each lab cache (the individual parts of Adventures) found counts as a find on your geocaching profile, which was a great marketing ploy by Groundspeak because they had a built-in community from their main game of geocaching.  Lab caches are like geocaches except they lack physical logbooks (as do virtuals, webcams, and earthcaches), they lack difficulty and terrain ratings, online log write-ups, coordinates for finders to use their GPS receivers, lack of GPS receiver support, they don't show up on your find list, and they don't show up on the geocaching map.  You must use a smartphone, and when you get within a certain radius, the ability to answer the question you need for a find is unlocked, and when you enter the answer, you get your +1 find count and that's it.  I'm a little snarky about Adventures (as you can tell) but I'm hoping they get more integrated into mainstream geocaching, though from what I've read there are no plans to do that.  The thing I miss most about them is writing logs, I enjoy that part of geocaching and feel cheated when I just type in the answer to some question and get a +1.  ("What is the first name on the gravestone?" "Bob". +1)

 

Webcams are almost gone (I heard around 200 left worldwide) but virtual caches are awarded through a lottery system occasionally.  

 

Premium membership is the same price as it was 20 years ago, which is pretty amazing considering inflation over the last 20 years.

 

Oh, and the GIFF, the Geocaching International Film Festival.  That's my favorite thing.  In 2013 the folks at Groundspeak started an international film festival, asking geocachers to send in short films (1-4 minutes) for consideration to be chosen as part of a 1 hour film reel.  From 2013-2014 the films were only shown in Seattle at an outdoor film event and on Groundspeak's YouTube channel, but starting in 2015, because of a rainstorm in Seattle (seriously), Groundspeak asked locals around the world to host this film festival in November of each year (except for 2020 and 2022).  On a whim, never having made a film before, I entered one in 2017 and it was selected, and my film was shown to over 15,000 geocachers in over 50 countries at over 600 events.  Pretty cool.  My films have been in the film festival in 2017, 2019, and 2021, and it helped me start my YouTube channel (see my profile if you're interested).  Who knew as a middle aged engineer that I'd one day become a filmmaker thanks to geocaching.

 

Welcome back, enjoy the game, it's a lot of fun still.  

[joesdolphins]

A lot of newbies caching with phones who claim they are just as good as a hand held lol. Adventure lab caches that use a app on your phone. Geo art is on the new side for you. 

[+JL_HSTRE]

23 hours ago, GeoElmo6000 said:

Webcams are almost gone (I heard around 200 left worldwide)

 

Correct. Only 217 per the site search. 

[+MommaLogan]

I also am a “newbie” again.  
 

we geocached as a family when the kids were young, now they are all in College and we are empty nesters. I’ve decided to get back into geocaching. A lot has changed, and I’m disappointed that there are only a few in my town. I plan on changing that in the next few days!

[+lazyuncle]

Welcome back @MommaLogan!

[+Lee_Bo]

On 7/18/2022 at 8:58 AM, WoodlandAlliance said:

I noticed that Wisconsin state parks have caches now, that was forbidden back in the day.

 

I think some additional GPS satellites launched but I'm not certain.

 

I see a lot of people using smartphones for catching now. That just doesn't feel right to me so I bought a handheld GPS. Although it is really nice to look up coords on the map app and see exactly which tree they point to lol.

 

Almost all of my favorite caches are gone. A few are still out there and I plan to revisit them.

 

In the store I saw a ton of variations of the travel bug which is neat. I forget the name, but I didn't see any of those small non-trackable coins with the hole at the top. I still have a few that I collected.

 

I feel like a newbie again because I struggle to find easy caches. But I'll get my skills back.

Yes, some state parks have caches now.  SC has some parks with caches, but they are spread out.

I'm sure there are several more satellites in orbit now.

I use a smartphone exclusively.  I never had a handheld GPS and I'll probably never get one.  I use Google Maps (offline) for everything.

Of my almost 300 finds, more than half are gone now.

Pathtags?

I'm in that same boat.  It took me several times to find an aspirin-sized bottle because I wasn't "looking".

[Stagger_Inn]

I'm in the same boat. I JUST bought a mountain bike and hope to geocache with it. Previously, I went caching with my kids when they were little - now they've grown up and are no longer interested in going treasure hunting with their dad. Also, I was not too keen when geocaching.com went to a paid model, even for those who placed and maintained caches themselves; thereby contributing to the community. Sure, have a fee for those who don't help out, but charging the very people who are making the community and providing content to geocaching.com .... come on...

Anyhow, I want to lock something on my handle bars - perhaps a gps unit - or maybe my phone. The only problem with the phone is the cost of data up here in Canada. We're probably the worst country by far for fees related to cell phones.  What unit would people suggest? I want a colour screen  and I am able to download waypoints on my computer to the unit before hand - I don't need to tether on the go.

How do people cache with their phone when they have limited data?

thanks!

Edited March 11 by Stagger_Inn

[+MNTA]

3 minutes ago, Stagger_Inn said:

I'm in the same boat. I JUST bought a mountain bike and hope to geocache with it. Previously, I went caching with my kids when they were little - now they've grown up and are no longer interested in going treasure hunting with their dad. Also, I was not too keen when geocaching.com went to a paid model, even for those who placed and maintained caches themselves; thereby contributing to the community. Sure, have a fee for those who don't help out, but charging the very people who are making the community and providing content to geocaching.com .... come on...

Anyhow, I want to lock something on my handle bars - perhaps a gps unit - or maybe my phone. The only problem with the phone is the cost of data up here in Canada. We're probably the worst country by far for fees related to cell phones.  What unit would people suggest? I want a colour screen  and I am able to download waypoints on my computer to the unit before hand - I don't need to tether on the go.

How do people cache with their phone when they have limited data?

thanks!

 

Everything costs money. From the developers of the software to the energy to power the servers. I get more enjoyment for me to personally spend the small amount of yearly membership. 

 

As for a limited data plan. Like you my kids lost interest, however, their interests and activities led me to require an unlimited data plan. Their streaming desires and my need to work remotely. Though before that I got very adept at off line lists. Downloading the caches data before a weekends activity.  

 

 

 

[+niraD]

9 hours ago, Stagger_Inn said:

How do people cache with their phone when they have limited data?

My current plan includes 10GB/month which is much more than I ever use. But when I was on a much more limited plan, I made a point of downloading geocaching data in advance, usually by downloading a Pocket Query or two (Pocket Queries are a premium feature). Sometimes I would have my geocaching app (a third-party API partner app that is no longer supported) download map data as well.

 

Now, I usually download data via the API, rather than downloading PQ data as a GPX file. But it's still possible to do that via a WiFi connection, before setting out on a geocaching trip. To me, one of the main features of a premium membership is full API access. All API-based apps (Groundspeak's official app and third-party API partner apps) are pretty limited for basic members.

[+MartyBartfast]

9 hours ago, Stagger_Inn said:

How do people cache with their phone when they have limited data?

Choose an app which allows you to save offline caches and to use offline maps, then you won't need to use any data out in the field. On Android I use Locus Maps with the geocaching4Locus addon and free OSM maps, it's then possible to download caches for an area I'm heading to before leaving home; I believe Cachly on iPhone has similar functionality.

[+LovelyAlicia]

I am also returning after over a seven year hiatus.

Happy caching!

[+thebruce0]

PQs really were the way to go before the API and higher data limits.

Quite often I'd download a full collection of PQs generated for all active geocaches within all of Ontario. If you spread the date range by month/year until it hits 1000, since placed dates never(*) change, you only need to update the latest PQ for the current date until it hits 1000. If you have enough space, you can always have all the caches in your home region.  The only extra trick is occasionally filtering for caches (you have downloaded already) that weren't updated (not included in any PQ) and manually update those as they were the ones most likely archived.

 

Anyway, just a surefire trick to keep an offline record of all the caches in a region. Update it weekly and you may only miss up to 1 week old caches. Not shabby unless you care much about FTFs.