saturation of ALs

[+Deepdiggingmole]

Due to the amount of ALs that have been handed out - it has been noted that in areas like the bigger cities and in particular ones where large events take place - the areas have become saturated in ALs. This wouldn't be a problem other than the issue of having to swap between different ALs which is becoming a very arduous task. The bigger issue with that is that many stages cross over with other ALs and you find your self needlessly going backwards and forwards when you realise you walked past a stage of one AL while going towards another 

I am aware there are methods to deal with this - mapping out the various stages so that you know where they are - or downloading .gpx files of an area of ALs and plugging that into apps (yes that can be done) but this is seeing these stages in another app - you still have to go into the official AL app to answer the Q and claim the stage - so you then get the issue of swapping backwards and forwards between apps - possibly slightly less arduous than having to swap between ALs on the AL app 

 

So my question is - 

Would it be possible to adapt the AL app to allow ALL stages of all different ALs in an area defined on the map** to be visible and clicking on each stage takes you to the relevant AL and that stage where you can answer the Q as usual

**maybe have the defined area as a restricted one - such as when you have zoomed in to a certain level and then the stages of all ALs within that area can be seen

This would make walking round an area saturated with ALs so much easier 

 

Attached are screenshots from another app where the ALs are all shown in a particular area - zoomed in, the various stages are also shown - doing it like this on the AL APP would be brilliant - with the added facility to click on any stage and being taken to the relevant AL 

[+Mausebiber]

8 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

swap between different ALs which is becoming a very arduous task.

 

I have a very easy solution for your problem.  Play one AL at the time, go, have a nice cup of coffee, and then start the next one.

From my experience, each AL has a theme, mixing ALs and you cannot follow what each AL is about.   What you do is not playing ALs, you are hunting for easy points.

[+Deepdiggingmole]

14 hours ago, Mausebiber said:

 

I have a very easy solution for your problem.  Play one AL at the time, go, have a nice cup of coffee, and then start the next one.

From my experience, each AL has a theme, mixing ALs and you cannot follow what each AL is about.   What you do is not playing ALs, you are hunting for easy points.

In the main I follow an AL with ease - However when I go to an area which I don't get to often (as it is not near) and I want to get as many AL stages as I can (and enjoy each one whether they are in order or not)
I am able to read each one and take in what each one says without having to stick to one theme at a time - thanks - but I would rather not walk round and round in circles because I have been advised to do them one at a time 

[+fizzymagic]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:59 PM, Deepdiggingmole said:

In the main I follow an AL with ease - However when I go to an area which I don't get to often (as it is not near) and I want to get as many AL stages as I can (and enjoy each one whether they are in order or not)
I am able to read each one and take in what each one says without having to stick to one theme at a time - thanks - but I would rather not walk round and round in circles because I have been advised to do them one at a time 

 

The entire point of ALs is to reduce the autonomy of the player.  You have to do what the AL placer wants, often in the order they want it.  ALs are designed so that you don't know what is coming next. 

 

So it makes no sense to plan a day ahead doing what you can in a certain area.  If you'd like to do that, there is another activity you might like, called geocaching.

[+JL_HSTRE]

Saturation of ALs shouldn't be a problem, but many AL creators are placing new ALs simply because they can rather than because there's something worthwhile not otherwise covered by existing ALs. Most ALs are placed close to home, closer on average than physical caches.

[+thebruce0]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:59 AM, JL_HSTRE said:

Saturation of ALs shouldn't be a problem, but many AL creators are placing new ALs simply because they can rather than because there's something worthwhile not otherwise covered by existing ALs. Most ALs are placed close to home, closer on average than physical caches.

 

In a way, I think HQ prefers this. The only difference between "because they can rather than because there's something worthwhile" in this context and the Virtual Geocache, is the latter required review before publish and reviewers hated the 'value' judgment.  ALs are a 'container' where that's no longer an issue, so I don't see that arguing the reduced value of AL locations is going to make much difference

[+JL_HSTRE]

1 hour ago, thebruce0 said:

 

In a way, I think HQ prefers this. The only difference between "because they can rather than because there's something worthwhile" in this context and the Virtual Geocache, is the latter required review before publish and reviewers hated the 'value' judgment.  ALs are a 'container' where that's no longer an issue, so I don't see that arguing the reduced value of AL locations is going to make much difference

 

I don't expect Groundspeak to try to police a "wow factor."

 

Rather it's a criticism of geocachers. I was at a national park with good cell reception yesterday. No ALs, despite that being prime place for them since physical caches are prohibited. 

[+barefootjeff]

4 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

Rather it's a criticism of geocachers. I was at a national park with good cell reception yesterday. No ALs, despite that being prime place for them since physical caches are prohibited. 

 

My area is surrounded by national parks and the first AL I created is along a loop trail in one of them. I was fortunate as there's signage or things to unambiguously ask questions about at each of the locations of interest, but that's more the exception than the rule. I'd thought about placing one along another loop trail which goes from a picnic area, down one side of a deep gully, across a suspension bridge at the bottom and back up the other side, but it became too problematic. Only two of the locations have any signage to base questions on, and also the app's behaviour on non-sequential ALs of directing searchers to the next nearest location would have caused it to be telling people to cross the gully part way down which, although possible, could be pretty risky, particularly if there's a lot of water coming down. One possible solution would have been to make it sequential but I didn't want to force people to do the loop in one direction or prevent them from starting and finishing at the bottom.

 

Another problem with national park ALs, at least in this part of the world, is that the map in the AL app (essentially the Google street map) doesn't show walking trails. Compare these maps from the caching app and the AL app of one of the parks here:

 

 

That trail out to the headland would make a great AL (if I'd received a Virtual Reward, it would have gone there) but it's indistinct in places and it would be too easy to get lost if using just the AL map. It's pretty rugged country with no phone reception once you go down off the ridge and inexperienced or unprepared walkers have occasionally gotten lost in there.

 

It's much the same story with the other national park trails I've considered putting an AL along, with nothing that could be used to frame meaningful unambiguous questions around at the points of interest and an empty map in the app. Perhaps that's why ALs are essentially dead here, with just three new ones last year (one of them mine) and none this year. The framework and app really is designed around urban locations.

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 4/27/2023 at 6:55 AM, fizzymagic said:

 

The entire point of ALs is to reduce the autonomy of the player.  You have to do what the AL placer wants, often in the order they want it.  ALs are designed so that you don't know what is coming next. 

 

So it makes no sense to plan a day ahead doing what you can in a certain area.  If you'd like to do that, there is another activity you might like, called geocaching.

I can understand that if the Als are sequential as that does dictate the order you have to do them. However and as was the case with ALL the ALs in my example above - none were sequential and so the opportunity arises that you can pick up different stages as you go flitting between the various different ALs, and as I said that does not take away the enjoyment of checking out each stage  - if all the ones in that area were sequential, yes you would find yourself going backwards and forwards several times covering the same ground several times over - this is due to over saturation (IMHO). If you are comparing it to 'Geocaching' then you get the same thing with a forest full of caches where different series have been placed all round (and yes I have seen this too) - now I dont expect many cachers would go round and round in circles strictly sticking to each trail - most would organise a route that would create the least amount of crossover and doing that flit between the different series in the process  - and yes I have done that too. 

[+Deepdiggingmole]

Well, well - it seems sometimes these things are picked up and I understand that there is a now a new feature on the app headed 'play nearby locations' and once turned on you can interact with all locations from nearby adventures on the map 

See attached - now I can see the locations of the AL I am in (in red) but other locations from other ALs are shown in blue - if you click on a blue one as you pass a pop up asks if you want to go to that AL

 

Exactly what I was requesting in the OP where you get a saturation of ALs like this 
Thank you

[+Deepdiggingmole]

On 4/27/2023 at 6:55 AM, fizzymagic said:

So it makes no sense to plan a day ahead doing what you can in a certain area.  If you'd like to do that, there is another activity you might like, called geocaching.

 

Sorry - I thought ALs were all part of that thing called Geocaching - I am sure all the ones I have done have been added to my find count ? 

[+thebruce0]

12 hours ago, Deepdiggingmole said:

I thought ALs were all part of that thing called Geocaching

Oh just look at the oodles of forum threads already discussing/debating this... it's deep

[+northwing65]

Was in Rome, Georgia for Mega event over the weekend, and the overlapping of stops on various Adventure Labs was certainly happening for us.   I use an iPhone, and I could see the multiple steps of the overlapping AL's, and I could easily jump between AL's.   My caching partners, on the other hand, used Samsung devices, and they couldn't/didn't see all the various stops.   Is this a feature not available in their version, or an option they didn't have turned on?

[+Max and 99]

25 minutes ago, northwing65 said:

Was in Rome, Georgia for Mega event over the weekend, and the overlapping of stops on various Adventure Labs was certainly happening for us.   I use an iPhone, and I could see the multiple steps of the overlapping AL's, and I could easily jump between AL's.   My caching partners, on the other hand, used Samsung devices, and they couldn't/didn't see all the various stops.   Is this a feature not available in their version, or an option they didn't have turned on?

You have to turn the feature on to be able to use it.