Useless map for choosing hiding place

[passegua]

I follow the steps:
1) Play
2) Hide a geocache
3) I choose a place following the guidelines (not too close to existing ones) please look at the attached map.
4) I place my new geocache but... the reviewer tells me that the chosen place is too close to... a place that is not shown on the map (Multi or Mystery or something I don't know)!
 

Conclusion: that map with nice red circles is totally useless!
Please comment and help me in understand how correctly place a geocache. Thanks.

[+lee737]

As you've found out, only visible waypoints will show up on the map.... you'll need to work out where the invisible (puzzles/multis etc) ones are on your own.... I still don't think they will then show up on that map though. I then need to use third party assistance - Cachly, or my GPSr, as the website won't show found puzzles in their physical location.... I agree, the official tools are a bit useless for hiding (especially in cache dense areas), but I see their rationale for not revealing the red circles for puzzles etc....

[passegua]

26 minutes ago, lee737 said:

you'll need to work out where the invisible (puzzles/multis etc) ones are on your own...

How?

[passegua]

28 minutes ago, lee737 said:

I then need to use third party assistance - Cachly, or my GPSr, as the website won't show found puzzles in their physical location....

Please tell me more about "Cachly" and "GPSr" as I don't know those. Thanks.

[+lee737]

6 minutes ago, passegua said:

How?

Sorry.... you need to obtain the final/physical coords for nearby puzzle caches, and multis.... you need to solve the puzzles (or otherwise get the coords.... ask friends??) or do the multis generally.... there is no other easier way....

[+lee737]

5 minutes ago, passegua said:

Please tell me more about "Cachly" and "GPSr" as I don't know those. Thanks.

Cachly is an iOS app - superior to the official offerings in a lot of regards IMO (not all), it does retain the solved coords of puzzles etc, and even provides you with your own red circles to judge new hides by. GPSr - GPS receiver - just a handheld GPS - it retains coords as well, and standing at a hide allows you to quickly assess your distance to all unfound and found caches, as long as you have those coordinates.... (see above)

[Keystone]

If the planning map showed you the actual location of Mystery Caches, they wouldn't be very mysterious, would they? People would use the map to "cheat" in order to discover the locations of caches with hidden waypoints.

 

Another way to avoid surprises is to ask your local Community Volunteer for a "coordinates check" before placing your cache.  See this Help Center article.

[passegua]

43 minutes ago, Keystone said:

ask your local Community Volunteer for a "coordinates check" before placing your cache

Your suggestion seems reasonable to me and is the only possible solution, the fact remains that the maps with the red circles are useless.

[RuideAlmeida]

1 minute ago, passegua said:

How?

 

Dealing with all those non-Traditional caches one by one, until you found all of them in a location you also want to hide any cache of yours.

You can also ask your reviewer if a pair of coordinates is available, before publishing a cache.

[passegua]

3 hours ago, lee737 said:

obtain the final/physical coords for nearby puzzle caches, and multis

How?

[RuideAlmeida]

1 minute ago, passegua said:

... the fact remains that the maps with the red circles are useless.

 

But in the meantime all the caches are still being placed and published. It is not useless at all to a more experienced player. In every activity you have to deal with a "learning curve", like here. Be patient!

[RuideAlmeida]

3 minutes ago, passegua said:

How?

 

Solve and found them like everybody else, simple.

[passegua]

Just now, RuideAlmeida said:

ask your reviewer if a pair of coordinates is available, before publishing a cache

This seems to me the only way even if I don't understand why those maps with red circles are shown without even saying that they are useless or incomplete.

[passegua]

1 minute ago, RuideAlmeida said:

Solve and found them like everybody else, simple.

But if I don't see them how could I solve and find???

[passegua]

4 minutes ago, RuideAlmeida said:

It is not useless at all to a more experienced player.

So you mean that a more experienced player can understand where are "invisible" red circles? Maybe I'll understand.

[RuideAlmeida]

8 minutes ago, passegua said:

But if I don't see them how could I solve and find???

 

I wonder if you are asking only on an hipothetyc way or are having real struggles with a given location, because when I check the map near you, I can see very few Multis and some Mysteries by west and a lot of empty space between caches.

Sure you can see them... they simply are not on the published location.

Edited April 24, 2023 by RuideAlmeida

[passegua]

Thanks to you and all I am learning a lot. I started this topic about a real problem.

Yesterday I hid a cache in a nice place and sent to reviewer (see attached map) that told me the location is not available.

Anyhow I found very useful these guidelines:

Quote

Ask a reviewer to check coordinates

If you’re still unsure if your location is available, ask a local reviewer to confirm.

Tip: It’s a good idea to do this before you place your geocache.

1. Create a cache page with a title like "Coordinate Check".
2. Add locations as waypoints if you'd like the reviewer to check more than one location. This is similar to adding stages for a Multi-Cache.
3. Add a Reviewer Note to make sure that the reviewer does not publish the cache page. For example, “Do not publish, this is a coordinate check."
4. Submit your cache page for review and wait for your reviewer to reply.

 

[RuideAlmeida]

7 minutes ago, passegua said:

So you mean that a more experienced player can understand where are "invisible" red circles? Maybe I'll understand.

 

You can also ask the owners for additional hints, by instance... and when attending Events ask for help.

[passegua]

I think it would be very useful to add to the maps with the red circles a warning like this: "warning, there may be other caches than the ones highlighted by the red circles"!

[passegua]

1 minute ago, RuideAlmeida said:

attending Events

Please explain to me what it is, thank you.

[RuideAlmeida]

8 minutes ago, passegua said:

I think it would be very useful to add to the maps with the red circles a warning like this: "warning, there may be other caches than the ones highlighted by the red circles"!

 

See here.

There's a clear message "Don’t rely only on the Geocache Planning Map to choose a location. Multi-Caches, Mysteries, Wherigos, and Letterbox Hybrids can have hidden physical waypoints."

[RuideAlmeida]

1 hour ago, passegua said:

Please explain to me what it is, thank you.

 

It is just a different type of geocache where players meet. You need to submit the listing with at least 15 days before the Event date, and geocachers log an Attended instead of a Found It. It's very common to held Events when you are visiting another city or country by instance... an amazing way to meet local geocachers.

Edited April 24, 2023 by RuideAlmeida

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, passegua said:

I think it would be very useful to add to the maps with the red circles a warning like this: "warning, there may be other caches than the ones highlighted by the red circles"!

You mean, like this one?

[+kunarion]

22 minutes ago, niraD said:

You mean, like this one?

 

+1

 

I never use the absence of "red circles" as a guaranteed available spot for placing a cache.  Those circles are a  very rough approximation of how many caches are packed in there.  I visit the place and measure the real world distances as accurately as possible.  Gotta have boots on the ground.  Even the visible caches can be too close, and the circle is wrong. 

 

And in a saturated place, a suspiciously available great spot is... suspicious.  As RuideAlmeida mentioned, a meet and greet Event is a good start for research.   I ask people first, and often they tell me first.  I mention some amazing cache spot which suspiciously contains no cache, and they say something like, "That's a great place you discovered and on a completely unrelated subject, have you found [Cache X] yet?"

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by kunarion

[passegua]

42 minutes ago, niraD said:

You mean, like this one?

Great! But I do not have it! Why? Where could I see it?

 

[passegua]

23 minutes ago, kunarion said:

a meet and greet Event is a good start for research

How could I find these "meet and greet event"? Thanks.

btw I have already sent two places to my reviewer and both are not free

I shall continue searching but it is really frustrating when I cannot know in advance if a spot is available.

[+kunarion]

13 minutes ago, passegua said:

How could I find these "meet and greet event"? Thanks.

btw I have already sent two places to my reviewer and both are not free

I shall continue searching but it is really frustrating when I cannot know in advance if a spot is available.

 

Here's a link you may use, based on your cache location.  Save it as a web browser bookmark, and you can check any time for upcoming Events that look good to you.  There's an Event shown at a vacation spot on the coast!  But it is past, it was a couple weeks ago.  I would have loved to attend, but it's kind of a long walk from where I live.

 

If you're good at organizing parties, you can make your own Event, a "Meet And Greet" with no particular theme, except maybe "to discuss local caches to find, and great spots to place caches".

 

Anyway, find a nice local veteran cacher who has pretty much found everything locally, and you can ask where suitable available sites may be.  If it's in an area where I wish to place a cache, and I haven't found any there yet, sometimes I follow a caching friend and go hunt them all.  Especially because the caching friend has solved the puzzles, and I can't figure out the puzzles.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by kunarion

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, passegua said:

1 hour ago, niraD said:

You mean, like this one?

Great! But I do not have it! Why? Where could I see it?

Perhaps you clicked the "I Understand" button and the system now assumes that you understand and don't need to see the alert any more.

[passegua]

On 4/24/2023 at 5:53 PM, kunarion said:

Here's a link you may use, based on your cache location.  Save it as a web browser bookmark, and you can check any time for upcoming Events that look good to you. 

I clicked on the link but this pops up (DNF??? what is it???)

 

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, passegua said:

I clicked on the link but this pops up (DNF??? what is it???)

 

It means that at this time, are no Events that fit the filters I selected.  Change the distance, and Events will appear (far away).  Or try the link again occasionally to see what becomes available.  Or ignore it.  It was just an idea.

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by kunarion

[+HHL]

3 minutes ago, kunarion said:

Change the distance

Right:

https://www.geocaching.com/play/results/?ct=6%2C1304%2C3653%2C3774%2C4738&st=GCA7JTN+-+Oratorio+di+Sant'Erasmo&ot=geocache&r=200&asc=true&sort=distance

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, HHL said:

Right:

https://www.geocaching.com/play/results/?ct=6%2C1304%2C3653%2C3774%2C4738&st=GCA7JTN+-+Oratorio+di+Sant'Erasmo&ot=geocache&r=200&asc=true&sort=distance

 

Beware that the existence of a cache Event far away doesn't mean that anyone at the Event knows an open spot to place your local cache.