Are Earthcaches Dying?

[+TerraViators]

This may be for the data miners.  Are we seeing fewer earthcache submissions or publishings than, say, five or ten years ago.  I rarely see new listings.  Is interest waning?  Are the guidelines more prohibitive?  Is the review process more stringent?

Edited December 21, 2023 by TerraViators

[+arisoft]

Perhaps all topics are already used?

 

I have seen many new Earthcaches published in this year.  21 earthcaches were published in less than 100km from my home coordinates at 2023.

Edited December 21, 2023 by arisoft

[+MartyBartfast]

It probably differs by regions but a quick peruse of my GSAK database, which only includes active caches in Southern England would suggest you're right, with far fewer being published in the last 3 years than in 2013-2019, and of course some older caches may have been archived so this could be under counting the older numbers.
Here's the current numbers per year for my region.
 

2007   : 13
2008   : 25
2009   : 35
2010   : 29
2011   : 19
2012   : 26
2013   : 49
2014   : 51
2015   : 98
2016   : 97
2017   : 60
2018   : 54
2019   : 77
2020   : 34
2021   : 16
2022   : 14
2023   : 18

 

[Keystone]

I moved this thread from the general Geocaching topics forum.

[+barefootjeff]

These are the number of active ECs by placement years for New South Wales (Australia):

 

2004 : 1 (the world's first EC)

2005 : 1

2006 : 1

2007 : 1

2008 : 2

2009 : 13

2010 : 17

2011 : 10

2012 : 9

2013 : 23

2014 : 23

2015 : 26

2016 : 35

2017 : 52

2018 : 31

2019 : 23

2020 : 13

2021 : 5

2022 : 11

2023 : 12

 

So clearly we've come off the peak of 2017, but perhaps back to a more sustainable long-term rate?

 

[+A J Pombo]

Portugal (my GSAK database):

2005	3
2006	3
2007	11
2008	38
2009	46
2010	36
2011	74
2012	72
2013	70
2014	83
2015	105
2016	116
2017	135
2018	129
2019	87
2020	95
2021	80
2022	64
2023	52

[+brcross95]

So I did some research on this and actually was surprised by some of the data.  EarthCaches have been around since 2004, so basically 20 years.  The first 10 years saw 17,953 EarthCaches published and the last 10 years saw 26,740 published.  So that means of the 44,693 published EarthCaches, 60% have been published in the last 10 years.  Here is a yearly breakdown:

 

2023 - 2007 EarthCaches

2022 - 2149 EarthCaches

2021 - 2130 EarthCaches

2020 - 2424 EarthCaches

2019 - 2759 EarthCaches

2018 - 2791 EarthCaches

2017 - 3250 EarthCaches

2016 - 3452 EarthCaches

2015 - 3111 EarthCaches

2014 - 2667 EarthCaches

2013 - 2038 EarthCaches

2012 - 2181 EarthCaches

2011 - 2471 EarthCaches

2010 - 3815 EarthCaches

2009 - 2796 EarthCaches

2008 - 2407 EarthCaches

2007 - 1555 EarthCaches

2006 - 277 EarthCaches

2005 - 392 EarthCaches

2004 - 21 EarthCaches

 

As far as guidelines changing, not much has changed in the guidelines since 2013 when they required permission.  The most recent change in the guidelines was 2019 when they allow a picture to be required as a logging task.  Here are some of the changes during those years:

 

2005 - no physical items at site, local language and English

2006 - only pictures, info from signs, and internet research do not meet guidelines

2007 - Biological and ecological topics are not acceptable

2008 - must have visited in the last 2 months

2009 - rewrites with no changes and avoiding plagiarism

2010 - unique features and proximity to other similar EarthCaches

2013 - permission required. photos optional. answers via website. non-geology questions not allowed. autoresponders not allowed. provide expected answers.

2019 - photo (face not required) can be required task

 

So from a worldwide perspective, the numbers published have gone up and only 1 guideline change in the last 10 years.  I was surprised by this. I think with so many new virtual geocaches like new virtuals 2.0-4.0 and adventure labs, that some people will move their interests from a geology virtual EarthCache to the newer types. 

 

So maybe with your smaller, local area the numbers may seem down, but overall the numbers are up in the last 10 years.  Here's to more EarthCaches in the future! Let's keep the number growing!!

 

 

[BlueRajah]

I had written an answer, but discussion seemed to hijack this thread, so I split it off into its own thread with the replies. 

[+thekingofbattle]

If it helps...in early August, 2023...the US had 9,525 EarthCaches.

 

As of late February, 2024 it now has 9,712.

 

So...close to 200 were written in the past 6+ months.

 

Many states saw an increase...but a few actually decreased in their total number.

[+sgerbs]

I'm doing my part to increase earthcaches. I've hidden at least one new earthcache a year since 2017. And I've taught two seminars on how to hide earthcaches. So far, it has had a positive impact and it has demystified earthcaches for COs.