QR code GeoArt

[+CheekyBrit]

On the Challenge Talk Podcast last night there was a call for 1000 challenges to be published in June. Challenge GeoArt sprung to mind as my next project, and boy, a QR code GeoArt would be quite something. It begs the question: Is a QR code GeoArt even possible and what are the implications / limitations?

 

You would want to do a micro QR code that was 21x21 pixels or something similar. All capitals and using a tinyurl.com link with as many empty blank pixels as possible allows you the fewest pixels / challenges needed. My current design is 217 pixels.

 

The page you link to could be an issue since it could be modified to something the reviewers didn't approve. In my case I plant to update statistics on challenges, so there will be modifications, but all on par with the original content. It is possible a QR GeoArt could lead to something less savory, like a bad soccer team fan page.

As with any large GeoArt, where to have it becomes a real challenge. Agricultural roads seem an easy choice, but lots of challenges puts a fair amount of Geo-traffic on roads that often are overran with harvest trucks, large farming equipment taking up both sides, and unimproved roads. Then you have how touchy farmers can be with people loitering around their equipment. 
Perhaps flat public land wilderness or sagebrush steppe, though that makes for an inconvenient series of hikes to get it all.

Whaddaya think?

[+GeoElmo6000]

If they're challenge caches then they're mystery caches so you have freedom with posted coordinates.  But you want the smallest amount of pixels (challenge caches) and remember that someone could throw in their own cache in where your QR code art is (traditional or mystery or whatnot) and mess it up.  As you mentioned, I'd agree that you would need to get approval from your reviewer of what the link is taking the person to, as there are rules for things like commercial content.  Maybe have it take the user to geocaching.com or something related.

 

You also have to remember that you can't have similar challenges near each other so you'd need x number of challenges that the reviewer will approve based on it being a challenge cache.

 

Good luck with with your project.

[+barefootguru]

Cool idea, but a scanner won't recognise the pins (or lack of) as the black & white squares of a QR code.  You could put the pins in the desired positions, but someone would need to manually turn them into on/off blocks to be able to scan them.

 

ETA arisoft may be on to something below…

Edited May 26 by barefootguru

[+kunarion]

I'm just playing around to see what happens if it's just dots.  This is the full "COORD.INFO" cache page format, not TinyURL which might need fewer dots.  But yeah, the black and white squares are critical.

 

Edited May 23 by kunarion

[+arisoft]

13 hours ago, kunarion said:

I'm just playing around to see what happens

 

It is all about the scale on the map. It works if you zoom far enough to get all markers near enough.

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, arisoft said:

 

It is all about the scale on the map. It works if you zoom far enough to get all markers near enough.

 

Cool! 

[+thebruce0]

Love the idea. At worst, you use a spreadsheet and fill boxes where there are dots. No reason why the qr MUST be read directly on the map.

 

Alternatively, it can make a good puzzle cache too.

Imagine having a list of 120ish caches, anywhere from the local area to around the world, and requiring a projection or transformation for each where the final locations create the QR matrix.  

 

On that note, you could make a physical cache series with so many caches, and you have to find all of them because inside the caches are the transformation information for each. Find enough in the series to result in a scannable QR code with the info needed for the final/bonus cache.

Edited May 28 by thebruce0

[+brekkcaching123]

On 5/22/2025 at 12:20 PM, CheekyBrit said:

On the Challenge Talk Podcast last night there was a call for 1000 challenges to be published in June. Challenge GeoArt sprung to mind as my next project, and boy, a QR code GeoArt would be quite something. It begs the question: Is a QR code GeoArt even possible and what are the implications / limitations?

 

You would want to do a micro QR code that was 21x21 pixels or something similar. All capitals and using a tinyurl.com link with as many empty blank pixels as possible allows you the fewest pixels / challenges needed. My current design is 217 pixels.

 

The page you link to could be an issue since it could beai modified to something the reviewers didn't approve. In my case I plant to update statistics on challenges, so there will be modifications, but all on par with the original content. It is possible a QR GeoArt could lead to something less savory, like a bad soccer team fan page.

As with any large GeoArt, where to have it becomes a real challenge. Agricultural roads seem an easy choice, but lots of challenges puts a fair amount of Geo-traffic on roads that often are overran with harvest trucks, large farming equipment taking up both sides, and unimproved roads. Then you have how touchy farmers can be with people loitering around their equipment. 
Perhaps flat public land wilderness or sagebrush steppe, though that makes for an inconvenient series of hikes to get it all.

Whaddaya think?

Pretty good idea. I'm from your area, so I'm going to ask. Where would you hide it/what area? Arbon or Pocatello? That area? Or more like Blackfoot up to IF?

And then what types of caches would you use?

[+CheekyBrit]

So I can have a good variety of higher terrain, I'm planning on a BLM parcel by Aberdeen that I already have permission for. It is sagebrush steppe, hiking out and back from one point and not drivable. The driving options around me would all be T2 at most and permission ran into A LOT of push back with hesitant farmers.

As for the cache types, John who I have permission with for this parcel and the area used for the Union Jack GeoArt, preferred the centrifuge tube in pvc pipe option to the pile of rocks. That's odd to me, but that is what 5arrows found when doing most of his work in the area too. I'm not going to paint things sand and khaki this time though, it made things super hard to find.