+rooboy Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 Apologies if this is a little off topic. I am preparing to travel out of the USA this weekend (to the land of Kangaroos) and so I got to looking at the Bux*** web maps for the world because I wanted to do some geocaching while travelling. I guess I was a little surprised by the distribution of geocaches across the world. Has anyone else noticed this uneven distribution--yet the GPS thing is global. Any thoughts on why this could be so? Are language, wealth , and population the largest factors? USA has 73% of all gc geocaches (58380 geocaches) UK has 3% France < 0.5% Germany 4.5% Italy < 0.3% Australia ~2.4% India 0.018% (total of 15 geocaches) Japan 0.086 (total of 68 geocaches) NZ 0.65% Russia --a total of 11 geocaches Quote Link to comment
+fivegallon Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 maybe a comparison of caches/cachers for each country could throw some more light on the subject? the resultant ratio may prove interesting....or not Quote Link to comment
AlsidPrime Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 Where exactly is Canada on that list?... we have quite a few if i'm not mistaken --Alsid Prime-- GeoCaching for a goal. Quote Link to comment
+JMBella Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 Where in Oz are you going. I'm sending a cache over there and there's a cacher (teamRaider) that's sending a cache here to me. Look at this thread. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Because now I am Lost. Quote Link to comment
+rooboy Posted November 4, 2003 Author Share Posted November 4, 2003 Canada, isn't that the 51st state of the United States? Oops! That's right, the Queen on Australia is also the Queen of Canada, so Canada is part of the Commonwealth and not the USA! What happened to Canada, well it looked pretty normal, coming in at around 5.8%. Which is twice the Australian number for approximately the same population. So maybe Canada is not so "normal" after all. Could this distribution be related to the cost of GPSr's? I know that GPSr's purchased in Australia are not cheap as those purchased here in the USA. Ciao RooBoy Quote Link to comment
+rooboy Posted November 4, 2003 Author Share Posted November 4, 2003 J&MBella, Melbourne. Leave ORD 4pm Friday. Ciao RooBoy Quote Link to comment
+fivegallon Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 i purchased my gps on-line from the US for AUD$395....the same unit retails in OZ for around AUD$850 further research on different makes and models shows this is fairly common...and the same goes for software Mapsend Worldwide Basemap for around AUD$150 from the US....retails for AUD$300 in OZ Quote Link to comment
+JMBella Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 My cache is going to Adelaide probably 250 + - miles North/West of Melbourne. Maybe TeamRaider will hide it in time for you to find it. Not that you would drive that far to find it. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Because now I am Lost. Quote Link to comment
+DocW Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 This is a interesting question! (The original one) I prepared a statistic, originated by the Finland entering the Top10 hidden cache list. I rearranged the data to inhabitants per cache: rank persons/cache inhabitants persons/cache1 6. Sweden 8875000 47742 1. United States 281420000 48143 3. Canada 32207113 69464 8. New Zealand 4000000 66785 5. Australia 19834248 102246 10. Finland 5211311 133977 7. Netherlands 16150000 198408 3. Germany 83251851 233009 United Kingdom 60094000 2375310 9. Hungary 10106000 24830 But what does that mean? Stupidity has a certain charm - ignorance does not. (FZ) [This message was edited by DocW on November 05, 2003 at 05:20 AM.] Quote Link to comment
+OzGuff Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Originally posted by J&MBella:My cache is going to Adelaide probably 250 + - miles North/West of Melbourne. [uNQUOTE] Bummer! I had relatives who live in Adelaide here in September! They have now been turned on to geocaching--I even bought them a GPSr here and shipped it to them. (See above for the huge difference in prices US vs. Oz) Can you send me the waypoint once it is hidden? I will get my nephews to go and find it! Cheers! OzGuff Quote Link to comment
+Johnnie Stalkers Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 France would have more, but all their ammo cans are still full. Understand what? My purpose? You know that. To find the Tower is my purpose. I'm sworn. -Roland, The Gunslinger Quote Link to comment
Team Canope Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Johnnie Stalkers:France would have more, but all their ammo cans are still full. Priceless!!! Team Canope Quote Link to comment
Roswell.fr Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I don't know for the other countries, but for France, language is obviously one of the reason why there are so few caches/geocachers. People in France are usually not big fans of foreign languages. Another reason would be the price of the GPS units ; they can cost twice as much as what we pay in Canada. Note that the situation is similar if you compare Ontario and Quebec. Quote Link to comment
CacheMonkeez Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Canada is just north of the US, I believe. quote:Originally posted by Alsid Prime:Where exactly is Canada on that list?... we have quite a few if i'm not mistaken --Alsid Prime-- GeoCaching for a goal. FL geocaching www.cacheflorida.commy stats www.keenpeople.com Quote Link to comment
+Jamie Z Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 What if you calculated cache per area? I imagine some of the European countries would be more dense than the US. Especially France, as long as we're on the topic. Jamie Quote Link to comment
+Divine Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Jamie Z:What if you calculated cache per area? Check this out. - I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. - Quote Link to comment
+welch Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by RooBoy:]Any thoughts on why this could be so? Are language, wealth , and population the largest factors? Personally I would guess, public exposure to the idea, and availability of gps units are big factors. If there are no cachers/caches, no news stories about caching(which would typically be about the cachers/cache you don't have), how are you going to find out about caching? Then even if you find out, and you either can't get a gps or they are expensive, your not going likely to cache. True, you could try without a gps, but that takes some of the appeal away (and would make it more difficult to place new caches). I kind of discount the language part a bit. Im sure some people are put off by descriptions in another language, but if you can get the waypoint into the gps correctly your 'halfway there'. There are also cache descriptions or in some cases whole websites in non-english languages (dutch, german and a few others, right?). But again, to get those things you need the cachers/caches to use them. ------------------------------- "You see, if a group is going to represent people, it needs to be in touch with those people." -Frolickin [This message was edited by welch on November 05, 2003 at 12:16 PM.] Quote Link to comment
SLCDave Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Johnnie Stalkers:France would have more, but all their ammo cans are still full. And in their caches, instead of McToys, you find white flags..... "I'm 35 Years old, I am divorced, and I live in van down by the river!" - Matt Foley Quote Link to comment
Keystone Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 That's it for the French jokes. Please stay on-topic and remember that we do have geocachers from France who participate in this forum. |x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x| Keystone Approver, Geocaching.com Admin "Eschewing Entropy and Ensuring Enthalpy in the Groundspeak Forums" Quote Link to comment
+The Weasel Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Keystone Approver:That's it for the French jokes. Please stay on-topic and remember that we do have geocachers from France who participate in this forum. |x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x|x*x-x| Keystone Approver, Geocaching.com Admin "Eschewing Entropy and Ensuring Enthalpy in the Groundspeak Forums" Quote Link to comment
+RJFerret Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I can understand Russia, due to cost of tech, availability of costly tech, and they have their alternate system: Glonass. I think it has more to do with promotion (in which language is a factor). If you think of how most discover geocaching, many by word-of-mouth from existing cachers, a few by hearing media reports, and a few by websearching GPS or related items/activities (letterboxing, where's george, bookcrossing). I'm thinking Where's George isn't so popular except where they forge our money and want to be entertained how pervasive their forgeries become! Heh.. Enjoy, Randy Quote Link to comment
+DocW Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 I don't think, that it has to do with price of GPS units or income or other social reasons. GPSr are also very expensive in Germany (you pay 400$ for a MeriGold or nearly 200$ for a Geko201), Germany and France are somehow on the same level of income, people have the same level of education, Germany is Nr 3 in placed caches and has a higher cache density than the US, but France is a cache desert! The majority of France's caches are in Paris area and most of them are (vacation) caches placed by US visitors. It is very rare to find a original french cache. They have beautiful and scenic landscape, which would be a perfect background for caching. What makes the difference? Only the language? I don't believe this! To understand and love the concept of hunting tupperboxes can evolve without using the same language. Total dislike of any US-habit? Naah! (some posts would support this, but thats too simple) Other serious ideas? Stupidity has a certain charm - ignorance does not. (FZ) Quote Link to comment
+Johnnie Stalkers Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Must...control....humor....arrrrggggg. I am sorry if my previous comments about a certain nation were found to be offensive. It was not my intention to alienate or single out any group. From now on I will attempt to post my elitist American humor in a variety of languages so that all may enjoy. Understand what? My purpose? You know that. To find the Tower is my purpose. I'm sworn. -Roland, The Gunslinger Quote Link to comment
Roswell.fr Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 quote:Originally posted by DocW (about France):They have beautiful and scenic landscape, which would be a perfect background for caching. I agree, that's a pity. I am french but live in Canada, and last summer, I wanted to introduce my brothers to geocaching, but there was only 1 cache within 60km from where my parents live, and... we didn't find it [] quote:What makes the difference? Only the language? I don't believe this! To understand and love the concept of hunting tupperboxes can evolve without using the same language. I'm sorry, but I really think language is the key; even if Germany and France are very similar countries, I guess that people just don't have the same languages habits; most of the french people just don't speak english, and the only good candidates for geocaching in France would be young techies. I'm pretty sure you won't find a lot of french geocachers over 30. I hope/guess it will change, people start to understand how important foreign languages are, but it will take some time. How different is it in Germany, do people over 30-40 usually speak english? quote:Total dislike of any US-habit? Naah! (some posts would support this, but thats too simple) What a good reason! [] ... but no. quote:Other serious ideas? Lack of public exposure, as welch suggested. Note that language is an issue for France, but probably not an issue in general; it has to do with the way foreign languages were/are considered in France. Quote Link to comment
+IntotheWoods Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 As an American cacher living in France, I am more than a little frustrated by the extreme lack of caches here. I'm gonna try to personally change that situation in the Paris region while I'm here by placing a bunch, but one man can only do so much. I wouldn't say language is an issue because countries like Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands have thousands of caches between them, with cache pages in their native languages (there's no reliance on knowledge of English). I would say that geocaching simply hasn't taken off in France yet, due to the expense of GPS units and a general ignorance about the sport. There is, however, a large subculture here that enjoys hiking, and there are thousands of miles of trails, some of them criscrossing the entire country, known as "Grand Randonnees," which would be ideal for cache placements. Perhaps these people with a similar interest could be enlisted to lead the charge... One day, I hope, France will be as rich in caches as she is in fine wines! Quote Link to comment
+-=(GEO)=- Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 I'm French, living and actively caching here in the US. Everytime I read cracks about the French in these forums, I just find it amusing. I have to say that the joke 'Their ammo cans are still full' was pretty funny But more on topic, France is behind mostly because of the cost of the GPSrs: I saw my MeriPlat in a REI-like store in Paris for $585! Even the cost of the Yellow eTrex was insane. Oh and btw, I have one of the few 'real' caches in Paris. Turns out that only non-French people have found it so far in almost a year. Amazing. Regards, Fabien. Got a PPC? Check out GPXSonar @ http://gpxsonar.homeip.net Quote Link to comment
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