Ritz Camera Geo Photo Hunt

January 15, 2004

Ritz Camera is having a 'geo photo hunt' contest. You can find details about the contest and prizes here.

I found out about this on usenet. Some people are saying that Ritz camera's coordinates are off or missing information so be warned. But if you can find a correct one in your area, you can enter. This contest is for US residents only.

I just posted this here because some people on the gc.com forums don't read the usenet group. The contest runs until March 29th, 2004 and the prizes look pretty cool.

Good luck!

Edited January 15, 2004 by Imajika

4.8k · January 15, 2004

No waypoints for Nebraska yet. :lol:

3.9k · January 15, 2004

Very cool. I've got a few within striking distance.

January 15, 2004

Has anybody checked out any of these or entered the contest?

1.7k · January 15, 2004

Not bad, rules say its one entry per coordinate location. Quite a few in the greater Philly area, just hope their coordinates are more accurate than when Magellan tried something similar.

January 15, 2004

And the PA ones are heavily skewed towards Pittsburg and Philly. Don't they know that there are people in all parts of the states!

editted for spelling! I need spell check!

Edited January 15, 2004 by PSUPAUL

January 15, 2004

I work accross the street from the School Book Depository Building, looks like I don't have far to go. There are 10 in Dallas. A lot of states do not have any, that does not seem very fair.

1.7k · January 15, 2004

I think their selection of locations may be based on cities that have a Ritz Camera location. so they could get employees to locate and record the way points.

1.3k · January 15, 2004

I was stoked for a second. Then I checked the site and they are all far away from me...

January 15, 2004

I guess they forgot the NW part of Pa

January 15, 2004

Grand prize is a Jeep. I suppose that would be a yellow one? :lol:

January 15, 2004

Yep, no locations in Minnesota either. <crosses fingers> :lol:

2.1k · January 15, 2004

The point behind the contest is simply to "take a picture". The coordinates in Boston mapquest to exactly where you would need to be to "take a picture" of what they describe. This is similar to the anti-scenery rule in the virtual guidelines. One picture you could send in is a skyline view of the city. Another is Gate E at Fenway Park. There's no need to get them all in an area, just take a picture, paste their entry form on the back, mail it in as a postcard and you're entered.

Read the rules...there's nothing in there about requiring your GPS coordinates in the shot or anything. No quality of shot. You might even be able to find a number of these pictures online (ala virtual cheating) and mail in entries. My guess is that nobody's even going to look at the photos and they go in a big bin to be selected from when it's time to pick a winner in March.

January 15, 2004

Yes, the contest isn't for quality of photos. The photo is needed to make it a valid entry and then the names are drawn at random. So for those without coords in their area, I guess you could find some pics online? I just thought it was a pretty cool contest because the prizes are very nice.

I could even take pics from here in Denver and email them to people that don't have coords in their area. I don't mind.

1.4k · January 15, 2004

S. NY/Conn

N41 05.731 W73 79.981 busy on Sunday

This one is in New Jersey. Not NY. The other ones in southern NY are just across the river from me. I may tke a look at these tomorrow

January 15, 2004

I took down the Nevada coordinates in case I am nearby them whil ein Vegas next week.

The odds for this could be better than other drawings.

January 15, 2004

No waypoints for Nebraska yet.

We have 45 out here in California. Take an "almost spring" vacation and come out here to collect your entry photos. We need the tourist bucks... if ya know what I mean.

(Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy)

2k · January 15, 2004

All the waypoints for Nevada were in Las Vegas. Guess the rest (majority) of the state wouldn't be interested in Ritz crackers. I just went back looks like there are a few in N Cal I could hit.

January 15, 2004

All the waypoints for Nevada were in Las Vegas. Guess the rest (majority) of the state wouldn't be interested in Ritz crackers. I just went back looks like there are a few in N Cal I could hit.

Thanks for the tip! Since that is your neck of the woods, are you going to check them out?

6.5k · January 15, 2004

Sweet four locations nearby. Thanks for the tip.

2k · January 15, 2004

All the waypoints for Nevada were in Las Vegas. Guess the rest (majority) of the state wouldn't be interested in Ritz crackers. I just went back looks like there are a few in N Cal I could hit.

Thanks for the tip! Since that is your neck of the woods, are you going to check them out?

Actualy I'm a Yankee, I just fraternize with the Reb's.

I'm way up north in Reno, 450 miles away from Las Vegas.

The Sacramento waypoints look interesting. Over the river must be the big drawbridge.

3.9k · January 15, 2004

S. NY/Conn

N41 05.731 W73 79.981 busy on Sunday

This one is in New Jersey. Not NY. The other ones in southern NY are just across the river from me. I may tke a look at these tomorrow

Yep. I'll be hitting those same ones.

January 16, 2004

Here's an excerpt from the official rules:

To be eligible to participate, each entrant will be asked to submit a 4x6 color photograph along with an official entry form.

It doesn't mention anywhere in these rules that the picture even has to be of the area of the coordinates.

It also says that you can only enter once per set of coordinates and that the winner will be by random drawing.

January 16, 2004

I just hit the 5 listed for Columbus, Ohio, and it looks like the hints were listed by the wrong coords for a few of them, and the coords may have been wrong for one of them as it put me in the front yard of someone's house. I sent an e-mail off to see if the info is incorrect.

Just wanted to say that so y'all might keep that in mind as you're out there hunting the locations. There may be some mistakes, like Imajika said.

January 17, 2004

I work for Ritz Camera (Proex actually, Ritz is our parent company) and it seems strange as to the locations they have picked for waypoints. I was told that there would waypoints in every market that they're located in, but I just checked Minnesota (where I'm located along with 100+ Proex/Ritz locations) and there are no waypoints (yet). The midwest is a very large market for them. I'm in good with the "big boss" here; I'll get the lowdown and see when they plan on updating the waypoints. Too bad I can't enter :unsure: ........or CAN I????? :bad:

January 17, 2004

do you think the picture has to be a color print on photo stock? or could you just print out a photo (4x6) on an inkjet.

1.3k · January 26, 2004

I wish they would post waypoints for Wa already.

January 26, 2004

I was looking at the coordinates and reading the rules for this contest. It looks like you have to take a picture of what is at the coordinates and then submit it. The one set of coords for Columbus, Ohio, I believe, is a facsimile of the Santa Maria.

Just wondering...

Thanks for the tip off on the contest...looks like fun.

CG

January 26, 2004

I think the idea is to go to the waypoint, take a pic, and then go back to a Ritz to have it printed to enter the contest. BUT, because of contest rules, I think it can be printed anywhere.

January 26, 2004

it would be nice if you could e-mail the picture in..

January 27, 2004

it would be nice if you could e-mail the picture in..

I was looking for that option myself, but the idea is to print off the entry form. Fill in the form and send along the pic of the coords. I sometimes just print on regular paper which I may do in this case...

Should be fun...

CG

January 27, 2004

Sounds like fun. None in Louisiana yet, or nearby Mississippi - but I'll keep watching.

January 27, 2004

see, the thing is, your definition of a photograph (usually a digital image) and their likely definition of a photograph (something printed on photo paper from a negative) are different. I'm concerned that if you just print out a digi-pic on a piece of bond paper, they might take issue with it. (not a photograph in their book). where's that ritz camera guy?

given the number of prizes and the possible low number of entries, it might be worthwhile even as a random contest, but less so if you have to get enlargements to enter.

5.3k · January 28, 2004

I have 6 within ten miles of me, on the web sight it list them as East Bay (Ca) when they are in North Bay, I photograhed five today. This weekend I will hit Sacramento. It's a good thing I bought a digital camera and new printer last weeK :lol:

January 28, 2004

Actually, a digi-print is fine. Ritz is one of the biggest promoters of digital imaging in the country.

9.4k · January 28, 2004

I could even take pics from here in Denver and email them to people that don't have coords in their area. I don't mind.

None in New Mexico or Arizona. Feel free to email me some pictures! :lol:

2.3k · January 28, 2004

Apparently Ritz believes that SW Florida only consists of Sarasota...

1.3k · February 4, 2004

Hmmm.... I'm begining to think there aren't going to be any Washington waypoints...

Why do corporations run half-assed contests?

February 4, 2004

It's all about a bunch of "Suits" sitting around in a stuffy room throwing around "buzz" words and trying to figure out what's "now". Then, a bunch of "Yes" men try to "impliment" a new "promotion" to drive up "sales". Then us "lackeys" have to deal with a "barrage" of "questions" about why it's not going "anywhere".

Did I just "incriminate" myself?

February 4, 2004

None listed for New Mexico yet.

February 4, 2004

Not to sound of sour grapes, admittedly the nearest coordinates are all in the Chicago area half a day away, but using their words - "Ritz Camera’s Geo-Photo Hunt was created to take you to areas that you may not have known existed. "

Looking at the Chicago and St. Louis coords and clues these hardly seem like areas even an out-of-towner like me wouldn't know existed. They go on to say "The Geo-Photo Hunt gives you the opportunity to get out into nature ". The Arch, Fenway or a zoo is hardly out into nature.

But best of luck to anybody who enters. Seems like a fun way to get some cool stuff.

g

February 4, 2004

I've checked out most of the ones in the San Jose, CA area. Most have something there that is obviously what they want. A couple have me scratching my head as to what they think is there. This could have been interesting, but with coordinates that are inaccurate, I've decided to pass. Cool prizes, but poorly excuted.

As a shameless plug for another type of "prize," I have just taken over the locationless cache "Cache on the Barrelhead" and posted three new targets. I have also introduced my version of bonus points, and there is a prize associated. Please look at GC4802 if you are interested in that type of cache. If it catches on I will have more targets and prizes on a regular basis. If it is nothing but a pain to run, then I'll go back to the 1/1s in the ivy.

February 4, 2004

I created a .loc file of all the California waypoints:

http://geocaching.sthomas.net/misc/ritz-ca.loc

Perl is your friend.

1.3k · February 5, 2004

I've created a similar file for all the Nebraska/Kansas/Iowa caches.

<loc></loc>

February 24, 2004

At first I was skeptical about this Geocaching-type of contest. As I looked through the state listings, I saw that many states did not have any waypoints. You had to manually enter the data to your GPS as there was no downloadable data file. I found several typos, including missing decimal points and even "?" question marks within the data. I was even more surprised to find Charlotte listed under *South* Carolina. It was then, I started wondering just how accurate the coordinates were.

Curiosity got the best of me and my son and I ventured out on a Geo-Photo Hunt last Sunday. The listings for South Carolina had five waypoints in "W. Carolina" which I recognized as downtown Greenville. As we approached the first waypoint we realized that all five were within walking distance. Each waypoint has a clue associated with it and you are supposed to go to the waypoint location and take a picture of what you think the clue refers to. When we got to the location of the first waypoint, my son was the one who spotted the weather vane atop an adjacent building as the answer to the "Which way the wind blows" clue. I was impressed that the location I was standing was the perfect spot to take a picture of the weather vane, because a few feet in any other direction and the view would be obscured by the roofline of the building. This accuracy proved true for the remaining waypoints. Each put us in perfect position to take a picture of the subject.

Overall it was good clean fun and it got my son and I out doing something together on a cold afternoon. Your results may differ. Especially for those of you hunting in Texas (21N Lat?) and Maryland (44W Lon?) where there are obvious errors in the specified coordinates and for those of you in California (N33 58.947 W117 22.385) and Ohio (N41 23.738 W81 51.077) where you have no clue.

To make it easier for you to enter the coordinates into your GPS, I have compiled all of the currently available Geo-photo Hunt waypoints in GPS eXchange (.gpx) format. I have also taken liberties to make corrections to obvious errors. The data file I have created is available at www.travelbygps.com/special/GeoPhoto/hunt.php

Enjoy!

Ritz Camera Geo Photo Hunt

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