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"vanity" Waypoint Ids

lowracer

By lowracer
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lowracer

lowracer

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a cache GCHB0Y, "...and puppydog tails," a theme cache for items that boys would like to find. I also have a companion cache GCHK9A "...and everything nice," for (you guessed it) trading items that girls would like to find. The GCHB0Y ID was assigned randomly for a "School Daze" cache that is still in work and hasn't been queued for approval yet, but I thought the ID was appropriate for the 'boys theme' cache so I moved it to that one and requested a new ID for the "School Daze" cache.

 

It would be great if premium members could request specific waypoint IDs that are not randomly generated. As long as the ID wasn't obscene or already taken, we could request and receive waypoint IDs that were customized. For instance for the 'girls cache,' it would be good to have GCHGRL, or something like that. Maybe charge $3-$5 per Vanity ID on top of the premium membership?

 

In the ham radio hobby, you can get a special station callsign from the FCC, and these are called "Vanity Callsigns." Perhaps a new feature request could be called "Vanity Waypoint IDs."

 

-mark.

Edited by lowracer
MrPeabody

+MrPeabody

Posted
Posted

I like the idea. So long as the number hasn't been taken, how is this different from issuing vanity license plates?

 

I'd love to have GCMRPB for instance. I'd pay for that.

RPW

+RPW

Posted
Posted

Not to be a killjoy however ...

So long as the number hasn't been taken, how is this different from issuing vanity license plates?

Because there is information into those numbers.

 

As far as I can tell -- and you more expert people can correct me -- the GC numbers are not completely randomly assigned but rather are in chronological order. In other words a cache with a number starting with "GCH" was placed more recently than a cache starting with "GCD". When I am out on a general cache hunt -- i.e., hopping from cache to cache without knowing exactly where I am going next -- then knowing the age of the cache is of some interest. Not a killer bit of knowledge but it can make a difference as to which cache I will go to next.

 

On the other hand, if vanity numbers are issued I would just love to have GCRPW0 through GCRPW9.

 

So count me in as someone who would use the feature but thinks that the idea is bad. Makes me two-faced, I know! :mad:

lowracer

lowracer

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Not to be a killjoy however ...

 

In other words a cache with a number starting with "GCH" was placed more recently than a cache starting with "GCD".  When I am out on a general cache hunt -- i.e., hopping from cache to cache without knowing exactly where I am going next -- then knowing the age of the cache is of some interest. 

 

As in the case I started the thread with, it is possible for someone to grab some cache numbers by reporting a cache, then marking it so it doesn't appear in the approval queue (as for example when planning a very complex puzzle cache that could take weeks to set up), and in the mean time, reporting other new caches more quickly. So you could have what I'll call a temporal inversion of the cache ID.

 

So for example I report three caches, GCX001, GCX002, GCX003, put them on the back burner while I set them up, plan out the puzzles, work up some complex HTML, whatever. Meantime, I drop some tupperware full o'swag out in the forest under a pile of rocks and report that as GCX004. Maybe it's two or three months go by before I can finish X001-X003, and report them as active, get them approved. So you'd be out in the field then thinking that X001 was placed earlier, try for an FTF on X004, and miss the FTF on X001.

 

Another possibility is that someone tries to report GCR001, which happens to be a lame virtual where a container could easily be placed, it gets the thumbs-down, is archived (rightly so), and then a year later the placer decides to re-use the ID for another cache, a tupperware under a pile o'rocks, emails his local approver, who unarchives the cache, meanwhile the world has moved on and all the IDs are in the GCZxxx range. Again, temporal inversion.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that in general they are in chronological order but specific cases can be out of sync, so you can't always assume that they are in time order.

 

I think as a revenue stream for Groundspeak, you can't go wrong with vanity waypoint IDs. Five bucks a pop adds up pretty quick. I don't think the programming would be too difficult; I imagine something like this code already exists for the travel bugs, where for example they can block out ranges of travel bug IDs for sale to folks wanting to mint Geocoins by the thousands.

Jeremy

+Jeremy

Posted
Posted

There is an equation that takes the incremental cache ID and converts it to text. The reviewers do not assign names to each cache.

 

As a result of this equation, many of the developers reverse engineer the ID numbers for their applications.

 

It is a nice idea and one that has been brought up in the past. Not to say it is impossible to implement, but we would have to rethink the way that waypoint names were created before we could offer this feature.

trippy1976

+trippy1976

Posted
Posted

Could even open up a "VC" prefix for this.

 

I think it has merit. :) Though, I can't imagine it gaining priority at the moment. I'd love to get VCTRIP1, etc. :) And I'd be willing to pay for it :)

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