Map Showing Finds Of Other Cachers.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

This may have been here before, however I didn't find any matches while searching.

 

Anyway, I would enjoy being able to click a link on another cacher's profile to bring up a map showing their finds checked. Maybe even have my finds one color check, their finds a second color, mutual finds a third.

 

Just think it would be fun and interesting.

[+RuffRidr]

This may have been here before, however I didn't find any matches while searching.

 

Anyway, I would enjoy being able to click a link on another cacher's profile to bring up a map showing their finds checked. Maybe even have my finds one color check, their finds a second color, mutual finds a third.

 

Just think it would be fun and interesting.

There are some very paranoid users of this website who are very adamant about not wanting to be tracked, not wanting to be checked on, etc. Many go so far as to not even post logs, or only post them as notes. I think an idea like yours would get a lot of resistence from them. So I may be wrong, but I don't think there is much of a chance that something like this would get implemented.

 

FYI: I love the idea, and would like to see something like that myself, maybe where you could setup which people could see your maps.

 

--RuffRidr

[+sbell111]

I actually like the idea. As it is, we have to occasionally resurrect that old 'look at my map' thread to compete at this level.

 

Oops, I meant compare. Yeah, that's it. Compare at this level.

Edited February 18, 2005 by sbell111

[+The Leprechauns]

Well *my* map has caches checked on it that I did with JEREMY. I think these should have a special star.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

This may have been here before, however I didn't find any matches while searching.

 

Anyway, I would enjoy being able to click a link on another cacher's profile to bring up a map showing their finds checked.  Maybe even have my finds one color check, their finds a second color, mutual finds a third.

 

Just think it would be fun and interesting.

There are some very paranoid users of this website who are very adamant about not wanting to be tracked, not wanting to be checked on, etc. Many go so far as to not even post logs, or only post them as notes. I think an idea like yours would get a lot of resistence from them. So I may be wrong, but I don't think there is much of a chance that something like this would get implemented.

 

FYI: I love the idea, and would like to see something like that myself, maybe where you could setup which people could see your maps.

 

--RuffRidr

I do understand the privacy issue. For cachers like me, a simple yes/no flag to make our finds viewable would work. The thought of making it selective is interesting also. And the possibility of marking individual finds as viewable . . . hmmm.

[+Renegade Knight]

Privacy is a funny issue. Most of us have a fake name and log under it. Those who are truly paranoid just sign the physical log. Those who like to log but don't like stats post notes and others are just ghosts and never log anything anyhwere.

 

Back on topic, I like the idea. Being able to do something like that is a side benefit of having stats. The other thread that tells you how and askes for maps is where most post their finds. In some profiles you can see the states someone has caches in. That's also cool.

 

What I like the most about the idea is being able to see the overlap in territories.

[+Markwell]

I did this one time with another cacher. We were planning on trying to find caches that neither of us had found in an area that might be a midpoint.

 

Mind you, I did it in Streets and Trips and downloaded the loc files for the other cacher, and used a GPX of my finds. I overlayed these two data sets with caches in general and found several that were about halfway in between our home coordinates and that neither of us had found.

 

All that planning and we never did go hunting.

[+Renegade Knight]

I did this one time with another cacher. We were planning on trying to find caches that neither of us had found in an area ...

I think there would be a demand for that service. It's a good thing to automate.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

What I like the most about the idea is being able to see the overlap in territories.

That is a big part of the appeal to me. Fun to see other cachers playing in the same area. There have been times we've seemed to follow someone. This would be a fun tool to see that sort of thing.

We also prefer to cache while hiking to some of the great places geocaching brings to us. Having this type of a view could also show if other cachers had similar interests.

[+sbell111]

I don't really see this as a privacy or 'stats are bad' issue. After all, the information is already available in list form on the profile page. If a person clicks on the 'all cache finds' link, it will give a list of all their finds and note which ones you own or have found. This would merely add a 'map it' button and show all of your finds instead of just the ones you have in common.

 

edited quickly to try to make myself more clear. Probably failed...

Edited February 18, 2005 by sbell111

[+RuffRidr]

I did this one time with another cacher. We were planning on trying to find caches that neither of us had found in an area that might be a midpoint.

 

Mind you, I did it in Streets and Trips and downloaded the loc files for the other cacher, and used a GPX of my finds. I overlayed these two data sets with caches in general and found several that were about halfway in between our home coordinates and that neither of us had found.

 

All that planning and we never did go hunting.

Keenpeople.com has a "Group Geocaching Tool" that allows you to combine your .GPX file with others, so that you can automate this a bit, and get mutual "Not Found" list. However, in a previous thread it was brought up that this most likely violates the TOU for the pocket queries. If they don't implement shared maps, maybe gc.com could at least implement shared pocket queries between premium members.

 

--RuffRidr

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

I don't really see this as a privacy or 'stats are bad' issue. After all, the information is already available in list form on the profile page. If a person clicks on the 'all cache finds' link, it will give a list of all their finds and note which ones you own or have found. This would merely add a 'map it' button and show all of your finds instead of just the ones you have in common.

 

edited quickly to try to make myself more clear. Probably failed...

Using the process you note is what lead me to wanting something more visual and more encompassing. Especially when the cacher of interest has substantial stats.

[+sbell111]

It would be interesting to see how many times one has 'crossed paths' with a cacher from another part of the country, or world.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

It would be interesting to see how many times one has 'crossed paths' with a cacher from another part of the country, or world.

Along that line, a cacher in our area often leaves sought after SI. Never could track one down. Then on vacation, two states away, we had charted a stretch the legs cache break. Found the SI there. On returning home and searching, they had taken the same route two weeks before. A map would have shown the cache finds they made along the way. Which were several more than we made.

[+ibycus]

The idea of comparring found caches comes up from time to time over on the GSAK thread. There is a relatively straight forward process to get an overlap map of two cachers sets of found caches using pocket queries.

[+sbell111]

I assume that process includes getting the other person to give you a file of their finds, or painstakingly building one yourself. What is being suggested is a much more quick and nonformal method. If you're curious about whether you've crossed paths with someone, you'd just click on the button rather than contact someone you barely know (or not at all) and explain your curiosity.

Edited February 19, 2005 by sbell111

[+ibycus]

Yeah I agree it would be cool. It was just that Markwell brought up how much of a pain in the arse he found it, even when they were making plans together, so I thought I'd throw the GSAK thing in there.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

Just wondering the technical challenge related to this? Might make it a moot point.

Any thoughts from the wizards at the helm?

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

I just realized this would be a good feature to see on the cacher profile for PLACED caches also. We enjoy the hikes and favor on the caches placed by one cacher. When going to their profile to find a new adventure, we had to review several choices to determine first how close they were to us. A map function would be a very handy aid.

[+Markwell]

Yeah I agree it would be cool. It was just that Markwell brought up how much of a pain in the arse he found it, even when they were making plans together, so I thought I'd throw the GSAK thing in there.

The time that I was doing this was LONG before pocket queries, GSAK or any other tool like this...

[+The Leprechauns]

I just realized this would be a good feature to see on the cacher profile for PLACED caches also. We enjoy the hikes and favor on the caches placed by one cacher. When going to their profile to find a new adventure, we had to review several choices to determine first how close they were to us. A map function would be a very handy aid.

An interesting suggestion. It would be cool to see the territory map where a hider has placed caches. I imagine it would be of great use to cache reviewers when evaluating a new cache relative to the locations of the owner's existing caches, to confirm that the new cache is within the owner's maintainable distance.

 

In the meantime, there are workarounds for both premium members and regular members. Anybody can call up a list of the good owner's hidden caches, like from their profile page, and download them all in a .loc file. (Well, it ain't *that* easy if the hider has 63 owned caches since you can only download .loc files for 20 caches at a time, but still...) Open the .loc file in your favorite mapping software (after merging multiple files as needed, and converting formats as needed).

 

Or, for a premium member, get a GPX pocket query file for the area you're interested in, apply a filter to show only those caches hidden by the good hider, then re-save that as a separate, smaller GPX file and use that in your mapping software.

 

Both are workarounds for the fact that you can't order up a PQ that's restricted to just caches hidden by username X.

[+The Professor & Mary Ann]

Or, for a premium member, get a GPX pocket query file for the area you're interested in, apply a filter to show only those caches hidden by the good hider, then re-save that as a separate, smaller GPX file and use that in your mapping software.

Sadly, we currently rely totally on GC.com for all our info. A reflection of our capabilities, not GC.com. No additional mapping software, no PDAs, and top that off with NO current skills to follow your ideas.

On a happier note, GC.com provides such great opportunity to find these new, beautiful and interesting places. I’m willing to take the time to individually research where we hope to go and whether the location includes the hikes and walks we so enjoy.

We also have great resources (like The Leprechauns) offering valued advice to improve our caching experience. BRAVO All.