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Legend on "NEAREST GEOCACHE (S)" page


Guest kmcq_2000

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Guest kmcq_2000

I scoured the site, but didn't see the explanation for the "mileage & direction" indicator that shows next to the "little barrel" representing the Type of cache. Having read some finder's notes for a cache site, it seemed the walk from the suggested parking spot could not be more than a mile while the the mileage indicator was over 10 miles. What does this mileage indicator really mean? Many thanks.

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Guest bob_renner

You did a search on zipcode or lat/long. The mileage and direction are indications of how far the cache is from the center of the zipcode.

 

Bob

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Guest jeremy

And the location of the zipcode, I believe, is the location of the post office that deals with that particular zipcode.

 

For area codes, it just picks one zipcode and does the lookup that way. So an area code that covers a huge rural area may be way off.

 

Jeremy

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Guest kmcq_2000

Thank you for your prompt reply. So my next question is....is there an indication of how far (milage or other measure) the actual cache is from the drive point. This info. would be helpful in determining the amount of time to be allocated as well as if it would be a pick for children. Thanks again.

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Guest jeremy

1. Visit the cache page

2. Click on the mapblast link on the cache page.

3. On mapblast, click on the "directions" tab

4. Enter in your street address as the origin.

5. Click submit to get turn-by-turn directions to the closest road near the cache.

 

This might not necessarily get you in the park, but at least it gets you close enough to figure out the park entrance, etc.

 

Jeremy

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Guest PneumaticDeath

quote:
Originally posted by jeremy:

... So an area code that covers a huge rural area may be way off.


 

Actually, doesn't have to be a rural area code. I typed in 925 (area code for the eastern part of the SF bay area), and the first cache it listed was GCF6A "Motorcycles and horses dont mix", which is between LA and San Diego, or about 350 miles from the nearest 925 area code location. ;-) I think this feature has a few bugs.

 

-- Mitch

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Guest makaio

ation of the post office. So the mileage to the cache is from that spot rather than from the post office.

 

What might be nice, is a way to define our home coords within our profile (is this still something you're working on, Jeremy?). Then, subsequent searches would provide the distances from our home (or whatever location we provide).

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Guest Linda

quote:
Originally posted by kmcq_2000:

is there an indication of how far (milage or other measure) the actual cache is from the drive point.


 

I think that what kmcq_2000 is asking is if there is a way to calculate how far the cache is *from where he parks his car*, not how far from his home it is. Aside from looking for a parking place on the topomap and comparing that with the actual cache location, I don't know of any other way.

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Guest Markwell

quote:
Originally posted by Doug & Linda

Aside from looking for a parking place on the topomap and comparing that with the actual cache location, I don't know of any other way.


 

Actually the mathematics are around, but they are not for the timid. I built my own program in Excel and then in Access that can take any two sets of coordinates and give me true course bearing and distance, but the mathematics are weighty, dealing with Great Circle distances, etc.

 

Also, it is extremely difficult to know the best place to park unless the cache hider specifically tells you where to park. In a more difficult cache where you just get the coordiantes, there could be any number of places to park. Once you park, you could use your GPS to know how far the walk is, but that kind of defeats your purpose: to know that ahead of time to justify your going to the cache (or taking kids).

 

I always enjoy it when the cache hider either gives me a place to park or tells me approximately how far of walk it is, so I can know whether to take my kid. But not all caches are like that. You roll your dice and take your chances.

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Guest PneumaticDeath

quote:
Originally posted by Markwell:

I built my own program in Excel and then in Access that can take any two sets of coordinates and give me true course bearing and distance, but the mathematics are weighty, dealing with Great Circle distances, etc.


 

If you're having to use Great Circle distances just to measure the distance from the parking lot, then it's going to be quite a hike. eek.gif

 

But even that wont tell you that you have to go around that (hill, creek, gorge, etc.), There are some things the computer isn't going to tell you, and that's part of the fun: figuring out how to get there using topo maps (either on line or dead tree variety.)

 

-- Mitch

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