It's Kind Of About The Numbers

Don't let anyone kid you, the longer you geocache, the more it becomes about the numbers. Even the staunchest non-numbers advocate can't help but be the slightest bit curious about their caching statistics. And it doesn't have to be just about the most numbers of finds in a day/month/year. Although, I admit, I do keep track of those figures too simply because if the numbers are on the rise, then it means I'm getting off the couch and outdoors more; which is all I really care about.

But there are many more statistics that can be gleaned from your cache find data. One of my favorite tools to do this is the Find Stats Generator, a GSAK macro developed by lignumaqua. Not only does FindStatsGen report the typical totals you would expect in chart and graph form, but it also provides a number of other customizable, handy and unique find-related data, including:

1. Maps of finds in countries, states and counties

2. List of milestone finds (eg. every 100th find), with a forecast date of your next milestone find.

3. Number of finds by a) miles from home, b) cache type, c) cache difficulty/terrain rating, and even d) lowest and highest elevation.

4. List of FTF's

5. And many other numbers such as these:

After you run the macro, you can even upload the result to your geocaching.com profile, as I've done. That's right, my geocaching handle is "teampipperice" (don't ask).

You can read more about Find Stats Generator and download the macro from the GSAK forums.If you don't already have a GSAK license, this macro alone makes it worth getting.

Happy 2010, and Cache On!