Corrected Coordinates

Does your heart sink every time you open a new cache page and the first thing you see in the cache description is this?:

"Cache is not Located at the Posted Coordinates"

One of my favorite features of GSAK is the ability to change the lat/long coordinates of any cache contained in your database. This comes in real handy after you've solved a puzzle, or partially completed a multi-cache, and you have an updated set of coordinates you want to associate with a cache. You can do this using the "Corrected Coordinates" feature for any cache. After you solve that puzzle cache, just update the lat/longs in your GSAK database, and the next time you transfer your waypoints to your GPS device, the updated coordinates will be retained. 

But what if you don't have GSAK? Well now you can do basically the same thing with a relatively new feature on the geocaching.com website. Let's say you've solved a puzzle cache and gotten the final coordinates. Just click on the little yellow pencil icon next to the listed coordinates on the cache's geocaching.com web page, and a dialog box opens up waiting for you to type in the new coordinates. Don't worry; these changes will only be available to you and are saved into your account. When you download the cache's LOC or GPX file, or save the cache to your GPS device or phone from the web page, the new coordinates you provided will be saved along with the waypoint.

This is one very handy feature.


Cache On!

Garmin Base Camp Video Tutorials

One of my favorite blog sites, GPS Tracklog, listed all of the Garmin Base Camp Video Tutorials in a recent post. If you are as flummoxed over Base Camp as I am, these videos are a godsend. Below is the first video to give you a taste. If you like it, check out the rest at this GPS Tracklog post.



Cache On!

GPS News

Lots of GPS items in the news this week:

• You can add the airline industry to the growing list of various agencies concerned about potential GPS interference from the proposed LightSquared 4G LTE Network.
• The US Supreme Court ruled that a warrant is required to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect, but didn't address the larger issue of police tracking using mobile phones.
• For you GIS Users, DNRGPS is great for transferring data between your Garmin GPS device and your GIS software. The new release of the application will be Open Source software.
• Buy a new Nüvi 2000/3000 and get free map upgrades for life.
• Waze lets you report traffic with the wave of your hand:

That's all for now.
Cache On!

Cache Containers

This week, The Latitude 47 Blog featured a piece on creative cache containers, and included this video:



While this was little more than a sales pitch for caching gear available from the geocaching.com store, it did get me thinking about some of the more impressive cache hides I've found over the years. For starters, a fake rock cache, or a nano inserted into a pine cone sure beats an LPC any day. Some of my other previous favorite finds include:

• A hollowed out granite rock with a hinged "door" made of the same piece of granite that closes shut with a magnetic latch.
• A perfectly carved out tree stump where an ammo box rests snugly inside, beneath the removable tree stump "lid".
• A regular cache hidden inside the frame of a 30-40-year-old car at the bottom of a steep hillside. 

• A 5-stage multi-cache where you gather clues to unlock the giant, toy box-sized cache container full of schwag. Did I mention the treasure is located inside a ski resort?
• A micro cache hidden inside a tiny birdhouse hanging from the branch of a pine tree.

• A surprisingly hard-to-spot 5 gallon bucket in the middle of a sparsely vegetated field.
• A full-sized decorated ammo box, resting comfortably behind the check-in counter of a bowling alley. While "hidden" in plain sight, you have to ask the friendly clerk behind the desk to hand it to you.

These are just a few of some of the more impressively-devised cache hides I've come across, and my thanks to all the cache owners who invest so much time and effort putting these together.

Whether you plan to watch the super bowl, or get out and do some caching instead (because you're still bitter that the 49ers aren't playing in the big game), have a great weekend.

Cache On!

And In Other News...

Lots of odds and ends this week in Geocaching, including:

Geomate .jr's are no longer in production. 
In fact, the company that made them, Apisphere, has apparently gone out of business. You may be able to get the devices cheap on eBay now, but beware, since support will be non-existent.

National Geographic's TOPO! is Migrating to AllTrails
The TOPO! program was one of my favorite mapping and GPS track display tools. But I received an email from NG this week informing me that production and support is going away, and instead, NG is forming a partnership with AllTrails to handle my trail finding and uploading needs. While I've been using a similar online tool, EveryTrail, for years, I might have to give AllTrails a whirl and see how they compare. There's even an app for that.

Leap Day Souvenir
If you're like me, you've had February 29th, 2011 circled on your calendar for a long time now, as most people do not have an 02/29 cache find; seeing as there have only been two of them since geocaching began. Well, in case you need any further incentive to find a cache on leap day, Groundspeak is offering a souvenir badge for those who do.

Cahce On!

Cachevolution

While 8.5 years is a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things, I've noticed some distinct and evolving patterns in the way I geocache, between when I started in 2003, and today. Like a lot of people, I started caching with my kids, who were "tweens" at the time, as geocaching was a great way to get them, and me, off the couch and exploring the outdoors. Plus, my kids loved it, and I loved spending time with them.

As they got older, they became, as most teenagers do, less interested in doing stuff with their dad. As my oldest daughter likes to say, "No thanks, dad. Geocaching is for nerds." For those of you lucky enough to be caching with your young children, all I can say is enjoy it while it lasts.

This mini-evolution didn't cause me to stop geocaching, however. In fact, I found I was able to go caching in more remote areas requiring longer hikes or bike rides than would have been feasible with my kids. This has allowed me to see and explore areas within my home region that I'd never been to before in my life. Another of my favorite aspects of this hobby of ours.

In the more recent past, I've become friends (again, through geocaching) with a couple of local cachers. The three of us have taken several road trips over the past couple of years in an effort to satisfy the requirements of different challenge caches, including various California DeLorme challenges, County challenges, and Quad challenges.

Having lived in California my entire life, I am amazed at how much of this beautiful state I have never seen before, until now; all thanks to geocaching.

While everyone's reasons and motivations for geocaching are different, if you are just starting out caching with your kids now, don't be surprised if your "cachevolution" follows a similar pattern as that described here.

Cache On!

Video Gaming Meets Geocaching

Much discussion, but little details, this week on the interwebz with regard to the teaming up of Tomb Raider and Geocaching. The press releases from both sources are similarly vague:

Geocaching.com's Explanation

The Tomb Raider's Blog Take

And then there's this humorous take on the whole concept from NotAboutTheNumbers.

The only glint of detailed information can be found in this one sentence from the press releases: "To develop these adventures, Crystal Dynamics will be tapping into both the traditional Geocaching.com treasure hunting format and Geocaching.com’s latest photo-based adventure project Geocaching Challenges."

I'm guessing this is another attempt to attract new geocachers to the hobby/sport/activity. As for me, I'm happy just geocaching for the sake of geocaching. I've never really bought in to the promotional events that come along every so often (Jeep challenges, Geico TB's, etc.). Nor have I veered away from geocaching to try Waymarking, or the new Geocaching Challenges. And not being much of a video gamer, I'm not waiting with bated breath for more details about these two entities hooking up.

While I suspect most long-time cachers may feel the same way, I can't fault Groundspeak for continually trying attract new members. So I'll just keep on cachin' the way I always do, and if I happen to run across Lara Croft out on the trails, then that's just value added (as long as she doesn't destroy me over an FTF).

Cache On!