It's Only About The Numbers

A friend of mine recently pointed me toward this site: Project Geocaching, which allows you to search geocaching.com's database to generate a plethora of statistical reports on not just your own caching numbers, but on every global caching statistic you can think of. For example, you can generate a list of caches in your state and/or country with the most logs, or the most favorite points, or the most favorite points per log. The site describes itself as follows:

"Project-GC is a website aiming to provide dynamic statistics for all geocachers in the world. Besides statistics there are several map tools that might be helpful. For example you can compare your finds with a friend or plot those D/T combinations you are missing. Some of the other things provided are statbars and overviews of your cache series."

You can map caches by elevation (no surprise the highest cache in the U.S. is at the top of Mt. Whitney), and calculate your "Caching Karma"; the ratio of cache finds logged on your caches to cache finds that you've logged, or see who has the highest Karma points in any given area. It also has a nice mapping feature that lets you see the caches that both you and your caching buddy have, or haven't, found in any given location; which is perfect for planning your next outing together.

Just one word of warning: if you're a numbers nerd like me, expect to spend hours exploring this site.

Cache On!

A Cache A Day

I don't set out each year with a goal of averaging one cache find a day, but for the past three years, it's just worked out that way.

Happy Cache Year, Everyone, and Cache On!

iPhone GPS Apps

Anyone who is not a stranger to this blog knows that I don't have an iPhone and my preferred geocaching tool is my trusty Garmin GPSmap 60CSx device. Even so, I thought I would share this interesting article I ran across for any iPhone geocachers out there. Even though this post from iPhoneNess is called, 10 Awesome iPhone Apps For Running, there are some interesting features in many of these apps that should appeal to cachers.

For example, the second one on the list, called "iSmoothRun" allows you to export your data in GPX, TCX, KML, or CSV format. Presumably this data output includes the recorded lat/long coordinates of your outing and therefore should look like a typical GPS track log file, which can then be opened in any GPS mapping application such as Basecamp, Everytrail, or even Google Earth. 

You'll also notice that many apps on the list are described as, "excellent for running, cycling and hiking". And as we all know, any tool that is good for hiking is good for geocaching. This includes the suite of apps by the company that makes, "MapMyRun". However, I would suggest for caching that you try their "MapMyHike" app instead. With this tool, you can track and log your hikes, complete with elevation data. It also integrates with popular social networking apps like facebook and twitter. 

Hopefully you'll find one or two apps on this list worth your while.

Cache On!

New Take On An Old Challenge

You are probably familiar with Alpha-Numeric Challenge Caches. They are fairly common challenges found in most states and regions throughout the country. There are two common varieties of the A-N Challenges, both requiring you to find 36 different caches: (1) Find one cache that begins with each number from 0-9 and each letter of the alphabet; or (2) Find one cache hidden by a cacher who's caching handle begins with each number from 0-9 and each letter of the alphabet. Here are some examples:

1. Cache Name Alpha-Numeric Challenge
2. Cacher Name Alpha-Numeric Challenge

For me, finding caches or cacher's with names beginning with 8 or Q has been difficult.

Recently, a new cache was published in my neck of the woods that is similar to the typical A-N Challenge, but with a twist. The "842 repmac reverse Alpha Numeric Challenge" requires cachers to find 36 caches with the hider's name ending with 0-9 and A-Z.

There is a new GSAK macro available, called "Reverse Alpha Numberic Challenge, New Challenge" that is supposed to figure out for you how close you are to meeting the necessary requirements for this specific challenge cache, but it was giving me strange and incorrect results for some reason. So I turned to Excel.

After getting my list of found caches into Excel (I used GSAK and exported to CSV format, but you can also open a GPX file in Excel as well), I created a blank column just to the right of the "Placed By" field. In the blank field, which I named "Last Letter", I inserted Excel's "RIGHT" formula as follows:

=RIGHT(E2, 1)

...where E2 is the cell reference to the cache hider's name, and the "1" forces Excel to grab the last letter (furthest right) from that name. So for example, a cache hidden by "donvsop" returns a "p" in the "Last Letter" column. After copying and pasting this formula all the way down to the bottom of the  column and then sorting it alphabetically, my Excel table looks like this:

You'll notice I'm still missing the letter "Q". If you like, you can also create a pivot table to summarize your data by the Last Letter field, which will display a list of all the letters and numbers you have found, making it easy to see what you are missing.

So go find your P's and Q's, and...

Cache On!

They Grow Up So Fast

Hard to believe that our favorite hobby just celebrated its twelfth birthday this week. Seems like just yesterday  only the nerdiest of nerds, and the most extreme outdoor enthusiasts, carried a GPS receiver around with them. And without too much effort you could have cached-out an entire 10-mile radius around your home. Ahh, those were the days. And who could forget the fun in carrying around reams of paper with the cache information in one hand and a marked-up topo map in the other? Boy, how times have changed!

Most of you have probably seen this nice little trip down memory lane, but if not, it's not the worst way to spend the next one minute and nineteen seconds of your life. Enjoy.



Happy Birthday Geocaching, and Cache On!

In Search of a Caching Map History Display, Part II

In the continuing saga (since my last post) of trying to find a way to display your cache finds on a map with a timeline display, here's the latest update. As you probably know, Google Earth has a time slider bar which appears anytime you load data that contains a field containing a date:

In this case, I've simply opened a GPX file containing a selection of my found caches directly into Google Earth. Note that GE will read GPX files directly without you having to do any GPX-to-KML conversion beforehand. Since the GPX file contains a date field (several, actually), the time slider bar automatically appears in Google Earth.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Google Earth uses the cache "created" date field (the date the cache was hidden), so when you click "play", it will display each cache in sequence based on the date it was hidden. There does not appear to be any option to use the "date found by me" field instead of the "date created" field; which is what we are ultimately trying to do here.

I was able to create a CSV version of my finds file using GSAK, and exporting my finds to CSV format. Then I used Excel to strip off the "created" date and "last found" date fields, leaving only the "found by me" date field as the only field in the file containing date information. I then tried using GPS Visulizer to convert the CSV file to both KML, and GPX formats, but both times, GPS Visualizer removed the date information completely during the conversions, so I was unable to use the time slider in Google Earth. So save yourself the trouble, and do not attempt this method at home.

I then looked for a decent GPX file editor online, in attempt to strip out all but my "found by me" date information from my original GPX file. While there are many GPX file editing tools, most seem to cater to people that want to edit their track data from their GPSr device, rather than provide a tool that lets you edit a waypoint GPX file.

I also tried using GPS Babel, which is a great GPS file conversion tool, but it doesn't let you edit or remove any of the data fields from the source GPX file prior to conversion.

I finally figured out that when I exported my original GPX file from GSAK, it only retains the "created date" field, and not the other date fields, so the only date field Google Earth "sees" is the creation date. Even when you modify the view in GSAK so the only date field showing is the "found by me" date, it still exports only the "created" date to GPX format.

So next, I created a pocket query that includes only the caches I've found in the state of Nevada; all 24 of them (I wanted a relatively small file to work with here). But alas, I end up with the same result - the only date field included in the downloaded PQ file is the cache creation date.

So there you have it.There is no seemingly simple way to generate a GPX or KML file containing a list of the caches you've found and the date you found them, that you could then open in Google Earth and run the timeline tool to see the caches appear in the order you found them. If anyone knows a way to accomplish this task, I'd love to hear about it.

Cache On

In Search of a Caching History Map Display

A caching buddy of mine recently asked me if there was a way to display your cache-finding history in a timeline display in Google Earth, or similar type of temporal map display. I thought I had seen this done before, but couldn't remember where or when. So I set off in search of a method for creating such a display. Along the way, I came across POI Editor, a web service that will generate a heat map of your finds, like this:

Generate your own USA heat-map

Not exactly the prettiest map in the world, and without the ability to zoom in or out, it's somewhat limited in functionality. But it still gives you a pretty good indication of where you spend most of your caching time.

Of course, this doesn't answer the original question I set out to find, so my search continued. So I took a look at the GSAK macro page to see if they offered anything in the way of a timeline map display, and while I didn't see anything, I did find a much improved version of a heat map generator, called Google Map V3. This macro generates a heat map respecting whatever type of filter you have showing when you run the macro. For example, running this macro with just my finds filtered results in this nice, interactive Google map:

Each time you zoom in, the display points re-adjust and the data ranges are reclassified. Again, this is not what I had originally set out looking for, but it was too cool not to share. So as my search for a method of displaying finds over time continues, I'll share what I find in my next post. If any readers are aware of any such tools, please let us know in the comments section below. Until next time...

Cache On!

Access KML's on Your Mobile Device

Google announced this week that you can now access custom Google Earth content (KML files) on your mobile device. Previously, this was only possible from a desktop or laptop machine running Google Earth. This could come in handy when you've converted your cache waypoints file from GPX to KML format and you want to see your data in a Google Earth environment on your mobile device. The 6.2 release of Google Earth for Android and iOS also includes improvements in navigation, which make it even easier to fly to your favorite spots on the globe. As would be expected, the Android version is available now in "Google Play". The iOS version will be available in the App store "soon". 



Cache On!

One Thousand Waypoints in About a Minute

Still not sure you're ready to upgrade to version 8.0 of GSAK? Maybe this will convince you:



No more going to geocaching.com, downloading pocket queries, then uploading them into GSAK. Now you can do it all in one step, right from GSAK.

Note that the process is much quicker than what is shown here. I'm using a 10-year old PC, and the screen capture program slowed things down significantly. My computer does not know the meaning of the phrase, "multi-tasking".

Cache On!

A Busy Week

Lots of happenings in the geosphere this week, including:

1. Geocaching.com Introduces "Challenge Caches"

On their Latitude 47 blog site this week, Groundspeak announced that "Challenge Caches" are coming soon, and provided us with this interesting, but not completely informative, video:



Like most who have seen this, I'm not quite sure what it means. Is this the long-awaited replacement for Virtual Caches? Possibly. But why call them "Challenge Caches" when an informal category of challenge caches has existed for years, including the likes of all the Quad, DeLorme, County and Fizzy Challenges? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

2. GSAK Version 8.0 Beta Release

The good people at GSAK (aka, Clyde) released version 8 in beta form this week. This is/will be a significant upgrade from the current version and includes many new features, the biggest being:

• Increased functionality by leveraging the new Groundspeak api
• Support for custom data (virtually unlimited number of fields)
• A newer, more modern look and feel 

The first bullet item above is significant in that the GSAK program will now be able to interact directly with geocaching.com, giving you the ability to pull down cache data directly and instantly from the website into your GSAK database. The final release of version 8 will be a paid upgrade, but prices have not been announced yet.

If you are interested in running the beta program without losing your current version, you can install the v8 beta in a separate directory. There is no charge for downloading the beta product. Learn more at gsak.net.

3. Geocaching App for iOS 4.5.2 Released

A free update to the Geocaching iOS App is now available in the App Store. This release fixes a number of bugs including (1) the time/date bug which caused some logs to be posted "tomorrow" (a particular annoyance that I've discussed before), (2) searches returning incorrect cache sizes, and (3) a User Notes display problem.

4. Goodbye MapSource

GPS Tracklog reported this week that Garmin will no longer support its MapSource program, as they focus development efforts on Base Camp instead. Like a lot of long-time Garmin GPS users, this news is tough to swallow. I've tried Base Camp a few times, but it runs so slowly that I always end up coming back to MapSource. I guess it's time to make the permanent switch to Base Camp and hope that Garmin addresses the performance issues.

Cache On!

The Problem With Statistics

The interesting thing about geocaching statistics is that when your cache finds are presented to you in a particular way, you suddenly find yourself with completely new geocaching goals you likely would never have come up with otherwise. What do I mean by that? Take for example, "Most Consecutive Months With a FTF", one of many  somewhat obscure statistics generated from the GSAK macro, "FindStatGen". Certainly not a statistic I would have derived on my own, but once I saw it on my computer screen, I suddenly became obsessed with keeping that streak going (I'm up to 19 consecutive months and counting).

And take the nice calendar of finds available on your geocaching.com stats page. Again, something I would have never even dreamed of keeping track of, but now that it's there in black and white (so to speak), I've gone ahead and entered all my "missing days" in my personal (Google) calendar to make sure that I'll drop everything to find a cache on those days. I don't even know if there is a challenge cache for filling in your calendar - I'm just obsessed with wanting to see 366 days filled in on my computer screen:

That's right, I said 366 days. That's because it includes February 29th, which, as you know, only comes around every 4 years. And you can bet that I, and all the other calendar-watching cachers out there, are not going to let Feb. 29th, 2012 pass by with out getting a smiley.

Cache On!

GSAK, The Next Generation

Image via Wikipedia

A new version of the Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) program was released this week. While version 7.7.2 includes some minor enhancements and bug fixes, it isn't necessarily a major update of the software. What is interesting about this version, is that it requires existing registered GSAK owners to use a newly-assigned serial number, as the old unique registration number we've always had will no longer be valid. So if you are a current GSAK user, make sure you refer back to the email you received from Clyde, the GSAK developer, that contains your new serial number. If you lost the email, or your new serial number, you can always visit the Lost Registration site to have it emailed to you.

Once you upgrade to the new version, one of the first things you'll notice the first time you load a GPX file (in the form of a pocket query or a single cache listing) into GSAK is that the file is most likely in the old GPX format that does not include attributes. GSAK will provide a pop-up window explaining that Groundspeak changed the format of GPX files to include attributes, but did not make this change the default on your geocaching.com account.

To make the change, you need to go to your gc.com account page, scroll down to the bottom, and change the "GPX Version" from 1.0 to 1.0.1.

Save the change, and you'll be good to go. Now every GPX file you download will include the cache attributes along with all the other pertinent information. Most applications will either use the extra attribute data, or ignore it. The only application that may have a problem with the GPX 1.0.1 format is Delorme Cache Register. If you are using an application that cannot handle the extra attribute data, simply switch back to GPX version 1.0 using the same steps described above.

Cache On!

Caddyshack Cache Mapping

A while back, I explained how to share your custom cache data in Google Maps. This process still applies, but there is an alternative method if you do not own a copy of GSAK. I'll describe the steps I used to create this map of the Caddyshack caches (from the new Bushwood Memorial cache series).

1. Go to the Caddyshack Tournament Caches bookmark page (or create your own).

2. Check all the boxes in the left-hand column, then hit the "Download to .Loc" button.

3. This creates a .LOC file containing all the caches, which you can now open in Google Earth.

4. Now, from within Google Earth, use the "Save Place as..." option to save this file as a .KML file.

5. Finally, launch Google Maps in your browser, click on "My Maps" (provided you have a Google account), "create new map", and "import". Choose the KML file you just saved to your hard drive, and that's it.

You now have all of your designated caches available as a layer in Google Maps which you can access from any computer or mobile device with internet access!

Cache On.

Caches Along A Route, Part II

About two years ago, I described the process of creating a list of caches along a particular route. At that time, you had to create the route in Google Earth, save the file, and then upload it into geocaching.com as the first step in creating a pocket query of caches along a route.

Over time, the process has gotten much simpler, and can all be done without leaving the geocaching.com web site. For detailed instructions, visit this link. Or, you can just dive right in by clicking on the "Create a Route" link from your gc.com Profile page. That will take you to the Create/Edit a Route page at http://www.geocaching.com/my/routeedit.aspx. From there, just enter your begin and end points, and the search radius, and click "search". You'll then see a map displaying the entered information, which you can save by clicking, "Save Route Changes".

From there, you can save it for public consumption, or keep it in your private directory of routes. You can also download a GPX file of your route, which you can send to your GPS receiver as a route file. At this point, you also have the option to create a pocket query along your newly created route. This option will generate a new pocket query containing all the caches along your route within the search radius you provided.

And that's all there is to it. Cache On!

Finding Old Caches, Part II

In the last post, I talked about my latest searches for some of the oldest caches in my home county, and in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this post, I'll explain how to generate a pocket query that will give you a list of the oldest caches in your home region.

In geocaching.com, go to the Build Pocket Queries page (you have to have a geocaching.com account), and then select "Create a new query". You can name it whatever you like (I chose "old"). You can leave most of the selection options blank, but here is a list of the key options to modify:

1, Show me 500 caches of (500 is the maximum you can choose for any one pocket query)
2. From Origin My Home Coordinates
3. Within a Radius of 500 mi (500 miles is the maximum)
4. Placed between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000:

That last selection is the key. Since geocaching didn't officially begin until the year 2000, there weren't a whole lot of caches being placed that year, simply because there weren't a whole lot of geocachers back then. So you are not likely to generate an extensive list of caches placed during that year within 500 miles of your home base. In fact, there may not be any that meet that criteria, in which case you'll want to extend the Dec. 31, 2000 date to a date further in time until you return some actual results. For me, there are only 19 caches that meet that criteria:

Your PQ list will be sorted by distance from your home coordinates, so you'll have to look at each date to figure out which one was actually the first ever placed in your region. Once you know which caches are the oldest in your area, you'll definitely want to add these to your "to do" list just to see what some of the original cache hides were like.

Cache On!

Finding Old Caches

As geocaching.com approaches it's 10th anniversary, it seems fitting that I've gained a renewed interest in finding old caches. By old, I mean caches that were the first treasures hidden in their respective cities/counties/regions/states/countries.

As you probably know, the very first cache ever hidden was done so by Dave Ulmer near Portland, Oregon on May 3, 2000. Of course, this happened before geocaching.com existed, although a cache listing was eventually created for it after the fact. That original cache is long gone, but there is a commemorative cache placed in its honor called, Original Stash Tribute Plaque.

There are also a number of great bookmark lists of old caches available. For example, this one lists the first 100 caches ever hidden.

A few weeks ago, a caching buddy of mine and I went after the oldest cache in our home county of Contra Costa, in California. The cache, named "Survival Cache", was hidden on 12/29/2000 by Mark and James in a remote open space area in eastern Contra Costa County. What was nice about this cache, is that the original log is still in the cache container, so you can see who the very first finders were.

You think this would have satisfied our need to find old caches, but instead, it exacerbated it. So just the other day, we headed out to find the oldest cache in the San Francisco Bay Area, "Firestone", hidden on 10/02/2000. This one was hidden in beautiful Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Marin County, overlooking Stinson Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, I know, life is rough. A little celebration was in order after finding this oldie but goodie:

So what's next? Well, there's always the oldest cache in Northern California, and of course, the oldest cache in the State of California...

Cache On!

The Numbers, Part II

In my last post, I mentioned how I really like the FindStatsGen GSAK macro that generates all sorts of pretty charts, graphs, maps and statistics based on your cache finds. This drew a comment from blog reader David, who reminded me that there are many free (my favorite word) online tools available that can produce similar results.

It has been a while since I looked at some of the web-based geocaching reporting tools out there, and indeed, many more have cropped up since then. One such tool that I recently came across that really impressed me was My Geocaching Profile. If you want to see a sample of the output, check out my latest gc profile.

For the most part, the results that this tool generates are pretty similar to what you get from FindStatsGen. But some of the differences that I like are:

1. The inclusion of "GeoAchievement Badges"
2. Maps of Your Progress on Challenge Caches (such as the DeLorme series)
3. The "Well-Rounded Cacher" Progress Report

To use this online tool, all you have to do is create a free account and upload the pocket query of your caching finds. You can then upload the output result to your Geocaching.com profile.

About the only thing I didn't like was having to enter my list of FTF's, one by one. And even though you can get a few more details from the GSAK macro, My Geocaching Profile is a nice alternative, especially if you do not use GSAK.

Cache On!

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!

You Have 10 Days To Tell Google Where To Go

When I first started geocaching many moons ago, the geo-referenced aerial imagery that was available back then was of such low resolution, that it wasn't really useful at all for visualizing the location of a geocache. Times have sure changed since then. First, Google Earth came along and made it easy to "see" the location of a geocache with this tool's continuously improving imagery. Then came Google Maps with the Street View feature which practically showed you a picture of the cache in its hiding place:

This works nicely, of course, as long as you are urban caching. But for those of us who do most of our geocaching "off-road," Street View doesn't offer much help; until now. Lucky for us, one of the Google engineers on the Street View team also happens to be an avid mountain biker, and decided to devise a way to take Street View off-road. The result was the Street View Trike:

You can read more about it on this recent Google Lat Long Blog post. Google would like to know where you'd like to see the Street View Trike go next. Do you have a favorite trail, park, pedestrian mall, campus, etc.? Cast your vote by October 28 to make sure you get your favorite off-road location added to Street View. Go to this site to make your voice heard, and to see some of the areas that have already been captured, including one of my favorites, the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail.

Cache On, and vote!

Crowdsourced Maps

An article appeared in Wired this past week that discussed how OpenStreetMap relies on people with GPS devices to upload their road and trail network data to contribute to the generation of a universal map. This crowdsourcing technique works similar to the Wikipedia model, with the end product being a non-proprietary road and trail map available for anyone to use, for free. This is different than the Googles and MapQuests of the world that rely on proprietary data from Navteq or TeleAtlas. And now that almost everything in the world is becoming GPS-enabled these days, more and more people are able to contribute to the public mapping effort, and thus, the data quality can only continue to improve.

The other nice thing about OpenStreetMap is, not only can you upload your GPS data to help out the mapping project cause, but you can also download the map data to your GPS device as well; something you can't do with Google Maps or MapQuest. In addition, OpenStreetMap seems to contain a lot of bike and hiking trails that you don't see in most online mapping products:


Thus, OSM offers a less expensive alternative than paying Garmin $100 for their Street or TOPO maps. While the Garmin maps may have more features, like routable trails and more POI's, it's nice to know there is a less expensive option available.

If you are primarily interested in acquiring free trail maps for your Garmin GPS device, and you happen to live in, or will be traveling to, the northwest, then you'll want to check out Northwest Trails, created by cacher, Moun10bikes. If you're looking for a similar mapset for the greater Arizona area, then checkout the Southwest Trails site, created, ironically, by "GoNorthWest".

For GPS maps of most other locations, I strongly recommend the GPS File Depot, which I've mentioned in this blog numerous times in the past.


Speaking of crowdsourcing, you may have noticed Google's announcement that they are now using crowdsourced GPS data from people using Google Maps Mobile to update their real-time traffic data on Google Maps.


And finally, a big shout out to EMC of Northridge, CA for setting the record the other day for the number of caches found in a 24-hour period: 413! It took me years to find that many, and she and her pals did it in one day. Amazing.

Cache On!