CachingCentral

By Erin Joyce

Geocaching, the high-tech hide-and-go-seek treasure mapping sport.

It’s spreading faster than a jet-ski at full throttle, and for good reason. The sport combines the Internet and satellite tech to create old-fashioned social networking: spending time with people, instead of staring into a computer screen.

Even for a GPS newbie like me (although I’m in New York, my device still wants to locate me somewhere in China — must be a sign of the times), the possibilities and joy of participating in a treasure-hunt represent what social networking is supposed to be: using technology to get up from a computer and hunt for environmentally-friendly stuff with friends old and new. (It may be a little tougher to map coordinates between tall buildings, but it’s worth it.)

Just like we helped finance the Internet, we taxpayers helped finance the military’s research and development of satellites. Now, it’s our turn to have some fun with them.

Full story…

From Oregon…

So you’re standing in a pavilion at Minto-Brown Island Park, trying to learn the basics of this “treasure hunt” game that involves the Internet, hand-held Global Positioning Systems and a sharp eye.

Your teacher, Tom Swint, picks up a black sprinkler head.

“Looks like a sprinkler head, right?” he asks, a wry smile creeping across his face.

You nod.

Swint twists off the cap, pulls the sprinkler head apart and points to a smaller red cap, about the size of a thumbnail, stuck inside.

In it is a piece of paper — the prize that modern-day treasure hunters are after and treasure-hiders are hoping will be overlooked.

Full article…

An article from “across the pond”, at least from my chair. More of an intro with some mistakes (“buried” again?!) but it’s a good read, at least for an American.

Full article…

A brief article from a weekly California paper. Some snippets…

There are currently 187,709 active caches in 216 countries around the world. Frequent geocacher Carolyn Greene of Thousand Oaks explained, “Caches can consist of just about anything you can imagine and of course it depends on the size of the cache container, which can vary from a tiny ‘nano’ pill bottle to a large metal military surplus ammunition box. Generally, there are small trinkets and toys, key chains, trail maps, coins, et cetera.”

Greene volunteered her geocaching expertise at a GPS seminar in June hosted by the National Park Service at the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area. She went on to express, “As the game has evolved, it has become much more mentally challenging as well, as finding caches may require solving complex puzzles. Or a cache may be hidden in a 35mm film container on a busy street—thousands of people may walk or drive by it daily and not know it’s there, but I do.” This weekend Greene will celebrate her 2000th find.

Bryan Roth, co-founder of Groundspeak, which is essentially the Global Headquarters for geocaching, noted that it is fairly simple to get started with the activity. Roth stated “what we have found with the geocaching community is that people are very friendly and willing to share the joy of finding a cache by taking beginners out and showing them how to get started.”

Full story…

Garmin released MapSource 6.8.0 a short while after 6.7 was released in order to address some issues. The change log shows the following:

I guess the last bullet would have allowed them to release 6.7.1 vs 6.8 for this release?

To get the update, visit the MapSource download page at http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?product=999-99999-00

I know the vast majority of geocachers looking at Garmin units focus on the 60C(S) and 76C(S) units but this new offering with the same 56MB of memory that 60C(S) units offer might make some consider these new units instead.

Garmin today introduced the Rino 520 and Rino 530, two powerful new additions to its line of two-way radios integrated with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The Rino 520 and Rino 530 boast up to a 12-mile communication range, large color display, mini-USB interface, and built-in auto-routing basemap. The Rino 530 has the same features as the 520, plus a seven-channel weather receiver, electronic compass and barometric altimeter.

Full press release…

A local Austin, TX television station did a small segment on geocaching.

Full story…

A local article about geocaching in Iowa. What I quickly noticed was it states “32 active caches within a 25-mile radius of Humboldt” which is so much less then I’m used to in Northern NJ.

Longlet believes the sport is growing in popularity in this area, as more people become aware of its existence. In fact, a new organization for Iowa Geocachers was created this past year.

The Iowa Geocachers Organization stemmed from the Eastern Iowa Geocaching Association, but was expanded to the entire state in March of this year, according to Board Member Chad Chapman of Clarion.

The Iowa Geocachers website, www.iowageocachers.org, includes forums where members can chat about caches, sell or buy GPS units, and even ask for advice on technical problems. “It’s people helping people,” Chapman said. The site also includes lists of favorite caches in Iowa and upcoming events, such as the Geocoffee event scheduled for Aug. 13 in West Point (Iowa).

According to Chapman, one goal of the organization is to increase membership and awareness of the sport through community involvement. “There are a lot of people who don’t even know what Geocaching is,” Chapman said. The organization’s efforts seem to be working, as membership has increased from 40 to 200 since March of this year.

Full story…

In another local area push to get visitors to become aware of their local resources, a Detroit metroparks planner has created what I’ve posted about multiple times over the past month – geocaching to make others in the area aware of local resources.

From the article…

With the growing popularity of geocaching — finding small treasures left by other players at specific coordinates — the Huron-Clinton Metroparks created a game that encourages players to visit all 13 of the regional parks.

Players follow coordinates to each park. When they find a cache, they sign its logbook, collect a puzzle piece and fill in their scorecard. Those who visit all 13 are registered to win a 2006 vehicle park pass.

Full story…

A Missouri paper has an article on geocaching. Here’s some snippets…

“All they do is put you in the ball park, then you have to look for where they hid it,” said Alan Mehrer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Mark Twain Lake. “It doesn’t hurt anything and it gets people out and about. It sounds like a lot of fun to do with your children.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened all but about 500 of the corps’ 54,000 acres for geocachers, and only asks that those who want to place caches get a permit first.

Mehrer said the first geocache at the lake is called “Yet Another Dam Cache,” and is located near the M.W. Boudreaux Visitor Center. He said the corps developed a permitting process after being approached by Eric East of Quincy, Ill., about stashing a cache there.

Mehrer said the permits are just to make sure “the caches are not ending up in areas like on the dam or in a high-use area.”

East has about 25 other caches scattered around the area, including one by the Landing water park near the lake, called “Cache and Splash.” East said geocachers like to come up with creative names that reflect the area.

Full story…