Dan Schlegel – Art517 ‐ Geocaching What is Geocaching? “Geocaching is a high‐tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices.” (Geocaching.com, The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site).Getting started with Geocaching is really easy. The best way is to visit Geocaching.com and find caches near your home. Once you have a list you can program them into your GPS device and get going! People from all age groups take part in Geocaching – from little kids to senior citizens. It is great for anyone who enjoys a little adventure and likes a little hiking. Many people prefer to Geocache as a group. Oftentimes it is with their friends, but there are also organized groups who Geocache together under a single name. You can find groups of Geocachers in your area by visiting the Groundspeak forums and navigation to the section about Geocaching groups (Geocaching Groups by Region / State). Also, many groups of Geocachers also have meetings, regularly or irregularly, in certain areas. Many of these are listed on the Geocaching section of Meetup.com (Meetup, Inc.). Geocaching.com is probably the most useful resource for Geocachers. On this website you can type in your zip code and search for caches around your present location and then map the caches you find using Google Maps. In order to get some of this functionality though you will have to sign up for a free membership. There is also a premium membership for Geocachers who use more advanced features – such as wanting to download 500 caches at once and using pocket queries. This lets you download files in the GPX format for mobile devices that contain far more information about the cache than just its location. Finding a Cache Geocaches are often hidden very well! Be sure to look under rocks, inside tree stumps, and in any small crevice you might find. But, what is a cache you might be asking! Caches come in many types and many sizes ‐ ranging from micro to large. From my own experiences I have found larger caches such as ammo boxes hidden underneath a pile of sticks under a bush, or suck inside a small crevice under a rock. Smaller objects can be much more difficult to find. Small to medium sized caches are often small Tupperware containers. These can be hidden inside tree stumps or up in a tree where the trunk diverges. The smallest caches are microcaches and they can be just about anywhere. For these ones you should expect small film canisters or even magnetic key holders. You will generally know you have found a cache because it will be marked as an Official Geocache in some way. There is generally a sticker on the container itself and a paper inside explaining the game. Once you find a cache there are several things to do. Caches, if they are large enough, can contain trinkets and trackable items. All caches though contain a small notepad. The purpose of this is that you as the finder should write down your name and the date you found the cache. Also, you should log your visit online to keep track of where you have visited and where you haven’t! Always be sure though to leave the cache in as good or better condition as you found it – hide it well and be sure that it is safe from water damage. If you take anything from a cache, you should leave something of equal or greater value. Whatever you leave though must, of course, be legal and suitable for Geocachers of all ages. Also, you should be careful of what you leave – animals are far better at searching out Geocaches that contain food items than you or I are. Some people even leave disposable cameras in caches. These are meant so that you take a picture when you have found it and return it to the cache for the owner to retrieve at a later date. Trackable Items Sometimes when you are looking through the contents of a cache you will find what is known as a trackable item. The two most common types of trackable items are geotags and geocoins. A geotag is a set of dog tags, and a geocoin is a coin about the size of a silver dollar with various designs on it. Both of these have a small number on them and are registered at a website. If you take a tag or coin you should go to the website and mark down that you found it. Many times these are trying to get to someplace specific – so if you can you should help them item along on the journey! Sometimes they will say specifically on them where they are trying to go, and other times you will need to use the web site to find out. If you would like to purchase your own trackable items there are several places on the internet to do so! Geocaching.com has a list of manufacturers available on their website (Geocaching.com, Geocoin Information Page). Some of these places such as CoinsAndPins.com even allow you to have custom coins made! Devices and Software There are a few different options for the kinds of GPS devices you can use to go Geocaching. The only requirement is that whatever device you are using allows you to input a set of coordinates which you are traveling to. More advanced devices may even let you use the location files downloaded from Geocaching.com. Something that is becoming a more common option is using a cell phone which has a GPS chip in it. There are Geocaching software packages available for iPhone, Windows Mobile, and other platforms. Up until recently Geocaching software mostly consisted of a waypoint which pointed you in the direction you need to go. Now many of these applications have maps and advanced integration with web services. For the iPhone there are a few software packages available – one of which is made by the same company that runs Geocaching.com. This application allows you to download coordinate data for caches near you wherever you are so you can go hunting on a whim (Geocaching.com)! Other applications don’t provide this level of integration with web services (at least without a premium membership to Geocaching.org) but offer features like accelerometric assisted GPS to help guide you better (since GPS can’t determine which direction you are facing unless you are moving). On Windows Mobile devices some of the best software is free. Much if it is also very limited in functionality and quite old as well though. One of the more popular software packages, despite being many years old, is GPX Sonar. The original website for this no longer seems to exist, but someone was nice enough to create a mirror of the site and the files (Royer). Unfortunately while this mirror does contain the FAQs needed to use GPXSonar, does not contain the most recent version of the software. Luckily the latest versions are available on the original authors Windows Live SkyDrive account (GpxSonar Geocaching application for the Pocket PC + Source code). All of that is well and good for while you are out Geocaching, but when you aren’t there is a need to keep all of your cache files organized on your computer. For PC the best way to do this is to use GSAK – the Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. This software lets you manage your caches and convert the waypoint information to the appropriate format for various mobile and GPS systems (CWE Computer Services). On the Mac platform there is a different application to use for organization and management of the waypoint files. Called MacCaching, the software does many of the same things as GSAK does on the PC (MacCaching GeoCache Manager for Mac OS X). Both of these software systems for PC and Mac are shareware, and if you enjoy using them you should support the authors! Starting your own Cache If after Geocaching for a while you decide that you would like to hide a cache for yourself there are a few steps to follow. You should be sure first that you have permission to hide the cache in the location you are considering – if you are unsure, you should always ask. Also you must be sure that the cache has a reasonable level of difficulty so that no one will find it by mistake and remove it. You must also be wary of the environment in which you place the cache. If the environment is near where animals live or certain geological phenomena placing the cache could be damaging to the environment. If the environment is urban or suburban you have to be careful that there will not be frequent onlookers who will judge the activity seen around the area as suspicious (Geocaching.com, Hiding your first geocache). In the age we live in it is not unreasonable for people to be concerned about someone snooping through the bushes in their apartment buildings courtyard and pulling out a strange box. In fact, in 2008 a situation not far from this led to a bomb scare (Ottawa Citizen). Choose a watertight container which can withstand the weather of the region. Be sure to make your container as an official Geocache by obtaining a sticker or by making it in permanent marker. Information that should go on it should also include your Geocaching name and the name of the cache. Inside your cache you should be sure to place a logbook and pencil if it is large enough to contain a pencil.