Mainz Gutenberg 2015 (GC50FTF) – May 16, 2015 in Mainz, Germany
Project GeoXantike (GC56APX) – June 6, 2015 in Xanten, Germany
And you thought Mega-Events were huge! Giga-Events are the largest event type and are attended by over 5,000 geocachers. For those who attend, you’ll earn the rare Giga icon in your statistics, plus you’ll get the opportunity to meet tons of geocachers from around the world.
I love watching non-geocachers (aka muggles) try to absorb the concept of geocaching. I’m sure you’ve all heard this same reaction before: Wait. You find boxes in the woods? Well that’s just irrational.
It’s true. The things we do as geocachers may seem a little crazy at times. But good news! This Pi Day (March 14, 2015), we’re introducing a dose of rational to the irrational—all thanks to a team of designers here at Geocaching HQ.
Earlier this year, we shared an inside look at how we collect feedback from the community and how that feedback influences the tools that we make. The next step in developing a new geocaching tool is design. A team of User Experience (UX) experts at Geocaching HQ are responsible for taking the community’s feedback and thinking through everything from how the new tool will work to how the design of an emoji will help bring delight to your next geocache find.
This team was recently tasked with making the experience of finding a Mystery Cache a bit more, well, rational—and all in time for you to earn the 3.14.15 Pi Day souvenir. I sat down with Mobile UX Designer Michelle Li (Username: BlueSpaceMonkey) and UI Designer Abby Deering (Username: Abbydeer) to learn how they took the mystery out of Mystery Caches in the Geocaching Intro app.
What was the biggest challenge in designing Mystery Caches for the free Geocaching app?
Mystery Caches are a complex type of geocache. One of the biggest changes we were faced with was making Mystery Caches easy to use for geocachers and coming up with a design solution that works with all the different types of Mystery Caches.
What about the new design are you most excited to share with the community?
We are really excited that we’ve found a design solution that works with all the different types of Mystery Caches (there are so many different versions!). We feel like we were able to eliminate a barrier that previously made it difficult to enter your answer. We’re excited that we removed a challenge in the tool, leaving the challenge where it should be: in solving the Mystery. And we hope this means more geocachers will now give Mystery Caches a try!
How have your designs made finding Mystery Caches easier?
We’ve made the ability to add Solved coordinates and edit waypoints easier and more manageable for all different kinds of Mystery Caches.
Editor’s Note: You’ll see in the app that “Corrected Coordinates” are now referred to as “Solved”. This decision was made by surveying the geocaching community.
How did feedback and insight from the geocaching community enter into the design?
We brought in both potential players and experienced geocachers to our office to look at our Mystery Cache design. We had them walk through a series of tasks and even took them outside to watch them geocache with the new design. We revised our design based on their feedback.
Anything else you want geocachers to know?
We’re so excited that Mystery Caches are now available in the free app and we love making products that make geocaching easier for our community!
Unlock this latest and greatest tool for discovering Mystery Caches with Premium membership in the free Geocaching Intro app for iOS and Android. And don’t miss out on your chance to earn one of two Pi Day souvenirs by logging a “Found It” on a Mystery Cache this Saturday!
What do you want to be when you grow up? Nuclear physicist? Diplomat? Physician?
Come on, you’re selling yourself short. Be Geocacher of the Month.
Widely acknowledged as the most coveted title in the world (of geocaching), the Geocacher of the Month award is granted to one outstanding geocacher or geocaching team every month. The winner stands out as a pillar of support in their local community, and is an example to geocachers everywhere. Their contributions to geocaching run the gamut, from creating stunning caches to teaching Geocaching 101 classes to ‘caching newbies.
February’s three nominees for Geocacher of the Month could form the A-Team of geocaching. They are known by fellow geocachers in their communities as the best people to contact for geocaching advice…even if it means sacrificing a coveted FTF.
Read the profiles of this month’s three nominees, and write a supportive comment below this post describing why you think this person should be recognized.
A panel from Geocaching HQ will then use your comments to help guide the decision of which geocacher is awarded the Geocacher of the Month honor.
This geocacher from — you guessed it — Texas, is always rushing out the door to be the FTF, but won’t hestitate to help out a fellow ‘cacher along the way. If you live within 50 miles of him, he’s probably at the top of your Phone-A-Friend list.
TexasWriter has more than 10,000 finds and over 350 hides. Keeping that many hides in order is a lot of work, but TexasWriter rises to the challenge. In January, geocachers celebrated TexasWriter’s streak of 1,0001 straight days of geocaching. The widely attended event was “a testament to the impact he has had on geocaching in SE Texas.”
This geocacher has found just about 58% of the geocaches in his country. That’s quite a feat when the total number of geocaches in Hungary around is over 6000.
As a cache owner, Ramgab takes the cake. His cache series “Rowing in Budapest” consists of eleven caches accessaible only by canoe or kayak, and has been awarded over 80 favorite points in total.
Ramgab has also helped organize multiple geocaching Mega events in Hungary. As a result, the Hungarian geocaching community has grown significantly over the last few years.
This German geocaching Team has amassed hundreds of favorite points for their creative gadget caches, tricky Mystery caches, and stunning cache locations like this one, which has been featured on the geocaching Instagram page. You’ll recognize a TeamPommes cache by their signature pommes frites (french fries) page background.
They are always more than willing to help out a geocacher with a tricky puzzle, or point them in the right direction while on the hunt.
Es ist uns eine Freude, die nächsten beiden GIGA-Events bekannt zu geben:
Mainz Gutenberg 2015 (GC50FTF) – 16. Mai 2015 in Mainz, Germany
Project GeoXantike (GC56APX) – 6. Juni 2015 in Xanten, Germany
Du dachtest bisher, MEGA-Events seien etwas Großes? GIGA-Events sinddie größte Event-Art und werden von über 5000 Geocachern besucht.Diejenigen, die daran teilnehmen, erhalten das seltene GIGA-Icon in ihr Profil,zusätzlich zu der Möglichkeit, sehr viele Geocacher aus aller Welt zu treffen.
Das neue Suchtool ist dank Eurer Hilfe jetzt live. Ein großes Dankeschön von uns allen hier in der Geocaching-Zentrale für Eure Teilnahme an der jüngsten Vorschau und für die Übermittlung Eures Feedbacks. Eure Fragen und Kommentare waren die treibende Kraft für mehrere Änderungen und Aktualisierungen, die die neue Suche noch besser gestaltet haben.
Also nochmals vielen Dank für all Eure Hilfe – wir können es kaum erwarten, Euch die nächste Vorschau zu zeigen!
