Do you know the difference between geocaching souvenirs, badges, and icons? They’re all virtual pieces of art for geocachers to earn, collect, and show off. However, each serves a different purpose in different parts of your Geocaching profile.

Souvenirs: where or when you cache.
Badges: what you accomplish.
Trackable Icons: trackables you move or discover.

Let’s break it down.

Souvenirs: where or when you cache.

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art that can be collected and displayed on your profile. They’re generally awarded for caching in a particular location, on a particular date, or during one of Geocaching HQ’s souvenir challenges like Wonders of the World or Memory Lane.

Location: If you find a geocache or attend an event in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, you will receive the Alberta province and Canada country souvenir.

Date: If you log a geocache or attend an event on a special day, such as International Geocaching Day, you will receive the International Geocaching Day souvenir.

Souvenir challenges and specific cache types:. Some souvenirs are awarded for logging a particular cache type during a specific time period. For example, you may earn a souvenir for attending or hosting a Geocaching International Film Festival event during GIFF week. Or, you may earn a souvenir by finding geocaches during a souvenir challenge. 

Badges: what you accomplish.

Badges are associated with statistics or completing specific tasks such as:

• Number of consecutive finds (365 in one year)
• Milestones (finding 500 geocaches)
• Number of caches owned (10 caches)
• Number of trackables moved/discovered

Badges are manually added to a geocacher’s profile page with HTML code provided by third-party sites such as Project-GC.com. 

Here are examples of badges:

Trackable icons: trackables you move or discover.

Icons are associated with trackable items.

• Generic icons display for most trackable items.
• Promotional icons are created in collaboration with other companies or organizations such as Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Magic: The Gathering, or Smokey Bear.
• Customized icons are created when individuals or organizations order large/bulk quantities of icons.

Whatever your geocaching style, earning and displaying souvenirs, badges, and icons adds an additional layer of fun and motivation for geocaches. How do you show off your geo-accomplishments? Share in the comments below!