Maximize your maintenance with new cache owner dashboard
Any time is a good time for geocache maintenance. But with the seasons changing, this is an especially opportune moment to use the new cache owner dashboard to check your caches.
The main page of the dashboard provides a view of your hide statistics at a glance, as well as quick filters that alert you of potential issues, such as if a cache is disabled or has a low health score. If a filter is displayed, click on it to see which caches have this filter applied.
After using the quick filters, visit Published hides to prepare for a maintenance run:
- Spot potential problems by looking at the “Last 3 logs.” If they’re not all smileys, consider taking a closer look for any potential issues with the cache, especially if it’s a low-difficulty hide.
- Sort your caches by the “Last maintained” column to see if there’s a cache that hasn’t gotten any love from you in awhile.
- Click the map icon to see your hides on the map to prepare for your maintenance outing.
After you’ve checked on your caches, visit the Published hides page again. From there, you can easily post logs to your cache listings, such as Owner Maintenance, Update coordinates, Disable, and more. Just click the overflow menu on any cache listing to access those log types. (Pro tip: Posting an Owner Maintenance log after maintaining your cache is the only way to remove a Needs Maintenance attribute from the cache listing. This ensures the cache has an accurate Health Score.)
The cache owner dashboard may also help you decide if it’s time to make room for a new cache on the geocaching gameboard.
- Sort by “Last found” date to see which caches haven’t been found in awhile. If the cache isn’t found as much as it used to be, maybe it’s time to consider archival so something new can be placed.
- Sort by “Favorites” to learn which of your hides are most popular. Is there something about your most Favorited cache(s) that could be incorporated into a new cache? Do you own some caches that have never received Favorite points? Maybe it’s time to consider retiring those caches.
The community cited regular cache maintenance as one of the most important factors to a high-quality geocache in our cache quality survey. The cache owner dashboard makes the maintenance process more efficient and, dare we say it, fun!
