Author: Eric Schudiske

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – May 9, 2012

Geocaching and Facebook

Geocaching.com and Facebook connect like never before. You can now log into your Geocaching.com account with your Facebook account info. It’s easy-peasy, like a stroll through the park. Logging into Geocaching.com with your Facebook account information is safe and makes it easy to share your geocaching activity. You control what’s posted to your Facebook wall. You also decide who sees those posts.

Connect your accounts here. Decide who you share with on Facebook (everyone, friends, custom groups) and then click “Go to App.” You will be asked whether you allow Geocaching.com to post on your behalf. This is a default message from Facebook. We will not post anything to your wall without your permission.

If you choose to connect your account, each time you log a cache, you have the option to share the log on Facebook. Simply check “Update Facebook Status” in the “Sharing Options” box beneath your log text.

You can also connect to the thriving geocaching Facebook community of more than 200,000 adventure seekers like yourself. “Like” the official Geocaching.com Facebook page to follow the latest geocaching news, discover the most creative caches, and connect with your fellow geocachers around the globe.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Presents: Geocaching en Español

[Editor’s Note: Click on CC for Subtitles in Seven Languages]

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Comparte tu pasión por Geocaching con este nuevo video en español. Muéstrales a tus amigos y familiares el mundo de aventuras al que se puede ingresar con solo abrir la puerta de tu casa y comparte con nosotros como fue que te iniciaste en esta maravillosa actividad.

Geocaching en Español

Explore Little Havana in Miami, Florida in this new Geocaching.com Presents video: Geocaching en Español. This Spanish language video takes you along on an urban cache run through an historic Cuban-American neighborhood.

Subscribe to the official Geocaching.com YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos about the evolving world of geocaching. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Mumbles Lighthouse Island GC2A4TB GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – May 7, 2012

Mumbles Lighthouse Island

Tracking down this geocache requires tracking the tides off the U.K. coast. The traditional geocache is located on an island. Mumbles Lighthouse Island (GC2A4TB) is only accessible by foot during low tide. A sturdy lighthouse has crowned the island for more than two hundred years.

Geocachers unlock the history of Mumbles lighthouse island as they search for the difficulty 1, terrain 3 cache. According to the cache page, “[The lighthouse] was designed to alert passing ships of the dangerous Mixon Sands and Cherry Stone Rock – two massive undersea sand banks that have caused the destruction of countless ships and taken the lives of hundreds of seamen over the centuries.”

The small plastic container was hidden on the island by golden pig in 2010.  Since then, more than 300 geocachers have logged “Found it” for “Mumble Lighthouse Island.” It’s earned more than 100 Favorite Points.

Hiking across the tidal flats toward the cache

Those who log the cache say, “The tide was right so off we went. Loved exploring out here, can see why this had so many favourite points and about to have another one. TFTC.”

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.

If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.

Mumbles Lighthouse Island

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Caption Contest 33 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

WINNING CAPTION: "But that's not all, if you order your Lackey's Press-on Nails in the next five minutes, we’ll send you this authentic Signal geocoin!"-nemocamaro

Enter your best caption for this picture to win a ‘barely coveted prize’ in the 33rd installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. This picture was originally posted on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page. Special thanks to geocacher Alison Duhamel for use of the picture.

What caption would you write for the picture at the top of this post? “The geocache probably should have seen this one coming.”

Barely Coveted Prize

Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your Geocaching.com username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers have posted.

You’re encouraged to try to ‘influence’ the voting process (*nudge*nudge*). “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers, your friends, and family to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote from the top finalists to decide the winner of the contest.

Click on the image to see the winning caption of this contest

The winner receives this month’s vintage ‘barely coveted prize.” It’s a medium sized t-shirt from a 2010 geocaching event organized by Lackeys. It celebrates the 25th anniversary of the movie Goonies.

Click on the image to see the winning caption of this contest

More than two dozen Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 32nd Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. It was winter-themed – and coincidentally the voting took place on May 4th. [The joke goes, “May the 4th be with you.”] Perhaps not so coincidentally, a Star Wars-themed caption won. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the last Geocaching.com Caption Contest.

Explore all the past winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests. If you have suggestions for Geocaching.com Caption Contest photos, send a message and the image to pr@groundspeak.com.

/ Eric Schudiske

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – May 2, 2012

GPS Adventures Maze in Ohio

Test your geocaching knowledge and sense of adventure inside a life-size maze. Explore the twists and turns of the GPS Adventures Maze Exhibit starting this May in Ohio. You can navigate the fun, interactive museum exhibit at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, Ohio May 25th through September 3rd. You will learn the inside story of GPS technology, unlock navigation history, and discover geocaching fun facts as you chart a course through the family-friendly maze. Those who log the maze even earn the unique GPS Adventures Maze Exhibit cache type icon.

Boonshoft Museum will host a meet and greet event for geocachers on May 25th from 10:30 am until noon. They’ll be joined by Groundspeak CEO Jeremy Irish. The opening event is the perfect time for those on their way to the GeoWoodstock Mega-Event to visit the maze, which is only 200 miles away!

For future Maze locations, please visit www.gpsmaze.com.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOCACHING!

With the flip of a proverbial switch, the idea of geocaching flickered to life 12 years ago. On May 2, 2000, at an order from the U.S. President, Selective Availability (the intentional degradation of the GPS signal available to civilians) was turned off. Civilian GPS devices instantly became 10 times more accurate. The original geocache was placed one day later. It was hidden in the U.S. state of Oregon on May 3, 2000.

In the geocaching community, we refer to the demise of Selective Availability as the “flipping of the great blue switch.” Although there never was a literal switch, the results are undeniable. Geocaching spread around the globe. Now you can use Geocaching.com, or one of the Geocaching.com smartphone apps to embark on adventures to more than 1.7 million active geocaches hidden around the world. The geocaching community has ballooned from that original small group of GPS enthusiasts to more than five million people.

Connect with your geocaching community. Share your stories about your first geocaching experience on the Geocaching.com Facebook page.