What’s Next for Geocaching

2015 is set to be a big year for geocaching. While winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) is typically our slowest time of year, this year the gears have been turning and new ideas have been assembled. We’ve been busy innovating, creating, and experimenting—and it’s all been fueled by you, the geocaching community. In the first edition of What’s Next for Geocaching, you’ll learn how Geocaching HQ and the 9-million-strong geocaching community have come together to forge new tools, features and upgrades. Plus, you’ll have a chance to be involved, too.

Innovation and Inspiration, Fueled by You

At Geocaching HQ, one of the many reasons we love geocaching is the creativity and inventiveness of the community that molds and shapes the game. To honor that creativity and inventiveness, we’re making a concerted effort to put the geocaching community at the forefront of inspiration for what we’re working on. The first step: listening.

Meet Jayme. She has been a geocacher since 2008 and has earned nearly 9000 smileys. Now, she serves as the User Insights Analyst at Geocaching HQ. Jayme is responsible for bringing the voice of the geocaching community into the product development process.

She says, “We want to delight geocachers. To do so, we know we need to listen to the community’s needs, wants, and desires.”

To get a read on the community’s needs, Jayme organizes player surveys, forum discussions, geocacher play-testers and games. You read that right, games! Geocachers are invited to participate in activities called innovation games. These specially designed exercises help us better understand what geocachers want and even help guide the future of geocaching.

Jayme says, “There is a feeling of collaboration when a certain group of people are given a challenge and have to come up with a solution together. The games encourage thinking outside-of-the-box, working with other people, and they open up players’ eyes to how others geocache in other parts of the world and how challenging it can be to build a product that serves all geocachers, everywhere.”

So far, geocachers have played innovation games at the Geocaching Block Party and at Mega-Events in Germany and Spain. This year, Geocaching HQ’ers will be hosting games at even more Mega-Events around the world to learn what geocachers need to create the ultimate toolset for their geocaching experience.

Get Involved

Throughout 2015, we’ll be releasing a series of geocacher-inspired features. We think they are pretty awesome and we hope you will too.

To start, Geocaching Premium members will get a sneak peek at the new Advanced Search tool. It’s been completely retooled, revamped and streamlined based on geocaching community feedback. Now you’ll be able to find the exact adventure you want, easier. Keep an eye out for an email with more details.

It doesn’t stop there. Throughout the year, there will be more opportunities to have your voice heard and influence the future of geocaching. There are a few ways to take part:

• Take advantage of your Geocaching Premium sneak peeks and send us your feedback.
• Sign up to participate in innovation games at the Geocaching Block Party and other Mega-Events.*
• Watch the User Insights thread in the Geocaching Forums for opportunities to give feedback.
• Sign up for Tips & Tricks to receive surveys about geocaching ideas and innovations.

We can’t wait to show you more of What’s Next for Geocaching, so stay tuned!

*More information about innovation games coming soon.