Here’s the latest sneak peak Geocaching Challenges video. Geocaching Challenges are an innovative new way to experience and share location-based adventures around the world. Groundspeak is anticipating releasing Challenges on Geocaching.com later this week. Geocaching Challenges will also be available via free smartphone apps for the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 platforms.
Groundspeak is beginning by launching two types of Challenges: Action and Photo. The video above describes what an Photo Challenge is. Additional types of Challenges are slated to be added in the future.
Geocaching.com Premium Members will be able to create Action and Photo Challenges.
Check out this blog post for an animated video teaser about Challenges.
Here’s the latest sneak peak Geocaching Challenges video and more information about this exciting evolution in geocaching. Geocaching Challenges are an innovative new way to experience and share location-based adventures around the world. Groundspeak is anticipating releasing Challenges on Geocaching.com later this week. Geocaching Challenges will also be available the same via free smartphone apps for the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 platforms.
Groundspeak is beginning by launching two types of Challenges: Action and Photo. The video above describes what an Action Challenge is. Additional types of Challenges are slated to be added in the future.
Geocachers will earn smileys for completing a Challenge. The smileys for Challenges will appear separate from geocaches in user profiles, but will be part of your found/completed count. Geocaching.com Premium Members will be able to create Action and Photo Challenges.
Groundspeak needs your help acknowledging a geocacher each month that stands out by inspiring other geocachers with their innovation, creative hides and/or logs, respect for the environment, and helpfulness. More than a hundred geocachers submitted outstanding nominees from around the world.
The Geocacher of the Month celebrates geocachers for their contributions. A panel of Lackeys had the difficult task of selecting four of the most outstanding nominees. You can help name one of these nominees the “Geocacher of the Month.”
Each geocacher you see below displays extraordinary geocaching qualities including generosity and inventiveness. Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you’d like to see as the first “Geocacher of the Month.” All those not awarded or nominated are encouraged to submit nominations again next month.
Read the testimonials below and leave a comment with your suggestion. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Nominated by ZeroOne: “When I read about your Geocacher of the Month project, I naturally started thinking who would be the most suitable Finnish cacher for the nomination. It took me a while because the person is so humble, but when it came to me it was obvious: username haksu10.
Haksu10 is extremely devoted to the Finnish geocaching community — I dare to say there’s no one more devoted than him. He has single-handedly created and is constantly developing the geocache.fi site, used by most Finnish geocachers daily.
I don’t know when, but in the middle of maintaining the site haksu10 also seems to find the time to occasionally go geocaching. Last summer it almost cost him his life, though. He was bitten by a poisonous snake and was hospitalized. Luckily he recovered in a few days and was back developing the site. Haksu has already found almost 2000 caches and owns almost a hundred caches. The most special of his caches is probably GC16QCH Haksulandia.. What makes it special, though, is that it is located at haksu10’s yard. According to the description, the cache is equipped with an electric outlet in case you need to charge anything. Call before you arrive (or just ring the doorbell) and haksu10 will make you some coffee.”
Nominated by Joshism: “I am nominating ‘Dale n Barb.’ Dale and Barbara have been very active in geocaching for several years. They have organized or assisted in numerous events with both their Space Coast Geocaching Association and the larger Florida Geocaching Association. I live more than hour’s drive away, but still attend their events; I know many more who drive even farther. They have worked with parks and the geocaching community, including numerous CITO events. They are the owners of “A Cool Cache” (GC15RQB): the most Favorited non-Virtual in the state of Florida. They encourage others to “Take Pride In Your Hide” and live that motto, with thoughtful well-maintained hides that have never disappointed me. They are a huge asset to the Florida geocaching community in every way possible.”
kdv writes, “I would like to nominate “De broekies.” They are spending most of their spare time helping the Dutch (and international) geocaching community enjoy their geocaching experiences even more. They run a successful geocaching website (www.globalcaching.eu) and offer a lot of functionality and fun to all its users and guests.
They often give away Geocoins and other stuff to visitors. Plus they often help out other websites too, hosting items that require special technical knowledge, for instance to run a Geocoin race. And I have never even met him in person! Robert is just a great person, and I can honestly not think of anyone more deserving of this title. Actually, Geocacher of the Decade would be even more appropriate!
Marcel en Micha writes,”With this email I would like to nominate Robert of the Broekies for Geocacher of the Month. The reason I would like to nominate him is for his outstanding commitment to the Dutch geocaching community. I think he is a good example of how to make the geocaching community a better place. Every country in the world should have a ‘Robert’.”
Geocoin front and back
A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide the Geocacher of the Month award on August 20, 2011 at the Geocaching Block Party in Seattle, Washington, USA. Each Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition ”Geocacher of the Month” Geocoin along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by the founders of Geocaching.com: Jeremy Irish, Bryan Roth and Elias Alvord.
Every nomination must meet the following requirements. Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the September Geocacher of the Month must be received by September 3rd.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.
Editor’s note: Susan Kelley, Calvertcachers, has volunteered countless hours organizing geotrails in multiple states. A geotrail offers geocachers a variety of hides linked by a central themeor topic. There is often a prize for completing all or part of a geotrail.
This article shares Susan’s experience and her advice on creating a geotrail. She’s been part of a months-long effort to launch the Capt. John Smith geotrail. The Capt. John Smith geotrail challenge begins on June 4th.
Geocaching.com: How did the idea for the Capt John Smith geotrail begin?
Susan: With the success of the Star-Spangled Banner Geotrail, The National Park Service (NPS) and Chesapeake Conservancy wanted to do something special to commemorate the adventures and explorations of Capt. John Smith. A Geocaching project was a perfect fit since Capt. John Smith was the first person to map the Chesapeake region beginning in 1607. His detailed map was published in 1612 and remained in active use for seven decades. Considering the primitive tools he had to use, the geographical accuracy is amazing. I would guess that Capt. John Smith would have loved geocaching!
Geocaching.com: What’s involved in organizing a geotrail? How many people, maintenance, time, etc?
Susan: Lots of work! In all seriousness, I have helped to coordinate four major trail projects, the first being the Maryland Municipal League Geotrail which was the first statewide geotrail in the United States. This trail launched with over 70 caches throughout Maryland. This was followed up with the M-NCPPC Park Ranger Challenge, the Star-Spangled Banner (SSB) Geotrail, and launching June 4th, the Captain John Smith (CJS) Geotrail. Both the SSB and CJS have caches in several states so it does take a great amount of coordination and hours of work. However, these trails would not have been possible without the help of many volunteer geocachers.
Capt. John Smith's Original Map
The best aspect of geotrails is that it affords us the opportunity to partner with park, town, tourism, and government officials. This has been a win-win for everyone involved and as they have learned more about geocaching, the more they have welcomed geocaching into their park or community. With these trails, we have partnered a local geocacher with a facility. The cacher would schedule a time to meet with the facility staff, give them an introduction lesson on how to geocache, and show them how to log-on and create a Geocaching.com account. The cacher would help them select an appropriate location for their trail hide, place the cache and send us the hide details for the cache page. Once the trails have launched, staff have loved meeting the many geocachers visiting their site. The facilities/parks now get excited when they see a cacher going for their hide. Some will even help the cacher if they cannot locate the cache.
Geocaching.com: Describe the scope of the Capt. John Smith geotrail to us, what’s involved for the geocacher, when does it begin?
Susan: The Captain John Smith Geotrail is set to launch on June 4, 2011. This date was selected by the NPS to coincide with National Trails Day. We are kicking-off the CJS trail with a special event GC2F414 at the National Colonial Farm – Accokeek Foundation. The event will feature booths, exhibits and demonstrations from the Maryland Geocaching Society, Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization, Magellan, and many of the parks, museums, and historic sites along the CJS trail! Cachers will also have the opportunity to pick-up a copy of the passport and a list of CJS hides. We will have lots of nice door prizes including a GPS unit donated by Magellan!
Capt. John Smith geocoin
The trail will have over 40 caches within Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. The trail will focus on five rivers; the Susquehanna, Potomac, Nanticoke, Rappahannock, and James (including the Chickahominy branch). The trail will work off of a passport system. Cachers will be required to find, log and post a pic at 15 CJS caches to earn a beautiful trackable CJS geocoin.
The National Park Service and Chesapeake Conservancy have gone the extra mile by preparing a history write-up for every cache location. Each cache page will include a special history piece to give cachers an idea of what they will discover at the cache site. The history surrounding Capt. John Smith’s explorations is amazing! I am learning more and more each day with preparing the cache pages and I’m confident that folks will enjoy the trail.
Geocaching.com: Why a geotrail? What does this format offer beyond having a themed geocache or a Multi-cache?
Susan: Geotrails offer cachers an experience that is linked by a central themeor topic with a variety of hides. Cachers can pick and choose which caches along the trail are best suited for them or of their interest. A little something for everyone! Plus, there is a reward at the end. We know how geocachers love challenges, so the trails offer cachers a fun opportunity.
Geocaching.com: What are folks reaction when they complete a geotrail and what sort of feedback do you hear?
Capt. John Smith geocoin (reverse)
Susan: With both the MML and SSB trails, the response from geocachers has been overwhelmingly positive. All of these projects required us to partner with park staff and/or government officials, so the hides are quality and each offer a little something special. No matter if it is a nice hike with a scenic view, or a multi/puzzle cache at a museum with fascinating exhibits and displays, the response has been great! Log-on to Geocaching.com and read some of the logs from the Star-Spangled Banner Geotrail caches.
Geocaching.com: What is your advice if people would like to create a geotrail in their neck of the woods?
Susan: Talk with cachers or geocaching groups within your region to gauge interest and willingness to assist. A trail will take the time and efforts of many. If you have an idea, schedule a time to meet with your local tourism, parks or government staff and share your thoughts and the positive outcome a geocache trail will have for your community. Do your research and go prepared to the meeting with handouts, a presentation and stats from other geocache projects. Place a temporary cache and take them outside to find a cache! A trail should have a related theme or topic and if the funding is available, a reward for the geocacher for completing the trail. There are great resources on the Geocaching.com site and most trail coordinators are willing to share information. Reach out to others when doing your research.
Groundspeak developers unveil the latest update to the Geocaching.com Android application. Version 2.0 of the Geocaching.com app for the Android platform became available on May 18. Geocachers will enjoy a new look and feel for the app. They will also experience more powerful search options and an overall enhanced treasure-hunting adventure. The geocaching adventure will even last longer: developers increased the performance of the app, extending the battery life.
New User Interface for "Nearest Caches," "Geocache Details" and "Trackables"
New Features include:
* Advanced search
– Location Search
– Filter by Cache Types
– Filter by Size
– Exclude Finds
– Filter by Difficulty
– Filter by Terrain
– Search by Geocache Name
– Filter by Other Users’ Finds
* Battery drain issues addressed
* Major User Interface update
* Geocaches, Searches and Pocket Queries may now be saved into custom lists
* True multi-user support; multiple users have their own geocache database on a device
* Most recently viewed geocaches are cached on the device
* New cache icons
* Cache search list remembers your sort settings when retrieving “more” caches
* Log/recent photos can now be found with the actual log. When a log has a photo icon, click the log and the photo will appear. Only the cache photos will be found in the photos link in the cache details
* Added a “waiting” animation when the cache hasn’t yet fully loaded
* There is a photo loading animation instead of a frowny face
* Update a saved geocache by selecting “update” from the menu in cache details
* Cancel Pocket Query download by pressing the back button
Ready to get started?
Android owners can download Groundspeak’s Geocaching for Android Application from the Android Market.
Discuss Geocaching with Android devices and submit feature suggestions on the Groundspeak feedback site.
