This is part of a series of blog posts shining a spotlight on the people of Geocaching HQ. We hope to show you the “geo-who” behind the “geo-what”. đ
What is your name?
Tom Phillips
Tag: Geocaching HQ
Geocaching HQ Announces Historic Expansion of Search
Geocaching is all about having fun. So naturally, we love April Fools.
Last Friday, April 1st, we introduced a new feature called Galaxy Search, a tool to start planning your greatest geocaching adventure yet â in space. (Boy, do we wish this feature were realâŚmaybe one day!)
Our favorite astronaut Rick Mastracchio even played along by âhidingâ his first-ever geocache, also in space.
In addition to Astronaut Mastracchio’s geocache, 65 other geocaches were “hidden” in space, forming some stellar geo-art.
[April 4,2016] Note: All ‘Found It’ logs on the space geocaches are now notes and associated souvenirs will be removed. The caches were archived, but you can still view them on this Bookmark List.
Introducing Galaxy Search
Buoyed by the knowledge that someone has found every geocache on Earth, Geocaching HQ has taken the next logical step to keep pace with the gameâs growth. With todayâs website release and introduction of Galaxy Search, players can now search for geocaches in space.
This historic development is nearly eight years in the making. The HQ team first began investigating the possibility of an all-encompassing Search tool when Richard Garriott (Username: LordBritish) placed his International Space Station geocache in 2008. Astronaut Rick Mastracchio (Username:Â AstroRM) was FTF on that cache in 2013. Shortly thereafter, Mastracchio informed Geocaching HQ of his desire to place another space cache during his time in orbit. At that point, it became clear that work on Galaxy Search must begin immediately.
Upon completing and implementing Galaxy Search, our developers made a stunning discovery. Search results yielded not only the International Space Station geocache and Astronaut Mastracchioâs new geocache, but also a previously unknown geo-art collection of more than 60 cache listings! These amazing geocaches were placed by such luminaries as James T. Kirk, Luke Skywalker, Ziggy Stardust and others.
Weâre thrilled to now share these far-out geocaches with the community. Simply visit the Geocaching.com Search and check out the latest featured search.
Alternatively, players can download the public Bookmark List of space geocaches. With the recent addition of Offline Lists to the GeocachingÂŽ app, players can easily save these new caches to mobile devices, making it easier than ever to go geocaching in space!
Geocaching Employee Spotlight: Product Owner & Avid Geocacher, Ben Hewitt
This is part of a series of blog posts shining a spotlight on the people of GeocachingHQ. We hope to show you the âgeo-whoâ behind the âgeo-whatâ. đ
What is your name?
Ben Hewitt
Geocaching Bucket List: Greatest Hits Edition
Any serious geocacher probably has a list of geocaches they wish to find before they âkick the bucketâ, so to speak. Weâll be doing an intermittent series dedicated to bucket list geocaches, and todayâs theme is âGreatest Hitsâ. Have you found one of these famous geocaches or do you plan to?
Secret Code Hidden in Leap Day Souvenir Revealed
When someone becomes a geocacher, they begin to see things others do not. Sticks are just a little too straight, every rock suggests a secret compartment and even lamp posts become suspicious. And to think that the majority of people go through life oblivious to the hidden delights all around them!
In the spirit of hidden delights, Geocaching HQ’s Designer Roxxy Goetz decided to encode a secret message in the 2016Â Leap Day souvenir. Take a look:
Did you catch it? Read on for clues and a behind-the-scenes look at the Leap Day souvenirs.
What do you do at Geocaching HQ?
Iâm a graphic designer in our Creative Studio. We manage and create most of the art assets you see on our social media, like Facebook and the Geocaching Blog, and in our Shop. I personally handle many of our Geocoin designs, and I was one of the illustrators at the start of the Souvenirs project.
What is your username?
Over the last couple of years I keep being asked if Iâm that Roxxy, the one who designed this souvenir or that geocoin, and the rest was a bad joke waiting to happen. My username is Yes, That Roxxy.
Tell me about the Leap Day souvenirs. How did you and your team come up with the theme?
We really wanted to make something special for the community, something that was unique and not like anything else being put out there. We started by designing a Leap Day theme, which we used for the Leap Day Geocoin as well as the two souvenirs.
Our inspiration came from the Roman origins of Leap Day as we record it on our modern calendar. There arenât many modern traditions for Leap Day that fit naturally with a geocaching theme, so we decided to call out the day itself. We looked at imagery that reflected the passage of time and the unique circumstances that gave us Leap Day to begin with.
The finished Leap Day souvenir has elements of a sundial, to reflect the passage of time over one single day, as well as imagery depicting the orbit of the earth around the sun, representing the passage of a year.
For the Leap Day Event souvenir we decided to draw imagery not just from our own planet, but from the other planets around us. We wanted to reflect the way our own personal experiences are a part of a much greater system, a sort of celebration of those experiences coming together into something bigger.
The theme even carried over to our Leap Day Geocoin, which featured the Roman god of the sunâSol Invictusâon one side, with the planets in orbit around his crown. The other side was a functioning sundial, which is not as easy to design in as some might think.
I hear there’s a hidden message encoded in the Leap Day 2016 souvenir for attending an event. How do we decode it?
You caught me! I love trying to hide little messages for our communityâI canât help it! I guess Iâm a Puzzler geocacher at heart.
Iâll give you two hints: one for those who just want a starting point, and a second for those who want to get right into decoding the souvenir…
Hint #1:
Nine are the planets
Nine are the rings
Nine are the letters
in the finding of things
Hint #2:
Each orbit has a pattern, a series of dashes, repeating all the way around. These dashes spell out a letter in Morse code. Each orbit represents only one letter.
Have you discovered any secret messages or hidden surprises while geocaching? Tell us about them!
SPOILER:Â And the hidden message is… DISCOVERY!
