The Joy of Geocaching Book » Business

Groundspeak Co-Founder: Android App Coming Soon

Paul — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:01:22 +0000

Groundspeak co-founder Bryan Roth contacted us recently to admonish us (gently) for using a Groundspeak trademark on our site without permission (Sorry, Bryan!). We’re never one to pass up an opportunity, so we asked him to answer a few questions. In the process, we discovered that Groundspeak has just started posting statistics about the number of active geocachers worldwide as well as the total numbers of logs filed on the Geocaching.com homepage.

Here’s our brief e-mail interview:

Q: How many active geocachers are there worldwide?

A: Three to four million cachers. There are some good monthly stats near the bottom of the geocaching.com homepage. They are updated daily. As of today, There are 973,854 active caches and an estimated 3-4 million geocachers worldwide. In the last 30 days, there have been 2,273,706 new logs submitted.

Q: With smart phones now routinely incorporating GPS receivers, we could be looking at 1 billion people worldwide carrying around GPSrs within a couple of years. What impact do you think that will have on the growth of the game? Is Groundspeak doing anything to take advantage of this growth outside of the iPhone application you built?

A: The addition of new and convenient forms of access to geocaching will allow for more people to hear about it and participate. In addition to our iPhone application, we will be releasing an Android application shortly, with other platforms to follow.

Q: Is Groundspeak giving any consideration to opening the geocaching.com service as a platform for third-party developers? Similarly, have you given any consideration of licensing the database for developers to build extended services?

A: We have considered both of these options. We have opened the geocaching service and licensed the database in very limited circumstances for very specific projects. A complete opening up of the service is not likely in the near term however all options are on the table for the future and we will evaluate them on an ongoing basis.

Q: What’s one of your favorite geocaches?

A: GCG9HP - I am claustrophobic (somewhat) and this cache really helped me push my own personal limits. Also, it was super cool to be caching in Finland.

Update, May 13, 2010: There have been many inquiries for more information about the status of the Android application, so we e-mailed Bryan for an update. his response may not satisfy all the enthusiasts, but at least it’s a response:

Unfortunately, I don’t have a precise target to share. Simply put, we will release the app as soon as we feel it is ready and worthy of the geocaching community. Ideally, that will be in the next few weeks, but we’re reserving the right to hold it further if we’re not happy with it.

We’re Android users ourselves, and have found a couple of apps that we like. Our favorite so far is GeoBeagle. We’ve also tried GCDroid and OpenGPX. They’re functional but a bit buggier. Google’s open approach to its marketplace should insure that plenty of apps will be available.

Maryland Catches Geocaching Fever

Paul — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:32:48 +0000

This has to be the most ambitious geocaching project we’ve ever seen. The Maryland Municipal League is launching a “Geocache Trail” to bolster the state’s tourism and it has gained the participation of cities and towns across the state to place 78 caches.

Participants can go to any participating visiting center and obtaining a “passport” pointing you to the cache locations. Containers have small giveaway items and brochures featuring the many places to visit and see in the city. According to the MML website set up for the competition:

The trail is comprised of 78 city/town caches located in the 11 MML Districts (regions) throughout the state. A collectible, highly coveted geocoin will be given to the first 500 geocachers who locate a minimum of 22 city/town caches throughout the state. To be eligible for the coin, geocachers must pick up a passport at any participating visitor center, use the stamp in each cache on their passports and write in the cache code word. After at least two municipal caches in each of the 11 districts are discovered, geocachers may return to any one of the participating county visitor centers and have their passports validated to receive a collectable coin.

To give you an idea of how big this project is, here’s a snip from a map the league posted showing towns that are participating in the program. They’re designated with blue dots. There are many sponsors, including the Maryland Geocaching Society, which coordinated the trail. You can also read more here.

Recent Reading, 11/23/08

Paul — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:41:28 +0000

Are micro caches getting out of control?

A spirited debate has been proceeding on Groundspeak forums over the question of whether too many cache owners are using micros as a way to get around having to make really clever hides. Maybe you’ll want to contribute your opinion!

HIDE & SEEK – Join the legions of letterboxers who conceal their personalized packages — well, just about anywhere — for other players to find

Letterboxing is a low-tech predecessor to geocaching that is still practiced by many enthusiasts. The Buffalo News provides an excellent introduction to the game, which has players exchanging clues and elaborate rubber stamp designs to mark their finds.
Hunting for treasures the high-tech way

Another intro to geocaching in the popular press, this one focuses in particular on how Travel Bugs work.
Geocachers find, leave buried treasure – Las Vegas Sun

The best-written introduction to geocaching we’ve read yet in the popular press.
Geocaching with TangoGPS [splitbrain.org]

Andreas Gohr writes about using TangoGPS on the EeePC for paperless geocaching. He uses the tangoGPS open mapping application to download Openstretmap maps for offline use. Because TangoGPS doesn’t support GPX files, you can work around that limitation with some hacks that he explains here. You have to be a bit technical to follow this advice.
Treasure hunts go high-tech around the county

The Maryland Municipal League has enlisted 76 municipalities to put caches on public property in their towns as a means of promoting visitors and tourism. When the program officially kicks off in January, Geocachers will be able to obtain passports from designated visitors centers. Each participating municipality will have a rubber stamp and a code word in its cache, as well as coupons for town restaurants and other local items. The first 500 Geocachers to find two caches in each of the 11 regional districts will receive a collectable “GeoCoin,” a trackable item coveted by Geocachers. “The (Maryland) Geocaching Society has received a lot of phone calls and people just can’t wait for this to come online,” said Linda Burrell, the manager of member relations and education for the MML
The Unofficial Apple Weblog Reviews the Geocaching iPhone app

Steven Sande reviews the new GPS-enabled iPhone with the Groundspeak geocaching app. His conclusion: nice features, but the iPhone has got a ways to go as a caching tool: “Should a hard-core geocacher give up his or her dedicated GPS receiver and move to an iPhone? No. I don’t think the accuracy of the GPS location is as good as some of the WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) enabled GPS receivers that you can buy from Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom.” “I feel that [the iPhone] a good solution, and it can only get better as the app is updated with new features and the iPhone gets even better location accuracy in the future.”
Geocache wedding proposal

There’s a cute thread on Groundspeak Forums about how to propose marriage via geocache. It turns out that several members have recognized special events like wedding anniversaries and birthdays with cache outings. There are some great ideas here!
Garmin Colorado 300 review

LetsGoMobile reviews the new Garmin Colorado and rates it 8.5 out of 10. The reviewer loves the new Whereigo feature but isn’t crazy about the battery compartment. He also thinks the screen is no better than that in the Garmin GPS60CSX, although he likes the improved functionality.
So You Wanna Go Geocaching: A “Nano” Geocache

A new blog from an experienced geocacher introduces useful concepts and tactics. In this entry, the author explains and illustrates the increasingly popular “nano” cache. Some of these containers are barely larger than a pencil eraser!

Change of Plans

Paul — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:05:26 +0000

It’s a tough economy out there, and it appears to be hitting the book industry as hard as anyone. We got concerned in early October when communications from our planned publisher, Clerisy Press, abruptly ceased. After a round of efforts by us and our agent, we finally learned that Clerisy was having financial troubles and was reviewing its contracts. Rather than subject ourselves to weeks of uncertainty and negotiation, we offered to pull the contract for Geocaching Secrets off the table. Our offer was accepted.

In a way, this turn of events was a relief. When we started working on Geocaching Secrets, we planned to write a how-to book about geocaching. As we began spending time on the phone and in person with geocaching enthusiasts, though, we discovered that the story was much more about people than waypoints and equipment. In the course of conducting more than 40 in-depth interviews, we have heard some amazing stories, ranging from hilarious to heartbreaking. We think those human stories are the essence of geocaching.

We have learned that geocaching is more than just a game; it’s a way of life. For the community of enthusiasts, it is at the center of their social circle. For some people, it has been life-transforming, helping them to get fit, repair broken relationships and even come back from the brink of suicide. We want to write a book that captures the spirit of those people, while also providing hands-on advice for the novice-to-intermediate geocacher.

We have rewritten our proposal under a new working title:

The Joy of Geocaching: How to Find Health, Happiness And Creative Energy Through A Worldwide Treasure Hunt. Our agent is taking it to publishers as we write. He believes the story we want to tell is more compelling than the one we originally set out to tell. He thinks there’ll actually be a better market for this book than for the original one. Even if he doesn’t find a willing publisher in this tough economy, we will self-publish through one of the burgeoning number of services that now provides that service.

We’ll soon post the proposal on this blog for anyone to read and comment upon. We’d appreciate your thoughts and insights as we proceed. We have always considered this book to be a collaboration, and your comments will help us to create something that the entire geocaching community can appreciate.

Geocaching Daily 07/22/2008

Paul — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:40:07 +0000

Hidden treasures stashed in parks | Kansas.com

The State of Kansas is using geocaching to promote its 29 parks and the prizes are attractive The first 50 families or individuals to log all 29 official sites can choose two days in a state park cabin or a 2009 annual camping permit. The first 100 to log 18 or more sites win a night in a cabin or a 14-day camping permit. The first 200 to log five or more sites will get two nights of free camping.

tags: geocachingdaily, geocaching, business
Parks playing high-tech game of hide-and-seek with visitors

The state of Arkansas is placing caches in all 52 of its state parks and challenging geocachers to collect them all.

tags: geocachingdaily, geocaching, business

Arkansas Geocaching Promotion Drives Park Attendance

Paul — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:53:42 +0000

We spent some time on the phone this morning with Joe Jacobs, Marketing & Revenue Manager for Arkansas State Parks. The state has placed 52 geocaches – one in each of its parks – and is inviting geocachers to visit them all. Those who do can pick up clues that add up to the coordinates of a bonus 53^rd cache containing a series of geocoins that Arkansas minted specifically for this promotion.

The campaign is intended to attract tourists to Arkansas, Jacobs said, and it’s already bearing fruit. “We’ve got about 125 finds in the first week and a lot of great comments about the parks and how much they appreciate what we’re doing for the geocachers,” he says. At this rate, Jacobs expects the bonus cache to be discovered in about three weeks.

The State Parks site has a special page devoted to geocaching, including a worksheet to track finds. The state has supported caching in its parks for years and even offers geocaching instruction as a core program.

Jacobs sees geocaching as a way to get people off the couch and out with nature. “Put a screen in front of my 12-year-old and she’ll go anywhere,” he laughs. Early indications are that Arkansas’ program is doing exactly that.

Listen to the interview (13:58)

To download, right-click the link and choose “Save As”

Geocaching Daily 07/20/2008

Paul — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:44:25 +0000

Geo-Treasure Hunting In The Tri-Cities | TriCities

The Tricities.com team reported about the geocaching at Bays Mountain on News Channel 11 Tuesday evening. But after watching the geocachers in action, we decided it was time for us to try it out for ourselves. We quickly learned that it’s not as easy as it looks. (There’s a video clip of the hunt, too)

tags: geocachingdaily
Ohio Historical Group Enters Into Geocaching

Ohio Historical Society has seized the opportunity presented by the geocaching craze to place caches at 10 of its historic sites to help increase awareness and visitation…OHS caches are during daylight hours year-round. Cachers who want to place their own cache at an OHS site can fill out an online application. Information on OHS sites and caches can be found at www.ohiohistory.org/geocache and at www.geocaching.com.

tags: geocachingdaily
Suspected Bomb Turns Out to be Geocache Clue

Police have determined that a suspicious package wrapped in duct tape and placed under O’Neal Bridge contained just another clue in a scavenger hunt game…It was the second time the unit was called out for what turned out to be a Geocaching clue.

tags: geocachingdaily

Geocaching Daily 07/14/2008

Paul — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:47:24 +0000

Columbia Missourian – Sport of geocaching gaining in popularity

“Park officials across the country are responding to the new sport by implementing geocaching policies and keeping a careful watch on the location of the caches and the people participating in the sport. Mostly the participants do a good job of controlling themselves.”

However, there is concern about leaving ammo boxes in places where muggles might find them as well as the possibility of disturbing wooded areas. The park services manager quoted in this story says most cachers are responsible, though.

tags: geocachingdaily
Ohio Historical Society encouraging geocaching at its sites

“The Ohio Historical Society has seized on the opportunity to increase promotion of 10 of its historic sites, including one in Chillicothe, through cashing in on the geocaching craze…’Two interests that Ohio Historical Society visitors and geocachers have in common are history and the environment,’ said Erin Bartlett, a regional manager for OHS historic sites who coordinates the geocaching program.”

tags: geocachingdaily
High-tech treasure hunt

A reporter for The News of Pictou County, Nova Scotia accompanies a local cacher on a challenging route. In the end, their search yields a DNF. Doh!

tags: geocachingdaily