Geocaching Australia

Once upon a time we used to have maps on the australian cache pages, similar to what most other countries have.

Who would like to see them brought back ??

I know I would, It was good when we had them to see the general area that the cache is in, without having to load up Ozi etc.

Albeit they were not too accurate, but they did get the desired location across...

yeah i agree

Agreed - an idea of the general area is useful, if I want the exact location I can fire up Ozi.<br>
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Why were they removed in the first place? We seem to be the only country that doesn't have maps for each cache ...

I must be missing something or do you mean that little map that appears on the yank pages? I normally just hit the mapquest button for a quick look.

Slider & Smurf wrote:Why were they removed in the first place? We seem to be the only country that doesn't have maps for each cache ...

When the maps were introduced there was a thread in the main gc.com forums from various Australian cachers that they didn't want the maps, so Jeremy removed them for us. From memory it was the general crappy quality of the maps that was of concern, maybe better maps are available now, it might be worth asking about. I don't know if he had similar requests from other countries, we may or may not be the only country he's locked maps out for.
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See what kind of response you get with this forum and if it's in favour of getting the maps back, send the URL to this thread to Jeremy to see what can be done.

We found the maps quite useful, and were dissapointed when they were taken off.
Strike up another vote for bringing back the maps.

No I don't want the little maps back. I like to start with some thinking to locate the caches.

First I look at the coords and do a little imagining to work out the location...that is usually hopeless so I click on the 'Nearest Caches" link...that narrows it down a bit so then I click on the "make this page print friendly" link and that then gives me the little map on the clue sheet. I then print the whole sheet (including map) so I can forget it and leave it at home when I go caching .

Please don't make my game too easy.

I agree with Alex's view, except look at it in the text that: The maps were not accurate enogh to get ANY idea on where it may have been.
They are the same maps that you can get when you make a page print friendly.
I started the poll with the general overview that the maps make it easier to see a "rough" location of a cache (within say 10 kilometeres ?) without having to load up or print extra pages.
There is a dozen ways to get maps, but all take more time than looking at the first page..
I to dont like to use a map to get spot on, but only to get a general idea of location, and also more so to see if there is a river or something that cuts the road I have been on for an hour in half with no bridge !

The system of maps that were featured on Geocaching,com some time back were from Mapblast. These maps were just so poor and inaccurate that most geocachers at the time (including myself) felt they were a hindrance rather than a help, so we asked for them to be removed. I can recall at least one occasion where the maps gave me a real bum steer. I think now most people are sourcing very good mapping data either on the web or through purchased software., but if you feel you still want the maps returned I suggest you ask Jeremy Irish to see what can be done.

Hounddog