What's new on Geocaching Australia

Discussion about the Geocaching Australia web site
Geocaching Australia
Posts: 222
Joined: 17 September 09 6:44 pm
Location: Home of the cache

Quick Publishing

Post by Geocaching Australia » 01 May 18 7:59 pm

==New Quick Publish Capability==
http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/Quick_publishing

Geocaching Australia now has the capability for you to quickly publish a lot of geocache listings at once. https://geocaching.com.au/my/publish

You can hide a series or group of geocaches and while they are in DRAFT mode, you can select which geocaches you want to quickly publish, enter the log details which will be replicated for each cache that is being published and with a single click you can publish all of those geocaches at once.

We hope this makes your life a little easier and simpler when publishing a series of caches or trying to release a full set just in time for an event to start at 9:00am.

dragonZone Guardian
Posts: 54
Joined: 25 April 18 10:53 am
Location: dragonZones

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by dragonZone Guardian » 01 May 18 9:15 pm

The dragons have had a busy day, and the latest addition to the dragonZone game is now live.

You will find new items on your dragonZone page: https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/

Details of these new items can be found on the wiki: http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/DragonZone#dZbag

From now on, finding and/or hiding valid dragonZone caches will see some of these new items randomly dropped into your dZbag. Some of these new items can be very powerful, so use them wisely. Or use them recklessly, if that's your dragonZone strategy.

User avatar
whitewebbs
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 358
Joined: 05 February 11 6:39 pm
Location: Sandford

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by whitewebbs » 02 May 18 6:28 pm

Ok, we have new powers which look interesting, but I want to allocate my usual points of 35 to a cache and now can't find the allocate button. Help

User avatar
J_&_J
Posts: 1264
Joined: 12 May 05 7:58 pm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000016368307
Location: Morphett Vale
Contact:

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by J_&_J » 02 May 18 6:48 pm

whitewebbs wrote:Ok, we have new powers which look interesting, but I want to allocate my usual points of 35 to a cache and now can't find the allocate button. Help
On your My/dragonzone page is a new tab called "Deploy". The first choice on the drop-down tab is "Points". This is where you now deploy regular dZ points.

User avatar
whitewebbs
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 358
Joined: 05 February 11 6:39 pm
Location: Sandford

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by whitewebbs » 02 May 18 7:11 pm

Thanks.

Geocaching Australia
Posts: 222
Joined: 17 September 09 6:44 pm
Location: Home of the cache

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by Geocaching Australia » 22 May 18 2:11 am

****New item in the Geocaching Australia Shop****

Increase the difficulty on your next hide with this ready to hide Fake Bolt Geocache container.

Made from high quality steel this magnetic bolt has been hand crafted to blend in with all things silver. All you need to check is that the location is iron and not aluminium. The magnet is epoxied into the top nut ensuring that there is a good surface for magnetic adhesion and with a waterproof paper log strip and o-ring your log shouldn't ever suffer the consequence of the elements.

The device measures approximately 50mm from end-to-end meaning it can be manipulated by hands of any size or age.

Other geo shops are selling these containers for anything from $7.70 up to $15.00, so with ours priced at $7.50, these are the cheapest you'll buy.

Get yours today. Check the link below.

https://geocaching.com.au/shop/index.ph ... uct_id=174

dragonZone Guardian
Posts: 54
Joined: 25 April 18 10:53 am
Location: dragonZones

May 25th dragonZone features and updates

Post by dragonZone Guardian » 25 May 18 9:56 pm

The dragonZone forge has been quite busy of late, creating and crafting new enhancements to the game, and bringing a few new new dZ point bonuses.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will now earn bonus dragonZone points finding valid dZ caches based on clan control:

A small bonus for finding a cache that your clan already CONTROLS.
A moderate bonus for finding a cache that your clan does NOT CONTROL.
A generous bonus for finding a cache that your clan did NOT CONTROL, but after your find your clan CONTROLS.*
A large bonus for finding or publishing a geocache in a zone that your clan did NOT control, but after your find or publication your clan CONTROLS.*

Any bonus points you earn can be viewed here: https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone ... /yesterday

* The bonus applies ONLY to a change of control where the find alone creates the clan control change, not any additional dZ points that are allocated after the find.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dragonZone zone page (ie: https://geocaching.com.au/zone/view/3476 for example) now has information summarising how many caches are controlled by which clan. This will mean a quick and visual indication of who controls what without having to list the caches and count colours.

This same information will also be displayed on the item deploy page (ie: https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/deploy/booster/ ). This will give a quick and visual indication as to how many caches you need to control a zone or whether your clan controls that zone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the item deploy pages (ie: https://geocaching.com.au/my/dragonzone/deploy/booster/ ) there will be a new sort order drop down that will allow you to sort by:

Date Found (Newest or Oldest first)
Date Hidden (Newest or Oldest first)
Cache Code (Alphabetical or reverse alphabetical enabling TP to be separated from GA)
Name (Alphabetical or reverse alphabetical)

phlphotos
3500 or more caches found
3500 or more caches found
Posts: 14
Joined: 04 May 15 9:45 am
Location: Engadine NSW

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by phlphotos » 27 May 18 1:48 am

dragonZone Guardian wrote:**Disruptor**
Disruptors will only be applied to clans that have dZPoints higher than your own clan. Disruptors will not change the dZPoints of any clan that is below your clans total dZPoints on the geocache.
I think there is a bug in the use of the Disruptor. I was getting too many of them dropped so thought I would get rid of a couple

I tried to use the Disruptor on my caches Did you bring a screwdriver? expecting to be ahead after using the plus 25% now my cache has my clan on -23.50 point didn’t think it could get to minus points.

As a test I tried the Top 1 Disruptor on Did you bring a screwdriver? The top clan is on 55 and my clan was on -23.50 after using the +25% now :phoenix is now on -102.00 points. The cache page shows I applied -41.50 then the 2nd was -78.50

I also tried to use the Top 1 Disruptor on my cache The Puzzling Heart Box twice and our teams points went down twice by the difference. The cache page says I applied -4.30 then -8.60

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17013
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by caughtatwork » 27 May 18 11:14 am

phlphotos wrote:
dragonZone Guardian wrote:**Disruptor**
Disruptors will only be applied to clans that have dZPoints higher than your own clan. Disruptors will not change the dZPoints of any clan that is below your clans total dZPoints on the geocache.
I think there is a bug in the use of the Disruptor. I was getting too many of them dropped so thought I would get rid of a couple

I tried to use the Disruptor on my caches Did you bring a screwdriver? expecting to be ahead after using the plus 25% now my cache has my clan on -23.50 point didn’t think it could get to minus points.

As a test I tried the Top 1 Disruptor on Did you bring a screwdriver? The top clan is on 55 and my clan was on -23.50 after using the +25% now :phoenix is now on -102.00 points. The cache page shows I applied -41.50 then the 2nd was -78.50

I also tried to use the Top 1 Disruptor on my cache The Puzzling Heart Box twice and our teams points went down twice by the difference. The cache page says I applied -4.30 then -8.60
Thanks for the report. This bug has been squished. The two caches in question have been reverted to the point PRIOR to you applying your disruptors. Your disruptors have been returned to you so you can apply them again. You have been rewarded with a bonus for the bug that has been buster.

Geocaching Australia
Posts: 222
Joined: 17 September 09 6:44 pm
Location: Home of the cache

Augmented Reality Geocaches

Post by Geocaching Australia » 08 June 18 9:03 am

Geocaching Australia today announces the introduction of Augmented Reality geocaches.

With Augmented Reality caches existing at Geocaching Australia since 2011 and Virtual Reality caches existing prior to that, now is the time to create the Augmented Reality cache type to allow for fully immersive Augmented Reality Experiences.

An Augmented Reality cache is a type of cache that uses Augmented Reality apps and experiences to help you to find the geocache. A code word, either in the physical geocache container at the end of the experience or delivered via the experience will be required to log the geocache. Codewords must be supplied when you are creating your geocache listing. The are called Augmented Reality caches because they may require actions or create experiences which may only be visible in an augmented reality vs. a real world physical item.

Augmented Reality caches may be similar to a multi-cache or Mystery / Puzzle geocache where you use an app and a specially created Augmented Reality Experience to work your way through an augmented world finding information, solving clues, resolving puzzles, entering locations (GPS co-ordinates) or providing answers to questions in order to determine the final location of the geocache.

These are a permanent cache type at Geocaching Australia and are dragonZone friendly.

Read more at the Geocaching Australia wiki: http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/Augmented_Reality

MavEtJu
Posts: 486
Joined: 07 January 15 9:15 pm
Twitter: @mavetju
Location: Caringbah
Contact:

Re: Augmented Reality Geocaches

Post by MavEtJu » 07 July 18 3:08 pm

Geocaching Australia wrote:Read more at the Geocaching Australia wiki: http://wiki.geocaching.com.au/wiki/Augmented_Reality
From the Wiki:

> An Augmented Reality geocache should have a final location with a physical container and a logbook and codeword.

Don't do like what I did: The codeword should get revealed when the physical container has been found, i.e. in the logbook.

Edwin

petan
850 or more found!!!
850 or more found!!!
Posts: 164
Joined: 30 August 08 8:56 am
Location: One foot on either side of the border (SE Qld/NE NSW)
Contact:

Re: Augmented Reality Geocaches

Post by petan » 08 July 18 1:09 pm

Geocaching Australia wrote:Geocaching Australia today announces the introduction of Augmented Reality geocaches.
Its been interesting watching the list of GCA AR Caches grow. It was fun to develop one too.

Just a couple of observations, particularly if you are using Metaverse. If you are relying on visitors going to the site to answer questions you might want to change your Experience Discovery to Unlisted and/or Don't Allow Cloning. Both are on the Advanced tab in Publish. Its just that with these two options on, I could clone an experience and find the co-ordinates.

I could say its kind of the equivalent of being given the co-ordinates of a particularly difficult puzzle. Some people won't care, but I thought I would bring it up for those who do.

Also I am curious to play with the AR experience MavEtJu as developed - looks interesting, as if its gone beyond the floating avatar who tells you/asks you stuff.

Susan

Geocaching Australia
Posts: 222
Joined: 17 September 09 6:44 pm
Location: Home of the cache

Icons, Icons and More Icons

Post by Geocaching Australia » 22 July 18 10:56 am

Geocaching Australia has recently updated the Google Map Markers to make identification of geocaches easier. In line with the icons changed for our maps, we have also redesigned over 150 icons for the main website itself.

You can view the new icons here (where you will also see than at various sizes and their names / usage descriptions).
https://geocaching.com.au/pics/icon.php

You may note that as you increase the zoom on the page the new icons will now stay crisp and clear and the older ones will get all blocky and pixelated. This is a key part of the new icons rendering process. Over time we expect all of our imagery to moved to the new rendering process.

The icons are now somewhat more consistent in their appearance and color and they have all been increased in size just a little bit from a 16x16 square to z 20x20 square. If you do not see the icons or they appear very large, then please press CTRL-F5 or SHIFT-F5) to force a download of the latest styles. This should reset the icons appropriately.

The icons have been 2 years in the planning and about 2-3 months in the design and creation and testing. Thanks to the Senators who ran some tests early on in the design process to minimise any browser issues.

If you do encounter an issue with the rendering of the new icons, please report the problem in the Report Site Issues thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19288 and let us know what operating system, what browser you are using along with a version number and whether you have tried to force refresh. This will help us to narrow down the issue. We have tested against IE 9, 10 and 11, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Chrome and Firefox and a few mobile versions as well as the desktop versions. We suspect that Internet Explorer earlier thn 9 may have issues but we are not in a position to address those due to the age of that software.

We sincerely hope that the new icons will make the use and identification of information at Geocaching Australia a little easier for everyone.

Goldenwattle
10000 or more caches found
10000 or more caches found
Posts: 389
Joined: 07 October 12 1:59 am
Location: Canberra

Re: What's new on Geocaching Australia

Post by Goldenwattle » 23 July 18 10:36 am

Is this for phones? I hesitate to say anything because I know and appreciate all the hard work that goes on behind the scene, but on the computer I personally preferred the old ones.

Geocaching Australia
Posts: 222
Joined: 17 September 09 6:44 pm
Location: Home of the cache

Responsite Site Design Changes

Post by Geocaching Australia » 31 August 18 9:38 am

Here at Geocaching Australia the development team are very proud to let you know of major enhancements to the usability of the site on mobile devices.

Just in time for the Spring Caching Carnival*, now when you visit Geocaching Australia on your mobile device in portrait mode the site will respond to your screen size and layout the data accordingly.

No more lettering that is too small to read. No more buttons that are too small for fat fingers. No more scrolling left and right to read geocache descriptions. No more wide screen layouts on narrow screen devices.

Every screen that we could reasonably identify has been updated to be fully responsive to devices that have a screen width of 600 pixels or fewer. Note that browser that you resize do not use the responsive design as the 'window' is not the 'screen'.

You will see some behavioural differences between the site on a mobile and the site on a computer, but the navigation options should be clearly marked.

The responsive design is not intended to replace the current apps which use the GCA API, but to make the site more accessible and usable to the community members who do not want an app or a new to the game and haven't downloaded an app yet.

We have not been able to test every device (as we're far too poor to have one of each type on hand) so our testing has been done with emulators. This might mean some screens look slightly off, or wonky or may not perform perfectly. Regrettably we are not likely to be in a position address each and every usability issue, but please feel free to let us know and we'll add them to our backlog for analysis and possible resolution.

This has been a labour of love (with no new functionality) over over 100 hours of intense change and test over the the last 3 or 4 weeks.

We hope that as a development team our efforts can make your site more accessible to more people.

* If you want to have easy access to the Spring Caching Carnival games area, just use the "Add Page to Favourites" link in the menu and you can always get to that page with a click or tap regardless of where you are on the site.

Post Reply