Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

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ian-and-penny
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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by ian-and-penny » 15 October 09 5:43 pm

I hope simple micros and nanos become dead, dead, dead.

I hope todays newbies learn from the experience of others, and produce truly "worthy" caches.

I hope that after a truly memorable walk, or visiting a fantastic spot; that there's something more to find than a 200 ml Sistema.

I hope . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do enjoy watching my find count go up, but it's not about the numbers - it's the enjoyment factor that attracts.

I don't swap any more, but do try to place something in every cache I visit. (So poo on nanos, micros and 200 ml sistemas :wink: ).

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Quasar » 16 October 09 9:33 pm

Team Ladava wrote:I must have foresaw this thread a couple of years ago when I told my Geocaching brother-in-law baby gopher that we are in 'The Golden Age of Caching'.
Always the optimist but !!!!
Ian
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Having started geocaching in 2001, I still look back on the 2001-03 period as the "golden age" of geocaching. That was when hardly anyone knew what a GPS was (and they were handheld items not things you had in your car). After that we saw the rise of the small cache container (back in the early '00s the standard cache size was a 5 litre bucket, a large one 10 litres or more and it had to have some decent contents - so you had to think about what you wanted to put in it, what would fit etc. not just drop a box everywhere), then the micro. I'm actually quite a fan of micros in urban settings, but it really annoys me to find them in places something much bigger could've been planted. It strikes me that the planter just couldn't be bothered getting things together to put in a cache.

Having been in the game now for 8 years, the things I see people describing here as possible futures are the things that have already happened. I still enjoy caching very much, but they've certainly become less about finding an interesting location and interesting items in the cache, and more about putting a cache anywhere there isn't already one, and finding anything anywhere and signing the log book. I visit a lot of different places and only have a very limited time to find caches - it's very difficult to work out what are good, worthwhile ones in interesting places. What GC really needs is a rating system where every time you log a cache you give it a rating on a couple of scales - all caches are not equal.

And I certainly agree about the difficulty of finding caches in places where you're treated with suspicion. Just this week I had a run in with the police, my first in 8 years of caching - they had never heard of it and interviewed me for 20 minutes, including a search of my bags and several phone calls to confirm my identity before they'd let me go.

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If
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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by If » 18 October 09 10:43 pm

Geocaching will still be going strong :D
But not in its present form.
It will fragment and head underground to avoid detection by the innumerable " too scared of our public liability " councils and land managers who don't want anyone near their jurisdiction in case they hurt themselves or scare someone else ](*,)
Geocaching Australia's website could indeed become a valuable repository of cache locations available to all with no restrictions and free of interference from the " public land nazis " \:D/

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Ozibags » 19 October 09 5:31 pm

Geocaching will be included as an Olympic sport :D

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Sons of Callum » 01 November 09 10:48 pm

ian-and-penny wrote:I hope simple micros and nanos become dead, dead, dead.

I hope todays newbies learn from the experience of others, and produce truly "worthy" caches.

I hope that after a truly memorable walk, or visiting a fantastic spot; that there's something more to find than a 200 ml Sistema.

I hope . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do enjoy watching my find count go up, but it's not about the numbers - it's the enjoyment factor that attracts.

I don't swap any more, but do try to place something in every cache I visit. (So poo on nanos, micros and 200 ml sistemas :wink: ).
I only do caching for the places it takes me so for example i dont do the caches that are in towns that arnt close to me i will go out into the bush and find one with a nice view or a bit of an adventure to get there!

I personally think that a nano by itself is just an excuse for a cache! I dont mind when they are part of a series and they can be challenging but i spose its like anything if its overused it become boring!

Just my Views on the matter

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Yurt » 02 November 09 12:34 pm

I do wonder how people keep motivated to find 1000 or more caches. Simply finding a small plastic container, filled with a few mouldy stocking fillers, under some strips of bark by a tree is not something I could do that many times. Sure it builds the numbers but unless there's a trackable in there it's hard to get too motivated. Yes I like the ones in unique or "hidden gem" locations maybe with a bit of additional information or history. I think I'm getting more interested in multis and mysteries as time goes by but if there's a cache by a geocacher I'm familiar with I will track it down.
That said I do also want to clear a 10km radius around my home base. Am up to 6km now with just one sitting inside the perimeter. There's a lot more to go to get to 10km though - Sydney has its fair share of caches. It's like clearing a minefield, without the risk of being blown sky high or really anything to do with a minefield I guess.

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Black Bunny » 03 November 09 1:18 pm

I see a new trend developing for the Micro/Nano category....Electronic GeoTags. A RFID type container where you read/sign the log with the GPS all in one action. No retrieving nano logs with tweezers, less time at GZ, and no log replacement by the owner.

I would also see that there could be a move to more "photo"/virtual caching.

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by shonkylogic » 03 November 09 5:05 pm

Quasar wrote:What GC really needs is a rating system where every time you log a cache you give it a rating on a couple of scales - all caches are not equal.
Agree rating would be good on GC. In the meantime you can rate your finds on GCA. But I admit I tend to only rate the really outstanding or memorial caches.

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Hoojar
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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Hoojar » 04 November 09 4:17 pm

I've been enjoying reading this thread this afternoon. It shows just how much different people get different things out of caching.

As much as I enjoy finding regular and large caches, I think I could count on one hand the number of times that I have actually swapped anything! However I still grumble when I open a cache and find it full of rubbish/junky swaps, even though I did not plan on swapping anyway! But equally I get extremely frustrated when I find a small (or worse) cache somewhere that you could safely hide a fridge!

And for me the thrill of moving travelbugs and coins died down within months of taking up caching, I think it would be years since I've logged a traveller!

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by Shael6636 » 04 November 09 7:40 pm

As i have been only been caching for less than a year I cant really say what geocaching was like in the "early years"

I do see that more and more caches are being placed and cache saturation will certainly become more of an issue as the years roll on....
From the start I have always tried to place my cahces that are somewhere interesting and not just for the sake of placing a cache (though I am guilty of that) :oops:

I think that you will see more themed and multiple caches, and many more nano / micro caches as cache saturation increases. Personally I love finding nanos as the various places they can be hidden are far many more than standard caches :o

Another thing I think will happen is more and more urban camouflague caches. perosnally i love finding a normal every day object that has been converted into a cache. :D

One thing I hope to see is that more people take care in preparing there caches. Its a little disapointing when you find a cache that is a plain siestema with handwritten cache names & numbers. :idea:

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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by stringy » 05 November 09 9:09 pm

Thanx for all the great answers guy's, keep it up!

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bshwckr
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Re: Where do you see geocaching in the next 10 years?

Post by bshwckr » 12 November 09 2:38 pm

Wow, how about that Rabbitto post! (13 Oct) Don't expect anything that eloquent from me.... ever.

Being a gadget nerd I first think about the technical aspects of the game.
In 10 years time it is hard to imagine what the technology is going to be like. Read any science fiction novel from before the 1980's and everyone missed the internet, mobile phones and even digital cameras. On the reverse WHERE IS MY HOVER CAR! They all said we would be driving them by now.
I think we will probably have one device that is our phone, camera, gps, tv, radio, torch, credit card, licence, medicare card, toll device, passport etc. This device will have the capabilities of today's PC's and may double as one using projected keyboards and screens to get around the small screen, touchpad issues. Battery life will be great as it will have a very efficient solar cell built-in. Recharging when required will be done by sitting the device in the console of your car with no physical connection required or an equivalent charger at home. All cars will have their own built-in gps for navigation to get you to the cache proximity. It would not be wise to speed to that FTF as the car will send your speeding data to the police and you will expect a fine in your in-box within seconds. The distance that you travel to the cache in your car will also be logged by GPS and you will be charged on a user pays bases for using the road.
Gps accuracy will be around 10cm by then as there will be 100% global network coverage via satellite and averaging of the location will occur in a split second. This accuracy will be required so that speeding fines and tolls cannot be disputed :twisted:
I would be surprised if "the box" is still a part of what mainstream geocaching will evolve to, thinking liability issues as well as lack of challenge due to the high accuracy. I think there will be a game involving a physical box but it will be underground, perhaps forum based.
One thing is for certain, we will find ways to entertain ourselves and others will try to find ways to control and charge us for our entertainment.

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