Geocaching with your 822

[MadDogFL62]

My older son told me about Geocaching. He said that he went to the County Park across the street with some friends from school, downloaded an APP onto his phone and used the APP to find "stuff" that was hidden. Mostly big plastic jugs and jars painted black or camp and filled with a pen/pencil, log book, and trinkets. The APP uses the phones GPS to locate the "cache" that is semi-hidden. Some cache containers are easy to find and some are not so easy. When you find the container, you open it, you log in on the log book, leave your own trinket and take a trinket out as a prize. Or you can place your new found trinket into the next cache you find! Trinkets can include key rings, coins, stickers, plastic army men, etc. It is also wise to bring a pen because some of the cache containers have a log sheet, but nothing to write with.

My older son is 17, so I figured that if this activity amused him, I could take my 10 year old and try it. After 5+ hours at the park yesterday, we found 3 out of 5 caches we were looking for using the APP. I am convinced that some creepy kids hid a few of the caches as my 822 put us right on top of them using the GPS and the Geocaching.com APP. Nevertheless, we had a blast. The 822 was very accurate, as were most of the cache locations. The APP itself provides maps, hints, clues, GPS coordinates and sometimes photographs of what you are looking for. I was able to take pictures of the cache boxes that we found with my 822 so that I could post them later on the Website.

I was VERY impressed that Geocaching.com developed a specific WP8 APP for this activity. It's nice to see WP8 APPS out now, getting the same development and support as those annoying Android and iPhone APPS. :wink: I posted links to the Website and WP8 Marketplace APP below. Keep in mind that these cache containers are located nationwide and across the world. Most malls, parks, marinas, preserves, camps, and other popular public areas have anywhere from 2 to 5 cache containers hidden that you can find with the locator map on the APP. Something fun to do with the kids or fun to do with friends - especially at a location that you may go to frequently and are looking for something different to do!


Geocaching Website: Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

WP8 Geocaching APP (it's free - log in and send to your device): Geocaching Live | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

 

[unstoppablekem]

That's really cool. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[11B1P]

Yep, started geocaching several years back. I've used my Trophy for a few of the hunts. Haven't been since getting my 822. I believe the app has been improved since I first used it.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Yep, started geocaching several years back. I've used my Trophy for a few of the hunts. Haven't been since getting my 822. I believe the app has been improved since I first used it.

Ya, it got updated recently.

 

[hopmedic]

My older son told me about Geocaching. He said that he went to the County Park across the street with some friends from school, downloaded an APP onto his phone and used the APP to find "stuff" that was hidden. Mostly big plastic jugs and jars painted black or camp and filled with a pen/pencil, log book, and trinkets. The APP uses the phones GPS to locate the "cache" that is semi-hidden. Some cache containers are easy to find and some are not so easy. When you find the container, you open it, you log in on the log book, leave your own trinket and take a trinket out as a prize. Or you can place your new found trinket into the next cache you find! Trinkets can include key rings, coins, stickers, plastic army men, etc. It is also wise to bring a pen because some of the cache containers have a log sheet, but nothing to write with.

I think I found my first cache in 2005, IIRC. I'm at 99 finds if I remember right. I've hidden one, but since I moved, someone else adopted it. The "trinkets" are not all you can find in caches. The general rule for the swag is that you shouldn't take something unless you leave something at least as valuable as what you took. There are also "trackables" - geocoins and travel bugs. These have a serial number, either on them or on a dogtag like tag attached to them. They are not to keep, but if you look on the trackable's web page (on geocaching.com), you will see its mission. I've got one that started in the St. Louis area, went down the southeast, then up to Washington (state), including to the very first geocache, and later went to Europe, and is now back in the US. It is just 13 miles shy of having traveled 20,000 miles.

My older son is 17, so I figured that if this activity amused him, I could take my 10 year old and try it. After 5+ hours at the park yesterday, we found 3 out of 5 caches we were looking for using the APP. I am convinced that some creepy kids hid a few of the caches as my 822 put us right on top of them using the GPS and the Geocaching.com APP. Nevertheless, we had a blast. The 822 was very accurate, as were most of the cache locations. The APP itself provides maps, hints, clues, GPS coordinates and sometimes photographs of what you are looking for. I was able to take pictures of the cache boxes that we found with my 822 so that I could post them later on the Website.

I wouldn't be too quick to blame creepy kids, although it is possible. Cache owners can be VERY resourceful in their hiding activities. I've had caches that took me 3 or 4 visits to find, they were hidden so well. Of course, it is possible that it was "muggled" (stolen, vandalized, or more). A muggle is a person who doesn't geocache (or know what geocaching is), much like in Harry Potter (where the geocaching term came from) where a muggle is a person who doesn't do magic. But it is just as possible that you just didn't find it. :wink:

I was VERY impressed that Geocaching.com developed a specific WP8 APP for this activity. It's nice to see WP8 APPS out now, getting the same development and support as those annoying Android and iPhone APPS. :wink:

Don't be too quick to judge (even to judge positively). Those of us who paid $9.99 for the original Geocaching app (not Geocaching Live, which is free, but the original Geocaching, which cost $9.99 and will be depricated this year IIRC), suffered through an app that would not allow us to log in, and was therefore useless, for MONTHS, despite complaining on the forums quite vociferously. I even complained to Microsoft, trying to get them to pull it from the Marketplace - they were still selling it even though they KNEW it didn't work! We paid $10 for an app that didn't work out of the box, kept getting told that an update was in progress, then one day someone let it slip that there was no update in progress at all, that they were working on iPhone and Android improvements. Improvements, mind you - not fixes.

Geocaching is very much like Google, IMO. They'll do whatever they have to do, step on whomever they have to step on, to get money. That's not how it was in the beginning. But now, it is. Back in my Windows Mobile days, there was no Geocaching app (official), but there was a guy who wrote an app that scraped the screens of the web site. Before I learned of his app, I started writing my own, and when I posted a question on the forums, I was told that I was violating the TOS by doing so. A little research and I learned that they'd cancel accounts for this. The guy who wrote the app kept having to fix it becuase they kept changing the site to break the app. Much like Google with YouTube. There was no API, so you couldn't do a Windows Mobile app without violating TOS. But the one guy kept at it, fixing the app every time they broke it.

Fast forward to some time last year, and they finally released an API, but only available to "certain" developers. Between that and the issue of the broken app, I let my years-long premium membership lapse, and went back to the freebie. If that's how they want to play, they don't need my money.

Then last year they announced (shortly after finally fixing the broken app) that it was going to be depricated, and the new Geocaching Live app would be free. But it would be more restricted. A basic member would only be able to do three searches a day, and premium unlimited. We'd had unlimited searches already, and while that wasn't available on other platforms, other platforms weren't paying $10 for the app. But not only that, but I was already a premium member..... Kind of gave me a sour taste. So I let it lapse, and went basic. I haven't been geocaching since, though I probably will soon, as one of the teens at my church approached me on Sunday saying he wants to go, and I'm the only one in our church who has done this before.....

So don't go thinking Geocaching is out there to support Windows Phone. They'll follow the money, and nothing else.

I posted links to the Website and WP8 Marketplace APP below. Keep in mind that these cache containers are located nationwide and across the world. Most malls, parks, marinas, preserves, camps, and other popular public areas have anywhere from 2 to 5 cache containers hidden that you can find with the locator map on the APP. Something fun to do with the kids or fun to do with friends - especially at a location that you may go to frequently and are looking for something different to do!

It is a fun activity, especially if you can get the family involved. FYI, caches cannot be closer than something like 500' (I think it was translated from 1/10 of a mile). I haven't gone caching with my 822 yet, but it was harder with the Trophy since it didn't have a gyro, and I don't know that geocaching ever updated the original app to use the compass sensor (the compass sensor API was not available until the Mango update in October 2011), so I've always taken my Garmin GPSMap 60csx. It would be good to compare the two devices to see if the 822 is more accurate, since the 60csx is probably 6 years old.

 

[buddler]

In the beginning of wp 7, I really begged for some Kind of c:geo for our platform. The first 10 ?-version of was a joke, with geocaching live it went better and we already have a better free app than the ios version.
Nevertheless I took a look on maaloo geocaching some time ago and still stay there after having alternatives like xatcher and geocaching plus.