Stats, Maps, and Favorites.

They have been discussing these changes for some time, in some cases for a long time.  Ideas were tossed around and off they went.  Then a few months ago the reviewers had a sneak peak at some of the ideas, and others we were told what direction they were going.  More ideas were tossed around, and now we are coming to a culmination of what I would imagine is 6-8 months of work on the projects.

All of this is subject to change, and barring a massive collapse of the system, or finding a huge bug that has been undiscovered we will get a number of fantastic new changes to the site.  So without further discussion......

Stats

There will now be a new page on your profile.  It will house geocachings new stats page.  This will be a compilation of a number of the commonly gathered stats.  There are plans to make more additions to this, but this is the initial roll out of the information.   You will be able to hide your stats if you wish, but the default is a planned "on".  It will be tied to the Premium Member feature, and I am seeking more info on that.  I should know soon. 

The stats page will look very familiar.  We see many of those out and about now.

Maps

This is really cool, really cool.  Did I mention it was cool?  When I first heard of it and saw the link to a movie I kind of ignored it.   After hearing how cool it was I went and actually pulled up the video.  A photo/screen shot cannot really do it justice. 

The biggest change....... wait for the drum roll please...... No more 500 cache limit.  Actually the limit will be infinite.  You could (in theory) see all the caches at one time.

The maps are larger, and far more dynamic.  Zooming in and out looks very smooth.  Much more than the one we use now and especially when you get to 400 caches now it is very choppy, but with 3000 it looked smooth.  :D   woo hoo.

Favorites

This is a huge change for the site.  Where the other steps make the experience on the site very useful.  This is a game changer in how you may actually look for caches.

Based on the number of finds you will get a favorite point. 

These will be earned by finding caches.  Woo hoo, finding caches give you points.. everyone likes that.  Except now a you will be able to award points to your favorite caches.  

The problem with many averaging systems is people.  I may rate a persons find high because he is my friend, or I love all power trails so I rate them high, or mountain peaks, I may even love LPC caches, or quick finds.   Other people may hate my cacher friend, power trails or LPC's, and only love those that challenge. 

In essence votes start to cancel others out.  You never see a 1 star or a 5 star.  or even a 1.5-4.5 if many votes are given.  they tend to all end up in the 2-4 range, and over time a 4.5 star cache degrades, and cache quality also.  The system quickly becomes useless.

Now you can take the points that you earn, and donate them to your favorite caches.

On a cache page you will have the ability to add your favorite points to caches, and take them away.

Voila simple and clean.

You will be able to go to the page and see who liked the cache.

Your page will tell you where the points are, so you can go back and reclaim points if you find better caches, or when you realize that a LPC, or nano cache is not really your favorite.

Last but not least you will be able to sort by favorites.  Look for those that others found most excellent.

Hopefully you get the idea.

Wrap up

Premium member.  that is the magic word that I did not mention much.  Most of these functions are going to be available to premium members only in varying degrees.   Premium members will be able to give favorite points (to avoid spamming the site with fake logs, and likes).  I do think this is a game changer.  You can only give them to caches you have found.  So once a cache is found you can mark it as a favorites. 

So start dusting off the cobwebs from your mind.  Think of the best caches you have visited, so you can mark them, and then you can find them on the new map while checking your fantastic stats.

(Screenshots used were courtesy of Groundspeak)

Update on 2010-12-15 15:34 by firennice

On a quick follow up.  Some skimmed over my opening note where i mentioned the changes were due in the next few weeks (before Christmas).  The site upgrade on the 14th had more to do with the site hardware, and some other upgrades not the monthly website upgrade.

Update on 2010-12-16 03:26 by firennice

Opencaching and Garmin

I have been following the development of the opencaching site that is owned by Garmin.  There are many people that have posted thoughts about the site, and trying to get information about the site.  I was lucky enough a week ago to check the site as everything came online.  Hopefully it was for a test, because the site was a mess.  Most the links would not work, dead ends were everywhere. I played for about an hour and later in the day it was down.

Why?  That is the big question.  I read some of a report on garmin finances and it appears that Garmin is hemorrhaging money.  Mostly in the hand held and auto division?  Their site says that the geocaching site is free, but the purpose behind the site is unknown. They even gave up on their phone, scrapping the plan for more.

My initial thoughts are that the website idea is dumb. 

1st  Where a few years ago the best geocaching option was Garmin.  Now it is not as clear cut.  Magellen and Delorme have developed hand helds with the cacher in mind, and arguably are giving Garmin a run for the money.

2nd Are they turning their back on the group that supported them for years?  Who knows.  This can only create a rift in the organization.

3rd Do we need another site?  Other sites are niche sites.  Each drawing their own crowd.  Navicache, Terracache, opencaching.  I do not fully see the reason for jumping to another site.  Multiple caches in the same area could cause many issues.  How will they deal with publishing caches?  Paid people in other countries?

The idea that it is not commercial is a joke.  The site is owned and developed by Garmin.  Big businesses do not do things for free.  Won't Magellen, Delorme jump more on board and form their own groups or throw more support behind GC.com if Garmin tries their own?

How will things play out?  In some ways I see it as a good thing.  It will push geocaching.com to react a little faster, or react when needed.  It is funny that some decried the corporate Groundspeak against the little boys (open, terra, and nava).  Now we have The giant corporation, head to head against the smaller funded GC.com, and the others.

How will opencachin.us take it?  Seems like a slap in the face.  They are taking advantage of people typing opencaching.com instead of opencaching.us, .uk, etc.  I would be really annoyed.

What are your thoughts?  what position do you take on the growing battle?

Get Satisfaction.

I do not know if any of you have noticed the tab on the left hand side of the screen on Geocaching.com.  The one that is labeled "feedback".  This is a special link to the website Get Satisfaction.

This is a way for the geocaching community to post bugs, praise, and ideas for the lackeys at groundspeak to see.  If you have not been there it is a great way to see if some ideas are planned, not planned, or under consideration by geocaching.com.

Here are a list of a few of the most popular of them.

Bring Back Virtual Caches  Under consideration

Create a "Nano" Cache Size Option Under consideration

5 Star Cache Rating for Finders Under consideration

Challenge Icon Under consideration

Removal of the stupid facebook-link Planned

Night Cache Attribute Planned (along with a number of new attributes)

Bring back the Webcam Caches.

APIs for 3rd party developers

Map more than 500 caches

View friends map/smiley faces.

Dipping Trackables in Caches Planned

There are hundreds of others.  So take the the time to toss a vote in.

Groundspeak Party

Well as many of you have seen, many people asking has resulted in pocket queries going to 1000.  It was just in time.  Utah was quickly reaching the point where you could not do it.  Now 17 will cover the state instead of 34. 
    This year will see a lot of little tidbits, so keep watch and be prepared.  There seems to be a bunch of things in the pipeline.  Some will not excite people, and others will.  If you are heading to Geowoodstock in Seattle on the 3rd there is a special party on Sunday that Groundspeak will be throwing on the 4th.  So be ready for some fun if you are heading up.