Just when OpenCaching was starting to accumulate a good number of caches along came another Geocaching site,
OpenCaching!
Er, wait… Didn’t I just say that??? Yes I did. In case you weren’t
aware, Geocaching.com is not the only cache listing site out there.
There is also
navicache,
Terracaching, and quite recently a trend of ‘OpenCaching’ with sites for each country (
opencaching.org.uk,
opencaching.eu,
opencaching.us,
etc.) These opencaching sites are focused on being completely free, so
there is no members fee. Also you have more choices on what types of
cache you can submit. E.g. Webcam and virtuals are allowed.
This
new opencaching site
that has caused quite a stir is opencaching.com and despite having the
same name is not under the same umbrella as all of the other opencaching
sites, instead it is associated with our good friends GARMIN!!! Hmmm…
At least the graphics are cute!
The site is still in early beta stages and behaves very buggy to say
the least, however the overall site layout looks neat. One would hope
that a new listing site would mean new unique caches, however it
actively encourages you to upload your cache hides that are already on
Geocaching.com via an import tool. Having the same cache listed in many
places may seem like a good way to get more finders, however sounds like
a real pain to maintain. How can you ensure that the cache owner hasn’t
forgotten to update their opencaching.com listing if coords change or
if it gets disabled on geocaching.com? And what if you go for an FTF to
submit to Geocaching.com when someone who only uses Opencaching.com has
already been there and signed the logbook? In my opinion any type of
redundant data is something that should really be avoided!
Import your hides and finds
There are so far a few caches here and there over the UK. The map
search is however quite nice, as are the little circles that show cache
ratings.
Opencaches in the UK (so far)
As well as size, difficulty, and terrain there is Awesomeness!
Awesomeness ratings for caches
I’m concerned at the review process in that there isn’t one. On the
listing submission page there is a tickbox that says “I have permission
from the landowner or manager to hide my geocache.” Some may moan about
reviewers taking time to publish, or being very picky with listings,
etc. But at the end of the day they are there to help us, for free! The
last thing I want is to trespass onto land that I shouldn’t be on. I
know that by finding caches from geocaching.com they will have been
checked by a reviewer and although they can’t check absolutely
everything they can catch most dodgy locations and I rarely feel like I
shouldn’t be somewhere when searching for a cache. However, I can’t say
the same about this new site. Another thing that interests me in the
site is its set of guidelines. They are quite brief, however one thing
in particular did catch my eye: “Don’t hide your caches on cliffs, down
abandoned mines, in trenches or anywhere that might put the safety of
geocachers in peril” I have found a 5/5 down an abandoned mine (And it
was amazing fun) and I know of many up in the Peak District that are up
on cliffs. There are also quite a lot of extreme Geocaches out and about
that would probably go against this guideline.
To find the location of caches on opencaching.com you don’t need to
have an account. Any old muggle can just go to the website and search.
On the geocaching site you can indeed do the same, however the actual
coordinates are hidden until you login. This is indeed the same on the
other opencaching sites. I’ve read on the forums about a group called
GROEP (this is old news and has been happening for years so is just one
example) whose main goal is to sabotage caches. They however have to
sign up and as soon as they are found to be abusing the system have
their accounts banned. You can still check ip addresses through a lot of
ISP’s so these users are trackable. I do worry about a site where
geocache hides can be anonymously browsed and found, especially when
it’s endorsed by Garmin.
Viewing Geocaching.com without being a member
An example of a listing
I signed up and attempted to create a cache on Opencaching just as a
test to look at the submission process. I got through step 1 where I
gave the cache name and the coordinates, however step 2 was just a blank
page and some exception was raised that stopped me continuing. I would
have thought really important bugs like these would have been ironed out
in the Alpha stage rather than let it get to beta as it is slightly
important that you can actually add caches to a cache listing site!!!
However, I guess it was working at some point or another as there are a
few caches on there already.
At the moment I’m about as excited about this as I was the chirp (not
very!) and feel that Garmin are trying to fill a hole that doesn’t
exist. Perhaps it did a few years ago, but I fail to see a reason behind
it now. Oh, apart from to sell more Garmin units!
Garmin certainly seem to be taking an interest in caching recently.
First there was the chirp that Groundspeak knew nothing about until a
few days before its release, and now this brand new listing site. I cant
help thinking that perhaps everyone would benefit more if Garmin worked
*with* Groundspeak rather than against them! The site is still in its
early stages so we shall wait and see how it unfolds…
Does anyone else have any opinions on this new listing site?
ReplyDeleteCachedrone the reviewer at Groundspeak Geocaching.com is a complete asshole.... he once said to my face (re: a cache hide he refused to publish), "how bad do you want it?". He WILL NOT publish anything I submit, and uses the guidelines to shut me down every time. Since when is a cache a few hundred km from home a vacation cache?? Yet he publishes other caches daily that break guidelines blatantly. He has admitted to my face, that he has publishes caches that he shouldn't all the time. It has pissed me off so much, I have given up and no longer cache after many years of enjoying the game. This "holier than thou", two-faced, piece of shit prick needs to disappear from this game.