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Since we started this sport back in 2002 we have regularly used Buxley’s as a resource for our geocaching adventures. For the past year and a half there has been a bit of a struggle between Buxley and geocach.com but in August is looked like the issues were resolved…unfortunately it appears that it was not the case.
quote:
1-6-2006
As I’m sure you have noticed, there are a lot fewer geocaches listed on my maps today than there were a few days ago. In fact, none of the geocaches hosted by the folks at Groundspeak (geocaching.com) are currently listed.Why? Well I only want to show caches on my maps that I know are both accurate and up-to-date and I can’t do that anymore.
As many of you are aware, Groundspeak Inc. and myself have been in discussions for a long time now (since August of 2003!) whereby they would freely provide the information I needed to keep these maps 100% accurate. The talks seemed to be going well and none of the technical issues seemed all that difficult — I was given a sample set of data way back in January of 2005. So what was the problem?
Legal issues. My lawyers said I’d be foolish to sign the agreement as presented to me by Groundspeak Inc. I can’t go into details (again due to legal reasons) but the agreement would bind me in certain very strict ways and yet there was nothing in the contract that would bind Groundspeak to provide my site with geocache data that was 1) accurate 2) timely, or 3) complete. So why *would* I sign such an agreement?
So anyway, with the turning of the new year, I have decided to make a clean start by removing all the Groundspeak-related data from my web site. My apologies to all the geocachers affected by this — it certainly isn’t something I want to do, but under the circumstance I feel I must.
So what’s in the future? Well, I’ve already been contacted by other geocaching and GPS games web sites asking what they can do to help get their data on my maps. (How refreshing!) I’ll be working with Quinn and the kind folks over at Navicache.com to make sure their data is as up-to-date and accurate as possible. And I have a few ideas for map improvements that even those subscription-based corporate geocaching sites haven’t thought of yet. 😉
So if you’re the owner of a web site and you have GPS-related game data you’d like to see on these maps, contact me at [email protected] and we’ll talk.
-Buxley
We will miss using Buxley’s for our geocaching adventures.
I guess we could always switch to navicache!?!?
[This message has been edited by Folk Trakers (edited 01-12-2006).]
i tried Buxley’s site before but never got into it. since i heard you mention navicache site i thought what the heck I’ll check it out…..
just as buxleys is never all that current, navicache site missed allot of caches.basicly google earth with the geocaching plugin does the same thing as these sites, but the plugin is made by geocaching.com so i don’t think its gonna be shut down for awhile. some areas without map overlays don’t look all that great, but it does show caches on the map without having to download any waypoints.
google earth http://earth.google.com/
geocaching.com plugin http://www.geocaching.com/kml/buildnetworkkml.aspx
[This message has been edited by hogrod (edited 01-12-2006).]
FYI:
Navicache does not compile caches…it is an alternative site to geocache.com.ok that makes more sense, the only waypoints still listed on Buxley’s are the ones also listed on navicache.
either way I’ll stick with downloading waypoints to see them on the maps I choose.
I relied on Buxley’s a lot for caches located out of my area. I’m really going to miss that.
I cut my geocaching teeth on Buxleys so it will be missed. GC.com’s maps blow, but Google’s are pretty cool. My Windows 98 computer crashes at work if I try to load Google Earth, so it’s at home I will surf. And thats probably a good thing.
That makes me sad. I liked Buxley’s maps. I don’t like the GC.com maps much.
I really liked going to the world view of the Buxley’s maps then checking out what was in different countries! So neat!
“That makes me sad. I liked Buxley’s maps. I don’t like the GC.com maps much.
I really liked going to the world view of the Buxley’s maps then checking out what was in different countries! So neat!”Not to mention how these maps helped us identify caches up in Ontario, Canada. Their postal codes were somewhat difficult to navigate and search from, but Buxley’s maps pinned down the few caches in that rather remote region of the world. Hope something similar gets created…
Grandpa
This is Sad. Buxley always had much better maps then GC.com. I think GC.com limited the data availabld to Buxley to make it difficult to live up to their standards. GC.com should of got HIS permission to use his maps!
I recall when Buxley was first stopped by geocaching.com and I asked the board if it were possible to let geocaching.com know that many of us in WGA really liked Buxley’s maps.
I was told that they were not interested in doing this. It is one of the first times I questioned what the boards function was if not to help.
I still think that WGA should at least let Jeremy or whoever know what many of us feel about Buxley’s maps.
Before any board members get all defensive about this, I already know that the board will come up with a million reasons on why they will not or can not do this. I just wanted others to know that they were asked.
quote:
I recall when Buxley was first stopped by geocaching.com and I asked the board if it were possible to let geocaching.com know that many of us in WGA really liked Buxley’s maps.
I was told that they were not interested in doing this. It is one of the first times I questioned what the boards function was if not to help. (emphasis added)I believe that if there were an overwhelming outpouring of dissatisfaction from our WGA members, the board would be more than happy to help out. As stated, that is one of the things our WGA board is for.
I can only surmise that one or even two member requests to intervene did not rise to the level necessary for board action. This would not, however stop any members from discussing or soliciting opinions on our forums and/or forwarding them to Buxleys/Groundspeak. A search of the forums will show that there was no such discussion… not even a topic started. That’s probably why the board was “not interested” in helping this particular cause.
Oh, and I’m not defensive about it (I wasn’t on the board then.); I’m just throwing out a million or less reasons why (or why not).
[edit]moving disclaimer to sig line
Team GeoPink
– Jeff
Co-conspirator to make the world a better place…[This message has been edited by arcangl7 (edited 01-15-2006).]
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