WherIGo

[gotta run]

@Team Deejay wrote:

For what its worth, they don’t seem to be too interested in combining wherigo with geocaching. I think they see this as a) an opportunity to JV with Garmin, and b) an opportunity to build a profit stream by developing “cartridges” for tourism councils, businesses, etc. The “play” aspect of this is more of an easy entry point than a reason for being, that is, get the geocommunity to build play and tour modules to work out the bugs, then start marketing to the “real” customers.

Looks like they just made the combination by creating a new cache type. Now of course, you need either a whereigo-enabled PDA or GPSr, and the only one of the latter is the Garmin Colorado.

So technically, to get this particular cache type, you need to outlay $$$, which sounds suspiciously like the “commercial” caches that are prohibited. Yes, I know you have to pay fees to enter some parks. And yes, you do need to buy a GPSr to hunt most caches. But this new cache type requires you to purchase specific equipment.

But since groundspeak owns whereigo, it’s a case of those who make the rules are able to do with the rules as they see fit.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[Lostby7]

The builder is still pretty much a joke; most people will not have a clue how to build one of these. I got about 3/4 of the way through one and threw in the towel. I’m not sure this is intended for mass use…at least not yet. It really sounds more like a commercial venture on their part in which they create these programs for private buyers…perhaps they offer the builder to us as a means of getting just a few made by the programmer types out there just so GC can say, “see there are all these people out there with this technology, you NEED this for your park too…and for a low price we’ll build it.” Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems like if they really wanted this to be a tool for us to use for caching they’d make the WherIgo builder usable to those with something less than a collage degree in computer programing.

[gotta run]

My impression of this whole thing in general is…”what’s the point?” Ok, it has the “cool” factor but it seems to be an odd mashup of activities. We find walking in the woods to seek a cache interesting enough without having to interact with virtual characters along the way or play a game that’s one more step removed from reality than hunting tupperware in shrubbery already is. We already spend enough time with our head down looking at the little arrow without worrying about following a complicated game on a device as well.

There, my rant is over. Ultimately, geocaching has a little something for everyone and does constantly evolve, so I would guess there’s a community of players out there that would really take to this.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[kbraband]

@gotta run wrote:

We find walking in the woods to seek a cache interesting enough without having to interact with virtual characters along the way or play a game that’s one more step removed from reality than hunting tupperware in shrubbery already is.

🙂 I had to smile when I read this. I thought I was alone in my opinion when I shake my head over the complications and competition people seem to want to infuse into what started out as a simple activity that got people into the woods. OK… so maybe I’m still in the minority but at least I’m not alone.

[gotta run]

You’re definitely not alone and your comment about “competition” is right on. Numbers are fun, we track them, and it’s easy to get caught up in them, but when we meet someone who feels they are God’s Gift to Caching because they have 000s of finds, you gotta shake your head. Same goes for taking people on cache tours to “find” difficult puzzles and cutting corners of multis, climbing fences and trespassing through shortcuts rather than taking the intended path, logging virtuals (or even physicals) you haven’t found–all to get a number. Are you going to inscribe your find count on your tombstone?

Ok, that rant’s way O.T., but the word “competition” struck a chord. So I’m really done now. Promise.

On the Left Side of the Road...

[seldom|seen]

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

I kind of think that Seldom|Seen will be all over this one.

Like I don’t burn enough time on the puzzles I put together already!!! I agree, this is geocaching on speed.

I may venture out into this new territory after I get through publishing the other hundred or so puzzles kicking around in my brain at any given moment, which gives me about a year to watch the other like-minded individuals play around with it first.

I do agree with much of what’s been said here. This tool seems much better suited to park tours and historical tours than creating any virtual caches with “gaming-like” experiences. I can totally see this tool used for say, the National Mall in DC, or the Battlefields of Gettysburg.

It does, however, look like a very promising tool for Earthcaches. The educational component seems limitless and if you set up a cartridge for, say, the Kettle Moraine Park with proximity audio for the dozen types of glacial formations with a question at the end of every stop and then made the cache requirement answering those questions, these Earthcaches could be that much more educational on-site where the experience matters not so content heavy on the cache description page.

I’ll be watching and playing, but don’t expect to see anything from me soon, unless someone decides to call me for assistance, in which case…

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