Comments on: Play a global treasure hunt with Geocaching for iPhone and iPod touch

By: Ardera Sempre

Ardera Sempre — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:42:04 +0000

Before geocaching released their application, there was one called geopher lite, which I had downloaded. Although there are a few less options than groundspeak’s application, Geopher Lite is great, and it is cheaper! When groundspeak created the Geocaching iphone app, and it was released, I decided to stick with Geopher Lite. No need to spend the additional money just to log a find, when you can do it when you get home.
BTW I am 4 caches away from achieving 100 finds. All done with the assistance of my iphone!

By: Dean Lucas

Dean Lucas — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:36:35 +0000

@lesliet – I didn’t want to get too deep into the history of geocaching for this particular article, but you are right, letterboxing is very similar and it’s been played for over 150 years, no GPS required! Geocaching also has elements of orienteering, an outdoor sport that combines navigational maps and compasses in point-to-point racing.

I know people that go geocaching without using GPS units at all. They actually go to Google Earth and print out screenshots of the area where the cache is hidden, then use those along with a compass to locate the cache. Needless to say, this increases the difficulty, but if you like a challenge…

Origins of geocaching can be found in any type of activity involving geographical search and item collection, such as scavenger hunts, dead drops, and benchmarking. In fact, when I was just 12 years old, I made up a game to keep my younger brothers entertained just after we moved to Florida. I hid toys in our yard and surrounding neighborhood, then created elaborate maps to these hidden treasures. I would pretend to “find” the map in our house, saying it was left there years ago by pirates. My younger brothers would set out on local adventures that would have made the Goonies proud!

By: billy

billy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:53:05 +0000

I just started geocaching. It’s a great way to spent time with kids. They love the advanture.

By: lesliet

lesliet — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:27:27 +0000

Odd that you would give a history of geocaching without mentioning letterboxing, which was a similar sport that used compass bearings instead of GPS in the days before GPS. Apparently, letterboxing still lives at http://www.letterboxing.org

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:18:14 +0000

Read it, bought it. a little disappointed. Screen doesn’t lanscape when you rotae the iphone. Can’t resize the text . The caching part is pretty good but to be very useful the above mentioned features should be employed. And if groundspeak holds true to their statement of being able to log in that would be great.. Back & forward buttons would also help.

By: Darin R. McClure

Darin R. McClure — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:35:06 +0000

TNLNSL TFTC!

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:47:53 +0000

It’s time for you