Waypoint Names?

[+CrippledBlindSquirrel]

Okay, I give up....How are the Waypoint Names (GCXXX) developed and assigned. I've figured out that the "GC" probably stands for "Geocaching.Com" in order to seperate theirs from other websites but I haven't been able to puzzle out a pattern for the alpha-numeric system that they use. Is there a pattern? I know the alpha characters are there to provide more combinations but other than that I stumped.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Check this out.

 

http://www.markwell.us/geofaq.htm#Hexadec

[+Prime Suspect]

The GCxxxx waypoint identifier is just that, an identifier. It has little other significance, beyond acting as a unique common identifier. Some GPSr units can only accept waypoints of six characters or less, so the original generated IDs had a maximum length of six. The GCxxxx ID is actually derived from the sequential ID number assigned to each cache page when it's submitted for publishing. The first 2 characters are always “GC”. Originally, the next four characters were created by simply converting the ID number to base-16. But it became apparent that that scheme couldn't create enough IDs for the fast growing sport. In April of 2003, a new scheme was put into place. All cache IDs after CGFFFF would be created using a base-31 scheme. The characters used for the base-31 conversion are 0123456789ABCDEFGHJKMNPQRTVWXYZ (the letters ILOSU are omitted). When converting from a base-31 waypoint ID back to its original sequential ID, you have to subtract 411120, to account for the value change between GCFFFF under the old system, and GCG000 under the new system. When the end of the 6 character identifiers (GCZZZZ) was approaching, it was decided to scrap the 6 character limit. At that point, many of the newer models of GPSrs could handle longer waypoint names, and off-site software existed to allow users to customize their waypoints to accommodate their particular GPS unit.

 

From GeoLex

[+CrippledBlindSquirrel]

Yep...Thanks for the reply...I found the same info about five minutes after I posted the question...Too late to keep from looking stupid. I had already figured out that I could just drop the "GC" when loading the coords in the GPSr. I know, I know I automate that process too....it just that a crippled blind squirrel can only learn so much at one time!

[+AK-DSP]

I have a somewhat relaated questiton. While using the 'caches along a route' feature for the first time, I noticed that some of the ID's are in numeric-only format. My guess was that they were simply older caches which were named before the 'GC'/Base-31 standard. The problem is that they do not get transferred to my Garmin GPSr. Is there a work-around short of manually entering them?

Edited July 4, 2008 by AK-DSP

[jholly]

I have a somewhat relaated questiton. While using the 'caches along a route' feature for the first time, I noticed that some of the ID's are in numeric-only format. My guess was that they were simply older caches which were named before the 'GC'/Base-31 standard. The problem is that they do not get transferred to my Garmin GPSr. Is there a work-around short of manually entering them?

 

example? Also if your showing nearest anything over 100 (?) miles away or more than 50 are not displayed. Try using show by name. Bet they are there then.

 

Jim