Notepad or Log? Field Note or Log?

[Carrie's Cachers]

I have searched and can't find an answer to this question, so I hope I'm not being irritating by asking it. We are using the iphone app. I want to A)Keep track of the caches we find, and B)Participate in the caches by reporting our finds and posting it. There is a "Notepad" option and then a "Post Log/Field Note" option. I think the Notepad just shows up for me personally? And the Log/Field Notes will post on the actual caches for others to see? Is this right? And if it is, then my next question is to ask what is the difference between a Log and a Field Note? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere that will help me figure out which one to use and why.

 

So, if you don't care to help out a newbie, I would appreciate it! Thank you!

[+Keokas]

Hi!

 

I also use the iPhone app and you are right.

When you post a Log for the cache, it goes to the cache page logs for everybody to see. You can choose from different log types; Found, Did Not Find, Write Note etc.

Notepad option is for personal use to write down details, for example, if you want to log the cache later. You can post Field Notes for your personal use to the website.

 

So when you post a Log, it is public. (Log can be also a note for the cache, if you want to tell something else than just found, did not find etc)

When you post a Field Note, it is for you only. (This is how I have understood it, although I have never posted any Field Notes, because the website plus the app keeps track of all your finds. Also if you are out of phone coverage, you can write and save a Log to the iPhone and send it later.)

 

Check also this out:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/iphone/tutorial/

 

Cheers :-)

[+EdrickV]

A field note would be a way to put together a set of notes about the cache (or even a full log if you want to type that much) and upload it to the website without actually posting it to the cache log page. You then use a computer to go to the Field Notes page, click Compose Log for a particular cache, and you can turn the field note into a full fledged log. (You could, for example, use some sort of shorthand note style rather then type out full sentences with capitalization, punctuation, etc.) Field notes can also be created on other devices, including handheld GPS units that don't have internet access, in which case you upload the fieldnotes from the website. (I create field notes on my smartphone that way and use my computer to upload the field notes which I turn into full logs. (Since I have an actual physical keyboard, I sometimes don't end up doing much if any editing, except maybe to add a detail or two I didn't think of when I first made the log.)

 

Using the log/field note option, as I understand it, will also mark the cache as Found when you create a Found log/field note.

 

Here's an example using a recent log of mine. (I didn't do it this way, but if I had an iPhone I might have. A lot of the log was typed out on the phone after finding the cache, though I did add stuff when I created the actual log and then when I edited it to put in something I'd forgotten to mention.)

 

Field Note:

easy with hint, torn bags, dry, left TB, took GC

 

Actual log:

Pretty easy find using Geosenses and the hint. Bags in the container have seen better days, but their contents are fine. Dropped off Travel Racer Late Model - Daytona and took a Geocoin that hasn't yet been logged into the cache. Will give the current holder some time to log the drop off.

 

No other trackables were in the container. (Note to CO: You should be able to mark TB/Geocoins that aren't in the cache as missing, like the Jedi one.)

 

Took Geocoin, left Daytona Travel Racer, signed log.

TFTC

 

Edit: Will work on doing the other caches on another day, hopefully.

[Carrie's Cachers]

Thank you both so much for replying so quickly! You really helped me to understand the differences and reasons why you would choose one vs. the other. I did a Field Note a few minutes ago on a cache we did today but when I did a map view of the caches in the area, it did not mark it as one I had done until I converted the Field Note to a Log. I really want to that visual to help me remember which ones we've done at a glance. I do see the benefit of the Field Note, though, as a time saver. My iphone really zaps the battery when I'm running the GPS plus the app plus having the lighting turned up all the way for daylight viewing. Just jotting a note down and finishing it later online would be helpful.

 

Again, thank you!

[+EdrickV]

Guess I'm lucky in a way with my Cachebox app for Windows Mobile, a Found field note marks the cache as found in the program's database and the cache instantly vanishes from the map view. I'd thought someone had previously said (in a different thread) that field notes marked caches as found in the official iPhone app, but maybe it was the other way around.