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Wherigo and the future of geocaching


Team OPJim

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After 8 years and over 3000 finds, I was developing geoburnout. After tiring of LPCs and vacation caches, powertrails, etc, it seemed like the time to do something different. Then, I did my first Wherigo. Then another, then another. I still haven't done very many because there are so few nearby. Then an article comes out about Pokemon Go: the similarities with geocaching in general struck me (mostly the people getting injured because they are glued to phone and don't pay attention to their surroundings). [Purpose of this entry is not to compare GC and Pokemon, so please don't bring it up here.] After alot of thought it seems to me that future of geocaching, or perhaps the bridge between geocaching and smartphone based outdoor adventures, is Wherigo.

 

With that introduction, there are two issues with Wherigo which I think would need to be fixed for it to be more than just a fringe element of geocaching.

 

1. Groundspeak needs to actually promote the concept. I read the description of Wherigo on the FAQ sheet several years ago and came away wondering what it actually was. At the least, a reasonable description of what it is and some examples of caches that can be done with it seems in order. Better yet, active promotion similar to promoting the Duck races this summer

 

2. Groundspeak would need to actually support it with dedicated software development (as opposed to a 4 year old beta program on the main page, vs better but still buggy alternatives which generous individuals have produced entirely of their own accord and expense). There needs to be better equipment. Most of the current GPSr do not do it. Smartphones are the obvious solution but again we need dedicated app development for it to work. I did one of my own recently with an android app and it crashed several times.

 

I'm posting this in the forums hoping that perhaps enough groundswell support will arise that GS will take notice.

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We've done a few of these as well and find them quite enjoyable and we suffer from the same issues, gpsr doesn't handle them and the software for smart phones is limited. I can't do them on my older phone but my wife's newer unit is able to do them. We have done several "Urban Adventure Quests" (http://www.urbanadventurequest.com/) which is a fee based service but is quite similar to Wherigo but without the cache at the end, so there is definitely a market for it. We'd like to see it developed as well :D

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I've done 90 Wherigo's so far. I enjoy them, but I don't see them as 'the future of geocaching'.

 

Groundspeak can promote all it wants, fact is that gpsr devices don't support them. Not everybody likes caching with a smartphone. I don't either, and if my gpsr (Garmin Monterra) didn't support Wherigo (the only recent model to support it thanks to the Android WhereYouGo app), I wouldn't have so many Wherigo's on my name.

 

So if you want to revive Wherigo, be my guest. But you should address this to Garmin, Magellan and all the other gpsr manufacturers.

 

[i bring it up anyway: As for Pokemon Go, I don't see any similarities. PG is an augmented reality game. Geocaching may sometimes be partially virtual, but there is always an interaction with the real world. Idiots can be found everywhere.]

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I was hoping that intercaches would breathe a little life into Wherigo. I've yet to see it.

 

This week's update/blackout will affect not only geocaching.com, but also Wherigo.com and Waymarking.com. It'll be interesting to see whether there are any changes to the latter two, or whether this is just an overall infrastructure change.

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I've enjoyed the Wherigo Caches that I've done, and I've enjoyed the InterCaches that I've done. But I don't see either as the future of geocaching.

 

Listing a simple traditional cache is enough of a challenge. Both the Wherigo and InterCache platforms are much more difficult than that, and the programming required is beyond the abilities of most people. So I see cache owners continuing to hide mainly traditional caches. All other cache types will continue to play a relatively minor role in the game.

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For a different perspective I always recall the Swiss Watch paradigm shift example.

 

Geocaching started as a pre-dominantly wilderness game with participants having the financial capacity to purchase HH GPSrs and go hiking in far flung places and write stories. Now entry to the game is free, caches are everywhere, and players text their logs. That original paradigm (often lamented in the forums) has been gone a long long time. We are in the midst of a shift where those fondly looking back and those looking forward may diverge.

 

Yes PokemonGo is not geocaching but it is a geo location adventure much like Wherigo's could have and should have been.

 

I've enjoyed the Wherigo Caches that I've done, and I've enjoyed the InterCaches that I've done. But I don't see either as the future of geocaching.

I could easily see the opposite when quality caches dwindle to obscurity and geocaching and letterboxing are talked about as some old-school game. (If you peruse the forums many have suggested it has already happened...)

 

Unfortunately, Groundspeak has not been very adept at predicting the very conservative vocal user community wants/desires and technology shifts with any accuracy so are obviously a little shy.

 

Both the Wherigo and InterCache platforms are much more difficult than that, and the programming required is beyond the abilities of most people.

The underlying paradigm here is that it will always be difficult. Although it may not exist right now, its short sighted to assume that capability will never exist. Some of the best parts of video games are community content (so too with geocaching) at some point the right set of easily understood/used tools will put that capability in the hands of geo location adventurers (maybe even geocachers).

 

So I see cache owners continuing to hide mainly traditional caches. All other cache types will continue to play a relatively minor role in the game.

The ability of the community to easily integrate virtual (electronic) and physical stages to their caches just might be the savior of location based adventures...
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I've done 90 Wherigo's so far. I enjoy them, but I don't see them as 'the future of geocaching'.

 

Groundspeak can promote all it wants, fact is that gpsr devices don't support them. Not everybody likes caching with a smartphone. I don't either, and if my gpsr (Garmin Monterra) didn't support Wherigo (the only recent model to support it thanks to the Android WhereYouGo app), I wouldn't have so many Wherigo's on my name.

 

So if you want to revive Wherigo, be my guest. But you should address this to Garmin, Magellan and all the other gpsr manufacturers.

 

[i bring it up anyway: As for Pokemon Go, I don't see any similarities. PG is an augmented reality game. Geocaching may sometimes be partially virtual, but there is always an interaction with the real world. Idiots can be found everywhere.]

 

I think if Groundspeak resumed development on Wherigo and really promoted it, Garmin might have an incentive to support it again. The problem came when many Wherigo cartridges wouldn't work well in the Garmin Wherigo player, and since Groundspeak had all but abandoned the game, there's been no incentive on Garmin's end to continue to support it either.

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I've done 90 Wherigo's so far. I enjoy them, but I don't see them as 'the future of geocaching'.

 

Groundspeak can promote all it wants, fact is that gpsr devices don't support them. Not everybody likes caching with a smartphone. I don't either, and if my gpsr (Garmin Monterra) didn't support Wherigo (the only recent model to support it thanks to the Android WhereYouGo app), I wouldn't have so many Wherigo's on my name.

 

So if you want to revive Wherigo, be my guest. But you should address this to Garmin, Magellan and all the other gpsr manufacturers.

 

[i bring it up anyway: As for Pokemon Go, I don't see any similarities. PG is an augmented reality game. Geocaching may sometimes be partially virtual, but there is always an interaction with the real world. Idiots can be found everywhere.]

 

I think if Groundspeak resumed development on Wherigo and really promoted it, Garmin might have an incentive to support it again. The problem came when many Wherigo cartridges wouldn't work well in the Garmin Wherigo player, and since Groundspeak had all but abandoned the game, there's been no incentive on Garmin's end to continue to support it either.

 

I started dabbling a few years back and wrote a few really simple Wherigos. Now I own about 80 of them and each one gets more complex. If I had the time, I would write one with a real elaborate story line.

 

From everything I've read, if Groundspeak handed over the Wherigo to the Wherigo Foundation, and still sanctioned and supported it, the Wherigo could be in a much better position for the population at large to understand them and for them to be much more popular. Some of the open source work I've seen in support of Wherigo and the tools being built by third parties are phenomenal.

 

With all due respect in terms of Wherigo, I wish someone would just make a darn decision about its future and be done with it. If there's ANY chance of Wherigo's being disconnected from the geocaching.com website, I want to stop wasting my time learning the concepts and building cartridges.

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I really enjoyed the Whereigos that worked for me, but I found it difficult to get to the cartridge. Once I got the cartridge working, they were quite enjoyable.

I then tried to create a cartridge (I don't like the word cartridge - makes me think of something physical, like 8-tracks). I spent several days trying to create and make it work but it just wasn't accurate enough for the headstone stages in a cemetery. They are good for city tours where close enough is good (or maybe I was doing it wrong).

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With all due respect in terms of Wherigo, I wish someone would just make a darn decision about its future and be done with it. If there's ANY chance of Wherigo's being disconnected from the geocaching.com website, I want to stop wasting my time learning the concepts and building cartridges.

As I mentioned above "geo-location adventures" are a niche waiting to happen and properly supported Wherigo's (or an alternative) could easily lead the way.

 

Wherigo's integration with GPSr's is unnecessary as the handheld GPSr market shrinks and the Mobile market takes over. Wherigo's recognition/integration with geocaching is entirely arbitrary and could be easily supported outside of Groundspeak (think Letterbox-Hybrids).

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