proximity

[shibuso]

I don't understand the exact distance there has to be between caches. I live in a very small town of about 10,000. I have found a lot of possible locations that seem to me to be far enough away from any other cache, but I am not 100% certain about distance rules. If the proximity is so tight, how is a new person supposed to be able to play other than finding things other people have placed? I do enjoy playing but I want to place some of my own. Is this just etiquette? Or something to do with GPS? Or is it to do with territorial rights?

[+NanCycle]

how is a new person supposed to be able to play other than finding things other people have placed?

 

How about getting out of town a bit on those wide open country roads?

[Pup Patrol]

I don't understand the exact distance there has to be between caches. I live in a very small town of about 10,000. I have found a lot of possible locations that seem to me to be far enough away from any other cache, but I am not 100% certain about distance rules. If the proximity is so tight, how is a new person supposed to be able to play other than finding things other people have placed? I do enjoy playing but I want to place some of my own. Is this just etiquette? Or something to do with GPS? Or is it to do with territorial rights?

 

"Territorial rights"? Not sure what that means.

 

The very basic distance between physical caches is 0.1 miles (528ft or 161m). But you need to do some reading before understanding the "saturation" guideline completely.

 

Before you place a cache, you need to read the Guidelines over and over and over again.

 

All the text in blue are links that you need to click:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx

 

You should also read the Help Center articles regarding placing and owning a cache:

 

Help Center

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php

 

Help Center → Hiding a Geocache

http://support.Groundspeak.com/index.php?pg=kb.book&id=19

 

 

B.

[+T.D.M.22]

I don't understand the exact distance there has to be between caches. I live in a very small town of about 10,000. I have found a lot of possible locations that seem to me to be far enough away from any other cache, but I am not 100% certain about distance rules. If the proximity is so tight, how is a new person supposed to be able to play other than finding things other people have placed? I do enjoy playing but I want to place some of my own. Is this just etiquette? Or something to do with GPS? Or is it to do with territorial rights?

 

What's not to understand? Each physical element of a cache has to be 161 meters away from another physical element of a cache. Sometimes an old puzzle cache may be closer(at first there was no final location listed) or a reviewer makes a mistake, but most caches fall within that distance.

 

How are you supposed to play? By finding and hiding caches? Want to hide a cache in an area that is full? You'd be hiding it for one of two reasons-just because you want to, in which case is there really any need to place that cache there, as opposed to somewhere else? The other reason would be to bring someone to that specific location-maybe a historical location. In which case there's probably already a cache in the area for that reason.

 

It doesn't matter where you are, there's plenty of room. Just might require driving for 5 or 10 minutes, but there's still room.

[+T.D.M.22]

And to add-you've found three caches. Assuming you live where those caches are-if you can't find room for a cache, you probably shouldn't be hiding a cache. I own more caches than are in that little town-there is no cache saturation to worry about.

[+Chief301]

Caches have to be .10 mile apart. The reason is not because of any limitation in GPS capabilities, it's because the creators of this game decided long ago that it would not be a good idea to let folks completely litter a location. Imagine going into a park that had a Geocache literally in every tree, or a statue or structure that had a dozen or more micros stuffed in every nook and cranny because several folks thought it would be a good spot for a cache. Also think of the confusion if someone was looking for a cache and found a different one 5 feet away....you wouldn't know whether you found the right cache.

 

TPTB ultimately decided there had to be SOME minimum distance between caches, and it was set at .10 mile, or 528 feet. That seems reasonable enough to me.

 

And regarding your comment about "how are new people supposed to play"....go out and find a bunch of caches!

 

P.S. I had a look at the map of where your finds are.....there is TONS of room to place a cache in your area! I don't get your complaint about not being able to hide a cache....

Edited July 12, 2014 by Chief301

[+Bear and Ragged]

I don't understand the exact distance there has to be between caches. I live in a very small town of about 10,000. I have found a lot of possible locations that seem to me to be far enough away from any other cache, but I am not 100% certain about distance rules. If the proximity is so tight, how is a new person supposed to be able to play other than finding things other people have placed? I do enjoy playing but I want to place some of my own. Is this just etiquette? Or something to do with GPS? Or is it to do with territorial rights?

 

You are aware the distance quoted is a MINIMUM distance between caches?

[shibuso]

Caches have to be .10 mile apart. The reason is not because of any limitation in GPS capabilities, it's because the creators of this game decided long ago that it would not be a good idea to let folks completely litter a location. Imagine going into a park that had a Geocache literally in every tree, or a statue or structure that had a dozen or more micros stuffed in every nook and cranny because several folks thought it would be a good spot for a cache. Also think of the confusion if someone was looking for a cache and found a different one 5 feet away....you wouldn't know whether you found the right cache.

 

TPTB ultimately decided there had to be SOME minimum distance between caches, and it was set at .10 mile, or 528 feet. That seems reasonable enough to me.

 

And regarding your comment about "how are new people supposed to play"....go out and find a bunch of caches!

 

P.S. I had a look at the map of where your finds are.....there is TONS of room to place a cache in your area! I don't get your complaint about not being able to hide a cache....

 

Yes, there is "tons" of ares open, but they are mostly residential or in business areas. I have spent the last week riding my scooter around at night looking. There is a reason "tons" of areas exist here. A lot of abandoned factories and businesses with Do Not Trespass signs. I actually think two of the caches I have found are only about 100 yards from each other. Just across street from each other.

 

I do spend a lot of time looking, and I love it.

[+niraD]

Once upon a time, the guidelines actually stated that the goals of the saturation guideline are "to encourage you to seek out new places to hide caches rather than putting them in areas where caches already exist and to limit the number of caches hidden in a particular area". If you can't find a place near home that isn't within 528ft/161m of an existing cache, then perhaps there are enough caches in that area, and it's time to seek out new places to hide caches.

[+T.D.M.22]

 

Yes, there is "tons" of ares open, but they are mostly residential or in business areas. I have spent the last week riding my scooter around at night looking. There is a reason "tons" of areas exist here. A lot of abandoned factories and businesses with Do Not Trespass signs. I actually think two of the caches I have found are only about 100 yards from each other. Just across street from each other.

 

I do spend a lot of time looking, and I love it.

 

No. No they're not. There about 175M from what I could tell, which is 14 more than the minimum of 161. 100 yards is 92 meters.

 

And what you're saying is that there are lots of places where a geocache would not be allowed by the property owners, so they should change the rules. If that was the case, the rules would have to be different in every city and town in the world. It is not their fault that people have those no trespassing signs. Groundspeak simply makes the guidelines, and it's up to you to follow them.

 

And here's a thought-those factories and such, don't own the streets, or parks or whatever. Whats stopping you from placing on the street, or boulevard, or parks? What about around the lakes? Or near Indiana avenue? Those look like great places to hide a cache. There's even trails south of Bixler Lake that could handle another cache or two.

[+NanCycle]

And what you're saying is that there are lots of places where a geocache would not be allowed by the property owners, so they should change the rules. If that was the case, the rules would have to be different in every city and town in the world. It is not their fault that people have those no trespassing signs. Groundspeak simply makes the guidelines, and it's up to you to follow them.

 

I don't see anyone saying that the rules should be changed--where do you read that? I do see asking for clarification of the rules.

[+WarNinjas]

I have a friend/cacher in my area that said he wanted to place more caches but all the spots are taken. He actually lives in a area where there are not that many caches. I told him there were plenty of places as I have a bunch in mind. Then a new cacher came to play and has placed about 70 after this. My friend and I were caching a park with about 8 or so of the new cachers hides and I said something like WOW he found a park right here with room for all these hides. There is generally room for more hides even in cool locations if you keep looking. Hope you good luck and I am sure you will find some cool spots to hide some.

[+u1bd2005]

isn't part of the challenge in placing a geocache, finding new amazing locations and then helping others to find those locations.

 

instead of sticking to roads or trails, just detour, turn left and cut through some woods and keep walking, get lost, once you're lost in an area that looks pretty, scan for nearby caches.

 

then you can do either of two things, find some caches that you never knew existed, or hide some of your own.

 

there's always areas unexplored by geocachers, theres always spots without caches that are perfectly suited to new caches being placed, and finally there's always spots opening back up when people archive their caches.

 

my 3 most recent hides were places shortly after someone nearby decided to archive one of their circular series, it was a shame as I loved the previous series, but it helps me with my aim of converting people back to hiding decent sized caches instead of micros.