Most accurate way to get coordinates for a hide (Android)

[+L0weB0ys]

So I hid my first cache recently, and the finder reported to have found it at a spot 80 ft to the west of my posted coordinates. Obviously, I want to have my coordinates be as accurate as possible. I downloaded an Android app called "Simple GPS Display" to help me get accurate coordinates, but obviously it isn't doing a great job.

 

What hints do you guys have? Are there certain apps that are more accurate than others? When searching for caches, the official Geocaching.com app seems to work quite well, but I can't figure a way to use that app to display coordinates when making a new hide.

 

Android geocachers -- what is your favorite app/method to get accurate coordinates? Should I be walking a figure 8 or a circle or something to help solidify my correct coordinates? And are there apps that work better than others? I have 6 more good containers with lots of swag to hide, but I want to make sure my coordinates are accurate!

 

Thanks!!

[+cerberus1]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

Walk away, and come back to the cache a number of times. Close?

 

I wouldn't be able to go after a pmo cache that's that far off anyway, but did you at least temp disable it (until fixed) so others don't face the same?

[+barefootjeff]

In the Location settings on the Android, try setting it for "GPS only". I found on mine that when it was set to "High Accuracy" and was using a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, in heavily built up areas it was often out by 30 to 50 metres.

[+L0weB0ys]

I wouldn't be able to go after a pmo cache that's that far off anyway, but did you at least temp disable it (until fixed) so others don't face the same?

 

There is a recent comment left that it was found 80' to the west, so I thought that would be sufficient until I can get out and get a better reading. As long as someone looks at the log, I guess, which I assume most would, especially if they were having trouble finding it. So far, everyone who has looked has found it. Admittedly, it has only been 2 people.

Edited April 28, 2016 by L0weB0ys

[+L0weB0ys]

In the Location settings on the Android, try setting it for "GPS only". I found on mine that when it was set to "High Accuracy" and was using a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, in heavily built up areas it was often out by 30 to 50 metres.

 

This is good advice. This was not in a heavily populated area at all, but there doesn't seem to be much sense in using a combination of GPS and WiFi to approximate location, when what I'm actually after is very specific GPS coordinates. Thanks.

[+L0weB0ys]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

I only found one. It is called simply "GPS Averaging" and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone. What else should I be searching for?

[+The A-Team]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

I only found one. It is called simply "GPS Averaging" and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone. What else should I be searching for?

Regardless of the device I'm using, I find I get the best coordinates not by taking several readings and averaging them, but rather by using the trial-and-error method. That is, I'll take what I believe to be a fairly close set of coordinates, then navigate to them. I walk away in several different directions and then turn around and head toward the coordinates, seeing how close it gets me each time and in which direction they're off. If necessary, I'll adjust the coordinates slightly and re-test. Lather, rinse, repeat until you're consistently getting close from multiple directions. Since I've started using this method, I've been able to get very good coordinates to the point that I'm confident in attaching them to my logs of caches I find with questionable coordinates for other cachers to use, and they do get used successfully often.

 

I used to use averaging, but found that the device's wandering meant that it often gave poor results. In my experience, GPS devices seem to have better accuracy when you're moving and wander when you're stopped, so I get better results if I walk up to GZ than if I'm just standing still there. This can be taken as purely anecdotal and I don't have any scientific evidence to support my claims, but it's what I see.

[+T.D.M.22]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

I only found one. It is called simply "GPS Averaging" and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone. What else should I be searching for?

 

Don't use an app. Take multiple readings. Walk away come back. Donor from another direction. Then average them out.

[+cerberus1]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

Walk away, and come back to the cache a number of times. Close?

I only found one. It is called simply "GPS Averaging" and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone. What else should I be searching for?

 

Don't use an app. Take multiple readings. Walk away come back. Donor from another direction. Then average them out.

Included what some musta missed...

 

What is a "donor from another direction"?

[+Rustynails]

So I hid my first cache recently, and the finder reported to have found it at a spot 80 ft to the west of my posted coordinates. Obviously, I want to have my coordinates be as accurate as possible. I downloaded an Android app called "Simple GPS Display" to help me get accurate coordinates, but obviously it isn't doing a great job.

 

What hints do you guys have? Are there certain apps that are more accurate than others? When searching for caches, the official Geocaching.com app seems to work quite well, but I can't figure a way to use that app to display coordinates when making a new hide.

 

Android geocachers -- what is your favorite app/method to get accurate coordinates? Should I be walking a figure 8 or a circle or something to help solidify my correct coordinates? And are there apps that work better than others? I have 6 more good containers with lots of swag to hide, but I want to make sure my coordinates are accurate!

 

Thanks!!

 

Buy a real gps like the Oregon 650. It's very frustrating looking for a hide that's 80ft off because of a phone. Many don't understand gps technology and think the phone works like a gps unit.

[+T.D.M.22]

Get an averaging app. There's lots to choose from.

Walk away, and come back to the cache a number of times. Close?

I only found one. It is called simply "GPS Averaging" and it doesn't seem to work well on my phone. What else should I be searching for?

 

Don't use an app. Take multiple readings. Walk away come back. Donor from another direction. Then average them out.

Included what some musta missed...

 

What is a "donor from another direction"?

 

Should have been "do it"

 

Stupid tablet....

[+jellis]

Maybe have someone with a real gps beta test it.

[+DarkZen]

As a test I alway enter the coordinates (as posted on the cache page) into google maps. That will tell you if you are 80 ft off or not. Though I've heard it claimed that the google map overlay can be off a bit in different pats of the country, here in central CA they are dead on.

 

But I always use and highly recommend using a real GPS.

[+L0weB0ys]

Just to update you all -- I appreciate all the advice. I'm not really in a position to buy a dedicated GPS receiver right now. I am going through a very expensive divorce and child custody fight, and I need every dime for legal fees. That is one reason that Geocaching has been a fun hobby to have discovered to do with my son -- for just the price of a premium membership, we've gotten a lot of fun and family bonding time.

 

I did find a GPS averaging app that works very well for me. I tested the results by getting the best reading I could, then walking away in a few different directions and let Google Maps guide me back. The GPS satellite map overlay is an excellent tool for this as well, because the areas where I was hiding had distinctive geographical features that helped verify that my waypoints were being placed correctly.

 

Just in case anyone is curious, the method I have found that seems to work best for me, with my Samsung Galaxy Note 4:

 

• In Location Settings, chose "GPS only."
  
• Open this GPS Averaging app.
  
• Make a few wide circles around the area as the GPS Averaging app "gets its bearings" (I found that if I skip this step, my results are wildly less accurate).
  
• Stop at my actual cache location, as close to the actual cache container as I can get, and start the "averaging" function of the app.
  
• Wait. If I wait until it has averaged at least 30 and preferable 40+ different readings, I have found that the resulting coordinates are pretty dead on -- in my experience, within a meter or two.
  

 

These results are completely anecdotal, I fully admit, but I have found that this method works extremely well for me, which is a huge relief, because after my first attempt at hiding 5 caches (and having to go back out and retrieve all but one of them because of inaccurate coordinates), I was dubious as to whether I would be able to do this with my phone after all.

 

I felt like there had to be a way, because when I use the official Geocaching app to *find* caches, it manages to guide me very accurately, but I was pretty discouraged until I discovered this new method with a lengthy trial-and-error session yesterday evening.

 

One additional note -- the last step ("Wait") can get quite tedious. It can take somewhere between 5-8 minutes or so to get up to 30-40 averaged readings, but this is the only way I've found to get useable coordinates.

 

Someone suggested that better coordinates could be gotten by taking readings while in motion, rather than while stationary. I'm not sure how to get an accurate reading of a specific spot if I don't stay at that particular spot, but as long as this method works for me, and continues to be as accurate as it was for me yesterday, I will probably stick with it. Thanks again for all the advice!

Edited April 29, 2016 by L0weB0ys

[+The A-Team]

Buy a real gps like the Oregon 650. It's very frustrating looking for a hide that's 80ft off because of a phone. Many don't understand gps technology and think the phone works like a gps unit.

Modern smartphones are GPS units, they just aren't dedicated to that sole function. You can get coordinates just as accurately with a smartphone as with a handheld GPSr, but you need to know the limitations of the device and use patience. It's the folks who simply walk up to GZ, take a single reading, and walk away that lead to poor coordinates, and that can happen just as easily with a handheld GPSr.

 

...

Someone suggested that better coordinates could be gotten by taking readings while in motion, rather than while stationary. I'm not sure how to get an accurate reading of a specific spot if I don't stay at that particular spot...

I said that, and I'd like to clarify my post. When I mentioned that, I was referring more to the testing and adjusting of the coordinates than the original taking of them. That is, I find I get better results if I walk away and then walk towards GZ than if I simply stand at GZ and watch how far the device says I am from GZ, because I find it tends to wander when you're standing still. For example, I may walk up to GZ from 50 feet away and see the pointer indicating the cache is 5 feet to the west. However, when I stop and stand at GZ, the device may wander so much that it could say it's 15 feet to the east, then 10 feet to the south, then 20 feet to the north.

 

Regardless, it sounds like you've found a method that works for you and with your device, so good job!