Will there be a Giga 2015?

[+traineediplomat]

Just wondering how attendees for Giga 2014 Munich thought it went and is there an appetite for 2015? Might even try to get along to it... no matter where it is

[+Bobo76]

I think there will be a GIGA (attempt) in Mainz, Germany 2015

[+traineediplomat]

Better start booking my holiday to Mainz

[Mr.Yuck]

What, there was a Giga? There's going to be another one? I suspect it will always be a "Germany thing". I have to hand it to you though, you guys wanted it, you got it. That doesn't happen all too often around here.

[+traineediplomat]

Don't let thine grapes be sour

[Mr.Yuck]

Don't let thine grapes be sour

 

Not sour grapes, I couldn't care less. Nor does most of the world. Although I see *you* are not from Germany.

 

Never been there, although my goal is to go to Munich eventually. The U.S. Military has a resort about an hour from there.

[+lamoracke]

I keep thinking, cache population density and # of cachers that Czech Republic could have one next as far as a country goes too.

[Mr.Yuck]

I keep thinking, cache population density and # of cachers that Czech Republic could have one next as far as a country goes too.

 

Yes, I was thinking that too, actually. It might not end up being a Germany only thing. My theory is the Country was being catered to, because although Geocaching.com is definitely the most popular Geocaching website there, there is a viable alternative. So says the conspiracy theorist in me, at least.

[cezanne]

Yes, I was thinking that too, actually. It might not end up being a Germany only thing. My theory is the Country was being catered to, because although Geocaching.com is definitely the most popular Geocaching website there, there is a viable alternative. So says the conspiracy theorist in me, at least.

 

I do not think that alternative caching sites play a role at all in this matter.

I also think that the major issue is whether a location can support so many people and whether a team finds together that wants to organize such a huge event. In Europe traveling is rather easy and if the location is attractive, then people from many countries will attend. If several locations competed for becoming giga in the same year, then the more central (with respect to caching populations) and more attractive location will win.

Munich, for example, was also attractive for Swiss and Austrian cachers and of course cachers from many other countries attended as well.

[Mr.Yuck]

Yes, I was thinking that too, actually. It might not end up being a Germany only thing. My theory is the Country was being catered to, because although Geocaching.com is definitely the most popular Geocaching website there, there is a viable alternative. So says the conspiracy theorist in me, at least.

 

I do not think that alternative caching sites play a role at all in this matter.

I also think that the major issue is whether a location can support so many people and whether a team finds together that wants to organize such a huge event. In Europe traveling is rather easy and if the location is attractive, then people from many countries will attend. If several locations competed for becoming giga in the same year, then the more central (with respect to caching populations) and more attractive location will win.

Munich, for example, was also attractive for Swiss and Austrian cachers and of course cachers from many other countries attended as well.

 

Eh, the conspiracy theorist in me still thinks German cachers were being catered to. I believe, for example, in Poland, where Geocaching.com is NOT the #1 Geocaching website, they had a Mega that was attended by well under 200 people. And there is a "fan" website in Poland totally geared towards Geocaching.com, with no mention of the other site that has 4 times as many caches. Over here on this side of the pond, we were just totally blindsided by this "Giga Event" thing. I think I can safely say no one saw it coming.

[cezanne]

Eh, the conspiracy theorist in me still thinks German cachers were being catered to. I believe, for example, in Poland, where Geocaching.com is NOT the #1 Geocaching website, they had a Mega that was attended by well under 200 people.

 

POland is a different story as there the alternative site is very succesfull (for various reasons which are off-topic here). In Germany alternative sites are no real competitor and in particular not with respect to those cachers who attend Giga events.

 

Over here on this side of the pond, we were just totally blindsided by this "Giga Event" thing. I think I can safely say no one saw it coming.

 

If you compare typical average visit rates for popular caches and events in the US and countries like Germany, you will see the difference. A event at a location like Munich attracts cachers from several countries. For those who asked for the introduction of giga events, it might also have played a role that events like the Block Party take place only in the US. With the giga event type at least at the moment Europe can offer an icon not available in North America (though I'm not sure what the future will bring).

[Mr.Yuck]

Eh, the conspiracy theorist in me still thinks German cachers were being catered to. I believe, for example, in Poland, where Geocaching.com is NOT the #1 Geocaching website, they had a Mega that was attended by well under 200 people.

 

POland is a different story as there the alternative site is very succesfull (for various reasons which are off-topic here). In Germany alternative sites are no real competitor and in particular not with respect to those cachers who attend Giga events.

 

Over here on this side of the pond, we were just totally blindsided by this "Giga Event" thing. I think I can safely say no one saw it coming.

 

If you compare typical average visit rates for popular caches and events in the US and countries like Germany, you will see the difference. A event at a location like Munich attracts cachers from several countries. For those who asked for the introduction of giga events, it might also have played a role that events like the Block Party take place only in the US. With the giga event type at least at the moment Europe can offer an icon not available in North America (though I'm not sure what the future will bring).

 

I can totally agree with that, there is a new European icon that wouldn't be available to the average crazed North American icon seeker. And that it was a long standing issue that people from Europe would have to fly to Seattle to get a coveted rare icon. Heck, I've never even been anywhere near Seattle, and I've lived on this Continent for over 50 years.

 

I still don't think Poland is off topic, there is obviously covert operations going on there, and "catering to".

[+Roman!]

Let's hold a Giga in Sturgis next August.

[Keystone]

Why don't we have a fun discussion about Giga Events, and park the conspiracy theories that at this point are dominating the thread and taking it off topic?

 

I think the USA is a ways away from having an event qualify as a Giga. What do others think?

 

What are some other locations in Europe/existing European Mega-Events that have potential for "going Giga" now that the cache type is available?

[Mr.Yuck]

Why don't we have a fun discussion about Giga Events, and park the conspiracy theories that at this point are dominating the thread and taking it off topic?

 

I think the USA is a ways away from having an event qualify as a Giga. What do others think?

 

Geowoodstock wouldn't be a Giga? I don't think anyone over here cares, except for like the .01% of Geocachers who are rabid icon hunters.

[Keystone]

Geowoodstock wouldn't be a Giga?

A good question. Let's look at the statistics for the past five GeoWoodstock Mega's:

 

2010 - WA: 2219 "Attended" logs

2011 - PA: 1973 "Attended" logs

2012 - IN: 1837 "Attended" logs

2013 - FL: 1310 "Attended" logs

2014 - MO: 1454 "Attended" logs

 

I don't think these numbers demonstrate Giga-level attendance (5000 people). While it MIGHT be safe to assume that each "attended" log represents two people, no recent GeoWoodstock has garnered 2500 "attended" logs.

[+speakers-corner]

I was at the Giga in Munich, I was also one of the helpers there. To be truthful, I didnt think it was worth making it a "Giga" on what was offered. It was only a "Giga" on the amount of people that turned up on the day. My wife and I and friends that went with us thought that there could have been more made from the whole thing. And as to Mainz being a "Giga", Im not sure about that. The "GC-Project" Status was won by Xanten.

[+traineediplomat]

If it's Xanten, then to Dusseldorf I must go!

[+traineediplomat]

Don't let thine grapes be sour

 

Not sour grapes, I couldn't care less. Nor does most of the world. Although I see *you* are not from Germany.

 

Never been there, although my goal is to go to Munich eventually. The U.S. Military has a resort about an hour from there.

 

No I'm not.... but if one travels, one must look at opportunities at the time one is there... if there be a Giga on, why not put it as part of the package.

[cezanne]

I don't think these numbers demonstrate Giga-level attendance (5000 people). While it MIGHT be safe to assume that each "attended" log represents two people, no recent GeoWoodstock has garnered 2500 "attended" logs.

 

I'm just wondering whether mentioning in the announcement of a future GW event that one aims at reaching Giga status would result in a sudden increase of attendance provided that the location is central enough.

I think that many people visited the giga event in Munich just to obtain the giga icon. According to all what I've heard the giga event did not offer anything special apart from that.

 

Cezanne

[cezanne]

What are some other locations in Europe/existing European Mega-Events that have potential for "going Giga" now that the cache type is available?

 

Prague for sure. They had >3700 attended logs at the GPS maze.

 

I could well imagine that also a well marketed attempt in a part of Austria near to Germany (not in my home area) could work out well from the point of view of attendance, but it might be hard to find suitable locations. Those in use for the mega events could not deal with such masses.

I also think that there are locations in Scandinavia with potential.

 

The 500 persons attendance bound for mega events has turned into something which in Europe easily can get reached by a normal event without any special ambition behind.

I participated at a local event Saturday where for sure >300 persons were present though the event took place in an area with not that many cachers and the event did not attract people from

farther away.

Edited August 25, 2014 by cezanne

[+Ben0w]

Munich Giga was very well organized, placed in an interesting, unique park that easily handled several 10'000 people - not all of them cachers since at the same time and same place a summer festival took place. It was fun to identify the cachers among the muggles.

 

Sure, the Giga status was valued only by number of attendees (8311 visitors according to the organizers' statistics), not by real special things you won't see on any other Mega event. However, there were most of Germany's Geocacher shops with an own display, don't think, you get this density elsewhere.

 

Several fun activities were available in the stadium, Bavarian land surveying office demonstrated professional techniques, an entertainment stage and so on, there even was a real official (read: by authorities) published geocache, involving public speech by a politician: http://coord.info/GC54CNW

 

The organizers put a lot of effort to generate a typical Munich/Bavarian style event. That was the idea from beginning and they very successfully followed it. The Giga status just happened somewhere on that way, never was intended.

 

The near summer festival and the park itself including it's attractions offered additional possibilities.

 

Sure, there are some "lessons to learn", but only real negative issue was the cold rain...it's an unusual cold and rainy summer in Germany this year, the organizers didn't expect that and weren't prepared much, unfortunately. But geocachers should stand that (I happen to know one fellow who was on top of the stadium roof tour when the worst rain storm set in).

 

For me (living nearby, no helper) it was a very nice event, totally filling my day there with a lot of things to remember. I didn't expect much and I had a fun day. The organizers have earnt my full respect.

 

I even didn't hunt for caches that day, just attended the Giga for several hours, enjoyed the summer festival in the same park, walked the hill to attend the official publishing of the new cache and was washed down by the rain.

 

For me and my family the Giga and the surrounding events where three days of fun: met some known and a lot of other nice people there from all around the world, served as ad-hoc translator for a norwegian group doing some lab-caches and made good friends with a couple from another German state.

 

BTW: The surrounding events, a meet&greet the day before and a farewell the day after, had around 500 attendees, thus theoretically qualifying them as Mega events for themselves.

 

Statistics are available here (scroll down for the english part): http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=e0a8f92f-4d10-473c-b3a8-888ce189ffd3

 

Some video impressions (more to come): http://anmeldung.munich-2014.de/Videos-Reports:_:53.html

 

For future Giga planners: you really should pay attention to a professional event management. The Munich organizers did a real good job here, especially with the self-developed ticketing system providing parallelized and very fast entry control. The location is important, in Munich they had a real impressive one including a lot of nearby attractions, able to handle far more than 10'000 visitors.

[Mr.Yuck]

Thanks for the report, Ben0w. See, I'm not that obnoxious, I found it interesting.

[+Ben0w]

Thanks for the report, Ben0w. See, I'm not that obnoxious, I found it interesting.

You're welcome!

 

BTW I have no problem with you beeing obnoxious. I find that interesting...

[+traineediplomat]

Looking forward to 2015!!!