A good flash based interface to uk geocaching maps provides the ability to also query on caches near town names.
A good flash based interface to uk geocaching maps provides the ability to also query on caches near town names.
Got my dad hooked on Geocaching yesterday when we all went out on a walk to a travelbug and then went on to a nearby cache which had it’s co-ordinates hidden in the first cache. Dad was the first person to find both these cache’s and I thinked he’s hooked. When we got home I logged the two finds and also tried to purchase some travelbug dogtags of my own but the server which takes the money was “unavailable – please try later”. So I’m still waiting to place the order.
A great database of Geocaches on the mobile phone
We were going to stay at a friends house in Indianapolis the day before we flew back to the UK. They had moved to the house two weeks before we were staying so we didn’t know where it was. I put their address into mapquest and got driving directions and printed them off without proof reading the instructions (bad idea!). I also got the co-ordinates for the house and put them into the GPS and we set off.
After a three hour drive we arrived in Indy and started to follow the instructions. Kristen thought there was something wrong when the instructions took us downtime and through the centre of the city among office blocks – she was convinced that there was no way our friends would live downtown. Eventually we got to a T-Junction which totally contradicted the directions we were following and we were stuck. We then checked the top of the page for the directions and realised that it didn’t even have the full address on the page – instead giving directions to 6000- 6999 of the street (and we didn’t know their house number!) The GPS showed that the co-ordinates for the house that I had punched in were about 10 miles west of where we currently were. After a minute or so of arguing and strong words about the uselessness of Mapquest we decided that we would not be any worse of than we currently were and we’d follow the GPS. We eventually got to the area where the house was and circled the neighbourhood going down loads of different roads trying to get near to the house on the gps (we were about 30 feet away at one point!) but we just could not find the road we were looking for. Eventually we decided to go back to a Gas Station, ring home to get their phone number and then ring for directions. Turns out we were less than a mile away and 2 minutes later we were on their doorstep. Looking at the GPS screen we had gone all the way round the house (and the waypoint was spot on) and the screen looked like an etch-a-sketch drawing! Next time I’ll forget mapquest and use waypoints, although I’ll have to find a way of creating a route rather than just a source/destination point.
I’ve taken the GPS outside in the UK a couple of times and so far I’ve not been as impressed as I was with it in the US. The coverage of satellite GPS in the UK is a LOT worse than in the states. I was getting 6 satellites in the US, so far I’ve only had 2 over here, and none of the bars in the satellite screen have gone black (which it should). So far I’ve not been able to get better than a 2d fix. The really annoying thing is that when I get to my home town the unit warns me that I’ve got bad GPS coverage. All of the above have been whilst in the car so I may get better coverage outside it, but the unit was used primarily in the car whilst in the states for navigating (see next entry) unless I was actually looking for a geocache.
Added 4 new caches to our list of Geocaches found – it was a fun afternoon, with the caches getting easier and easier as the afternoon wore on!
Found out that there are several UK Geocaching sites, Buxley’s Geocaching site, GeocacheUK, Geocaching Association of Great Britain, Chris & Maria’s links, Navicache and
Found my first geocache today. We had driven past it several times but not had the time to stop and look until today.
Now i’ve got to go work out how to use it – back later.