Geocaching & Munzee

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Geocaching & Munzee

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed May 20, 2015 8:33 am

Not sure if anyone will have come across these, but a few years ago I started Geocaching and Munzeeing ... it's a navigational treasure hunt that's run online, so as long as you have a smart phone or a GPS device you can take part. It's a way of getting out and about, visiting new places but with an aim in mind. The kids like it because there may be treasure ... so it means we can go on long walks in the country without them getting bored!!

I'll try to explain what each one is & how you can try it, and later this summer I'll try to organise a day out or two, based loosely around one or both of these.

Russell.
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Re: Geocaching & Munzee

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed May 20, 2015 8:33 am

Geocaching ... this has been going for a few years, although it's roots are found in Letterboxing that started on Dartmoor in the 1800s.

Using either your smartphone or a GPS, you go to the co ordinates on the map and then follow the instructions to find the cache. That's where it gets tricky, the caches are rated 0 to 5 in size, and 0 to 5 in difficulty and terrain. So the easiest will be a 5 for size ... usually a large ammo case or similar. 0 or .5 for difficulty means the clue will be something like "behind the shed" and the box will be in plain sight behind the shed. 0 or .5 terrain means it's easy to get to, so in a car park, on a street etc.
The hardest will be a 0 or .5 for size, these are known as Nano caches. These are often magnetic containers about 1cm x 1cm. 5 for difficulty means it will be camouflaged or hidden, so anything from a bolt that's been hollowed out and then screwed into a fence alongside similar bolts, a snails shell that's been filled with resin to hold the container and then attached to the back of a railing with a magnet, a twig that's been hollowed out and then stuck into a hole in a tree etc ... not easy, and getting more and more inventive! 5 for terrain is rare ... think 30 foot up a tree, under the cap on the top of a sign that is partly in the sea and only accessible when the tide is out, etc ... anyone remember the idiots that got stuck trying to find one when the tide was in? That made the news about a month back!

The clues are sometimes hard, sometimes easy but there are some different types, quiz based ones where you have to go to the place and email the answer to a few questions to the cache owner, photo ones where you have to take a photo of yourself at the location to get it approved, etc.

In general, geocaches are more out in the country areas, parks etc ... you can't easily / safely put a cache in a city centre. You do get nano caches under benches all over the place in cities, but generally that's it. There are a strong set of guidelines you have to follow to set up a cache, and once you've set it up you have to send off the details and wait for it to be approved.

https://www.geocaching.com/

I'll set one up near the meet, maybe one easy one and one really hard one?

Russell.
Last edited by Vindi (Russell) on Thu May 21, 2015 10:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Geocaching & Munzee

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Wed May 20, 2015 8:34 am

Munzee ... so this is a more recent invention, probably been going about 4 years. Essentially it's another GPS based treasure hunt but it's meant to be quicker and more accessible. Munzees come in several different types, but the main ones are basically QR codes. They are fairly small stickers, and get stuck just about anywhere ... lamp posts, back of signs etc. You have to find them using an app on your phone, scan them in and you then collect points for each one.

The basic "green" munzees are worth 5 points each, there are various other types worth different amounts of points, and some like the Mystery ones get you a random amount of points between 5 and 50.
There are also Virtual Munzees, as long as you are within 300 feet you press "collect" on the app and it gives you the points straight away.

One of the more interesting types are trail munzees, you find the first one on the map and once you've located it and scanned it in, the second one pops up. There are 5 in a trail, and each one is worth more points.

You can print off and "deploy" your own munzees, the basic ones are free (although you can buy them as printing waterproof stickers isn't easy). One of the advantages of deploying your own munzees is that you get points when people find them, so for a normal one where you get 5 points for finding it, the owner gets 3 points each time it's found. For a mystery munzee, there are 50 points up for grabs ... the finder will get between 5 and 50 points, the owner gets the rest.

http://www.munzee.com/?home

The advantage of Munzee is that you pretty much always have your phone with you, and almost everywhere you go there will be some near you. You can scan them in quickly and the points rack up pretty quickly.

Munzee also seem to be a lot more proactive with doing events and extras, they recently did a huge push for a charity, charging $1 for each "candy heart virtual munzee" they sold and offering a lot of points, but they all vanished after a month. There were quite a few candy heart fields made, where there were literally hundreds of candy hearts, in some instances they had set up a spreadsheet with strict locations listed, in order to make pictures or spell out words you could see when looking at the map. 100% of the money went to the charity, and they raised well over $150,000 in the month.

If you want to give it a try, download the app and fire it up at the next meet ... I've put a couple of Virtual Mystery Munzees out for you.

Russell.
Last edited by Vindi (Russell) on Thu May 21, 2015 10:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Geocaching & Munzee

Postby damodear » Wed May 20, 2015 4:15 pm

Vindi (Russell) wrote:Geocaching ...


Geocaching 101
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTqitVK-Ts

https://www.geocaching.com/
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Re: Geocaching & Munzee

Postby Vindi (Russell) » Thu May 21, 2015 10:18 pm

So that's a basic description of them, both are easy enough to do ... my thinking is, it might be possible to use one or both of them as part of one of the monthly drives ... possibly I could set up some caches or munzees in a loop or along a route that people could follow over the course of a day or morning?

I'm interested in what people think, although it's easier to see how they work with a demo, so if anyone wants to have a go, grab me at the monthly meet and I'll show you.

Russell.
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Re: Geocaching & Munzee

Postby Curlyteeth » Fri May 22, 2015 6:27 am

I looked into this some time ago and I actually went and found a couple near to where I work for dinner time stroll.

I think if people don't about it - they would be amazed at the number of Caches that are out there :shock:

Try a Google search or download the app - you an find Caches in the Arctic, the desert etc. and there are literally millions of them. Worth a look at what's happening with Geocaching even if you have no aspiration to find one!

The activity seems to have a "nerdy" association - probably because it has its routes in the early techies of the 80's seeing what could be done - when the Military gave open use of their GPS satellites. they set each other the challenge of finding a Cache using Grid Coordinates and GPS devices along - What ever the source there are literally Millions of people doing it all over the planet - so their must be something in it!

Sounds like good idea to me - something different - I'll try anything once me!

Well not anything.... I don't want to try some things.... well I guess when I think about it, there are quite a few things I really don't want to try :shock: :outta:
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