The NSPS Board of Directors and Governors considers the hobby of geocaching as an excellent opportunity to promote the surveying profession at the national and state levels.
Geocaching, pronounced Jee-o-Kash-ing, comes from “geo,” somewhere on the planet, and “cache,” a hiding place that hikers used to stash supplies like food and climbing gear for long term use. Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for GPS users. People set up hidden treasures (geocaches) all over the world according to established ethics. With latitude and longitude coordinates posted on internet sites like Geocaching.com, GPS users can then use the coordinates to find the caches. All the geocacher is asked to do is treat the land with respect and trade fairly – if they take something from the cache, they should leave something in the cache. There will be a log book in the geocache so they can record their own visit for future finders to read.
NSPS can benefit from this fast-growing sport by participating in the establishment of geocaches that promote the career of surveying. The sport is gaining worldwide popularity at all ages and walks of life. Internet sites such as Geocaching.com are already in place providing resources such as off-site web servers, database storage, helpful information for getting started, and internet forums for feedback. NSPS geocaches will be spread across the nation, sponsored by state surveying organizations, and maintained by volunteer surveyors. They will provide geocache seekers with information about the vicinity local to the geocache, information about surveying along with contact data, and, of course, the geocache for their recreational enjoyment. Each geocache will target local surveying-related attractions and will be part of a nationwide effort to have interest in surveying ride on the growing popularity of the geocaching sport. The NSPS geocaching endeavor follows three phases, the development of the project, incorporating other organizations to use the project for their benefit, and promotion of the project with geocaching and surveying events.
NSPS suggests that each state society get individual surveyors to volunteer to establish and maintain geocaches in accordance with program details. All groundwork should be completed by the end of this year. In early March of 2007, the entire network will be published on a geocaching internet site and will be promoted on state and national levels. Inauguration events will be held in each state.
NOTE: The NSPS Geocaching Program was presented to the general surveying community on March 12, 2007, at the ACSM-IPLSA-MSPS National Surveyors Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
NSPS will suggest the National Council of Boy Scouts of America to integrate geocaching into their orienteering program with the assistance of individual surveyors nationwide. Program details will be established at that time.
NSPS will sponsor expanded national geocaching events and contests in cooperation with state societies.
NSPS Board of Directors suggests that the Board of Directors for each state society formally endorse the NSPS Geocaching Program and suggest volunteers statewide to assist with program implementation.
Geocaching works with hiders and seekers. Some players will set geocaches in hidden places; other players will attempt to find the geocaches. The following information is on SETTING geocaches for the surveying project. It is highly recommended that interested individuals check out the “Getting Started” section on the Geocaching.com website for very helpful information.
Steps in setting a geocache for the NSPS Geocaching Program are the same as for setting any other geocache. They involve researching a potential site, preparing the cache container with contents, placing the cache, reporting the cache to an administrator for approval, and finally, maintaining the cache. (The shortcut to learning how to set geocaches is to FIND some!)
Is it a worthy choice?
So you think that you found a place to hide a geocache. Can a container successfully be hidden in this place, or would it be too easy to find? The geocache should stay hidden from those who are not looking for it. Can it stay hidden after a finder RE-hides it, or will other people easily notice the activity and plunder the cache after the finder leaves? People who know nothing about geocaching are the ones who remove containers without telling anyone.
Conditions unpleasant to the senses don’t make for good publicity. Is the area full of trash? Does it smell bad? These are choices that are best left for some other cache placer, and eventually some other geocacher out there WILL set a cache in a place like this.
Is it too easy to get to?
Try to find places that are not on the side of the highway. Remember, you are inviting people to take a memorable journey, so make it worthy of the trip even if they don’t find the geocache. A seeker will enjoy the journey required to reach a geocache just as well as the find. That’s expected as part of the sport.
Does the area have any significance to surveying? Is there a calibration baseline nearby? Is there a magnificent surveying monument, or memorial, nearby to educate seekers about surveying? These are places well suited to the cause.
Geocaches that are part of this program will be established on public grounds and comply with all regulations by the respective governmental authority. Parks are ideal locations – city parks, lakeside camping parks, bike trail parks, etc. – but each Park System may have different regulations as to whether or not geocaching is permissible. Do the research and get it right the first time. Don’t promote any activity that will invite damaging foot traffic into a wildlife refuge or an archaeological site. Protect the environment – always.
Are there any other geocaches nearby?
This one will take some effort.
Geocaches are to be at least a tenth of a mile apart to prevent over-saturation of geocaches in popular areas. This is a requirement. Checking on this one necessitates a visit to the Geocaching.com website. A reviewing administrator will check your geocache submittal to see if it passes the 0.1-mile test, so if you don’t do the checking first, your effort may be wasted on setting a geocache that will never get approved.
There is a place on the Geocaching.com home page to select “Hide and Seek a Cache”. This selection offers the option to enter a search for the geocaches nearest to specific latitude and longitude coordinates. Use a hand-held GPS receiver (or the boss’s expensive GPS equipment, with permission, of course) to get some GPS coordinates for the area in question (WGS84 Datum), and see if there are any geocaches nearby. Use these coordinates on the Geocaching.com “Hide and Seek a Cache” webpage.
NOTE: Standard coordinate format for geocaching is degrees, minutes, and DECIMAL-MINUTES of latitude-north and longitude-west. Surveyors are so used to using degrees, minutes, and seconds, but hand-held receivers are pre-programmed to default to decimal-minutes rather than seconds. Decimal-minutes is the format that geocachers are used to using, so tolerate the units to make it easier on their part.
Enter the coordinates to get the first webpage of geocaches nearest to your coordinates. The first page is what is important. Subsequent pages will only show geocaches that are farther away. You are hoping that the nearest existing geocache is not less than 0.1-mile away. Unfortunately, it is amazing how often somebody else already had the idea and already placed a geocache at your target site. If so, find another site, and try again.
Once you have an available worthy place picked out, it is time to get a geocache assembled and to place the geocache out in the wild.
Geocache construction focuses mainly on making sure it is WEATHERPROOF – able to tolerate the elements of rain, hail, snow, freezing, strong winds, flooding or floating, hot temperatures, whatever is local to your area that may compromise the geocache (falling from a cliff into the depths of the ocean due to being plucked out of a crevice from a curious bird?).
Every geocache requires a logbook. Without it, the appropriate geocaching authority will quickly disable the cache listing until your maintenance puts a logbook in the cache. A logbook can be as simple as a spiral-bound pocket pad of paper from Wal-Mart (typical) or something more elaborate like a 4”x6”, 141-page, Rite-in-the-Rain All-Weather Adventure Travel Journal.
Keep the logbook in a zip-lock plastic bag for added insurance that it will stay dry. Put the bag with the logbook in the geocaching container.
The container for the NSPS Geocaching Program will be a waterproof, clear, plastic jar. All things are to be waterproof, for survival of the contents; clear, so that the bomb squad doesn’t blow it up and look later to see who to blame; and plastic, so that hail doesn’t break it up into glass shards sharp enough to cut someone. Label the outside of the container as a geocache with marks such as “geocaching.com” or “geocache” or put a sticker on the inside so people can see a logo from the outside. The idea is to make sure that if your container is discovered by accident, people won’t get frightened by the suspicious nature of the object and call the police. That would be bad publicity.
Be kind enough to add a writing utensil so finders can sign the logbook. Common writing utensils include a wooden pencil with sharpener, or a mechanical pencil, and/or a ball-point pen (waterproof ink). A pen won’t work in the winter freeze. That’s what the pencil is for, but a pen will work better than a pencil in the summer. Little children may have trouble with a mechanical pencil. If space is limited, stick with a short wooden pencil and a small sharpener.
Along with the container and logbook, other items add a nice flavor to the geocache. Geocaches commonly have what is called a
“You Found It” note, (preferably laminated for waterproofing and durability) explaining to someone what to do with the geocache in the event that it is accidentally found, or found by a person new to geocaching and is unfamiliar with what comes next. Wal-Mart sells workable packets of 5”x7” laminating sheets. Prints from an inkjet printer are not waterproof and should be laminated. Prints from a laser printer will be waterproof, but lamination helps the durability.
An Example of a "You Found It"
Card may be found by this link
A complete geocache will have miscellaneous trade items in the container. Geocachers frequently hunt as families and the young seekers love to look at the goodies inside. Older seekers will check to see if the geocache appeals to adults; a good cache placer will make sure that it does. Many little items relating to surveying will fulfill this niche. Overstock of lapel pins from surveying events work wonderfully; include perhaps a few three-foot pocket tapes from freebie booth handouts, a cheap compass, a safety whistle and a pocket flashlight with working batteries. Add an NSPS logo trinket (provided at no cost from NSPS) or some other surveying related items. These are all items that make any geocache stand out so much more than the run-of-the-mill geocache that has typical trade items like play-dough, plastic animals and McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, all known as “swag” (stuff we all
get). Keep all trade items in a zip-lock bag separate from the logbook. The bag with the bumpy goodies is the first to get holes in it, so protect the logbook.
An added bonus to the surveying-related geocaches is the concept of adding a small packet of
“Did You Know” cards to the contents of the cache. These are bits of trivia about surveying printed on small sheets of paper so that the public can take them home and show them off to more people. They act like a business card, not to promote a commercial business (which IS frowned upon), but rather to promote the career of surveying. Each state organization is to gather bits of trivia about their state and print off some
“Did You Know” cards to insert into their geocaches for finders to take. Suggestions: use different colored paper for different caches as a tracking method; use different bits of trivia for different geocaches, or in the same geocache; print one on the back of the
“You Found It” note so that it gets laminated, stays in the geocache, and uses up blank space that is “good for advertising”.
An Example of a "Did You Know" Card may be
found by this link
DO NOT put food in the geocache! This is an invitation for animals with noses better than ours to sniff out the cache and shred it up looking for a tasty bite. No candy bars, chewing gum, nor lollipops should be in the geocache. Bottled water may be an unsniffable choice (maybe in a desert cache?) but anything consumable should be avoided for safety reasons. Families seek out these geocaches, so keep things safe and legal; no firearms, fireworks, alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, illegal drugs, needles, blades, nor other contraband are to be in the geocache.
With the container and contents ready, the geocache is ready to be placed in its hiding spot. Be sure no one is watching. Get good coordinates on the location. If using a hand-held GPS receiver, get coordinates 7 to 10 different times on different days to help get the best coordinates possible. Most geocaches have coordinates established using a hand-held GPS receiver, and a seeker also uses a hand-held GPS receiver to find the geocache. Geocachers quickly discover that the receiver will get you almost to the right area, but it is a good eye that will find the geocache after you get within about 30 feet. The better coordinates that you get for the cache, the better the success rate will be later with finds.
DO NOT BURY the geocache. Anything that necessitates the use of a shovel is unacceptable. Covering the geocache with dead branches or pieces of bark fallen off of a tree is an acceptable form of concealment. Remember, the geocache should only be able to be found by someone who is specifically looking for it.
Anyone placing a geocache will have to submit information about the geocache to Geocaching.com for approval. This is an easy internet process and an administrator will receive the submittal automatically. Login will be required, and being able to log in will require registering a username with Geocaching.com.
The first step is to register a username on the Geocaching.com website. The administrator needs to know WHO will be submitting the geocache.
At the top right corner of the Geocaching.com home page is the text “you are not logged in [log in]”.
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Select the “[log in]” text to start the registration process.
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Then, under the login button on the screen,
select the option for “Create a new account – it’s free!”
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In the form provided, enter in the appropriate places the first and last name of the person who will be responsible for managing the geocaches on the internet. Enter a valid existing email address for the person managing the geocaches on the internet where notices will be sent, such as administrator comments, who found the cache, and questions and comments from seekers (possibly future surveyors).
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Enter a username to use with this account. The geocaching username for the surveying organization should be chosen wisely. The overriding goal of the geocaching program is to promote surveying to the public, so the username should reveal the society’s name. The organization may not be known nationally by just the initials, so the complete name should be used. As an example, the username registered on Geocaching.com for the Kansas organization is “KSLS – Kansas Society of Land Surveyors”, thereby revealing the whole name for the national recognition and also the initials KSLS that the organization uses on the local level.
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Choose a password that will be remembered and that can be given to organizational authorities in the event that someone else has to take over the duties of managing the geocaches on the internet.
After registration, login is possible. After logging in, go to “Hide and Seek a Cache”. The left side is for seeking; the right side is for hiding. The form for submitting a geocache is available by selecting the link within the text of: “Reporting a new cache is easy. Just fill out our online form to report a new cache to the website. Login is required.”
When reporting a new cache, a good tip is to find the box marked “Yes, this listing is active” and remove the checkmark that is there by default. By doing this, the cache will be submitted, but not enabled; technical terms, but it helps. The owner of the cache (the surveying organization) can still view the details of the geocache. Not even the administrator can see the cache details, yet. This gives you the option to make edits until the webpage looks perfect, each time making sure that this box is NOT checked when submitting the edited details. When the details are right, either check the box during submittal or click on “enable” when viewing the cache webpage. Only then, will the geocache be automatically submitted to an administrator who will look it over and pass judgment as to whether the cache is acceptable for publishing, or if it has something wrong with it – like no logbook, too close to an existing geocache, or may cause disturbances to airport authorities. If it doesn’t get approved, the administrator will explain and an email will automatically be sent explaining how to fix the situation. Once the cache is approved, it will be listed on the internet and available for the whole world to view.
The form will accept plain text; it will also accept HTML script, but be sure the appropriate checkbox is checked. Midway down the form is an area entitled "Details" that has a small checkbox next to the words "The descriptions below are in HTML". The default is to NOT be checked, so if you use HTML, make sure this box is checked.
Geocache details on the web should include information on three levels: 1.) details about the vicinity local to the geocache, 2.) information about surveying along with contact data, and 3.) details about the geocache.
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Details about the vicinity local to the geocache will tell the seeker about the memorial commemorating a Lewis and Clark event, or explain why the rocks formed at the site in the curious way that they did, or how to go about finding a spectacular bench mark nearby.
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Information about surveying will include the name of the surveying organization sponsoring the geocache and a link to the organizations home page, a link to NSPS ( http://www.nspsmo.org ), and links to other notable organizations. Keep in mind that commercial advertising is frowned upon. The “advertising” should be limited to educational promotions to direct the public toward awareness of surveying as a viable career choice.
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Details about the geocache include original contents inside the container, what the container is, coordinates of the best place for parking, notices to steer clear of a certain yard because trespassing is illegal, but more so because Butch the bulldog likes to eat pants, and hints to find the geocache.
The organization should not be used to log geocache “finds”. If people gather for events and find geocaches, individuals should log “finds” under their own registered personal usernames. If the organization sponsors a geocaching event for entertainment purposes only, it is the individuals who find the geocaches, not the organizational group as a whole. The organization’s username is used only for offering the geocaches that are sponsored for the surveying-geocaching project, or for sponsoring geocaching events to promote the surveying-geocaching project.
After the first person finds the geocache, edit the geocache’s webpage to give that person credit within the text of the webpage. At the bottom of the geocache’s webpage, add the text “Congratulations to _____ for being First To Find!” inserting their username in the blank and using capital FTF letters in First To Find. It is a tradition among geocachers to hurry to be the first to find a new geocache, thereby receiving the trophy of “getting FTF”. It is a geocaching competitive status symbol that does not have a formal place for documentation in Geocaching.com, but is extremely popular in the logs and forum discussions, and adds to the popularity of the sport. By giving the geocacher FTF-credit, people know where to check back when they are recounting the story to their friends.
The trading of geocache contents eventually leaves a container full of worthless trinkets that everyone sees and no one wants. It becomes full of “swag”, stuff we all get. Every now and then, a person should visit the geocache for the purpose of ridding the container of useless swag and restocking it with those kinds of items that made it attractive on Day One. Someone associated with the surveying organization AND who is local to the area of the geocache needs to be designated as the caretaker of the geocache. This will ensure that the cache is hidden correctly, the contents are fresh, the container is not stolen, and that the future of the cache is safe.
An existing surveying-related geocache entitled Wichita CBL can be viewed on the internet at:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCZMY2
or by entering GCZMY2 under the Geocaching.com “Seek a cache, by waypoint” option.
Wichita CBL was published using these guidelines to guide seekers to a surveying Calibration Base Line in Wichita, Kansas.
Success with this project will be measured by the actions of the public, by those geocachers who choose to participate in this sport for their own recreation – and learn something when they choose to pursue a geocache hidden by surveyor.
Ernie Cantu L.S. KS is a Survey Crew Chief for Professional Engineering Consultants in Wichita, Kansas. He is the Coordinator for the National Society of Professional Surveyors Geocaching Project as well as the Geocaching State Coordinator for the Kansas Society of Land Surveyors. Mr. Cantu has found over one hundred geocaches, and wrote the contents of this document primarily from the personal experiences of setting and finding geocaches throughout Kansas. He can be reached by email at geocacher@sktc.net and through Geocaching.com by sending a message through the Profile of Username: cantuland.
- Make the fair trade.
- Log your visit.
- Leave the site better than you found it.
- Protect the environment — always.
- Educate those around you.
- Find another cache!
Good luck, and may all your cache dreams come true.
–cantuland
For more information on Surveying and the National Society of Professional Surveyors visit the NSPS web site at www.nspsmo.org or the Surveying Career web site at www.surveyingcareer.com.
