An Engineer's Caching Adventures

Is the thrill of the hunt just not as great as it used to be? Maybe you need to mix things up? Get a new perspective on geocaching or try out a new activity all together? There are many activities out there that any geocacher might want to check out both offered by Groundspeak or offered by someone else. Here's a list I've put together:

• Geocaching
  
  • Opencaching by Garmin http://www.opencaching.com/
  • Opencaching Network http://opencaching.eu/ (list of all Opencaching Network sites)
    
    • Opencaching North America http://www.opencaching.us/
    
    
  • TerraCaching http://www.terracaching.com/
  • NaviCache http://www.navicache.com/
    
    • Under new management (Mainers even http://www.leewardcoast.com/our-team/ )
    
    
  • GPSGames.org Geocaching http://geocaching.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• Letterboxing
  
  • "LetterBoxing is an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming "treasure hunt" style outdoor quest. A wide variety of adventures can be found to suit all ages and experience levels."
  • Letterboxing North America http://www.letterboxing.org/
  • Atlas Quest http://www.atlasquest.com/
  • http://www.letterboxing.info/
  
  
• Challenges (*Retired*)
  
  • "Turn every location into an adventure. Premium Members issue a challenge and persuade fellow cachers to accept and complete it. Whether for bragging rights or personal ambition, find a challenge near you and test your mettle."
  • "Go somewhere, do something. That is the basic idea behind Geocaching Challenges."
  • http://www.geocaching.com/challenges/default.aspx/
    
    • Check out the different Challenge types here: http://www.geocaching.com/challenges/types.aspx/

• Benchmark Hunting
  
  • "Using your GPS unit and/or written directions provided by NGS, which are available for review by the public, you can seek out NGS survey markers and other items that have been marked in the USA."
  • http://www.geocaching.com/mark/
  • http://benchmarks.scaredycatfilms.com/
  • http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/datasheet.prl/
  • http://www.cachingnow.com/BenchmarkH...7/Default.aspx/
  
  
• Waymarking
  
  • "Waymarking.com will provide you with the tools to share and discover unique and interesting locations on the planet."
  • http://www.waymarking.com/
  
  
• Wherigo
  
  • "Wherigo is a toolset for creating and playing GPS-enabled adventures in the real world. Use GPS technology to guide you to physical locations and interact with virtual objects and characters."
  • http://www.wherigo.com/
  
  
• Munzee
  
  • "Munzee is a real world scavenger hunt game where items are found in the real world and captured using your smartphone. You then level up and gain rank based on your score. Points are obtained by capturing other people's munzees or when your deployed munzees are captured by someone else. Munzee is based off of the fundamentals of geocaching and adds another layer of fun to the hunt. Badges can be earned by unlocking specific achievements. "
  • http://www.munzee.com/
  
  
• GeoCheckpointing
  
  • GeoCheckpointing is an outdoor game where participants use a GPS device or a map to find control points called GeoCheckpoints. The goal of every GeoCheckpoint is to show you some interesting place. Some GeoCheckpoints are placed in a beautiful nature while others can be found in charming corners of cities.
  • http://www.geocheckpointing.com/
  
  
• BIT Caching
  
  • BIT stands for "Bound ID Tag" to represent that the cache is bound in plastic, also known as laminating it. No container. No log sheet. No hassles. Endless new hiding places. Endless fun!
  • http://www.bitcaching.com/
  
  
• Intercaching
  
  • "An InterCache is an interactive geocache. A geocache is an outdoor activity that uses GPS devices to play a high tech treasure hunt. See geocaching.com for more information. An intercache is a new way of creating a mystery geocache, similar to a wheigo geocache. The biggest difference is that the entire geocache can be developed, edited, and played on your mobile phone's browser with no software required to download! Part virtual cache, part multicache, part puzzle cache, and part wherigo."
  • http://intercaching.com/

• Shutterspot
  
  • "Shutterspot is a game in which some players take photographs and other players are challenged to find the exact spot where the photographer stood when the camera shutter clicked. That's the "Shutterspot"."
  • http://shutterspot.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• GeoDashing
  
  • "Geodashing is a game in which players use GPS receivers on a playing field that covers the entire planet. The waypoints, or dashpoints, to be reached are randomly selected. The win goes to who can get to the most dashpoints; that is, if you can get to them at all! Each game has a new set of dashpoints making each game completely different and unpredictable"
  • http://geodashing.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• ​Minute War
  
  • ​MinuteWar is a game of capture-the-flag using the whole world as the playing field and GPS receivers for navigation. Every player in the world uses his own local map, but all the maps are combined so that all players compete against everyone else at the same time no matter where they live.The maps are divided into squares, each one minute of longitude wide and one minute of latitude long. Each square contains a virtual flag. Visit the spot where the flag is located to capture the flag.The battle to capture these flags is MinuteWar. Your first flag is in a neighborhood near you.
  • http://minutewar.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• GeoPoker
  
  • GeoPoker is a GPS game in which players try to assemble the best poker hand by being the first to find a moving container holding a GeoPoker log. Each time the container is found, the finder is awarded one virtual playing card at random. Each finder chooses the next hiding spot for the container and the GeoPoker log.
  • http://poker.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• GeoGolf
  
  • Geodashing Golf is a game in which players use GPS receivers to navigate to 18 randomly placed waypoints (or 9 in a short course). Your score depends on how close you can get to each of the waypoints. The closer you get, the lower your score. Low score wins, just like real golf. Each game has a new set of randomly-generated waypoints, making each game different and unpredictable.
  • http://golf.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• GeoVexilla
  
  • ​GeoVexilla is a GPS game that uses the globe for a playing field.
    At random times, in random places, random virtual flags appear on a map of the world.
    The challenge is to visit a flag's waypoint before the flag disappears.
    Each time you succeed, you collect that flag, increasing your score.
  • http://geovexilla.gpsgames.org/
  
  
• Degree Confluence Project
  
  • "The goal of the project is to visit each latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The project is an organized sampling of the world. "
  • http://confluence.org/
  
  
• GPS Drawing
  
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_drawing/
  • http://www.gpsdrawing.com/
  
  
• Cists
  
  • Similar to letterboxing & geocaching
  • http://www.cistes.net/index.php/
  
  
• Geohashing
  
  • Geohashing is a method for finding an effectively random location nearby and visiting it: a Spontaneous Adventure Generator.
  • http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/
  
  
• PhotoGeocaching
  
  • Photo Geocaching is an indoor/outdoor, all weather adventure game for camera and gps users. Participating in a PhotoCache hunt is a good excuse for getting out of the house and using your camera and GPS. The basic idea is to have PhotoGeocache owners set up PhotoGeocache Sites all over the world and share the locations of these PhotoGeocache Sites on the internet here at PhotoGeocaching.com. PhotoGeocachers then use a GPS or map to locate the PhotoGeocache site. All that the visitors (PhotoCache hunters) are asked to do is 1) take the required digital picture(s) in order to prove that they really fond the PhotoCache site and 2) post the picture to the PhotoGeodcaching.com website.
  • http://photogeocaching.com/

Who knew so many Geo-related activities existed!