IGO NEWSLETTER 2008

ISSUE #03


In This Issue...

Iowa has a bunch of geocaching events taking place this month, and many IGO members have also achieved new milestones. Josh of Team Gamsci doubles our pleasure and gives us the scoop on the first Whereigo cartridge in Iowa (created by Team Gamsci), and he also sends us a great video for the "Video of the Month." Look below to watch the video as he takes us on a journey to find a cache (GC18Y16) hidden by The NVG named "Have You Lost Your Marbles?" Their is also much more in this issue including some IGO member submitted photos! We would love to get more, so please send your photos to photos@iowageocachers.org.

Upcoming Events
Caching with My Peeps!04/19/2008Oak Grove State Park, north of Hawarden, Iowa
Chichaqua Cache Bash04/19/2008Chichaqua Longhouse, in Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt Park
CITO at Brushy Creek State Park04/19/2008South Day Use Area at Brushy Creek State Park
2nd Annual Cedar Rapids CITO Extravaganza!04/20/2008Roller Dam area
Spring in for Coffee04/20/2008Smokey Row - Oskaloosa
Wildflowers Galore05/03/2008Fontana Park, Buchanan County
Dick and Jane Learn Technology Event05/03/2008Bettendorf Public Library
Second Annual Tipton Invitational05/10/2008Tipton City Park Pavilion
WWFM III On the Siouxland Riverfront05/10/2008Chris Larsen Park
Siouxland Meet 'N Greet05/10/2008Pizza Ranch
WWFM III Cedar County05/10/2008Walley Wingert park just east of Tipton, Iowa
Des Moines Geo lunch05/17/2008Mickeys Irish Pub in Waukee
Waterlogged at Okoboji 05/24/2008Check the coordinates and the maps
Upcoming Mega-Events Near Iowa
Midwest GeoBash 200808/07/2008 - 08/10/2008Kendallville, Indiana
Cacher Milestones
  • Mastercacher - 800 on March 8, 2008
  • Shadow Cachers - 2500 on March 24, 2008
  • LyleVB - 1700 on March 8, 2008
  • bassman49 - 50 on March 25, 2008
  • 3amt - 1200 on March 8, 2008
  • UNIBear - 700 on March 26, 2008
  • Blue Grass Tom - 2100 on March 9, 2008
  • SS MI - 1300 on March 26, 2008
  • Repmul - 1200 on March 10, 2008
  • dlr1451 - 50 on March 26, 2008
  • drtmn - 3800 on March 10, 2008
  • Blue Grass Tom - 2200 on March 27, 2008
  • lasermom - 900 on March 11, 2008
  • wildernessmama - 1100 on March 27, 2008
  • lagrac - 2200 on March 13, 2008
  • Parabola - 1400 on March 27, 2008
  • bucknuts - 1200 on March 14, 2008
  • train4347 - 100 on March 28, 2008
  • SS MINI - 1200 on March 15, 2008
  • bucknuts - 1300 on March 28, 2008
  • cc8c4 - 1700 on March 16, 2008
  • jdrush - 900 on March 29, 2008
  • TrapperDan - 500 on March 16, 2008
  • mustangcats - 50 on March 30, 2008
  • Shadow Cachers - 2400 on March 17, 2008
  • Schnider - 1200 on March 30, 2008
  • runewell - 400 on March 19, 2008
  • c_dog - 2400 on March 30, 2008
  • Lego Guy - 700 on March 20, 2008
  • c_dog - 2500 on March 30, 2008
  • 5K Team - 500 on March 22, 2008
  • BLOODLUST - 600 on March 30, 2008
  • catsnfish - 300 on March 22, 2008
  • xshooter - 400 on March 30, 2008
  • plumberbutt - 200 on March 22, 2008
  • TRI-B - 200 on March 30, 2008
  • drtmn - 3900 on March 22, 2008
  • Parabola - 1500 on March 31, 2008
  • Team Snoopy - 400 on March 23, 2008
  • drtmn - 4000 on March 31, 2008
  • AB-n-AP - 1000 on March 24, 2008
  • Sir Cache Alot - 900 on March 31, 2008
  • moletrap & the toothfairy - 900 on April 1, 2008
  • teymay02 - 400 on April 2, 2008
  • RedheadBasset - 1300 on April 3, 2008
  • lasermom - 1000 on April 3, 2008
  • Shadow Cachers - 2600 on April 5, 2008
  • Mon'Rose' - 1000 on April 5, 2008
  • SuperGoober - 1100 on April 6, 2008
  • bikertom1 - 100 on April 6, 2008
  • LyleVB - 1800 on April 6, 2008
  • mrring - 600 on April 6, 2008
  • BriLaura - 800 on April 6, 2008
  • Vader dad - 100 on April 7, 2008
  • Summitt Dweller - 2400 on April 7, 2008
  • mikeyr05136 - 200 on April 7, 2008
  • JeePSer - 700 on April 7, 2008
  • hiker6699 - 100 on April 8, 2008
  • bellcurve - 900 on April 9, 2008
  • Team Gamsci - 1400 on April 9, 2008
  • murrythedog - 100 on April 9, 2008
  • lagrac - 2300 on April 9, 2008
  • cc8c4 - 1800 on April 9, 2008
  • Parabola - 1600 on April 11, 2008
  • Monjorgan - 600 on April 11, 2008
  • mole275 - 700 on April 11, 2008
  • Muffkin42 x 2 - 1200 on April 11, 2008
  • lagrac - 2400 on April 11, 2008
  • bucknuts - 1400 on April 13, 2008
  • Blue Grass Tom - 2300 on April 13, 2008
  • bassman49 - 100 on April 14, 2008
  • ssbn598 - 400 on April 15, 2008
  • Sybilnme - 200 on April 16, 2008
Iowa's First Whereigo Cartridge

Written by Josh of Team Gamsci

On January 1st, 2008, Groundspeak, Inc released a new location-based game (where the game play evolves and progresses via the player's location) called WhereIGo. Very similar to geocaching, the major difference is the level of interactivity. A "cartridge" contains all the necessary information for the user to play through, and may contain not only text, but can include other media like pictures and sounds. The media is triggered by the player's location, derived by the GPS coordinates in the player's GPS receiver. Recently, in coordination between Groundspeak and Garmin, a new GPS receiver, the "Colorado," was released in time with the release of WhereIGo, and even has the player built in. This new location-based game can also be played on other devices, most notably GPS enabled Pocket PCs or PDAs. Pocket PCs can play both media types, whereas the Garmin Colorado does not have a speaker and cannot play the audio files and only display the pictures. Support is being looked into for other device, and possibly coming to Palm devices. Play can also be simulated with the emulator built into the builder software. It doesn't get you outside, but you won't get left out just because you don't have the necessary hardware.

When I heard about the upcoming release of WhereIGO, I thought of the possibilities. I could make a tour guide of my favorite areas, an interactive fictional story, a scavenger hunt, and so on. The limits are your own imagination. But, how do I make a WhereIGo cartridge? Well, you need the builder program. This can be found at the WhereIGo.com website. But, again, how do I make a cartridge? There is no documentation, no help file whatsoever. The best thing is to jump right in and start messing around. It shows up a little like programming, and since I have done a little bit of programming, I wasn't totally lost. Not too deep like real programming since Groundspeak wanted everybody to be able to set up a cartridge. All you need to set up your first cartridge is zones, tasks, and some sort of display.

1) Zones: Defined by your GPS coordinates. And an area around those coordinates, to be defined by yourself. Be it 5, 10, 50 feet or more.

2) Tasks: Make the user playing your cartridge go to your zones. Tasks can be active or inactive, based on your story. By having your user go to Zone 1, make the task "Go To Zone 1" active. Once he or she arrives, set the task complete and have them proceed to your second zone. Set the once inactive task "Go To Zone 2" to active. And so on until the end of your cartridge.

3) Display: Something to show your user once they arrive at your zones. On a tour guide, provide some information about the area the player is touring. In a story, tell some of the narrative.

Throw these all together and you have the basics of a WhereIGo cartridge. When I was trying to be the first one in the Des Moines area to have made a WhereIGo cartridge, I was missing something vital. I had my zones and my displays ready to go. I thought that was all I needed, that just by activating zones, the player could figure out that they would need to go to these locations. Stumped, I stopped working on it for a little bit. The only help I could get was through the WhereIGo forums. What a great resource. Many other users are on there, all discussing their own issues they come across. Reading through the forums, I came across postings that gave me my epiphany. I realized I needed tasks to actually tell the user what I wanted them to do. Once that was completed, I tested, tweaked and uploaded the file to the website. Ta da! The first WhereIGo cartridge for the Des Moines area, and for the state of Iowa.

WhereIGo is just now in its infancy. There is a limited amount of hardware for the game to be played on. Geocaching once started out small, but has grown so fast in a few short years. WhereIGo will likely follow the same pattern. As the functionality spreads to other hardware devices, together with the release of the WhereIGo type geocache, interest will spread. As more people get into this new location based game, a vast resource of help via forums and documentation should become available. It won't be long before you start seeing more cartridges released for your local area, around the U.S., and around the world.

IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin (TBP98Z)

It's time to nominate someone who you feel has put forth "extra effort" for the good of the Iowa Geocachers Organization and/or geocaching in Iowa. Here are some guidelines taken directly form the geocoin webpage used to help determine which nominee will be invited to log the coin.
In short, we are looking for people who take the lead in improving geocaching, the image of geocaching, or the relationships geocachers have with others.

This special coin is awarded no more than four times per year and each awarded nominee is invited to log the coin. Please send nominations to geocoin@iowageocachers.org with a few words about what the nominee has done to earn the coin. Please refer to the IGO "Extra Effort" Geocoin page for more details (TBP98Z).
Cacher Profile

GC.com Username: JeePSer

Number of Finds/Hides: 635/1

Occupation: He (Terry) works in IT for a mortgage company in Minneapolis but will be relocating to Des Moines at the end of February. She (Kim) works in IT for a financial company in Des Moines.

Our geocaching name: Our name is a play on words. At the time Terry created the account he owned a Jeep, so JeePSer seemed appropriate. Our name is supposed to be pronounced as GPSr but many people end up saying it more like Jeep-sir.

How long we’ve been geocaching and how we got started: Terry first heard caching in 2004, bought a GPS and found two caches but that was as far as it went. In May of 2007 there was a story on the news in Des Moines about some bullets with an envelope sitting on top shutting down part of downtown Des Moines. While we were watching the story unfold we figured that it was probably some kind of game gone wrong and that turned the conversation to Geocaching. We’d both heard of it and we were both interested in doing it and having a GPS on hand made that easy.

In the couple of weeks that passed, Terry was in Michigan for work but we scoured geocaching.com for caches that we would look for. Doing that research Kim saw a travelbug in the Interstate 80/35 Travelbug hotel that she just had to have. She decoded the clue (by hand because she missed the ‘Decrypt’ link) and went out on June 5th, without a GPSr to find the cache and teymay02’s travelbug – DinoBoy.

The following weekend, June 9th, DinoBoy TB joined us on our first geocaching adventure together in the Twin Cities.

Favorite hides: Terry: 1) The River Walk Multi (GC5YVM). It was our first cache together which started this whole thing 2) The Hoffman Park series in River Falls, WI. It was a nice day (60 degrees in August) and a good walk and there were a good number of caches to find.

Kim: 3) Fargo-Moorhead Bug-Tel West in Fargo, ND, (GCKH87). A very unique “hide”. 4) A Special Memory (GCQ596), it was our 200th find and a unique hide. Plus we had family with us and their reaction was priceless when we asked them to take us to a wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

Our favorite type of cache tend to be those where the owner has put a little thought in to the hide. Team Gamsci in Iowa and Posen in Minnesota have done some of our favorites.

Least Favorite hides: Micros in the woods, caches with no size listed and caches with bad coordinates and no attempt at correcting them.

Farthest cache find: We spent a long weekend in Vegas and managed to balance caching with visiting family. We didn’t go here to specifically go caching, it was an added bonus. We are always up for a trip that will get us a new State.

When we win the lottery: We would like to do the Cache Across America series taking a full year to do it. We have three of these caches at the moment and hope to someday finish the series.

Current caching goals: To make it to an event and meet other cachers. We’ve met four others out in the field but would like to make it to an event to meet in a social setting. Unfortunately all of the events to date have fallen on weekends when we’ve been out of State.

Caching in Ireland is also a goal that we hope to accomplish this year when we go home to visit Kim’s family.

Video Cache


We receive a treat this month from Josh of Team Gamsci who submits a video for our viewing pleasure. Watch as Team Gamsci hunts a cache hidden by The NVG called "Have You Lost Your Marbles?"

Geocaching in the News

Here's an article featuring the Linn County Conservation Department, the Iowa Geocachers Organization, and one of our very own members! :)

GPS game offers thrill of a hunt
By Orlan Love
The Cedar Rapids Gazette


Mini-podcast

Unfortunately no one submitted an audio file for the mini-podcast this newsletter, but we would like keep it published so everyone knows it's still available and can submit a short podcast (0:10 - 2:00) to newsletter@iowageocachers.org and can talk about pretty much anything. This portion is totally reliant on reader submissions so please feel free to record yourselves talking and send it to us! :)
Featured Column

"DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS"
by: Blue Grass Tom

Some say “tah-may-toe,” and some say “tah-mah-toe,” or so goes an old saying about the word “tomato.” Some people like chocolate ice cream, and some like vanilla ice cream. Your favorite color? Blue, red, green, yellow? It’s all a matter of personal preference, and that is probably the best way to characterize the various forms that geocaching can take.

Let it never be said that the ol’ BGT shrank from controversy! Yes, today I will attempt a feat that some think impossible, as I describe the different “flavors” of geocaching, and attempt to do it in an objective, non-judgmental way. Hop in the CacheMobile, as honorary members of Team 4WD, for this tour!

Geocaching.com
This is the oldest, and most commonly used website by geocachers. It lists and tracks hides and finds for its members, and offers some general guidance on basic skills. Currently, the main types of hides allowed include traditional, multi-stage, mystery/puzzle and letterbox hybrid. There are over 500,000 caches listed in over 200 countries. While there is no strictly-structured organizational framework for members, the increasing popularity and frequency of Event Caches, in which cachers gather usually for a meal and some fellowship, provide a means of direct communication for geocachers.

Navicache.com
Historically, this is the second oldest cache site. Like geocaching.com, it has been the original website for many geocachers. It is said to have a more European flavor, with quite a few listings of caches in Germany.

Terracaching.com
This site characterizes itself as being more oriented toward quality as measured by metrics relating to features like creativity and difficulty, rather than focusing on quantity of finds and hides alone. The structure for approving new hides is much more decentralized than, for instance, that on geocaching.com. A point system (TPS) has been devised for the various metrics involved, and users are able to have input that influences the points given, and can actually result in a cache being archived for too low a rating. When members sign up, they need two sponsors to be approved, and sponsors are given a percentage of the points that their sponsorees accrue.

Earthcache.org
This site has an academic underpinning, and while earthcaches can be listed on geocaching.com, they first must receive approval from earthcache.org to ensure that there is an appropriate educational content. These caches are locations, not actual containers, and the answers to certain questions must be supplied to the cache owner by email to receive credit.

GPSGames.org
This site offers a variety of caching-related activities. Approval of hides comes from other members rather than sponsors, and virtual and locationless geocaches are allowed. There is too much on this site to adequately describe in just a few sentences. You may enjoy exploring this one.

Geocaching.com.au
This group in Australia was started in anger over the refusal of geocaching.com’s refusal to allow fund-raising caches to be listed following the tsunami disaster of December, 2004, in that part of the world.

Podcacher.com
A marriage between the cache and the mp3 is the best way to describe this, I believe. It involves listening to an audio track that leads you to a cache! I’ve got one of these on my iPod, and it was interesting. Go to the website for more info.

There, that worked out okay, didn’t it? So, what’s the worry? Well, let me put it this way. The city I grew up in is located midway between Milwaukee and Chicago. All the kids on my block were Milwaukee Braves fans (Yes, I know, you believe they are from Atlanta. That just means that you are much younger than me.), with the exception of one kid, who was a Chicago Cubs fan. To show our disrespect for the Cubs, we would ride our bikes with the Chicago baseball cards attached to the back wheel with a clothespin to make a neat sound. That was our way, I guess, of showing the lack of value we felt the cards had to us. ( Had we saved them, we’d probably be the kings and queens of eBay today, no doubt!)

Well, my friends, that is an analogy, or maybe a simile, at least a story, showing how some geocachers view organizations that they are not a member of. Life’s too short for that stuff in my opinion, and I’d rather spend my time in the woods and parks of Iowa searching for that elusive quarry, the wily geocache. Resources used for this article included Geocaching.com, Terracaching.com, Wikipedia.com and Cachopedia.com. While certainly not all inclusive, this article should serve as a sampler of what’s available to the current geocacher. Keep on cachin’!

IGO Member Submitted Photos

Team Snoopy celebrates their 400th find!


Half of dazedandconfused at the Kilns of Hurtsville cache


The NVG sent this photo from MOGA 2008 of Morgan Finishing the Individual Competition

MOGA 2008

We want to hear from all IGO members who attended MOGA this year about their time spent at the mega-event. We're calling on everyone who attended MOGA to please submit something (anything) to be included into the next issue of the newsletter which will come out in about two weeks. We would really like to hear your personal MOGA stories, and if you have multiple stories to share, please share them! You can talk about the fellowship, the terrain, the food, the weather, the competitions, etc! Basically anything. Maybe you took a whole week off for MOGA and want to recap your entire trip. Anything MOGA related is fair game. Any photos you took during MOGA would be great as well. You can type something as long or as short as you want. Please send anything MOGA related to newsletter@iowageocachers.org. We would really appreciate it. The next issue of the IGO Newsletter will (hopefully) be full of MOGA stories, MOGA photos, MOGA videos(?), MOGA points of view, etc. IGO had a lot of members attend and it would be great to hear from all of you.



Please submit your stories, ideas, photos, and more!

We would love to receive any personal caching stories you would like to share. If you hid or found a geocache that you would like to highlight, please share your experience. If anybody would like to submit an article(s) for the IGO Newsletter please feel free! The next time you go on a trip, vacation, event, etc keep a journal or take notes and then feel free to send your geocaching experience to the IGO Newsletter to share with others.

If you have a great idea you'd like to see added to the IGO Newsletter please do not hesitate to contact us at newsletter@iowageocachers.org or through our profile on geocaching.com. If you have something "off the wall" that you're unsure if it may or may not be suitable for the IGO Newsletter please feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to discuss.
All user/member submissions will be subject to approval before being published in the IGO Newsletter.
Thanks for reading. Looking forward to the next IGO Newsletter!