Geocaching

[Roadrunner]

I used hand held GPS's like Garmin back then but now use my Samsung smart phone with the geocache app and I find it's a better experience (although the temptation to scroll through the log on the app to give you a hint or two is strong sometimes!).

For those that are interested have a look here: https://www.geocaching.com/play

[Puspawarna]

I don't remember - it broke so long ago - but I'm sure that whatever was wrong with it was not fixable at a reasonable cost.

[hanung665]

Why don't you repair your old GPS, Puspawarna?


@hanung665

[Puspawarna]

Hah hah, old thread. I don't geocache any more - my son is older now (he loved it when he was 8 or 10 years old), and when my GPS died and I had to get a new one, I never did get the hang of the interface, which was quite different from what I was used to.

But geocaching can be done with a smart phone now, so maybe I'll take it up again at some point.

[hanung665]

It seem that geocaching is not popular yet here, Roadrunner


@hanung665

[Roadrunner]

I haven't chased these in almost a year but I know there is one in Balikpapan that I'll hunt down next month, I'm also going to set two other traditionals for people to 'ride' for, one in around Putussibau and one near Kuala Kulun.

People, if you hunt, do the right thing, log it and leave it or leave something cool in its place !

[hanung665]

So, is there anyone do geocashing today?

I plan to put one or two caches around Jakarta Pusat and Bintaro..



@hanung665

[IndExpat]

IDK much about geocaching stuff, I'm curious and willing to be involved wth geocaching in Indonesia esp. Jakarta. I will bring my metal detector if it necessary.

[vin.vierge]

Definitely no physical prizes in that type of cache The majority of Indonesia's caches are out in the wilderness, I'm betting, but check out the ones established by "the curious cats" - it looks like three of them are in Jakarta.

Geocaching does seem to be alive and well in Indonesia so I guess we do not have to make a push to get it started. Anyone who really wants to do it can find what they need on the www.geocaching.com website. I'll be glad to answer any questions if you are confused (always assuming I'm not equally confused - I think my knowledge of the sport is a little out of date).

I know it cant be done in Jakarta with rapid houses standing side by side, but in a park or a camping field in the hills perhaps? I saw that the cache placed in a grey or black can or something and hidden between bushes, big stones or under the tree. do geocachers allow to bury their cache?
just made an account and starting tinkering with the page and my phone gps

[Hombre de Maiz]

No IOUs or promisory notes for services then?

[4Kaka]

hmm.. just thinking about how many muggles there are in this place.. the survival rate for caches here could be very low.
the aim of geocaching should be to keep the cache alive, and track progress, rather than collect prizes.
the pleasure is sometimes just finding the cache and making sure no one sees you.. can be quite funny.

[Puspawarna]

What can of prizes can I expect?

98 percent of the time insignificant trinkets only; the fun is in the search and in logging an ever-growing number of finds. I can't speak to Indonesia, never having cached here, but in the US at least, cache contents are becoming less interesting as the sport matures. I suspect that is both because the novelty has worn off and improved technology has made it easy to geocache on a whim, instead of requiring advance preparation.

Indonesia, or at any rate Java, probably does not lend itself to having a lot of readily accessible caches with neat prizes inside. It's too populated here! There are probably not a lot of places where you can hide a container and no "geomuggles" will ever notice people pulling out a container of goodies and hiding it again. (Remote mountains/jungle, sure, but those locations don't lend themselves to frequent and easy caching trips.)

The solution that cachers usually follow is either micro-caches (too small to hold prizes; usually there is just a rolled up piece of paper inside a film canister so you can sign the log) or virtual caches (in which there is no physical cache, but you prove to the person who set the cache that you found it by e-mailing them the answer to a question that you would know only by making it to the cache spot.) For some reason new virtual caches are not allowed to be established, but old ones have been grandfathered in.

Indonesia seems like a good place for "Earthcaches" (I see a number of them in the list of Indonesian caches). They are defined as follows on the website:

An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth. For more information about EarthCaches, visit http://www.earthcache.org/.

Definitely no physical prizes in that type of cache.

originally posted by vin.vierge:
among 80 caches, how many of them placed around jakarta or west java area?

You'll have to start caching to find out. The location listings for Indonesia are not very specific, they just say "Indonesia." But -- you can sign up on the site (it's free), enter your coordinates, and do a search for, for example, within 75 kilometers of your home coordinates. Or you can search via GoogleEarth, or there is an iPad geocaching app; lots of ways to get started.

The majority of Indonesia's caches are out in the wilderness, I'm betting, but check out the ones established by "the curious cats" - it looks like three of them are in Jakarta.

Geocaching does seem to be alive and well in Indonesia so I guess we do not have to make a push to get it started. Anyone who really wants to do it can find what they need on the www.geocaching.com website. I'll be glad to answer any questions if you are confused (always assuming I'm not equally confused - I think my knowledge of the sport is a little out of date).

[Hombre de Maiz]

What can of prizes can I expect?

[vin.vierge]

among 80 caches, how many of them placed around jakarta or west java area?

[Puspawarna]

Well, I took a look at the geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) and there seem to be about 80 caches in Indonesia, though a lot of them have been placed by non-residents. On the first page of Indonesian caches, these seem to be Indonesia-based geocachers:

The Curious Cats (Jakarta)
panaramamacikaso (Sukabumi)
CKschoolgeocaching (Medan - probably one handle used for an afterschool activity at Chandra Kusuma and including a bunch of high schoolers, or something like that)
glogloman (who seems to divide his/her time between the Czech Republic and Indonesia - he's a divemaster so maybe he just does a lot of dive trips here)

Further searching might reveal more, but it's a somewhat tedious process - if anyone wants to tackle page 2, be my guest! Otherwise I'll go back to it in the next few days when I'm procrastinating on a particularly boring bit of work...