Filed under: Software, Reviews, iPhone, App Store
TUAW Review: Geocaching iPhone app
I first mentioned this app at the end of September when word leaked out that GroundSpeak, the keepers of the Geocaching.com Web site, was working on an iPhone app. If you're not familiar with the hobby/sport/addiction that is geocaching, the concept is very simple -- people go out and hide caches in the great outdoors, use a GPS receiver to find the coordinates of the hide, then post the cache on the Geocaching.com Web site. Cachers go to the Web site, search for caches that are near their present location, and then use their GPS receivers to find the approximate location of the cache. Once they're done bushwhacking and find the cache, they sign the logbook, take and place trade items, and then log the find on the Web site.
A week after I acquired my iPhone 3G, I wrote a post talking about how to use the built-in GPS receiver and Mobile Safari to "do" geocaching. While the method works well, I was waiting and hoping for a much better way to geocache with the iPhone 3G. With the recent release of Geocaching for iPhone, it's time to see if that better way is finally here. Read on for more details!
To give Geocaching a workout, I decided to try the app while I was on a business trip in Sacramento, California last week. I love to go geocaching in cities that I'm visiting, since it's a great break from doing work and I usually get to know some more about the city and its history.
The application icon for the app is your first indication that this is the official Geocaching.com app, as it uses the four-color Geocaching logo. Launching the app shows you a nice trail scene as well as the standard Geocaching.com disclaimer, and you're asked if you wish to let the app find your location (see below left). Since you're usually going to be going out of your way to find local caches, you'll most likely give the app the OK to get the location from your iPhone's GPS. The next screen (below right) provides fields for searching for caches by postal code, address, or the special Geocaching.com GC code. You can also tap the "Search for Nearby Geocaches" button to find the nearest caches to your location.
A list of geocaches near your current location appears on your screen (see below left). The current version (1.1.1) of the app now gives you a filtered list that does not show any caches that you've already found. To do this, you need to set your Geocaching.com user name and password in the app settings page (see below right).
The list shows a surprising amount of information for each cache. The icon on the left side of the search results indicates the type of cache, most being "traditional" caches with a little plastic container icon. The difficulty and terrain are listed as a number from 1 to 5, with a 5/5 being the most difficult type of cache to find, in mountainous or dangerous terrain.
Groundspeak, the company that runs Geocaching.com, assigns each cache a unique code beginning with the letters GC. That code is important as a unique key for the cache, so it's included in the list. Finally, the distance and direction to the cache is listed.
Tapping on a cache entry in the list opens up a detail page (see screenshot below). This page shows the latitude and longitude of the cache and the same difficulty and terrain information, along with links to a description, recent logs, and a hint. The description will tell you something about the cache or historical information about the area in which the cache is hidden. The logs will show when and how people found the cache, sometimes including spoiler information that make it obvious where the cache is hidden. Hints are sometimes riddles that make it easier to find the cache, if you can figure out the correct answer to the riddle.
Tapping the Map button takes you out of the Geocaching app and opens Google Maps. A red pin indicates where the cache is located, and the traditional blue pin and pulsating circle show your present location. I often use the Directions feature of Google Maps to find out how to drive or to a location near a cache.I find it annoying that I am taken out of the Geocaching app and have to launch it again to get back to the cache information. It would be preferable if the app used its own browser.
The Navigate button opens a compass screen with a red pointer aimed at the cache location. Your current heading, the distance to the cache, your ground speed, and the accuracy of the GPS location are all displayed on the screen. The pointer can be helpful in triangulating the position of the cache, as GPS accuracy can sometimes be off and by walking around, you can get a better idea of where the cache is actually hidden.
How does this all work in practice?
If you're in a city or in a wooded area, you can pretty much forget about getting an accurate location. Where I was looking for the cache in Sacramento, there were both tall buildings and trees that were in the process of dropping their leaves. According to the Geocaching app, the best accuracy I was getting was about 156 feet! I decided to try again with a cache located in an area with a much less obstructed view of the GPS satellite constellation.
The second cache was near my home in Colorado. The leaves have dropped here, and the sky view is unimpeded by tall buildings. I used the navigate mode to get a red arrow pointer showing me how to get to the cache, and it did an excellent job of getting me to within about 20 feet of the cache (see screenshot below). However, the arrow was confusing me as it was whipping around the points of the compass, so I switched to the Google Maps view. Here I was able to see two pins -- a flashing blue one that indicated my location, with a blue ring around it indicating the possible area I was in -- and a red one for the location. With the Google Maps aerial view enabled, I could even see the trees near the cache location.
If you're not sure if the area where you're caching has a good view of the sky, I suggest trying a simple test -- walk around the area with Google Maps pulled up. If your "blue pin" is consistently keeping up with your walk, your accuracy is probably pretty good. If it is the blue pin is a block away and just sitting in one place, or if it jumps around the map, then you're out of luck and should either use a much more accurate GPS receiver or find another location to do your caching.
One more thing that Geocaching for iPhone can do is let you find the status of Trackable Items (see below). These are specially tagged items such as geocoins and travel bugs that are left in caches for others to grab and move to other caches.
This version of Geocaching is limited in what it can accomplish. I'd love to be able to claim my caches when I find them, instead of having to go back to my computer to log into Geocaching.com and do the deed. It would be cool to be able to use the iPhone's camera to add photos to the cache log on the Geocaching website.
Should a hard-core geocacher give up his or her dedicated GPS receiver and move to an iPhone? No. I don't think the accuracy of the GPS location is as good as some of the WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) enabled GPS receivers that you can buy from Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom. With most "real" GPS receivers, I find myself being able to find caches much faster. I think the iPhone is getting me in the general area, but not with enough accuracy to rmake my hunt much easier.
Between my comments about what Geocaching for iPhone needs and about the accuracy of the iPhone GPS, you might think that I'm totally dismissing the iPhone and this app as a geocaching solution. I'm not. I feel that it's a good solution, and it can only get better as the app is updated with new features and the iPhone gets even better location accuracy in the future.
I'd love to hear what other iPhone-toting geocachers are using as their favorite geocaching tool. Is it an iPhone with Geocaching for iPhone or another app, or do you prefer to use a separate GPS receiver. Leave a comment below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mitch Aunger said 8:11AM on 11-20-2008
I've been using GeopherLite as a geocaching tool - and it is pretty good. Has some of the same issues but is also only $2 as compared to the $10 of the Groundspeak product.
My success with using only the iPhone gps has been nil - i still take a dedicated gps unit with me.
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Hannes said 8:19AM on 11-20-2008
I have tried all available apps for the iPhone. The official geocaching app is by far the worst.
Geopher Lite is ideal for some quick-and-dirty caching, I also found some caches using only this.
iGeoCacher is expensive, but it allows you to go paperless - take some info with you if you go abroad and want to go caching without spending thousands on the internet bill. The navigation is also very well done, I also found many caches using only this tool.
My recent misfortunes (in the woods, wet weather) led me to buy a dedicated GPS unit (Garmin Oregon) which also supports paperless caching, for those times when I really want to spend a day out caching, not just for some quick finds while travelling.
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Hannes said 8:22AM on 11-20-2008
Oh yes, I find it terribly annoying that the official app does not allow to log finds directly in the field. Even Geopher Lite does that!
Steven Sande said 11:19AM on 11-20-2008
Hannes -
How do you like the Garmin Oregon? I've been thinking about selling my "old" Garmin GPSMap 60cx and picking up the Oregon for the paperless cacheing.
TUAWSteve
Matt said 8:28AM on 11-20-2008
FINALLY!!!!!
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Jeff said 8:36AM on 11-20-2008
It'd sure be nice if the Geocaching.com folks would allow 3rd parties to use the data from their site - given that it all originates from the unpaid hard work of geocachers the world over.
An excellent post about this by Scot Hacker explains it all:
http://birdhouse.org/blog/2008/08/24/notes-on-open-apis/
Originally, it was puzzling why they Geocaching.com people would keep people from touching that data. Now, with this app, it's more clear why: They want to be the only choice in town (even if someone else could do better).
- Jeff
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Steven Sande said 11:19AM on 11-20-2008
I frankly have no problem with GroundSpeak being the "only game in town". They started Geocaching.com, built it and the sport into what it is today, and they deserve to make some money off of their hard work. If anyone has an issue with GroundSpeak, they ought to start up their own Open Source project. There's a big opportunity for someone to address the issues with GroundSpeak's closed database and possibly make some money in the process.
TUAWSteve
ksmith said 9:05AM on 11-20-2008
The whipping around of the compass is no fault of the appilcation. The iPhone doesn't have an electronic compas chip in it like some high-end handheld GPS do. It knows what direction you're heading by sampling your position over some time interval and then using their relative locations to get a heading. If you stand still, then there's zero relative position, and it doesn't know which way you're facing.
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Justin Walther said 9:09AM on 11-20-2008
I've used geopher lite and also this official geocaching.com app. While I was glad to have geopher lite when there were no other GC apps, I am very glad to be using the official geocaching.com app. I couldn't stand having to transpose the location coordinates into geopher. I really like just hitting 1 button to be taken to the cache information page.
As far as accuracy, I find it decent. Not as good as my dedicated Garmin but easily good enough to have very successful caching trips. I find myself using the iphone for spontaneous caching. I'm out with the kids and the wife wants to get something from the fabric store so the kids and I pull up the app and go hunt for the closest cache.
One note not mentioned in the review but touched on: The compass needle is going to swing around wildly if you're not moving consistently in 1 direction. There is no directional capabilities yet in the iphone firmware (the GPS receiver has no idea which way you're holding the iphone) so the app estimates which way you're holding it based on your movement. If you stand still or move erratically the needle will be useless. My recommendation is to get close to the area with the maps feature then pull up the navigation and walk briskly around the area in straight lines of maybe 10 meters or until the needle locks on...then walk perpendicular to your path until it locks on again. That way you can get a very good triangulation.
Another thing not mentioned is that this app allows you to save caches for future caching where you might not have a cellphone signal to pull up data. Its a very handy feature.
Things missing:
The ability to log your visit...a HUGE missing piece in my opinion
Directional GPS - though not geocaching.com's fault. It was rumored to be in the 2.1 firmware along with notification system but both got pulled to more quickly squash bugs. Its not rumored to be in 2.2 so I don't know what the deal is. Directional GPS is also needed for turn-by-turn directions apps, fyi.
--Justin
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Steven Sande said 11:19AM on 11-20-2008
Justin - thanks for the insight into directional GPS! That's good to hear that it could be coming in iPhone 2.2. Having turn-by-turn navigation (rumor has it that TomTom is just waiting in the wings...) will make it possible for me to have one less gadget in the car.
TUAWSteve
Johnny said 10:44AM on 11-20-2008
I think the official app could use some more features (especially logging finds), which they've said are coming one by one. I don't really see how the other apps compare unless you've done your homework before heading out. The official app is the only one that makes it easy to look up caches on the go. In my experience, with a traditional cache, plotting the location in google maps shows the exact location which you can find easily if you lay it on the satellite image. Sometimes it is off a little, but so is a real GPS sometimes. I think it has more to do with the coordinates posted than the map/gps most of the time. I rarely (and almost never) geocache using the 'compass' approach. That just seems like a silly way to make it more complicated than it has to be, in my opinion. However, I can understand how that makes it more fun for some people and that's what geocaching is all about, so do it however you want.
I like the fact that there are many ways you can go about finding a cache. I don't really have anything bad to say about any possible method. Personally, I use both the iPhone and a Garmin, but the usually the iPhone is sufficient.
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Renee said 11:07AM on 11-20-2008
I have used both Geopher and theGroundspeakapp. The official app ismuch faster. Getting the iPhone was the enabled of caching as I have never owner a GPS before. I feel the iPhone is just fine. I have 154 finds under my belt. The features you listed would make it nicer but not essential.
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Darin R. McClure said 11:39AM on 11-20-2008
Am loving the official geocaching app, would be nice if you could log your finds, or turn off the compass spinning. As it is the first update let you login to your account thru the app & hide your finds, hopefully the next update will be able to fix some of the other issues mentioned here in the comments.
I have also played with the other apps they strike me as web apps when compared to Groundspeaks entry.
However, ALL of these apps are great at getting a fun sport to the masses, there is a world out there hidden right before your eyes, beware the muggles...
TNLNSL, TFTC!
Darin
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Grimlaf said 1:25PM on 11-20-2008
Steve: oregon vs 60Cx. I have an oregon 400t and a 76CSx. the 76 series is pretty much the same as the 60 series.
what the oregon will give you is a touch screen (which is much easier to use when entering coords), full paperless (but if you are a GSAK user you can get pretty close with the right macros on the 60 or with a 60 + palm), electronic compass (since you have the 60Cx vs the 60CSx), a bigger screen, and the ability to use wherigo.
the oregon doesn't seem to be quite as good at holding signal as my 76 however and it also seems to take longer to settle down and give reliable readings.
I bought the 400t as my wifes new gps and a chance to see if I want to upgrade my 76CSx. I'm staying with my 76CSx for now mainly due to cost, but I am still not quite sold on how durable or accurate the oregon is.
even if I was buying new today, the 400t is about twice the cost of the 76CSx, it would be hard for me to justify that increase in cost for the few additional features it provides.
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Aaron said 1:29PM on 11-20-2008
I've also tried a number of the other caching apps for the iPhone and the Groundspeak one is the only one I haven't deleted. It's cleaner and quicker. But I completely agree that the major thing its lacking is field notes. Right now I just save the caches I find in the app to keep track of them. I used to use a Blackberry with Geocache Navigator, and the field notes were my favorite feature.
For now I use this as a "while I'm out" caching solution. If I have a target in mind and go for that specific one I use my Garmin. But my girlfriend and I used the iPhone to great success in New York, NY, on our last visit.
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KentuckyDawg said 1:44PM on 11-20-2008
Groundspeak app is what intuduced me to the game. I have since purchased the Garmin 60csx to help with accuracy. But the app is very helpful when I want a quick hunt. I will be very glad when they give the ability to log finds and upload pics. You would think that with $10 a pop, they have made enough money to hire someone to help write this into the app if they can't figure it out my now.
Loving the sport. Fun "family time" !!!
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Alistair said 3:51PM on 11-20-2008
Looking at your profile on GC.com, I noticed that you haven't logged a single find since Sept 26th.
I'd have to assume that you weren't successful in finding either the cache in Sacramento or Colorado - unless you aren't logging your finds.
At one time I was a very active cacher in my community, but have since dropped off, mostly because I gave my GPS to a friend who seemed quite interested. Occasionally I think about getting back into it (and still do a few caches a year) but haven't felt compelled to shell out for a 60CSx or a Oregon.
Hearing that Groundspeak was going to create an app made me think that I should seriously consider getting an iPhone, as this particular application might just be the tipping point. However, with the coverage difficulties in BC (mostly dense tree cover), it sounds like the iPhone is still lacking.
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DJFriar said 6:19PM on 11-20-2008
I noticed it says it doesn't work with Jailbroken phones due to a possibly conflict with Winterboard. Has anyone on here ran into this? Does it cause it to not run at all or just might crash it or what? I'd like to gett he app, but I'm not gonna unjailbreak my phone, the 5 icon dock and the notifier add on are reason enough to jailbreak.
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Justin Walther said 9:49PM on 11-20-2008
@18:
It does work on jailbroken phones and it does work with winterboard. The key though is uninstalling winterboard and a package that is required for winterboard called Mobile Substrate, then installing the geocaching app, the reinstalling winterboard and you'll get that required package reinstalled as well. After that it works like a charm. I'm going on the assumption that we'll need uninstall those again next time Groundspeak updates their app.
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Hannes said 1:34AM on 11-21-2008
Steve, replying did not work for me so I'll post this as new comment.
I found the Oregon quite nice and it works very good with geocaching. I do not, however, have much experience with other gps devices.
The Oregon is quite small (smaller than the iPhone, but thicker) and the display is rather dark (there is backlighting, but that drains the battery quickly.
Caching is super easy: just drag&drop a geocaching pocket query gpx file onto the device and you get the correct icons on the map overlay and the decriptions too. You can even log finds in the field and simply upload these logs once you're with your computer again.
I'm happy with my purchase :)
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