Geocaching Version 4.0 features UI redesign and new functions

As a longtime fan of the pastime of geocaching, I've been following the evolution of the official Groundspeak Geocaching app (US$9.99) since the painful early days. With the release of Geocaching version 4.0 yesterday, it appears that Groundspeak has raised the bar with a new design and additional features.

If you're not familiar with geocaching, it's a location-based hobby where you seek caches (usually small containers with a logbook and goodies inside) based on hints, latitude and longitude coordinates, and a keen eye. You can also hide caches for others to find. GroundSpeak has a free Geocaching Intro app available if you're interested in learning about the hobby but don't want to make the $10 investment in the full app.

So what's new in Geocaching v.4? A lot. The user interface has been redesigned to make it much more streamlined. I found that actions that formerly took a number of screen taps are now usually no more than one or two taps away. Although I'm not fond of long lists of features, there's no other way to show all of the additions and improvements:

-- Google Maps integration (now have choice of Google Maps, Bing, or OpenStreetMap)
-- Ability to take photos and submit them with geocache logs
-- Ability to submit logs for trackable items such as geocoins and travel bugs
-- A logs tab with displays of pending and sent logs
-- Better reliability downloading pocket queries
-- Online / offline indicator
-- GPS acquisition status and location display
-- Listen to iPod app during caching
-- Support for home location (specified in geocaching.com user profile)
-- Notepad for every geocache listing
-- View any list of caches on map
-- View trackables inventory

Geocaching 4 has not been specifically rewritten for iOS 4 or the iPhone 4, so if you want to see the map graphics in all of their glory on your Retina Display, you're out of luck. A few screenshots of the revised app are included in the gallery below.

Geocaching version 4.0

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Source: http://www.geocaching.com/iphone/

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As a longtime fan of the pastime of geocaching, I've been following the evolution of the official Groundspeak Geocaching app (US$9.99)...

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Ron

As for augmented reality I use Spyglass AR and, aside from having to manually input GPS location information it's a *ton* better than anything else I've tried. The only annoying thing is my iPhone 4 compass (magnetometer) must be "recalibrated" before I go find anything because it says "N" but points me "W".

Spyglass AR. Highly recommended.

July 06 2010 at 6:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jared whittle

Google Maps works for me. Try reinstalling? (Yeah, annoying, I know)

July 06 2010 at 5:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Jared whittle's comment

Do the Google Maps (street view) show the arrow between yourself and the cache and update as you approach it? Also, are all the controls visible as when using the Bing maps? If so, you're an anomaly and very lucky. There's an uproar on the geocaching.com forums about this issue.

July 06 2010 at 6:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cody Rogers

Interesting local article about geocaching... (well, local for me)

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=12757716

July 06 2010 at 1:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Unfortunately mapping is severely broken in this update. Bing maps don't zoom in far enough and Google maps simply don't work.

July 06 2010 at 1:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

sterling

Agree with the comment about the UI. The app is fugly. If they invested in hiring an outside studio to redo the the look and feel of the app they would probably make their money back in no time.

July 06 2010 at 1:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Binja

It'd totally be cheating, but I would really love to see augmented reality. I've got a few caches that I have never been able to find. Maybe make it so using the augmented functions put a big red flag on your find to tell people you cheated? I dunno...

July 06 2010 at 12:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

William Hook

It's a nice update in terms of functionality, but for the love of god could they please hire a designer? The old app had a hideous UI, and the new one is just as bad. If you look at the stunning creations that Tapbots create (for example), and then you look at Geocaching.com's app, well....you get the point.

Even more, so, if you visit their forums, go to the member section, and show all their premium members. They have 159,170. Now, a premium membership comes in at $30, and based on how many they have, well, that's $4,775,100 in the past year alone. Surely, for that much, they could hire someone who knows how to use Photoshop to make a pretty interface? Or they could just buy Tapbots.

Still, Geocaching itself is a fun thing to take part in and if you haven't already, go and give it a try!

July 06 2010 at 12:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jared whittle

Now we just need support for the Retina Display and it'll be awesome! (The pixelation is kind of annoying)

July 06 2010 at 12:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply