Groundspeak Portal

Hello all!

I'm new to ... well ... basically GPS games in general.  I recently got into geocaching and yesterday while on a goecache hunt in Fair Lawn, NJ I extended myself into waymarking by visiting a waymark site.

This morning when I went to log my visit I noticed there were no logs.  I then looked to see when it was posted and discovered it was way back in 2005!  I couldn't believe that the waymark - which is located in Fair Lawn (about 1 mile from a geocache site and near a major highway) - could go such a long period of time within anyone going to visit it.

It that normal?  Just trying to get a feel for how things work.  I guess I'm trying to determine if logging a "find" or a "visit" is the proper protocol.  Again, I'm brand-new to this and am sure that there are waymarks out there which have heavy traffic.  I just can't get over how a waymark can be in such a local place for over two years and not have even one visitor.  Making sure I'm not missing something. 

In general most of the effort in waymarking has been toward listing new waymarks rather than visiting.  Recently visiting of waymarks has increased (at least on many of mine).  I have several waymarks which have never been visited and may never have a logged visit and others which have had several visits.  I have one that is at exactly the same location as one of my virtual caches, the virtual gets visited all the time and the waymark has a minimal number of logged visits.

Is the original focus/purpose of waymarking to record sites as opposed to visiting them? 

While it is fair to say that Waymarking is still in the build phase, it is also accurate to say that Waymarking is for a different type of GPS gamer than Geocaching.  A vast majority of Geocachers are quite happy with finding the hidden containers and do not feel the need to expand into Waymarking.  This is due to many factors that really are not relevent.

Either way, making any kind of comparison between Geocaching and Waymarking likely will not work.  Geocaching has a seven year history but more importantly is established as THE game to play with a GPS unit.  Since both games are provided by the same company it is a natural thing to compare them.  Waymarking is not Geocaching, and appeals to a different list of clients. There will be some cross-over due to the natural relationship of the two

Geocaching to Waymarking is like Automobiles to Motorcycles.   At one time Motorcycle could be replaced with Unicycle... but we are growing.   Wait... did I just compare them?  That won't work

Regardles, after all is said and done both games are fun and if you enjoy Waymarking then that is all that matters.

 

BQ

For me, the gaming side of waymarking is seeing the grid fill up - the challenge of coming up with a location for a difficult category.  I love to search out new places and post them.  It's also a way to share spots with folks who have a common interest, such as a specific type of architecture, or something like trains, hiking, etc. 

I use the visit aspect of the site when I'm going to be travelling somewhere.  I find locations that I didn't know about and might want to visit - local parks, museums, sculpture...  I use the independent food categories to look for possible spots to stop and eat on a road trip - ice cream parlors, diners, pizza restaurants (lots of the best little indie places don't have Websites)...

What is great about waymarking is that if you ask any waymarker why they waymark and how they use the Website you'll likely get a different answer - "for the history" "to fill the grid" "to find cool places" "as a database for my vacation spots"...  You have to stick around awhile and experiment and you'll find the perfect way to use waymarking for you.

I have a beginner's guide on my Website that you might be interested in.  It walks people through how to post waymarks, log visits, etc.  Hope that helps.

quadcity007:

 I just can't get over how a waymark can be in such a local place for over two years and not have even one visitor.  Making sure I'm not missing something. 

I wouldn't be too surprised.  It really depends on how many active waymarkers there are in your area.  I think only a fraction of the active geocachers out there participate in waymarking.  Although there is an overlapping community (me for one) they do have mutually exclusive adherents.

I have many waymarks which are not visited and many who do get visits.  I have to admit that for me, most of the fun is in creating waymarks.

When I started waymarking, I only created waymarks. Even if I walked right past another I had seen online on my way to it. I just didn't see the point of stopping to take a picture of something that already had a beautiful picture. I also had a fear of rejection.

Over the past months that I have participated on the boards, I realize that leaving a log is a way to say "Thank-you" to the poster for posting it. I post many more "visited" logs now, out of courtesy. I came to realize that nobody was deleting my "visited" logs because I didn't have my GPS in the picture.

I do try to look at any pictures left by my visitors, and if it's better than mine, I make it the main picture.

I try to log visits to waymarks that are in categories I'm interested in and/or stuff I happen to go to in my home area.

When travelling, I have started using existing waymarks as an idea for places to go.

Ideally, you should just take pictures of any shop or restaurant you go to, any parks or tourist attractions and absolutely anything that's interesting to you.

For the latter, be sure to get coordinates, and if you can get coords for the rest.

Most categories will let you log visits to waymarks that you visited before you actually started  waymarking. I just posted visits to the First Starbucks.  I was there in 2005. I hadn't started waymarking and geocaching at the time.  But I was taking photos!

Personally I like the waymarking because it's a way to learn about places and things I wouldn't normally come across (like the Confederate monument in NJ) and to let others know about things I've found in my travels.  I'm new to waymarking but have been geocaching since 2005.  When I moved to Thailand I found that geocaching here is very different.  Inside Bangkok they are tricky because it is muggle heavy and if you don't look Thai then people are always watching you (kind of like an alien life form) so it's hard to grab caches sometimes.  Also, the police here have big guns and looking and poking in the wrong places might get you shot.  When I walked along the moat outside the palace to take pictures of the fountains there was a soldier with a large automattic rifle walking along with me across the moat and watching me.  Glad all I was taking was pictures.  In some countries there are only a dozen or less caches so waymarking fills that void for me.  Plus I find some pretty cool stuff like the exact miniature replica of Angkor Wat in Bangkok.  I try to log interesting and unusual stuff but I admit to adding a couple of McDonald's (sometimes I get tired of Pad Thai) and Starbucks.  In the end, it's up to you.  If you like to hunt them, then do it and share.  I personally can't wait to get to a country where there are a lot of waymarks I can hunt.  And I'm sure I have left lots of things for any waymarker who follows me to find and log.

FWIW, I have posted 14 WayMarks in the past five days, mostly within a few miles of home.

Two of them have actually been visited already, but not the nearby ones (my little corner of Vermont is not exactly a tourist haven). Two from recent trips to the northwest were visited within a couple of days of posting.

So, I think it would be safe to say there's no definitive answer. Assuming they're into GeoCaching or WayMarking in the first place, what interests people enough to post a new waymark or a visit, where they travel, etc., etc., etc.

I feel compelled to share this story from the other night.

 

A bunch of us Geocachers went out for dinner, and then for ice cream.  As often happens, my so-called friends take a few jabs at me in fun over Waymarking (although they call it something less polite).

Finally I said "But you would log it if it was a stupid Virtual Cache wouldn't ya?" and the reponse was "Heck ya"

I countered with "If the location is worth visiting, who cares what you call it?  Just log the {explative] thing!"

And without gaining any ground, I drove away later comforted by the idea that they would rather drive to some guardrail or lampskirt... deluded into thinking that it is great fun.  Sorry... that was meant to sound like "losers"

BQ