Why Garmin started Opencaching

Some weeks ago I read sTeamTraens opinion piece about Opencaching. There's only one thing I agree with him. The best Geocaching website and the best GPSr manufacturer should work together. sTeamTraen blames Garmin for the bad relation between the two companies but I think it's not only Garmin that can be blamed.

Groundspeak is finding ways to make more people Geocaching already for years. More visitors on the geocaching.com website means more revenue from banners, premium membership and the shop. The largest hurdle for people starting Geocaching is the purchase of a relativly expensive GPSr unit for a hobby you are not sure you like. For the last 10 years, Groundspeak focussed on the outdoor enthousiasts and gadget freaks because these people already had a GPSr or were more easily persuaded to purchase one as it already relates to their current interests. This approach has a perfect fit with Garmins objective: Selling GPSr units.

In the last 2 years, Groundspeak realised the expensive GPSr purchase hurdle could be removed entirely as everybody is carrying a GPSr in their smartphones. In order to achieve their objective of 'make more people geocaching', they switched target from 'people willing to buy a GPSr', to the smartphone people, see also my blogpost about the new geocaching.com homepage. This is 100% opposite of Garmins objective of selling GPSr units. I think Garmin saw this change of direction coming and they decided not to wait untill they were slowly abandonded. They decided to go in hard with their own geocaching website, opencaching.

With opencaching, Garmin focussed on the people already having problems with some Geocaching.com habits, like the review system and some other things. They created a Geocaching website without a review system and some other fundamental changes compared to Geocaching.com. At times, the group of people having problems with some geocaching.com habits looks big as they make a lot of noise on the forums and other media. I think Garmin overestimated the size of this group a little bit and allthough these people were having problems with geocaching.com, they were not easily making the change to Opencaching. I think Garmin targeted for a lot larger market share on the Geocaching market but underestimated the emotional connection Groundspeak has with their (allthough sometimes unhappy) customers, which makes them untouchable for any competitor.

I'm interested to see how long Garmin will struggle on with Opencaching as they are not offering a significant better alternative compared to what's already available. As I said, I agree with sTeamTraen that the best Geocaching website and the best GPSr manufacturer should work together. I think this is still possible as they work together on their own targets. This is possible. For example if Groundspeak finds new Geocachers in the smartphone users, they can pass them on to the GPSr manufacturers by educating them that the Geocaching experience is much better with a GPSr unit, which is true. This way the Geocaching market is split in two, where Groundspeak targets on the newbies with smartphone apps and where the GPSr manufacturers focus on the advanced Geocachers who use both a GPSr unit and the smartphone app.

A competitive market can increase value for customers. Opencaching has proved again that there is no additional value to offer in the current Geocaching market. In my opinion, working together on increasing the number of people geocaching and improving the geocaching experience will be more effective for Garmin, Groundspeak and the Geocaching community.

Opencaching: Are verified finds really verified finds?

Recently Opencaching has added the verified finds functionality. If you ever had the need, this functionality allows you to prove in your internet log that you have found the cache. Sounds exciting, but is it really what it sounds like?

There are several ways to prove you have found the cache including a code phrase, QR code or chirp. The used verification method is chosen by the cache owner and the verification is done in your GPSr. This can only be done in proximity of the cache as the software of your GPSr checks your actual coordinates when you verify the find. When you upload the verified log to the internet, a nice ‘verified log’ icon will be added to your log.

Accoding to the Garmin Trailtech blog: ‘there has never been a way to prove to the world that your logged number of finds actually coincides with your real world geocaching experiences’.

Well, when I find a geocache, I always sign the logbook. So, if you take a look in all the logbooks of all the caches I have found so far, you will end up with same number of logs as on the internet. To me, the proof that I have found the cache, is in the logbook. I know a logbook can get lost but I have no desire to proof I have found the cache in any other way.

But if I had this desire, how watertight is the ‘verified log’ functionality on Opencaching? A chirp signal can be picked up several meters from the cache. This means that a picked up chirp signal only proves you have been close to the cache. Same for code phrases, they can easily be shared on the internet and the verification with the actual coordinates only proves you have been at the right location. As we all know, finding the cache is a whole other story sometimes. The only real verification is the QR code. If I ever find an Opencaching cache, the only real proof will be in the logbook. No ‘I have been close to the cache’ stamp for me.

The new virtual?

Hold your horses on that Munzee thing I was blogging about last week. Why would you need that QR code? It is the GPS functionality of your smartphone that can be checked to confirm you are on the right location to do a log attempt on the internet! No QR code hiding, no searching, just visiting the coordinates is good enough! Wouldn’t that be great? It looks like this will become reality as it is exactly what Groundspeak is going to do with the new virtual!

At first I thought the new virtual would be some kind of Wherigo-like application that gives you a code if you get close to specific coordinates. You would need this code to log the virtual cache on the internet. However, in a Globalcaching chat session, Bryan Roth denied the link between Wherigo and the new virtual. When I described Groundspeaks move from the standalone GPSr to the smartphone in my post on the new Geocaching website layout, it looks like I got even closer to the new virtual. I only did not do the math, replacing Wherigo with smartphone.

Last week Cumbyrocks on his blog ‘It’s not about the numbers’ did do the math and described a theory which is comparable to my theory about the new virtual, but based it on the smartphone. The result is what I described in the introduction of this article. I think Cumbyrocks got very close to what Groundspeak talks about as the new virtual. Here is a quote from Jeremy from the Groundspeak forums to support these thoughts:

"In the UserVoice updates I never said that virtuals were coming back in their previous form, but instead something would be available that should capture the interest in virtuals without the baggage (such as the subjective review process).

To me, this is the most exciting project that we’ve worked on in years, but it will take some time to iterate through the idea and I know we’ll get some things wrong, but the framework is solid. We’ll be investing a substantial amount of effort with this project moving forward.

Some points:

It will be on Geocaching.com, not a new web site. It will be a separate section in the beta, but I expect it to be integrated into a joined search at some point.

Currently they will not go towards your find count, but it might at some point. It won’t at the beginning though.

It will be a visible statistic, so you will see them on the profile, on the logs, etc.

We’ll be hopefully launching with mobile applications to compliment the activity. I expect that the majority of participants will be using smartphones, but we will have components (Pocket Queries, GPX file downloads, etc) for traditional GPS devices.”

The issue with to old virtual was that you needed the photo or the answer on a question to prove that you have been at the location. There was no box and no log to sign, the basics of Geocaching. Now, the internet connection and app functionality of the smartphone provides the opportunity to create a virtual box and write a digital log right from the spot!

I totally agree with Jeremy that this is one of the most exciting new projects. It gives a totally new approach to Geocaching, without going far from the basics. Without the approval process, this new virtual would be easier to create and appeal to more users to create such a cache. It also gives Geocaching a new advantage compared to rivals such as Opencaching and Munzee. Without the QR code, a virtual cache is easier to create and easier to find compared to a Munzee. And easy is the keyword nowadays. Compared to Opencaching, Geocaching will create something that appeals to a lot of Geocachers and something that Opencaching can never create, unless Garmin builds an internet connection into their GPSr devices.

Another thought is, that it was not Garmin who started the war with the Opencaching website but it was Groundspeak who are on the smartphone track for quiet some time already and put Garmin with their GPSr devices on the side of the road. To continue selling GPSr devices to Geocachers, the only option for Garmin was to start their own community, Opencaching. This also explains the messy Opencaching website, because they had to launch it quickly before Groundspeak openly embraces the smartphone as the main Geocaching attribute. But if you want more people Geocaching, like Groundspeak, I think the smartphone is the right track. Soon everybody has one and the only thing Groundspeak has to do is spread the message. Also, the smartphone opens doors for exciting new approaches to the game, like this new virtual.

Do you have your own theory about the new virtual or another remark to this post? Share them by writing a comment!