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.

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!

Which Garmin for geocaching?

On may 18th the new Garmin GPSr model Montana was released. Last week also the new Etrex series was announced. Together with the already existing GPSMAP62, Oregon and Dakota series, there are already 5 options for a geocaching GPSr within the Garmin brand only. All models have the high sensitive receiver, support custom maps (except Etrex 10) and support paperless geocaching which makes them all perfect geocaching devices. Which one is most suitable for geocaching?

Etrex
The Etrex model is the cheapest and most basic model and comes in 3 versions, the 10, 20 and 30. The 10 does not support maps, which comes in handy when geocaching so this one is not the best for geocaching. The 20 & 30 models support the maps where the 30 also has a built in electronic compass and a barometric altimeter.

GPSMAP62
Compared to the Etrex, the GPSMAP62 has some more buttons to push which makes operating the GPSr more easy. The difference between the GPSMAP62 and GPSMAP62s is exactly the same as the difference between the Etrex 20 and 30.

Dakota
The Dakota series has a totally different user interface, a touchscreen. Difference between the 10 and 20 version is again the built in electronic compass and a barometric altimeter.

Oregon
The Oregon is similar to the Dakota 20 but has a wider touchscreen interface. Nice feature of the Oregon is that it supports Wherigo, which none of the other models do. The top range version also has a camera.

Montana
Top of the range model is the Montana. This model has an even wider touchscreen compared to the Oregon and can be used in both landscape and portrait mode. The Montana also supports spoken routing directions, so you can use it in your car. Nice, but I would prefer a field GPSr which communicates with the built in GPS in my car, so I can sent the parking waypoint to my car GPS, instead of a GPS that I can use in and outside the car. Camera is included in the top range version of the Montana.



My personal top 5:
1. Still the Oregon. It is the only one which can do everthing, including Wherigo.
2. Etrex 20. Cheap and can do almost everything. To be honest, I have never used the electronic compass on my Oregon.
3. GPSMAP62. If you do not like the touchscreen of the Oregon and you want easy buttons to push, the GPSMAP62 is perfect for you.
4. Dakota. If you want a touchscreen, buy the Oregon.
5. Montana. Large, heavy, expensive and still does not have all the functionality I would like to have.

The chirp revolution

Last october Garmin promised a big difference in Geocaching when announcing the Chirp, a wireless beacon that sends data to your GPS.



Now, 8 months later, there are already 10 chirp caches in the Benelux! That's just over 1 each month. That does not sound like a big difference to me! There are also no chirp caches in the Benelux with over 10 favorite points. CacheFreakTim thinks Chirp is an awesom concept. I think it is not making the big difference promised by Garmin.

There are two simple reasons. The chirp is too expensive and the functionality is limited. 23$ is simply a lot of money for an electronic device that easily gets lost or broken. Also the fuctionality is limited as you can only sent text or coordinates to a GPS device. Also, the functionality is almost equal to wherigo. If you enter a specific area, you get information from the chirp. Isn't that the same thing wherigo does? Revealing information when you enter an area?

More creativity in geocaching is delivered by beautifully handcrafted or cleverly hidden waypoints or caches. Not by delivering waypoint information in an easy and technically advanced way. The key for a good cache is the element of surprise. The magical combination of surprise by a chirp has not yet been created by a cache owner and untill this has been not been done, chirp does not live up to its promise.

Garmin Oregon; Trashbin or...

First I would like to thank someone. I would like to thank the guy who was telling something about his weird hobby Geocaching at the television show 'Kopspijkers' back in 2005. Finding tupperware boxes with help of million dollar satelites, that's weird! But wait a minute, this sounds like hiking, navigating and challenge. I like those things! This sounds like something for me! Thanks man, for this great addiction!

A few months later I bought my first GPS. Let's see if geocaching is something for me. It had to be cheap GPS because I did not want to spent a lot of money on a hobby I did not even know I liked. So I bought my first GPS on ebay and it happened to be a Garmin Etrex H.

Now, 3 years later, Geoaching appeared to be something I like a lot. So, I treated myself with a new, more advanced GPS last Christmas. First I was looking at a Garmin GPSMAP60CSx but this one is missing the Wherigo functionality, a very promising new trend in Geocaching in my opinion. When I read about the Garmin Dakota and Oregon series, I was sold. The Dakota is also missing the Wherigo functionality but the Oregon had all the options I wanted.

There are a few different versions of the Oregon. The 200 is the most basic version. The 300 has an electronic compass added, the 450 has detailed maps added included and the 550 has a camera but not the cards.

The first test for my Oregon was 'Van de Kaart', a recommendation. According to the description, this cache is not very easy and various options of the GPS need to be used. All I need for a good test! It was January 2nd and the first thing I discovered is that it is very hard to use the touch screen with gloves. The next thing I discovered is the accuracy of the Oregon. I found all waypoints within 2 meter of the GPS indication. With being used to the avarage accuracy of the Etrex, something like 20 meters, this was a major improvement. I do not like searching but I really like finding. Now I could tell whether the waypoint information was hidden on the trashbin or on the restplace right next to it. This will save me a lot of searching without finding! I would never have found a difficult cache like 'Van de Kaart' with my Etrex.

Another big improvement compared to the Etrex is the map. When you enter a new coordinate you hit the 'view map' label and you can immediately see whether the new waypoint makes sense or not. Now, I can immediately see whether I made a miscalcalculation or a typo so my waypoint appears to be in the water or on the other side of a river, which has happened a lot in the last 3 years.

Using the Oregon is very easy. I never needed the manual (is a manual included anyway?) for 'Van de Kaart', which includes a cross projection and multiple different date notations. There are also some strange things, like it seems that the Geocaching module of the software is only written for traditional caches. The additional waypoints of multicache are loaded as seperate waypoints and not as child waypoints related the the geocache. Also creating a new waypoint for a multicache is not very straight forward and is only possible from the main screen. What I also have not been able to do is getting the geocaching dashboard active when navigating to a normal waypoint. This dashboard is the most usefull dashboard because it is the only one with the map and compass active in a single screen. If somebody has managed to achieve this, please let me know!

Another missing thing is the danger area option, which is used in more and more caches recently but I was a bit lucky I did not need it for 'Van de Kaart'. Hopefully this will come in a software upgrade soon. For software upgrades, by the way, use the Microsoft approach and install the upgrade when the first hotfix is available which fixes all the issues in the new version because the bugs can be very disturbing. Another point of concern for me was battery usage, but allthough the Oregon is using more power then the Etrex, you can easily spent a day caching on a single pair of batteries.

Besides these few minor remarks, I am very pleased with my new Oregon. If you are thinking about buying one, Do not think about it, just do it!