Results from the March 1st "How Do You Do... Geocaching?" Event

Results from the March 1st  "How Do You Do... Geocaching?" Event

Saturday was such an informative gathering. It began as an information gathering session - the attendees completed this survey and then the fun began. Every piece of electronic equipment was set up and put through its paces in front of various individuals who were interested in that topic. Discussions varied widely - 1) types of PDAs to purchase; 2) features and abilities of GSAK, Cachemate, GPXSonar; 3) a demonstration of the routing feature - routing your way through a series of caches in a cache-rich area in a sequential (gas-saving) manner; 4) fun & handy GSAK macros (one to pull cache statistics, one to make special icons on our Garmins, etc.). My main regret of Saturday evening was realizing later that questions went unanswered. Too many conversations to complete to satisfy all. As a courtesy, I have written to some of those individuals and answered the questions I remembered them asking. Please contact me if I missed you. OreoPony[at]gmail.com. I would encourage those who feel so inclined to download, fill out and email the survey to me. As it stands now, the survey of 15 responses are as follows:

• 10 own Garmins
  
• 2 own Magellans
  
• 1 owns a Delorme
  
• 6 use "routing"
  
• 4 use "tracking"
  
• 8 own PDAs
  
• none own a SmartPhone
  
• 12 own a laptop
  
• 13 utilize "pocket queries"
  
• 10 utilize "insta-notify"
  
• 6 utilize the "bookmark" feature
  
• 6 utilize the "cache along a route" feature
  
• 2 are benchmark hunters
  
• 2 are Waymark hunters
  
• 7 utilize the Groundspeak forums
  
• 14 want to place caches
  
• 8 want to learn html code

Overwelmingly folks wanted to participate in group outings such as hiking, biking, camping and CITO events.

Using the information from the survey, I have reserved the same conference room at the Atascadero Library for Sunday, May 4th from 9:00-11:00 a.m. for an additional, more specific, session of learning and sharing. It will be a community effort of workshop stations. I am looking for folks whose knowledge is better than average on the above topics. You know who you are...

The Geo_Cats are spearheading a 12:00 p.m. event/gathering/picnic over at Stadium Park that same day at the base of Pine Mountain). Come to both and in the afternoon practice some of your newly-learned skills.