Author Topic: Adventure Lab  (Read 2430 times)

Offline walktall

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Adventure Lab
« on: April 19, 2019, 10:37:27 am »



I see the GAGB one has been posted on FB

The GAGB London Selfie Adventure

Quote
Welcome to the GAGB London Selfie Adventure cache. What is the GAGB? The GAGB is the Geocaching Association of Great Britain. It is a free to join association that strives to be the heart of the Geocaching in the UK. Our main activities are : Encourage good practice in Geocaching Media Enquiries around Geocaching Managing land owner agreements Help and advice around Geocaching Helping build the Geocaching community in the UK More information is available on our website here : http://www.gagb.org.uk/what-is-the-gagb.php or via Social Media. This adventure will take the player through a number of locations in the Central London area. All locations are wheelchair accessible and are perfect for taking that London Selfie. Each location will have a question that you have to answer. This proves that you were doing the selfie adventure and not sitting at home looking on Google Maps..


BUT, going to install the app, it appears (here we go again), the app has got a very poor rating: unstable, buggie, keeps asking for location, people having to reinstall, forgets you are logged in, etc  :'( :'( :'(


Has anyone tried any of the adventure labs?
And how do you find out if any have been published locally?

Geocaching Adventure Lab app FAQ
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2019, 11:00:05 am »
Took the plunge and installed the app and as I thought, the app shows the closest to you, which for me is two London adventure labs or slightly further, one at Nottingham or on the south coast at Twyneham.

So, will not be trying one out for the moment.

Do you have to keep going into the app to find out if new ones have been published?
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2019, 06:19:00 pm »
Yes, the GAGB one went live last night  :)

I think the only way to find out if they’ve been published is to keep checking the app. The ‘Welcome to Devon’ one looks good, as there are physical containers as well as virtuals (most of the ones on the app so far are just virtuals).

One problem with the virtual ones is armchair logging. I heard the Nottingham one was completed by loads of German cachers as some of the answers could be found on Google. They’ve since tweaked it, and Groundspeak have retired the web player, so in theory it should mean that it can only be completed in the field as you need to be using the app.
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2019, 09:27:21 pm »
So, if you don't have a smart phone (can you use Windows devices?), you can't participate :(

There has been many occasions while trying to do lab caches, that with out the GPX download, you couldn't do them at site, as a smart mobile didn't have a good enough data signal :(

I will definitely try some to see how well it works but haven't been a fan of lab caches.
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2019, 09:17:42 pm »
With the new 'Back to school adventure' lab caches published at Tewkesbury, thought I would give them a go to see what's new :)

What's new - basically nothing, they are just lab caches that now can only be done with a connected smart mobile :(

They will vary like normal lab caches in what you have to do to find the information you need to complete the lab cache. This particular one used nothing locally at each 'hot' spot :(  :o

Was there a time limit to get these out, as the CO said they aren't as good as he wanted them to be and I see the GAGB London labs are having issues ???

If these are going to be 'rolled out' more, will there be areas of the Country they just can't be placed due to poor Internet connection and are these to be the replacement for Virtual & Wherigo caches :( :o ???


I was so hoping these would be a new fresh cache, to add to the other 'main stream' cache types.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2019, 09:20:44 pm by walktall »
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2019, 05:43:13 pm »
Yes, there was a time limit/deadline - originally it was so, so tight (something like 5 weeks) so a lot of people wrote in and they extended it to April 26th.

The main problem with the London one is frustruation surrounding the very specific questions - the cacher who set it for GAGB also set the Nottingham one, which was logged by a lot of people without visiting the location as the answers were easily found on Google/Google Maps... so the questions were made more challenging to avoid this.

Another problem I’ve seen (with the new West Mids industrial revolution one) is cachers asking what the D/T ratings are - these are physical containers, and obviously the Adventure Lab app gives zero indication of D/T...

Why can’t Labs have D/T ratings? Why can’t they have cache sizes? If you’re placing them out for months, or even permanently, they should... they’re no longer temporary, as per Mega’s!

Also, if Groundspeak had such a problem with Virtuals, why are they suddenly allowing the placement of Virtuals in this form? Don’t the same issues still exist? Worse - Virtual Labs aren’t even reviewed!  ::) :o :D

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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2019, 10:17:32 pm »
I chatted with Will about his Labs in Tewkesbury and he said he ran out of time, not helped by a couple of locations had dodgy mobile signal, so had to change them.

I can understand making the Labs so they can't be done from the arm chair but I thought a frustration with the London GAGB ones, was that you had to do them in order which wasn't clear and people only found out when they tried to start in the wrong location. Has this now been turned off, as I saw there was talk about it?

How many locations will not be able to have these Adventure Lab caches due to poor mobile coverage or you have the wrong mobile provider, so can't do them :(

PS I wanted to try something out, so deleted my find on one of the Tewkesbury Labs but all you do is delete the find from your geocaching.com list, it stays as found in the app so you can't refind it and stays off your list of found :o :(

PPS I see Will has added another lab (security) cache since I did them, as it is possible to do the original four from home :o
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2019, 06:20:57 pm »
Just got an email from GC HQ and I've been awarded an Adventure Lab  ::) ;D

I've got till the 20th August to place up to five locations and make them Public. With the Megas in August, this means I need to get it done by the end of July, as I'm away after that, not back till 23rd Aug.
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2019, 10:18:21 pm »
Congrats, looking forward to seeing what you do with it  ;D
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2019, 12:31:36 pm »
Would have much preferred a Virtual, as I already had an idea for it :)

It's been handy to see what others have done and pit falls they've had. I want to make this a very local series if mobile signal allows.
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2019, 10:11:53 am »
Virtual Rewards 3.0? In the GCHQ podcast, when asked, the lackey responsible for Virtual Rewards didn't rule it out - so don't lose hope :)

It's been handy to see what others have done and pit falls they've had. I want to make this a very local series if mobile signal allows.

That's a good point, looking forward to it.
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2019, 03:49:42 pm »
Some more Adventure Lab developments. Geocaching organisations have been offered another Adventure Lab credit (for 10 Labs).

Apparently they are adding ratings to the app - that's good, so that if you put a lot of time and effort into it, you get rewarded (like favourite points).

From what I gather, Adventure Labs seem popular. People have embraced them, attempted them and there seems to be enthusiasm surrounding them. It looks like the 'experiment' has been a success.

My personal opinion is that they're too separate from geocaching itself: there's little to no integration with geocaching. com and the geocaching app (except them adding to your find count). It was different when Lab caches existed for the duration of a Mega event - Adventure Labs stay in place for 6 months (or more), so they should be more integrated: size (as some people are placing actual containers), Difficulty/Terrain (How difficult are these containers to find/how difficult is it to access the find code? Are they wheelchair accessible or is special equipment required?) and how about the option of writing a log entry? Then there's the fact that they do not appear on the geocaching. com map. If Adventure Labs are in place for months, at least, shouldn't their start point (or all locations) be shown on the map?! They cannot be searched for. They are not reviewed, in the case of Virtual Labs, so there is no form of quality control (wasn't that the reason Groundspeak grandfathered the Virtual cache type?).

I don't know where they're going with Adventure Labs, but I just hope they address some of the above and make them part of geocaching - a proper cache type - not a separate game that happens to increase your GC find count.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2019, 03:59:13 pm by Griff Grof »
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2019, 09:52:55 pm »
Good points and some I've voiced myself.

The point of being reviewed - when creating Adventure Labs (AL), you have to create a virtual Traditional cache (not to be published), so they can be reviewed before you create the actual AL cache. So there is some review.

Also, I'm unsure how much you can, if at all, you can tweak a AL cache once it has been found, so if there is an issue that needs a tweak, can it be done?


The other thing that separates them also, is they can only be done 'live' as there is now no GPX download :( There are going to be areas were they just can't be placed or if you are on the wrong network, you can't find them :o :(
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2019, 10:18:26 am »
I had an idea for a set of Labs but one location has no mobile signal and I think, it has the most interesting thing to find out of the set, will have to re-think :(
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Offline walktall

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Re: Adventure Lab
« Reply #14 on: July 14, 2019, 01:04:53 pm »
Not sure if I'm going to be able to get any out, not helped by poor mobile coverage near home :(

Had to re-think again, as another idea I had I can't use with no mobile signal :(
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