Author Topic: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?  (Read 537 times)

Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #15 on: June 14, 2014, 11:11:18 pm »
Had an interesting chat with Mze****a (user named stared out by the system! - M z e b o n g a) about Wherigos after the Splash Mob Event.

Apparently, the company who originally developed the underlining code for Wherigo pulled out sometime ago, hence why there has been no further development, as GS would have to get another company to take on the development, presumably at some cost.

This begs the question, who owns the code, does GS or the original company who developed it?
« Last Edit: June 14, 2014, 11:12:53 pm by walktall »
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #16 on: June 15, 2014, 08:36:43 am »
That's interesting and possibly does explain why it is still in Beta. I reckon GS bought the code, but, as you implied, cannot develop it any further.

M z e b o n g a should sign up (if it allows his username  :D) and share more of this - wonder how he knew. I always thought it was 100% Groundspeak's.

Do you think that GS will EVER get round to doing something to advance Wherigo themselves?
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Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #17 on: June 15, 2014, 09:17:10 am »
Do you think that GS will EVER get round to doing something to advance Wherigo themselves?

You could say actions speak louder than words and even after many many requests to further develop Wherigo from the community and GS claiming that they will - nothing has happened :(
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Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #18 on: July 21, 2014, 02:03:26 pm »
Went yesterday to Worcester to collect some furniture and after the talk at the Event on Saturday about the Reverse Cache Wherigo, I noticed with a divert I could give this one a go, so off I went.

Got to GZ, did the preliminary information find which you need to, before you start the cartridge. Went to the list and it wasn't there :o :(

I was sure I downloaded it and put it in the correct folder. Re-started my GPS, it still wasn't there, grrrr :( Lovely gardens at Coughton Court and found a tradition cache so all wasn't lost but....

Got home and looked via the PC and it was there.

Turns out, I had too many cartridges in the folder, so some didn't display :( :(

I wasn't aware of that limitation and after a bit of web surfing, couldn't find it mentioned anywhere for an Oregon 300. Will have to experiment to find how many is too many.
« Last Edit: July 21, 2014, 02:05:26 pm by walktall »
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #19 on: July 21, 2014, 08:22:34 pm »
That's weird - I didn't know there was a limit either  :o Perhaps I should delete the ones I have loaded on there.
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Offline Bear and Ragged

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2014, 09:04:46 pm »
As a starting point, how many did you have loaded?
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Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #21 on: July 21, 2014, 09:54:28 pm »
The limit appears to be 25, I had 30 and hadn't noticed some were not displaying.
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Offline Bear and Ragged

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2014, 10:09:12 pm »
Posted in the Groundspeak forums...

Quote
Posted Today, 08:56 PM
1) Released in 2008, Wherigo was ahead of its time. It would have done better as an app, but smartphones weren't available during that time, much less app stores. Thus, few people possessed the devices on which Wherigo was initially developed to play. This led to a less spectacular reception than was most likely anticipated.

2) Wherigo had a high learning curve. While Groundspeak's builder was full-featured, it didn't do much to help non-programmers learn Wherigo. I think Groundspeak wanted to wait a while to see what the community would do with Wherigo.

3) Shortly after Wherigo's release, Groundspeak had to pursue Project Phoenix, a major upgrade of geocaching.com. This took a lot of their attention away.

4) Those responsible for Wherigo left the company before Groundspeak could return to Wherigo. This included dismantling the group J2B2. There was no one left with knowledge of the project.
5) It is easier to invest resources into geocaching because Groundspeak knows how to make money off it. Creating the software the Wherigo Foundation has developed to date would be a major undertaking for Groundspeak and likely involve great cost with an unknown way to garner a return on investment. Besides, I don't know how many people there actually know how Wherigo works.

While I've been told there is a lot of internal interest in returning to Wherigo, I have not personally witnessed this excitement because I usually only keep in contact with one person. They will, apparently, do things at their own pace, as they've always done. To my knowledge, Groundspeak has three moves: do nothing and drag this out (low risk, low cost), partner with the Wherigo Foundation volunteers (high risk, low cost), or begin developing Wherigo themselves (medium risk, high cost).

Every time I think about this situation, I wonder about Waymarking...

--\/- Ranger Fox
Groundspeak Volunteer - Wherigo Forum Moderator
Wherigo Foundation - Founder

Linky > http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=324273&view=findpost&p=5404871


In response to:

Quote
Posted Yesterday, 12:07 PM
Why hasnt Groundspeak spent more time on Wherigo? It is so hard to build a game... I love doing Wherigo geocaches but i want to build and make my own. But i am not having any luck with making my own.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2014, 10:11:19 pm by Bear and Ragged »
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #23 on: July 23, 2014, 09:14:24 am »
That's really interesting, thankyou for posting this here @Bear and Ragged  :)

I thought Wherigo did have an app now  ??? Or was that just Geocaching Challenges  ???

I have always wondered why GS launched Wherigo and Waymarking, I have a feeling they were simply trying to prove they were more than Geocaching, which wasn't even their idea  :D It seems poorly thought-out.

Which of those options do you think GS will go with?  ???

Sadly, I do have a feeling they'll "do nothing and drag this out"  :(

Talking about Waymarking, that gives me an idea for a similar thread  ;D
« Last Edit: July 23, 2014, 09:26:26 am by Griff Grof »
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Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #24 on: July 23, 2014, 09:31:38 am »
Basically, it's the community that are developing Wherigo by creating easier ways to build a cartridges. And then there are the apps as well.

The Android app looks good, only used it once so far.
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #25 on: December 06, 2014, 05:32:13 pm »
And it looks like there's a new way to create Wherigos, supposedly more easily...

Wherigo\\kit - wherigo.rangerfox.com

Quote
With Wherigo\\kit, you can create a cartridge precisely as you see it--right on a live map! Create zones, drag them where you need, and even adjust a zone's GPS coordinates for maximum precision!
Adding actions when a user enters a zone has never been easier! All actions automatically happen after each other--no special knowledge, coding, or tricks are required! If you ever need to rearrange actions in a zone, simply drag and drop to reorder them!
What does this all mean? It means you can create a complete cartridge in as little as five minutes!

Maybe there's some hope, but it doesn't seem like GS is any more interested than before, this is clearly third-party  :-\
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Offline walktall

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #26 on: December 06, 2014, 08:54:47 pm »
This is what I've been using but it was still in a beta form. My Bourton Wherigo was/is using this :)
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Offline Griff Grof

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Re: Is Wherigo really heading to the dustbin?
« Reply #27 on: December 06, 2014, 09:47:08 pm »
This is what I've been using but it was still in a beta form. My Bourton Wherigo was/is using this :)

Ohhh I had forgotten about that, how's it going?  ???
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