I see now that you can download Waymarks into Google Earth. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, as the laptop I'm posting this from runs very slowly (need to burn a bunch of Waymarking photos to CD and free up some room, among other things.)
I think this is a pretty cool deal. For me personally, it'll mostly just fill some free time, looking around at different waymarks on GE. It is one step closer to .GPX and PQs. For me those aren't that big of a deal. If I want to visit some Waymarks, it's still just as easy to download waypoints using .LOC files....I really don't need to take the entire description of a place with me at all times. I only need to know the logging requirements, and I'm good to go. I guess I don't understand why there are folks out there who refuse to participate in Waymarking just because .GPX files aren't available. Sure, it means the Waymarking site and functionality is different from Geocaching....but that's the whole point of Waymarking being a separate site.
Near N40° 18.775 W083° 07.073
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Saturday, June 9, 2007
A little more catch-up.
I had a few moments free this evening so I decided to go through a little more of my back log. I posted 5 locations in the US National Register of Historic Places; The Hotel Harding, Ohio Wesleyan University Student Observatory, The Dr. David Henderson House, the Hanby House, and Towers Hall. All of those were quickly approved by silverquill, and I'm beginning to think that he does nothing except approve Waymarks :) . In addition to those I also stacked a few locations as well. I dropped The Oldest Concrete Street in America into the "First of its kind" category, after previously listing it under the Ohio Historical Markers, and Superlatives categories. I also put the register for Ohio's highpoint into the Summit Registers, and Guest Books categories. While technically I didn't mark this in any other categories, I did mark the highpoint itself, which is only a few feet away, in the Superlatives, and Ohio Historical Markers categories the other day. The First of its Kind, Guest Book and Summit Register haven't been approved yet.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Hikenutty's reply...
A few days ago I mentioned having posted over 100 Waymarks in the Ohio Historic Markers category, to which Hikenutty replied. I was going to reply to that, but I figured I'd just do it as another entry since I realized that what I had to say was a little lengthy.
Having posted that many in that category really goes back to how I started in Waymarking. When Waymarking first came around, I looked at it, but I wasn't all that interested. There was nothing about Waymarking that turned me off, as a matter of fact, I had always enjoyed locationless caches, it was just that I was too lazy to take a couple of minutes to really explore the site. A few months later in some of the local Geocaching forums there was a challenge thrown out to try to get the Ohio Historic Markers above the Pennsylvania Historic Markers in terms of being the largest. For what it's worth, PA currently has more Waymarks listed in their category than Ohio has markers in the entire state....in other words, no way we'll ever win.
So from there I decided that I can certainly help in the effort, and I've always enjoyed stopping to look at the markers when I run across them. My first foray into Waymarking was solely in Ohio Historic Markers, and I took a couple of trips around through other parts of the state, just to mark historic markers. One day I decided to finally sit down and see what else Waymarking had to offer, and realized that it is really appealing to me. So a lot of the reason that my numbers are so high in that category is that I concentrated just on that one category for a while before getting into full-blown Waymarking. Because of that I feel that my numbers appear a little inflated for the category, but who cares, since I've had fun with it just the same.
Having posted that many in that category really goes back to how I started in Waymarking. When Waymarking first came around, I looked at it, but I wasn't all that interested. There was nothing about Waymarking that turned me off, as a matter of fact, I had always enjoyed locationless caches, it was just that I was too lazy to take a couple of minutes to really explore the site. A few months later in some of the local Geocaching forums there was a challenge thrown out to try to get the Ohio Historic Markers above the Pennsylvania Historic Markers in terms of being the largest. For what it's worth, PA currently has more Waymarks listed in their category than Ohio has markers in the entire state....in other words, no way we'll ever win.
So from there I decided that I can certainly help in the effort, and I've always enjoyed stopping to look at the markers when I run across them. My first foray into Waymarking was solely in Ohio Historic Markers, and I took a couple of trips around through other parts of the state, just to mark historic markers. One day I decided to finally sit down and see what else Waymarking had to offer, and realized that it is really appealing to me. So a lot of the reason that my numbers are so high in that category is that I concentrated just on that one category for a while before getting into full-blown Waymarking. Because of that I feel that my numbers appear a little inflated for the category, but who cares, since I've had fun with it just the same.
Minnetrista Geocaching Event
I just returned home from Muncie, IN where I stopped over for the national opening of the GPS Adventures Maze exhibit. It's a pretty cool little setup they've got going on, and from the sound of it, it's going to be touring the US. I suggest checking it out if it comes around to your neck of the woods, especially if you have children. In conjunction with the maze the folks at Minnetrista have set out a few pseudo-geocaches to be found on the grounds. I ended up getting there a little late, so I missed the social part of the event, but I still went out to find the pseudo-caches, along with a few other real caches out there. Along the way I met up with some folks from Cincinnati and spent most of the afternoon chatting with them, and finding the caches. So it turned out to be a great afternoon.
The event started at 2pm, and I decided to get an early start to take a more "off the beaten path" route to Muncie. I wanted to Waymark a few Ohio Historic Markers, as well as have a more relaxed time getting there. I could have run Interstate 70 almost all the way from home to Muncie, but I just didn't want to do that. Between the Waymarking, and several bad thunderstorms which reduced visibility to about 20', literally, and produced some decent size hail, that's why I ended up getting to the event late.
One issue I'm constantly running in to with the Ohio Historic Markers is the lack of documentation about their location. All of Ohio's markers can be found at RemarkableOhio.com, but due to the nature of Ohio's marker program information can vary widely. Ohio is somewhat unique in that the Ohio Historic Society (OHS), who sponsors the program, doesn't actually come up with ideas for the markers. The markers are left up to the community, organization, or individual who wants a marker. Essentially someone submits and idea along with text for the marker to the OHS, and then the OHS decides if it's truly marker worthy, and then has the marker cast. So it's nice that the state isn't force feeding history down our throats, and they also recognize that someone who has lived all their lives in an area where a certain piece of history happened or exists would know more about it than they would. The issue comes from the fact that they didn't really keep much record of the markers in the early days (the first marker was placed in 1957). So now when you look at the markers you may get anything from exact coordinates for the newer signs, or vague descriptions for the older ones. Even if an exact address is given, it is still subject to being completely wrong information. The most vague description I've seen for a marker's location just state "Mt. Vernon." Granted Mt. Vernon, Ohio isn't exactly a metropolis, but it's a sizable town, and it's hard to tell where they may have tucked the marker away. I've still not come up with that one, although I have a much better idea where it may be based on some photos submitted by a user of the remarkableohio.com site. Along similar lines markers get listed on the website sometimes many months before the marker actually gets placed and dedicated. There was one in a nearby small town that I looked for 3 times because it was listed as 2006 for its date, but I later found out that it didn't get placed until sometime in May of 2007, which would be about a year after I first tried to find it. I ran into something similar today with one marker I tried to find, but I ended up finding some other interesting Waymarks near where the sign will be.
There were 3 of the markers that I couldn't find today. One hasn't been dedicated yet, and the other two I just simply didn't see now that I've looked more closely at the pictures and descriptions. Oh well, some other time. I did manage to get a few other marks that I wasn't intending, since I only meant to get the Historic Markers and anything in the immediate vicinity, but there were a could of things that I couldn't resist. I also grabbed a couple of visits while in Indian as well when I left the event.
I took the Interstate to get home, and it really reminded my why I like to stick more to the US and State routes instead of the interstates. It's much more relaxing, and I really enjoy going through all of the small towns along the way. Sure, it's usually much longer not taking the interstate, but I'm not so sure we're better off traveling the quickest route. I find when I do that I wait to leave until the very last minute, because I can, then I get frustrated with traffic that is going to "make me late," even though it was really my fault for not leaving earlier. Then you zip through the countryside never being aware of what the area really has to offer in terms of people, unique places to eat, interesting history, or whatever.
The event started at 2pm, and I decided to get an early start to take a more "off the beaten path" route to Muncie. I wanted to Waymark a few Ohio Historic Markers, as well as have a more relaxed time getting there. I could have run Interstate 70 almost all the way from home to Muncie, but I just didn't want to do that. Between the Waymarking, and several bad thunderstorms which reduced visibility to about 20', literally, and produced some decent size hail, that's why I ended up getting to the event late.
One issue I'm constantly running in to with the Ohio Historic Markers is the lack of documentation about their location. All of Ohio's markers can be found at RemarkableOhio.com, but due to the nature of Ohio's marker program information can vary widely. Ohio is somewhat unique in that the Ohio Historic Society (OHS), who sponsors the program, doesn't actually come up with ideas for the markers. The markers are left up to the community, organization, or individual who wants a marker. Essentially someone submits and idea along with text for the marker to the OHS, and then the OHS decides if it's truly marker worthy, and then has the marker cast. So it's nice that the state isn't force feeding history down our throats, and they also recognize that someone who has lived all their lives in an area where a certain piece of history happened or exists would know more about it than they would. The issue comes from the fact that they didn't really keep much record of the markers in the early days (the first marker was placed in 1957). So now when you look at the markers you may get anything from exact coordinates for the newer signs, or vague descriptions for the older ones. Even if an exact address is given, it is still subject to being completely wrong information. The most vague description I've seen for a marker's location just state "Mt. Vernon." Granted Mt. Vernon, Ohio isn't exactly a metropolis, but it's a sizable town, and it's hard to tell where they may have tucked the marker away. I've still not come up with that one, although I have a much better idea where it may be based on some photos submitted by a user of the remarkableohio.com site. Along similar lines markers get listed on the website sometimes many months before the marker actually gets placed and dedicated. There was one in a nearby small town that I looked for 3 times because it was listed as 2006 for its date, but I later found out that it didn't get placed until sometime in May of 2007, which would be about a year after I first tried to find it. I ran into something similar today with one marker I tried to find, but I ended up finding some other interesting Waymarks near where the sign will be.
There were 3 of the markers that I couldn't find today. One hasn't been dedicated yet, and the other two I just simply didn't see now that I've looked more closely at the pictures and descriptions. Oh well, some other time. I did manage to get a few other marks that I wasn't intending, since I only meant to get the Historic Markers and anything in the immediate vicinity, but there were a could of things that I couldn't resist. I also grabbed a couple of visits while in Indian as well when I left the event.
I took the Interstate to get home, and it really reminded my why I like to stick more to the US and State routes instead of the interstates. It's much more relaxing, and I really enjoy going through all of the small towns along the way. Sure, it's usually much longer not taking the interstate, but I'm not so sure we're better off traveling the quickest route. I find when I do that I wait to leave until the very last minute, because I can, then I get frustrated with traffic that is going to "make me late," even though it was really my fault for not leaving earlier. Then you zip through the countryside never being aware of what the area really has to offer in terms of people, unique places to eat, interesting history, or whatever.
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