This post is also available in: Norsk bokmål (Norwegian Bokmål) Deutsch (German)

This blog post is our monthly(-ish) newsletter style blog post. Cachetur.no has always been open, and to ensure that we stay open we want to use this newsletter to share information about what’s going on.

Recent changes

Most of the time during the last two-three weeks have been spent moving to the new geocaching.com API, and working to minimize the issues related to this.

We’ve fixed a bug causing the app to crash when opening a trip that contained unpublished caches, we’ve also added display of coordinates to the app.

We’ve continued to improve admin and moderator tools, and we’ve done some tweaking of the automatic route calculation triggering.

The cache alerts have been grouped to the right of the cache name in the waypoint list, and we’ve added new alerts for child waypoints and  when coordinates/issues are detected in previous logs.

Various bugs have been fixed, and we’ve done some minor improvements to the menu, footer and the calendar.

GSAK users have had the option to send field notes to cachetur.no via the GSAK macro for a long time, we’ve added a new feature that allow anyone to upload field notes directly to the Post Trip Assistant.

The Cachetur Assistant has been upgraded to support the new geocaching.com map. And we’ve added a new user setting to allow you to configure GPX export for Cachly and other geocaching apps.

We have also added an unknown amount of new Easter Eggs.

The full changelog is available here.

Things we’re working on now

The new geocaching.com API still have a lot of issues, and we are continuing to do what we can to not let the new limitations affect you – our users.

We are also continuing to work on small improvements to make cachetur.no even more enjoyable to use, and more useful.

Things we intend to work on soon

We hope to eventually be able to work out all the issues with the new API, and finalize the move by removing the old authentication (we had to revert back since the new didn’t work).

When the new API is as stable and robust as the old was, we’ll start looking into what we can add of improvements with the new API.

We are also looking at replacing the Cachetur Community, either with a dedicated forum, or simply a new Slack-channel.

Upcoming events

Attending a cachetur.no event, class, talk etc. is a nice way to learn more about the site. Our wonderful ambassadors, and even some really cool users, will be attending several events during the next months.

Event Region What
January 31st
Mega-Event Cache GC823QD thomfre & Heltinnens
cachetur.no Workshop #1
Karmøy, Norway workshop with
thomfre
February 16th
Mega-Event Cache GC80M2H MiGO Winter Social – 2019
Michigan, USA class with
Merlin1392

Our economy

Running cachetur.no require a constant focus on our expenses, we want to provide you the best service we can, but we can’t consume more services than we are able to pay for.

Thanks to all our generous users, we managed to end 2018 with a positive balance! 2019 also started very well, so if we can keep this up, cachetur.no will have a bright future.

Remember that all of us that work on this site (and app), including developer and all ambassadors, do this for free in our spare time. Cachetur.no does not pay anyone 🙂 Positive feedback is the only pay we get, so please, do give us the feedback you think we deserve.

Our future

We are still seeing a steady increase in new users. But we’re having a hard time keeping users, and engaging users. The amount of feedback we receive on surveys, blog posts, Facebook posts etc. are also declining. And more and more of the feedback is leaning towards the negative side.

This is affecting the motivation for running this service. Remember that none of us get paid to do this. Spending 20-30+ hours a week running and developing this site isn’t a problem at all, when people appreciate it…

Other related news

Haven’t watched the GeocacheTalk show with Korsgat yet, watch it here:

Remember the current and upcoming souvenirs:

  • Suvenirlogo CITO 2019, Season 1
    Earn a souvenir by attending a CITO event between March 1st and May 31st
  • Suvenirlogo International Geocaching Day 2019
    Celebrate geocaching! Log any geocache or attend an event on Saturday, August 17, 2019, and earn the International Geocaching Day souvenir.
  • Suvenirlogo CITO 2019, Season 2
    Earn a souvenir by attending a CITO event between September 1st and November 30th
  • Suvenirlogo International Earthcache Day 2019
    Get ready to rock the entire weekend of October 13th and 14th. Find and log any EarthCache to earn the International EarthCache Day souvenir.
  • Suvenirlogo GIFF Week 2019
    Attend an official GIFF event between November 7th and November 17th
  • Goodbye 2019
    Find a cache or attend an event on December 31st
  • Hello 2020
    Find a cache or attend an event on January 1st

This post is also available in: Norsk bokmål (Norwegian Bokmål) Deutsch (German)


thomfre

thomfre er hovedutvikler og personen bak cachetur.no.