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Read Thread: Checking for other boxes nearby?

Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304861 by Yak King blues
Oct 31, 2008 4:42pm
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I'm thinking of planting my first LB. I've been reading about checking on the locations of other nearby boxes.......but how do you do this?

Just do a search for all the letterboxes in the vicinity and go find them all! It's such a chore.

The big surprises come from the mysteries. For all you know, there may be a mystery planted right nearby -- but the only way to tell would be to solve the clues for every mystery listed on AQ, LbNA, and anywhere else. Not gonna happen. You just have to take your chances with those.

And how do you know if there is a Geocache nearby? How close is too close?

Find a map with latitude and longitude grids, or just use one of the online maps. Guesstimate the coordinates for the area you plan to plant, then go to geocaching.com and enter those coordinates in a search under "Hide and Seek a Cache". When the list comes up of all the nearby caches, tell the thing to show these caches on a map of the area. Zoom in real close. It'll show little flags where the caches are. You can easily avoid those specific areas and plant elsewhere in the same parks.

The gotcha there is when the cache is a multistage. The little flag represents the first stage. Once found, that stage will contain coordinates for other stages that aren't shown on the maps. Unless you want to track down those multis, you'll just have to take your chances with those, too.

Once you know where the geocaches are, the ideal location for a letterbox is farther than 100 feet from any of them but closer than 528 feet to one of them. This is because geocaching.com won't permit anyone planting a geocache closer than 528 feet from another geocache (except under certain circumstances), so the existence of a geocache within 528 feet effectively prevents geocachers from planting a cache on top of your letterbox.
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304861 by Yak King blues
Oct 31, 2008 4:54pm
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Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304867 by Lone R
Oct 31, 2008 7:23pm
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Big help!! Thanks much! Y~K b
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304865 by Kirbert
Nov 1, 2008 3:47am
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geocaching.com won't permit anyone planting a geocache closer than 528 feet from another geocache

Why 528 feet? Just curious!
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304968 by Mama Stork
Nov 1, 2008 4:34am
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Why 528 feet? Just curious!

528 feet is 1/10 the measure of a commonly US distance unit. The rest of the world uses km for similar measurements.

Most handheld GPS that geocachers are accurate within 10-20 ft. The 528 ft distance was chosen to prevent any likelihood of overlap.

LB
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304968 by Mama Stork
Nov 1, 2008 7:33am
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Why 528 feet? Just curious!

1/10 mile. It also happens to be the point at which some GPS units switch from displaying decimal miles to displaying feet.
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304970 by LightninBug
Nov 1, 2008 7:38am
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Most handheld GPS that geocachers are accurate within 10-20 ft. The 528 ft distance was chosen to prevent any likelihood of overlap.

No, it wasn't. That point has been beaten to death on the geocaching forums. To avoid overlap, a minimum spacing of 100 feet would have been more than sufficient. 1/10 mile separation was chosen to limit geocache saturation -- which is a real problem in geocaching. Land managers would be nervous that allowing one geocache in their park will open the floodgates and there will be zillions. Since each one must be 1/10 mile from all others, land managers feel more comfortable that their parks won't become infested with micros everywhere.
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304865 by Kirbert
Nov 1, 2008 8:10am
Thread (disabled) Board
Just do a search for all the letterboxes in the vicinity and go find them all!

Ah, but sometimes you can still be surprised. I checked the postings for a town, figured I was safe, and planted a box. After it had been found several times, someone emailed me, "do you know that there's a box right above yours in the wall?" I did not know that! And I didn't realize it, because that box was part of a multi-town series that was listed under a different town! Still have to get out and find that series. I do wonder whether people accidentally finding the other box while looking for my box generated some new searches for that series, which was a few years old at the time. It's also definitely hard to determine whether you're accidentally planting near a mystery box!

Just my 2¢

Kit Kat
Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #305018 by Kirbert
Nov 3, 2008 10:12am
Thread (disabled) Board
1/10 mile.

The really sad part is that I even though to myself...5280 is a mile.....why 528? Can I blame the cold meds??

Thanks all who kindly stated the obvious!

Mama Stuffy nosed Stork