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Read Thread: Checking for other boxes nearby?

Re: Checking for other boxes nearby?
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #304865 by Kirbert
Nov 1, 2008 3:47am
Thread (disabled) Board
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
Thread (disabled) Board
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
Thread (disabled) Board
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
Thread (disabled) Board
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