What is Waymarking?
Well it isn’t Locationless caching, as it was rumored to be. It also isn’t a replacement for Virtuals and actually doesn’t have much of those features. What it is, is a whole different outlook on using a GPS unit to identify specific locations around the globe in categories that are selected by the caching population at large.
There are several differences in WM over LC:
1st everyone can claim a visit to a easily accessible spot and all get ‘credit’ for the visit, no ‘one person’ only logs;
2nd the number of categories has expanded tremendously and the unique locations that are possible have exploded;
3rd the actual computer system has been expanded to better manage the huge amounts of data that are required to track all of the visits. While this is a behind the scenes issue, it impacts the players abilities to interact with the site and can drive those with little patience out of the game;
4th Everyone has a chance to become an ‘owner’ of a WM!!!
Waymarks are classified under three Directories: People, Places, and Things. They are further identified by categories, for example, under People, there is Art, Internet, Memorials, People Watching, Scouting, Tour Guides, and World Leaders. The last classification is a sub-category, for example under Scouting, there is Boy Scout Camps and Eagle Scout Project Sites.
So for each Scout Camp or Eagle Project site that you come across, you get the data and can create a waymark. If it is already in the system, than you can log it as a visit. Some of the reporting requirements still require the cacher to have a picture of the site with the GPS unit in it or of themselves. Some managers require that the WM have a picture included in the actual WM page, which requires a few extra steps. But once you have learned the process, it is really easy and fun.
I find the WM system fun and enjoyable in that it gives me the locations for places all over the globe. There are some things that I find annoying, but most of that is because I really liked the LC’s and wasn’t thrilled about how they killed/retired them. But now I have grown beyond those fears and see that sometimes change can be fun. There was a comment in the GC forums about this and the one opinion that really struck me was to honor the memory of the fun we had with the LC and to welcome the new guy who is just trying to fit in and get the job done.
Tracy
Tiki-4
