Adventure lab app

Question

What do you say about the new Adventure lab application from Groundspeak?
Have you used it many times?
What do you say about the cancellation of the classic LAB website?
What are you doing when using GPS only?
Are you still checking out?
And how do you guard places from Adventure when you are hunting normal caches?

Comments

I used the app on a recent trip to the states i thought it worked very well. I quite like it. Its much better than trying to use the website like we had to before when at megas.

Hopefully future mega LABs will run through the app too

Answer 1

I recently wrote a longer post about that on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/183002578433642/permalink/2265499723517240/) but to summarize:

- Adding another app means that I have to switch constantly between my regular geocaching app and the Adventure Labs app as I go. Since one event may publish labs in more than one section in the app the problem gets even worse.

- The geolocation requirement for logging the labs is good in principle, but perhaps a bit too aggressive at just 20-30 meters radius as now.

Comments

The geofencing range default is 1,000 meters.

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The radius of the geolocation is set by the person that creates the labs. It is recommended from Groundspeak to make it big enough for tourists to be able to use a free wifi, so atleast a couple of hundred meters. If people choose to set it to 20-30 meters, that cant be hold against the app. :)

Answer 2

I used the App during the visit of the Giga in Hamburg. In general the App worked fine.

But as I went from Labcache to Labcache I missed some Tradis on my way.

I also would like to have the geocaching map integrated in the App.

Here in my area the owner who got the chance to hide some labcaches also put a Bonus Cache at the end. I really like this idear to combie a physical cache together with the labcache. This could solve the problem when a GPS signal is not available, but you found the pysical cache. So perhaps you the are able to answer the labcache questions.

Answer 3

I haven't found any, but have put an adventure lab out (5 locations)
In creating it, unless I used external functions such as QR or youtube, the location description pages are very limited and so it was hard to try and fit in what I wanted to say about each location

Sadly, even with the geofencing function I discovered they could easily be hacked and logged from abroad
As a CO - the Stats page is lacking - any deleted logs (which can only be deleted by the finders, not the CO or HQ) are deleted from their count but not taken out of the Stats page :-(

Apparently finders can make comments but the CO does not see any of these

I appreciate this is still Beta and still being worked on - but currently from the CO perspective its a little disappointing

That said I have had positive responses about mine so from a finders point of view they appear well received and the app functions well too

Answer 4

The main thing I do not like about Adventure Labs (and lab caches in general) is lack of integration with Geocaching, especially with the map and search features. How are we to find them?

Some lab cache owners have addressed this by making their Adventure Lab part of a larger multi or puzzle cache, which is an excellent way of letting geocaching know that Adventure Labs exist and how to access them, but it should not be up to cache owners to do this. Groundspeak should promote these on their website.

Answer 5

Finding the lab caches with an app is fine with me. Except I would like that app to be the same app as I use for geocaching (in my case Cachly) to prevent having to switch constantly from one app to the other and potentially miss other caches that you may pass.

I've found a couple of "lab cache trails" by now, as there are already quite some of them not too far from where I live. A trail made of only lab caches feels like it's missing something. I do however like the combination of a lab cache trail with a physical app for the start of the trail to explain the use / story that goes with the lab caches and a bonus cache at the end. In this way, the lab caches are used to create a kind of multi or multi-stage mystery cache, that feels far better than a trail without physical caches. The addition of a physical cache also makes it possible to add a written log and tell about your experience and add favourite points, something that a pure lab cache trail is missing due to the inability to add a log.

The lab cache app itself feels like it needs some more work. I don't find it very intuitive to use, and the navigation part is rather crude with just very basic course / range information, with no coordinates given (meaning you can't use a different app or device to find the cache). Also there is no way to replace the standard map with other more detailed maps. All these missing features are standard features with other geocaching apps. Adding lab caches to the standard geocaching API would allow for integration in other apps. It would make things so much easier for both developers of geocaching apps and for users of these apps.

But as far as the lab caches themselves go, I do feel that there is a future for them if they are better integrated in other apps and used as waypoints in multi- or mystery caches.

Comments

Each location of an adventure has a directions feature.  It is the blue arrow under the map.  For instance, on my iPhone, I can select Google maps or maps and then select driving directions.

Answer 6

Hi, I used c:geo with GPX of the lab caches and the web browser in my mobile phone for logging before. Now I use only the Adventure Lab app. It seems easier to me, because I always logged online on the place. I have no problem with required radius.

Answer 7

I like the new Adventure Lab app.  I wrote an adventure with the old builder and have written three adventures with the new builder.  I like the geofencing feature.  This reduces the cheating.

Comments

The geofencing feature doea not reduce the cheating - I put out a new lab (5 locations)  and the first 4 finders had all hacked in and logged the locations from some distance from the locations - 3 of the 4 all logged from a completely different country