GeoBeagle – Geocaching Android Style
28. Apr, 2009 
17 Comments
Ok, I know this site is all about Android + Social Media but sometimes as a team we have to bring you a few things that have nothing at all to do with Social Media or even a few things that have nothing to do with Android. We can’t help it. Today we want to do the first of those two. Departing from social media and online marketing lets venture into the subject of geocaching on your android phone.
What is geocaching? In few words, geocaching is a hobby where you go look for small containers of random stuff that are hidden all over in random places. Yep… sounds cool doesn’t it? We think it is. The hobby of geocaching has gained massive followers in the last several years. Mainly supported by www.geocaching.com there are currently 782,783 active hidden caches in the world.
There is a certain thrill that comes from finding one of these hidden containers right down the street from where you live. Knowing that people walk past it everyday and that you found it’s hidden contents is just… COOL. (Do people still use the word “cool” ?)
Well, now that the G1 has come out with a built in GPS antenna the possibilities of geocaching have been extended. You no longer need a Garmin or similar GPS device. Just grab your phone and go to it. There are several apps popping up in the android market for the purpose of geocaching but our favorite is Geobeagle. This FREE application does everything you need to do. You can access an online list of caches near your current location and browse by map or by list. Download the coordinates directly onto your phone from the browser and then go looking. The geobeagle app also works in conjuction with the radar app to help you find the hidden caches quicker than with Google maps alone.
After you find it you will be able to visit the webpage of that cache and log your visit right away. We are super pleased with the geobeagle app and its potential for this great hobby. We love it so much that we decided to get in touch with the developers to see what plans they have for future updates. While then don’t want to spoil all the secrets we did manage to get this much from Steve over at the Geobeagle development team. He did tell us, ” We generally do a release every two weeks with fixes and improvements. In particular, we are moving to a new UI design which should make GeoBeagle easier to use. We also plan to support cache logging from your phone in the near-term.” In addition Steve asked us to remind all of our site subscribers to contact them with any bugs or feature requests! – Thanks Steve!!!
Just to give you a final insight into GeoBeagle and this great hobby Brandon & Jacob (“the team”) went out the other day to give you a demonstration. Here is the video.
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Fun video although not entirely representative of either the G1′s abilities or of geocaching. Just a snapshot of one app in almost ideal reception conditions on one style of geocache.
I have tried all the geocaching apps and find Geobeagle to not be my favorite. It is steadily improving, though. The video would have been better without the uninformed dismissal of the paid apps such as Geodroid and Geocacher.
As for the cache found, I hope people don’t get the idea that it is a good example. It appears to be in a boring location and is poorly maintained by its owner. With a little research one can identify more interesting cache hunts.
Tyrell,
I appreciate your comments:) The video certainly isn’t representative of the hobby or the G1 abilities but for people that are new to geocaching or the G1 in general I hope it did a good job of introducing it! I have tried the paid apps and they are good, but I personally would recommend geobeagle to anyone who asked me.
I will confirm what you said about the location etc. Geocaching can be A LOT better than this. The location and cache were lame to be frank, but for the purpose of the video it was good enough
Happy Caching!
I think it’s a great introduction to geocaching vid. I’ve heard of geocaching and now am going to try it on my G1. Thanks!
Hey,
Thanks for the interesting post, this is the first time I have really heard of Geocaching! Do you know if there is much of a following in the UK and if GeoBeagle is compatible with the UK geocaches?
Thats a really good question. I have every reason to believe that it would since the GPS system isn’t dependent on country and the site http://www.geocaching.com supports every country in the world. Just took a quick look at the UK on the site and WOW there are a lot of caches
Great Video! I have a G1 on the way to me in the next few days and I was wondering if there was a Geocaching app available for it yet. I was going to have to replace my old Garmin Legend soon, but looks like I can avoid that extra cost and just use my G1! Thanks for the video!
HEY EVERYONE I JUST GOT AN EMAIL FROM THE DEVELOPERS OF THE RADAR APP! THEY HAVE A NEW IMPROVED VERSION. IT ISN’T AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET YET BUT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE: http://op-co.de/android/Radar-gl.apk
ps THEY RECOMMEND UNISTALLING THE OLD ONE BEFORE DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING THE NEW VERSION.