My Geocaching Finds in Wisconsin by Angela Kowalzek-Adrians

Introduction

This project highlights the Wisconsin counties in which I have found a geocache. Geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking containers called geocaches. A participant in the game (a geocacher) places a geocache (Figure 1), records the GPS coordinates of its location, and then shares its location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache.1 I started geocaching in 2007 and have found 436 geocaches throughout the country, but mostly in Wisconsin.2 This project highlights the Wisconsin counties in which I have found a geocache and the amount of finds in each county. This research lays the groundwork for me to accomplish the “Badger State Challenge” geocache. The Badger State Challenge geocache requires participants to have found a geocache in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties before they are given the coordinates to the geocache created for this challenge.3

Research Questions

In how many of the 72 Wisconsin counties have I found a geocache?

In which Wisconsin counties have I found a geocache?

Methodology

To determine in which Wisconsin counties I have found a geocache, I started by exporting my geocaching finds to a GPX file from www.geocaching.com5 and converted it to a shapefile. I acquired shapefiles of U.S. counties (2012) from ESRI6 and U.S. state boundaries (one-million scale; 2012) from the National Atlas7. The U.S. boundaries and U.S. counties layers were clipped to Wisconsin and the Wisconsin counties that have a find were selected. The finds were selected for each Wisconsin county to determine the finds by county. With the finds by county added to the attribute table for Wisconsin counties, a map was created showing number of finds by county.

Analysis and Results

The results showed that I have found 397 geocaches (of a total 436) within 18 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties (Figure 2), which leaves 75 percent of the counties in the state without a find. My finds tend to concentrate near my resident county of Brown and adjacent counties, as well as counties I tend to visit often, and along my travel routes (Figure 3). I have by far found the most geocaches in Washington and Brown Counties.

The large number of finds in Brown County is explained because, as mentioned earlier, it is my resident county. However, the large number of finds in Washington County is the result of my annual attendance at a large geocaching event held in West Bend, Wisconsin.

Conclusion

With this research, I determined that I have 54 Wisconsin counties in which to find a geocache before I can acquire the coordinates to the Badger State Challenge geocache. Completing this challenge will require me to make many trips throughout the state solely for the purpose of finding a geocache. This presents the opportunity for me to see parts of Wisconsin that I would normally never visit.I could further expand this research by pursuing an additional geocache, the Wisconsin DeLorme Challenge and find a geocache on every page of the Wisconsin DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer in order to receive the coordinates for this geocache4. This will require me to acquire or create a shapefile of the Wisconsin Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer boundaries and determine in which sections I have found a geocache and those that remain without a find.

Figure 1. Geocache in a Tree. Source: Rene Ehrhardt, SC Outfitters

Washington Brown Kewaunee Oconto Door Outagamie Fond du Lac Marinette Manitowoc St. Croix Winnebago Sheboygan Ozaukee Chippewa Shawano Calumet Dane Milwaukee0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

My Geocache Finds in Wisconsin

Counties

Tota

l Fin

ds

Figure 2. Geocache Finds in Wisconsin. 2013.

Figure 3. Geocache Finds in Wisconsin. 2013.

Citations:1. www.geocaching.com/guide/; Retrieved November 2013.2. www.geocaching.com/profile/; Retrieved November 2013.

3. www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC15WT3_badger-state-challenge-72-counties?guid=4d192fc5-a716-4452-a1a9-5af991dbb479; Retrieved November 2013.4. www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCXPZR_wisconsin-delorme-challenge?guid=9af6f0c6-153d-4e48-8f9c-049c90a72793; Retrieved December 2013.5. Geocaching finds (GPX); 2007-2013; Geocaching.com; Retrieved October 2013.

6. U.S. Counties; ESRI; 2012.7. U.S. State Boundaries (one-million scale); National Atlas; 2012.