50 States of Memory

In my geocaching history, TaGeez and I have enjoyed many fabulous road trips. Trips with ShelleyJean in Ohio, Ratspazum in Pennsylvania, AstroEric in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Can't forget the annual trips to Ohio with WikidKriket, SnakeyLicks and 3inaTree. Now we have a wonderful way to remember them.

Thunder Bunny Labs sell this amazing 50 State Map on their website and Etsy.com for a very unique collage.

Look at all the states we've visited together! If we added the states we've visited individually we'd have most of the continental US covered!

It's so simple to format your pictures! Go to their free Map Maker tool, click on the state, upload a picture, reposition it so it fits fabulously, and download for printing. Too cool!

Everything is on order so I'll share when it's assembled. When TaGeez saw it, he said, "Uh oh!" He knows this'll spark more trips West!

Geocaching Watercolor Souvenir Maps

I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and stopped at an interesting image on the UK Geocaching podcast's timeline - it was a watercolor map like this one:

Michigan is pretty fabulous, isn't it?

How cool is that? This is the Stamen Watercolor map setting on Geocaching.com. They were asking, "What good is this for geocaching?" And my first thought was SOUVENIR MAPS!

Look how cool my geo-adventure in San Francisco looks! Display your finds on a Geocaching.com map, change to Stamen Watercolor, take a screen capture, and then apply a frame and text. Look at the cool postcard!

Here's another of the To Boldly Go GeoArt in Westland, Michigan. Which reminds me I have some more caching to do in the area.

I'm grateful they pointed it out. I can't wait for my next geo-adventure. Life is too short - be creative!

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Stamen Watercolor Maps

To change your maps to Stamen Watercolor, follow these easy steps. Don't worry! You can change it back!

1. There are several ways to access the Geocaching.com maps below such as running a pocket query (view results) or use the Find A Geocache search (click Map These Results). 

2. Once you see the the map, hover your cursor over the left side of the screen until the Map Filters slider appears (NOTE: If you see a Clear Search Filters button on your map, the slider won't appear until you click it).

3. At the bottom of the slider is a Set Map Preferences button (green arrow below). Click it. When the Geocaching.com Map Preferences box appears, select Leaflet. 

4. Hover your icon over the Map Selections button (looks like 3 stacked pages) in the upper right corner. A list of available maps will open. Select Stamen Watercolor.

And then, as simple as this, you have a watercolor map of Traverse City!

Ok, I admit it. I removed all the caches prior to screen capturing.

For the San Francisco postcard, I ran a pocket query of my Frisco finds and displayed the results on the map.

What can you do with this?

Wouldn't you like your own Pirate... er Geocaching Map? Free!

Have you seen my Pirate Geocaching Maps?    

scrapcat's Find Map

scrapcat's Hide Map

They are the creation of Cajun Abear of Geocaching Map of Your Milestones & Extremes! He takes your finds, hides, milestones, favorite trips, geo-art, FTF's, etc and creates these really cool maps for FREE (though a donation towards the software license is always appreciated).

He's in between maps now and itching to get to work! Check him out!    

How to get YOUR Map

July 5, 2011 at 7:11pm

Revised: 2015, June 06

In order to make a personalized map there are a number of requirements,

1. Your My Finds Pocket Query (email to: cajunabear at gmail dot com)
2. Notification of your position on whether you allow the map to be posted to the web. (You may tag the image after it is posted)
3. A list of your FTFs by GC codes.
4. And as much detailed information about your history using GCcodes for your Milestones, favorite finds, challenges you have completed and related finds. Special Trips which you would like shown on the map can be given by the days in which you made the finds on the trip. (Alternativiely if you post this information on your profile and keep it updated I will data mine the information for your map.

Items 1 & 2 above are the required items.  Items 3 & 4 are optional but help in customizing your map, after all you know what is important and what memories you cherish.

THE PROCESS
Taking this information a table is constructed using the following programs, GSAK,MS Excel, MS Access.  This table list all of your accomplishments tied to the GC code and thus the location.
The data is then converted into an ESRI GIS Shape file which can then be thematically mapped by different categories of data in the table that was earlier finished.
Using ArcGIS a map with insets is created to show many facets of the geocachers adventures.
The finished map is exported as an image out of ArcGIS AND then an art program Paint Shop Pro is used to do touchup and special affects to give the map an antique look associated with a "pirate map".
The whole process is about 4 hours long for a 1K map and longer for more finds and depending on the history of the geocacher.

$0 Costs! Why?
This is just another way of geocaching, it also helps me in learning the tools of ArcGIS and gives me a way of giving back to this fun hobby.  Actually this is a hobby within a hobby.  While I love doing this there is an annual associated maintenance fee for the software of $490.  I do NOT want to charge for the maps (they are priceless for more than one reason), but donations are accepted and if you wish to purchase one of our Geochallenge Gazettes for your state, it will certainly help.  It takes about 5 hours to make a map, what does that costs you in gas during a geocaching trip?  I don't need that much LOL, but $20 will help maintain my software.  Printing costs generally will run over $10 and I understand as high as upper $20s for special prints such as canvas. My extraordinary business manager and life partner has set up a Paypal account if you are interested in helping with the Yearly $490 maintenance fee that enables me to keep making the maps.

Product
You will receive the JPG image by email, full resolution, about 5 MB on average.  The image will be at 200DPI 18 inches high by 24 inches wide.  The size is usually easy to find frames and not so large as to take up a lot of wall space.

Why not a printed copy mailed?
The costs of printing, packing and shipping a map is actually about 3 times higher than if you take the image file to a Walmart, Office Depot, or other place that can print poster size images.  But if you would like for me to take care of the print I will for Shipping + $15 to cover printing, Map Tube, and mailing label.  Last mailing was just under $28 for a geocaching friend.
Permission to post your Map.
If you request a map be made for you it will be assumed that you are ok to post it here on the site. If this is not OK  please let me know when you send your "MyFinds PQ" whether you are ok or not with allowing me to post your Map when it is completed on the Facebook Page.  After posting the map you may tag the map image with your name.  If you desire I can tag it for your but please be sure to give me the correct spelling for your FB name.

Hmmm.... Where to now?

Steve, Sweetie.... I'm feeling the need for another geocaching road trip. Where shall we go? #UpdatedGSAKstats