SCC Zones Idea

[shroomAzoom]

I know that  some folks are concerned with the density of caches within Thunder Bay, others simply prefer caches spread around the area, still others really enjoy "getting off the paved." So, I've been thinking about adding a new layer of complexity (I mean, thinking about trying to address those preferences) with this year's SCC.

I've got this idea of concentric circles around Thunder Bay; three zones in which folks could hide caches.

Zone 1: The urban area - We would limit the number of hides in this zone (perhaps only 1 hide per cacher)
Zone 2: A second ring a bit further out
Zone 3: Even further than the second zone out to the limit of the SCC area. - Maybe there'd be a bonus for hiding out here.

I'm including a quick drawing for you visual thinkers. Any initial reactions to this idea?


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[Wandering_Man]

My first thought here is that there are actually more areas still left to hide caches in town there there would be in those outlying areas. If you think of how many publicly accessible areas exist in that outer ring its really not many. It would most likely cause people to concentrate are public access forests, conservation ares and roadside stops.

That being said I like the idea of limiting the number of hides a person could do in each area. It's a great idea that would force people to look outside their comfort zone and hide in a place they may not have though about before.

[shroomAzoom]

Okay, because I've gotten some feedback on the Cache Zones, I want to ask a couple questions... But first off, thanks for the feedback. I know the Cache Zones as they are published aren't perfect. I was trying to do two things with the zone idea:

First: Encourage more hides outside of the urban area of Thunder Bay,
Two: Encourage caches to be hidden over a broad area.

So, my first question is: Can we continue a discussion on the cache zones, or is it too late?
Second: What if we broke things down into three zones, an urban zone, a near zone and a far zone (like in the attached map.) Could we somehow use this as a springboard to accomplish the two above goals?

Just looking for your feedback.

[Wandering_Man]

Can you post up the kmz file for this latest map? I want to have a closer look in google earth.

Off the top of my head I will say that the last map has too many zones and some were going to be near impossible to find quality hides in as well as keeping things easy for those searching.

I think 5-6 zones is the magic number. Maybe 2 or 3 urban zones and 3 or 4 further out zones. The key would be coming up with a system that says a person has to hide "X" number of caches in the far out zones for every "Y" caches in the urban zones.

[jleecollins]

Maybe we should look more on using the K.I.S.S. principle here.

Kind of hard with the multitude of zones to figure out where they are when you are out placing caches.

Maybe we should look at less zones and have the zone borders following streets somehow so that the borders are easily defined, especially when viewing on your GPS.

[shroomAzoom]

Great ideas guys. I was talking with Mr Poohma at supper tonight and he also suggested the follow some roads idea. I think it would be really easy to make six zones of comparable size that way.

I agree, Jim, that simple is best. I wonder if it would be too complicated to say, the base allowance is one urban cache but if you also hide a cache in two of the outer zones you can have an extra urban hide or something like that?

[shroomAzoom]

Okay, I whipped up something quick based on your suggestions. It's a six zone map.

Zone 1: Urban Thunder Bay
Zones 2 & 3: Near Urban (8.34km to 16.67km) North/South divide on Oliver Road
Zones 4, 5 & 6: Outlying Areas (16.67km to 25km) North/West/South dividing along Dawson Road and Highway 61

How about something like that?

We can say one hide per zone. If you want an extra Urban (Zone 1) hide, you must hide a cache in one of the Near Urban Zones and one of the Outlying Areas first.

[Wandering_Man]

I like it. This will mean its much more wide open in each of the zones and caches won't get as clumped in one location.

[jleecollins]

That's a lot better

Easier to understand and do-able

Has the new .kmz file been posted yet?

[shroomAzoom]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning to post the actual KZM file, so that other folks will have some time to make their comments on these potential changes. I've got one more to add too. Hopefully this will simplify the Cache Zone hiding rules.

Simply put, you may hide only one cache in each zone. If you would like to hide a second cache in Zone 1 (the Urban area) you must have at least 4 other caches hidden (so, your fifth hide may be an additional Zone 1 hide). This will ensure at least one cache in both the Near Urban ring and the Outlying Areas ring. So that's a max of seven hides per cacher.

Is that clear?

[jleecollins]

Does my WWFM VII Event count as a hide in Zone 1?

Does 7 hides change the point system?

[Hunters-5]

We've been busy scouting and planning while waiting for the Zones map to be published.  When it was released, we were able to confirm that 3 of our hides will qualify for Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3.  We had to relocate another and managed to find a spot for Zone 7.  That left only one more location for us to find as our plan was to hide 5 caches.

With the release of the revised zones, we would now have 3 in Zone 1 and 1 in Zone 3.  Based on the proposed rules we'll have to eliminate several of our caches from the SCC.  We've gone with a theme for 4 of our caches (of which 3 are already scouted and particular to specific areas) and we'd rather keep them together.  We can either release them before the SCC or sometime after.

The revised Zone map is much simpler and user friendly, just not particularly friendly to our current plans.  We're new to the NWOG and will happily participate following whatever rules are posted.

[shroomAzoom]

Thanks for your understanding, Hunters-5. It's always a danger to make plans too early, as JLee can tell you from last year. I'll do my best to have things nailed down for the end of the week. Sorry to frustrate your (and anyone else's) plans.

[Wandering_Man]

Way to screw with everyones plans shrooms 

[jleecollins]

No just their minds!