On March 11, 2015, Groundspeak replaced the old search functionality on Geocaching.com with a new search tool. A link to an FAQ in the Groundspeak Help Center has been provided by Groundspeak Lackeys in some venues, but it doesn't cover everything. This guide is intended to supplement that FAQ and help with using the new search tool, as well as provide information on alternative methods of getting the desired results. A table at the bottom of this page indicates which searches can be performed with which tools and provides links to helpful information.
As of March 18, 2015, the old Advanced Search form is still available here. This form has not been listed as an alternative in the table below because it's no longer linked-to from any part of the Geocaching.com website and may be removed at any time. Members should not expect this form to remain available long-term.
Some of the information below was posted in the Groundspeak Forums. Thanks go out to NYPaddleCacher, Nylimb, CanadianRockies, noncentric, Keystone, and others for posting instructions and alternatives.
I welcome any suggestions on improving this guide. If you know of an alternative way to perform one of the listed searches, or there's a common search that isn't listed, please let me know. You can contact me through my Geocaching.com profile, or post in the forum discussion.
Basic Operation
The search tool has two main modes of operation:- Searching around a centre-point - You can enter a location into the main search field, which the tool will then attempt to convert to a set of coordinates. You can then perform a maximum-30 mile/50 kilometre radius search around this point. Keep in mind that this is all the main search field is designed for. If you enter "Kentucky", for example, it will convert this to the coordinates "37.5726,-85.15514" in the centre of the state, around which you can perform a maximum-30 mile/50 kilometre radius search; it will not allow you to search for all caches in Kentucky.
- Additional filters - The search tool has a number of filters that can be applied to a search, such as for cache type,
container size, geopolitical region, and many more. Many of these will work best if you leave the main search field blank and restrict your search using the filters instead.
When using the filters and no centre-point, at least one of the following filters must be applied to limit the number of caches:- Hidden By
- Search Only In...
- I've Found
- I Own
- Has Corrected Coordinates
- Has Personal Cache Note
To search within a geopolitical region - such as a state, province, or country - you would use the "Search Only In..." field. However, due to the sheer number of caches, Germany and the USA are not offered as countries in this field.
By default, the results of a search are sorted with the caches closest to the centre-point of your search at the top. If no centre-point was defined, the caches will be sorted with the caches closest to your home location at the top. If you're a Premium Member, you can click the column headings to sort the results by that column. Clicking the column heading again will reverse the sorting.
Limitations
The new search tool has several limitations:- The new search tool's functionality is very limited unless you are a Premium Member. Basic Members can apply cache-type filters, but cannot apply any other filters or sort the results and are limited to only performing a maximum-30 mile/50 kilometre radius search around a point.
- Any search that utilizes the main search field - and is therefore doing a radius search around a point - is limited to a maximum radius of 30 miles or 50 kilometres. This limitation has been imposed by Groundspeak to improve performance and they hope to be able to expand this distance in the future as technical hurdles are overcome.
- Any search that does not utilize the main search field must have at least one of the following filters applied, or the search
will not return any results:
- Hidden By
- Search Only In...
- I've Found
- I Own
- Has Corrected Coordinates
- Has Personal Cache Note
- The "Search Only In..." field does not have entries for the entire countries of Germany or the USA; it only has German Bundesländer and US states.
- At this time, there is no way to download the results of a search.
Tips & Tricks
- The main search field is solely for performing searches around a specific point. Whatever you enter here will be converted (or at least attempted to be converted) to a set of coordinates, which will then by used as the centre-point for a radius search. For many of the more-commonly-performed searches, you would actually leave this main search field blank.
- You can enter "Home" in the main search field to perform a search centred on the home coordinates you set in your account details.
- When viewing a map of some search results, you're actually viewing a different version of the map page than you would if you went to View Larger Map on a cache listing or View Geocache Map in the menu-bar. You will only see the results of the search, and no other caches. To view other caches, you'll need to view the other version of the map page using one of the above methods.
Alternatives
There are many alternative methods of getting the desired results, just some of which have been listed in the table below.Premium Members can use the Pocket Query form for many of these searches, but instructions for doing so are not in the scope of this guide. For more information on creating Pocket Queries, see Markwell's guide here.
There are also ways to manually create a URL for the old Advanced Search form and other pages, but that is also outside the scope of this guide. For more information, see GizmoGuy411's guide here.
How to Search
Cells in orange have limitations| I want to search for... |
New Search |
Alternatives |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic |
Premium |
Basic |
Premium |
|
| Upcoming events in a state/province/country |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes - Event Calendar |
Yes - Pocket Queries |
| The newest/oldest caches in a state/province/country | No |
Yes |
No |
Yes - Pocket Queries |
| Caches by a portion of the name (ie. keyword) | No | Yes | No |
No |
| A specific cache by GC code |
Yes |
Yes - Home Page Yes - Coord.info Yes - Log a Cache |
||
| Caches in a state/province/country |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes - Pocket Queries |
| Caches in the entire country of USA/Germany |
No |
No |
No |
Yes - Pocket Queries |
| Caches around a specific point (i.e. coordinates, address, zip/postal code, GC code, etc.) |
Yes |
Yes - Home Page |
Yes - Pocket Queries |
|
| Caches found by a specific member |
No |
No |
Yes - User's Profile Yes - URL |
|
| Caches hidden by a specific member |
No |
Yes |
Yes - User's Profile Yes - URL |
|
| Caches by the placed date |
No |
No |
No |
Yes - Pocket Queries |