What happens to my find statistics when I move and change my home coordinates?

Question

I'm almost finished with the 360 degrees from home. I'd hate to get to diamond level and then have it erased when I move. I also wonder about the nearest and farthest caches. For historical purposes, those caches were the nearest and farthest when I lived at that location, but once I move those caches will be different. Do the miles that I've logged shift as well?

Answer 1

Everything shifts and will update including the miles logged unless you keep your home location at the original coordinates.  You do have the choice to do that but that has its disadvantages as well.

Keep in mind that it is your statistics and it is not anyone else's business.  If you choose not to change your coordinates, there will be those who will condemn or vilify you.  Remember, it is just a game.  Good luck with your decision.

Comments

Thanks! That's what I thought, but rats! I'd kind of like to preserve my history and add to it, rather than having to start all over again.

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Yep.

We move every couple of years; we have had 9 different home coordinates since we started caching back in 2007. Different home = different stats.

The only way to keep track while compensating for different home coordinates is by setting different home coordinates by date, either using GSAK and FindStatGen, or by using MacDefender (if that's even still a thing - haven't used it in ages).

Answer 2

I can confirm TigreToot's answer. I recently changed my home location on the GeoCaching.com site (I'm actually moving next month, but I already changed it to see the impact).

A day later, some of my statistics changed. It doesn't impact a lot since there aren't that many statistics based on your home location and in my case I'm only moving about 1 km, so the impact was minimal.

The things that I think may change :

• Nearest Cache
• Furthest Cache (this didn't change in my situation, since I only moved about 1 km)
• (maybe) Cache Centroid - I'm not quite sure how this is calcultated
• Finds by degrees from home (and the "Finds by bearing" graph)
• Finds by distance from home (and the "Average distanc by bearing" graph)

With regards to badges, I believe it is only :

• The Long-Distance Cacher
• The All Around Cacher

that may change.

Kind regards,
AxelFox.
 

Comments

Yes, I agree, it isn't a huge impact since it will only affect those badges that calculate distances or degrees.

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But it would also impact the total mileage, right? Like number of times around the earth, and earth to the moon. If you're only moving within town, sure, it wouldn't matter so much, but I plan on moving out-of-state, 1000 miles away. It would make a difference then. Plus, it's not like I stopped being an all-around cacher. I don't mind starting over on that badge again, but I'd like to loop it rather than lose it entirely.

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I believe you are referring to the Cache-to-Cache distance. I don't think your home location is involved in that calculation, it's simply the length of the lines between all your successive caches ... similar to the distance traveled by trackables.

Yes, the "all-around cacher" badge would probably be lost if you're moving across 1000 miles, so I don't have a solution for that.

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I recommend entering your new coordinates, wait for PGC to update, and see the impact.  You can always return it back to your original coordinates once that exercise is done.

You are a paid PGC member so you can see the results when it updates within 24 hours. I would be very interested in a follow-up response with your results.  Thanks.

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Oh, I didn't think of that. I was thinking it was based on the home coordinates, but if it's calculated like trackables, then it's an absolute and not a relative calculation.

In GSAK, the findstatsgen macro produces a "finds by miles from home" chart. I've lived at my current location for 20 years, so right now, 40% of my finds are within 10 miles of my home coordinates. After I move, I will artificially become a "long distance cacher" since those 1080 finds will now all be 1000 miles away.

I know this stuff is all silly, but I don't think I should get credit for something I haven't done. Those caches were close to my home when I found them. After I change where I live, they're treated differently. I'm some venting here in part because this is one of those "soft science" measurement problems that vexes me in my day job. I appreciate all the help from everyone! Cheers!

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LOL, what is life without a little bit of 'silly?'  Geocaching is silly but it is a very healthy distraction.  It is like taking a mini-vacation every time you go out after a cache.  It will be a trade-off in gains and losses.  You will gain ground in the long distance badge but lose ground in the All Around badge.

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The Long Distance Cacher badge only counts your single cache furthest from your home coordinates. I would expect that there wouldn't be a huge difference to that badge unless you're moving close to directly towards/away from your current furthest cache. Given your current stats (assuming you haven't taken TigreToot's suggestion of changing your coordinates yet), if you're moving towards it there won't be a change. If you move away, you might get bumped up one level.

As far as AxelFox's suggestions of what may change, Cache Centroid itself won't change (but the listed distance from home will). The cache centroid is a geometric average of the coordinates of your finds and doesn't care about your home location.

So the main change you'll notice will be the All Around Cacher badge and corresponding graphs in your Finds tab.