The site Geochecker.com – which provides solution verification services for puzzle caches – seems to be having database problems. When you submit a guess, you get the following error message:
Warning: mysql_query() [function.mysql-query]: Unable to save result set in /home/simusi/public_html/index.php on line 1064
Logging query #1 failed : Table ‘gc3_pointcloud’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired
I sent a note to Goldenhawk, the site operator, to let him know about the issue. But just in case its issues are fatal, here are links to some other free verification services:
Of these three, I think I like GeoCheck the best … so much, in fact, that I think I may switch all of my puzzles over to it. Among its many virtues:
Custom response
If a user inputs the correct coordinates, you can design a custom response page including user-defined text and images. You may also include additional waypoints in the form of nearby parking, trailheads etc. All coordinates can be downloaded as GPS/LOC files or sent directly to Garmin GPS receivers.
As the cache-owner, you decide if the users must enter the coordinates exactly or if a ‘fuzzy’ solution is allowed choosing between ±3 meters, 10, 30, or even user-defined distances.
Google Maps Integration
Using a Google Map, cache-owners can easily view your defined solution, ‘fuzzy-factor’, waypoints and all the attempted coordinates from the users. Heavily tried coordinates will appear as dark markers, while rarer coordinates will appear lighter colored. Clicking a marker reveals further information including the number of tries, time of last attempt, and distance from the correct position.
Sub-coordinates
You may define multiple sub-coordinates for your cache. Using the Google Map, you may notice a particular set of wrong coordinates being tried often. In this case, you can provide the users with a helping hint when they try the wrong coordinates. Each sub-coordinate can be defined as requiring exact coordinates, or allowing ‘fuzzy’ solutions – just like a regular solution.
Account page
You may create as many solutions you wish. From your central account page you can view all the details concerning your caches including the number of attempts, how many succeeded and how many failed. From this page you can also edit your individual caches, add waypoints, sub-coordinates, view the Google Map, view statistics and much more.
Statistics Page
You can view a complete list of attempted coordinates, the time of the attempt, distance from the correct coordinates and even the nationality of the person behind the attempt based on their IP-address.
IP Statistics Page
The statistics on correct attempts and wrong tries may be grouped by IP. Though you cannot assume constant IP addresses for all the users, this page will give you an idea of the number of attempts by each user. For security reasons, the IP-numbers are encoded, but will remain constant for a given IP-number allowing you to track individual IPs across your caches.
RSS feed for your cache list
You can subscribe to an RSS feed of all the caches listed in your account allowing you to track the number of correct and incorrect attempts and visitors remotely.
FYI – I just finished updating all of my puzzle caches to use http://geocheck.org instead of Geochecker. Enjoy!
I was looking at some of the Geochecker “Most Popular Puzzles” you linked to… It’s a little strange. I’ll buy Puzzle Solving 101. But (for example) the #1 listing is two years old with 10 Found Its, 3 Notes, just 1 person watching the listing… but over 8000 visits to the geochecker and over 5000 guesses?
Yeah … apparently number of Geochecker hits is not necessarily a good indicator of popularity! I poked around at some of the “unsolved” puzzles and found that there were generally plenty of Found It logs on each.
That makes sense – an easy puzzle should have very few visits to a geochecker site.
FYI – Geochecker.com seems to have had its database problems fixed. It’s operational again.