Following the Police and Bomb Squad callout centred around a geocache in the middle of Auckland, the NZ Recreational GPS Society would like to clarify some aspects of the event. The geocache container was a small round plastic box containing a logbook and collectable coin, attached to railings by a magnet. It has now been removed by the police. It is not a tracking device as suggested in the media, and it does not contain electronics. It is an inert plastic box.

There are times when stealth used hunting a geocache can be mistaken for suspicious activity or the container mistaken for an unsafe object as has happened on this occasion.

It is unfortunate that a geocache has been mis-interpreted as a potential security risk. Events such as this also serve to remind geocachers that the placement of a geocache should be considerate of security concerns, and the container should not be able to be confused as a security threat.

Wayne Champion
President,
New Zealand Recreational GPS Society Inc.

Contact for this release

Gavin Treadgold
Immediate Past President,
New Zealand Recreational GPS Society Inc.
Mobile: +64 21 679335

About the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society Incorporated

The New Zealand Recreational GPS Society was founded in 2003 to create a community around the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for recreational purposes. There are a wide variety of existing activities that can be enhanced by GPS including tramping, mountain-biking, hunting, fishing, kayaking, and travel. New activities have also been created in recent years including geocaching, geodashing, GPS golf and others. In the age where more technology is keeping people indoors, GPS activities are taking people back into the outdoors.

For more information on the Society: http://www.gps.org.nz/

About Geocaching

Geocaching is an outdoor adventure game for GPS users. Individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share their locations on the internet using latitude and longitude coordinates. GPS users can then use the location coordinates and description to find the geocache. The geocache container normally consists of a logbook and pen for recording a visit, items to trade and “Travellers” – tags or coins that get moved from cache to cache with their movements recorded on the website.

Geocachers come from all walks of life, including families - young and old alike - and all enjoy the healthy outdoors pursuit of the search. Its a great way to keep healthy and active, to stimulate peoples minds and to see and visit places that you wouldn't otherwise experience. Other benefits include the fact that it provides a good excuse for a break on a long road trip and that the swaps in geocache containers can provide an incentive to keep children entertained during long journeys.

In New Zealand there are close to 4000 active geocaches placed around the country, some within cities, some in the countryside and all designed to take people to places they may not otherwise visit, or to challenge them to a skilful game of hide’n’seek.

For more information on geocaching: http://www.geocaching.com/