This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.
For anyone who may not have noticed, during GSP’s latest update to their site, they implemented a new feature called “Souvenirs”. If you logged a cache on 10-10-10 then you probably have your very first official souvenir. What are they? Well, there hasn’t been much official talk on the main pages of geocaching.com, but after doing some digging, I’ve learned that souvenirs are going to be Groundspeak’s own version of achievements/badges. Here’s the scoop…
The official word from Groundspeak is:
What is a souvenir?
A souvenir is a piece of art, with some associated text, that users receive for caching, and can display on their profiles as well as in the iPhone and Android apps.
How do you get one?
1. One way is to do a search from either the iPhone or Android app while within the zone of the souvenir, during the time that it is active.
2. Another is by logging a cache within the zone of the souvenir, during the time that it is active.
3. It should be noted that some souvenirs, such as the 10/10/10 souvenir, do not have a physical zone and can therefore only be acquired via logging a cache.
Will any log type get me a souvenir?
No. Only a log of Found It, Attended (for an event), or Picture Taken (for web cam cache) will result in the awarding of a souvenir.
Are souvenirs only available for a limited time?
Some are. For example, souvenirs for Mega Events can only be acquired during the duration of that Mega Event. Other souvenirs can be acquired indefinitely after they are released.
What if I have already been to a location that has a souvenir associated with it?
We’re working on a solution for being able to retroactively award people souvenirs for going to places and logging caches that now have souvenirs with no end date associated with them.
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Jeremy Irish also commented on souvenirs in a post on the geocaching.com forums and he has a post on his personal blog about it which really details what they are trying to do. You can check out more of the souvenirs available on this profile for the user Moun10Bike.
Different souvenirs will exist for each of the 50 states, Canadian provinces, other countries, etc. There will also be some for specific achievements (such as 10-10-10, The Ape Cache, etc). I also read that these could be used to help inspire cachers to go find certain types of caches (say a 100 Earthcache souvenir, or a souvenir for finding say 10 caches that haven’t been found in over a year, etc). By giving these souvenirs, it helps to inspire cachers to go out and find caches that can help them get to a goal.
What’s your thoughts on the idea?
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