[ANN] [GEO] GeoCoin | GIS & GeoTechnologies

[PeterTheGrape]

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I disagree. This is a geocaching type application, what better than a world map with coins on it to land on? Pictures are much more descriptive than words.

Two different issues.

The page itself is great and gives a lot of information to people who are already using the app.

But if a person who is not familiar with the coin lands there, they learn nothing, they leave and that's it.

[chocobo]

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I disagree. This is a geocaching type application, what better than a world map with coins on it to land on? Pictures are much more descriptive than words.

Two different issues.

The page itself is great and gives a lot of information to people who are already using the app.

But if a person who is not familiar with the coin lands there, they learn nothing, they leave and that's it.

Maybe moving the sign up buttons below the map and a brief description?

[weifa]

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I disagree. This is a geocaching type application, what better than a world map with coins on it to land on? Pictures are much more descriptive than words.

Two different issues.

The page itself is great and gives a lot of information to people who are already using the app.

But if a person who is not familiar with the coin lands there, they learn nothing, they leave and that's it.

Maybe moving the sign up buttons below the map and a brief description?

Thanks for your feedback, I can look into adding some more descriptive content to this landing page as well to help new comers.  But just to clarify this page was looking very similar previously this week, it was still using our original Google Maps interface so I felt I should swap it over to the new MapBox interface so users can see it's not just hype.  Still a work in progress though so I will try and improve it shortly. 

[Bitcoinasourus]

how soon does beta testing start?

[PeterTheGrape]

 How serious an issue is spoofing location? 

[weifa]

Tobler and I have been working through some issues on the front and back end for the past few weeks while beta testing.  We want to get things up and running smoothly so we are not going to rush this process, we thank you for your patience.

In terms of GPS spoofing it is already known to us and we will ban any users who are caught spoofing their GPS position immediately.  To date there are 75 GeoCoin Hunters which were banned due to spoofing.

[PeterTheGrape]

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In terms of GPS spoofing it is already known to us and we will ban any users who are caught spoofing their GPS position immediately.  To date there are 75 GeoCoin Hunters which were banned due to spoofing.

Maybe others have ideas, here are some.

1) If a wallet needs to already have received geocoin before it can scoop any up it would prevent somebody creating a brand new wallet only to spoof.

2) Some coins could be dropped with a requirement to add some info that could only be gotten from somebody at the actual site, sort of like with real geocaches a person physically proves they were at the site.

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[chocobo]

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In terms of GPS spoofing it is already known to us and we will ban any users who are caught spoofing their GPS position immediately.  To date there are 75 GeoCoin Hunters which were banned due to spoofing.

Maybe others have ideas, here are some.

1) If a wallet needs to already have received geocoin before it can scoop any up it would prevent somebody creating a brand new wallet only to spoof.

2) Some coins could be dropped with a requirement to add some info that could only be gotten from somebody at the actual site, sort of like with real geocaches a person physically proves they were at the site.

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The devs are saying that they have a solution already in effect, and that does make sense otherwise the thousands of dollars on the map would be long gone. But here are a few thoughts on you ideas:

Number one assumes that if anyone has any amount of GEO they will not attempt to spoof. Even if penalties are somehow enforced, the amount of GEO required to deter spoofing enough by making it uneconomical makes use of the app very difficult and unappealing. The barrier to entry would be enormous.

As far as number 2, do you have an example of a requirement?

[PeterTheGrape]

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In terms of GPS spoofing it is already known to us and we will ban any users who are caught spoofing their GPS position immediately.  To date there are 75 GeoCoin Hunters which were banned due to spoofing.

...

2) Some coins could be dropped with a requirement to add some info that could only be gotten from somebody at the actual site, sort of like with real geocaches a person physically proves they were at the site.

...

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As far as number 2, do you have an example of a requirement?

I looked through geocaching sites when I was researching this coin, maybe Weifa can answer that better, but it seems like a person arrives physically at a geocache then places it somewhere else, and there is a record kept of a particular cache's traveling.

If spoofing were an issue, and my honest guess is that it probably is not going to decrease as an issue, then it might be sensible to let a person attach a geocoin to a regular object.

Example
A person places a small object in a location and publishes coordinates, as is done with regular caches, but they put a written code, e.g. a string of letters on the object, that are needed to get the coins. A person arrives physically at the object, in addition to latlong provided by the wallet, maybe there can be some other code that has to be entered and is only available to somebody physically there.

Of course that is not the ideal. But if the coin becomes popular of course a lot of people are going to geospoof and it seems sensible to discuss that possibility.

a point to add
If there are already people "banned for geospoofing" then the coin is not decentralized. Once the people who "ban" offenders step away then the coin does not stand, it is owned by spoofers. It is smarter to look for a solution that does not require an 'authority' to 'issue bans' to protect from some weakness in the coin.

[chocobo]

...

In terms of GPS spoofing it is already known to us and we will ban any users who are caught spoofing their GPS position immediately.  To date there are 75 GeoCoin Hunters which were banned due to spoofing.

...

2) Some coins could be dropped with a requirement to add some info that could only be gotten from somebody at the actual site, sort of like with real geocaches a person physically proves they were at the site.

...

...

As far as number 2, do you have an example of a requirement?

I looked through geocaching sites when I was researching this coin, maybe Weifa can answer that better, but it seems like a person arrives physically at a geocache then places it somewhere else, and there is a record kept of a particular cache's traveling.

If spoofing were an issue, and my honest guess is that it probably is not going to decrease as an issue, then it might be sensible to let a person attach a geocoin to a regular object.

Example
A person places a small object in a location and publishes coordinates, as is done with regular caches, but they put a written code, e.g. a string of letters on the object, that are needed to get the coins. A person arrives physically at the object, in addition to latlong provided by the wallet, maybe there can be some other code that has to be entered and is only available to somebody physically there.

Of course that is not the ideal. But if the coin becomes popular of course a lot of people are going to geospoof and it seems sensible to discuss that possibility.

a point to add
If there are already people "banned for geospoofing" then the coin is not decentralized. Once the people who "ban" offenders step away then the coin does not stand, it is owned by spoofers. It is smarter to look for a solution that does not require an 'authority' to 'issue bans' to protect from some weakness in the coin.

It would be cool to make the physical coins geowallets. Pure decentralization is not ideal for all blockchain applications. A project like this is novel and works best somewhere in between decentralized and centralized.

[PeterTheGrape]

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It would be cool to make the physical coins geowallets. Pure decentralization is not ideal for all blockchain applications. A project like this is novel and works best somewhere in between decentralized and centralized.

If 75 people have been banned then things have gone too far in the direction of 'centralized'.

The coin by itself, its code, should be surviveable without needing an admin to ban violators.

Every developer of something wants to be ambitious, aim high, but care has to be taken to not ignore facts. If a person wants to develop a car that goes 5000 mph, that's a great ambition. If they refuse to modify some aspect of that ambition though their supercar will not go anywhere.

[weifa]

The current ban process is not carried out by an administrator, we use advanced GIS spatial analysis to automatically ban people who attempt to spoof their GPS positions.

In the past we have dropped GeoCoins on the map that were password protected based on a nearby feature in the real world, we could look into implementing that again for a more verifiable collection from the location.

I've also thought of dropping off paper wallets which geocachers can find within actual geocaching.com geocaches as another promotional tool.

Lots on the GEO!

[mfqrs3]

Looks like someone found out about Geocoin and bought 120k... 

[finnovatie.nl]

Looks like someone found out about Geocoin and bought 120k... 

Lol really? I was wondering what the price pump was all about. That could explain something yes.

[Shooriko]

Looks like someone found out about Geocoin and bought 120k... 

'

It was a very smart investor who put a lot of money into this project, because GeoCoin will be going big soon.

[Shooriko]

The current ban process is not carried out by an administrator, we use advanced GIS spatial analysis to automatically ban people who attempt to spoof their GPS positions.

In the past we have dropped GeoCoins on the map that were password protected based on a nearby feature in the real world, we could look into implementing that again for a more verifiable collection from the location.

I've also thought of dropping off paper wallets which geocachers can find within actual geocaching.com geocaches as another promotional tool.

Lots on the GEO!

So is the App out now? Can we go and collect GeoCoins?

[Waldozaur12]

huge pump incoming

[Zer0p0inT]

Was there an announcement?
What made the price spike?

[Shooriko]

Was there an announcement?
What made the price spike?

I think people are finally beginning to discover this is a very cool coin. That, and the website is up. Has the APP been released? How can we collect GeoCoins? Do we just go to the area and select the app on the website and select, "hunt this coin?"

[7enuke]

i think new release coming soon )
we strong need android, iOS mobile app

site still update?