Here’s another mapping tool that could be immensely useful for certain situations. This is another circle-mapping technique, so it applies to clues like, “The treasure is within X miles of this point” or “The token can be found X miles from Point A and Y miles from Point B.”
This one is brought to us by CacheSleuth.com, and we’re absolutely enjoying a blissful afternoon of browsing through all the fun hunting tools they have to offer.
One key difference between CacheSleuth and Atlist is that CacheSleuth uses coordinates, not addresses. And here at SkipWorkPlayGames we love coordinates, because coordinates are…precise.
So, here we are at CacheSleuth. You can map up to three circles by copying and pasting coordinates from your favorite mapping software, or typing them in.
In this example I’ve chosen two spots in northeastern New Mexico. My clever solution to my hypothetical puzzles indicates that the treasure is buried 50 miles from the first point and 40 miles from the second point, so I want to see where the two points are that meets those criteria.
Note that after entering my distances, I changed the unit of measure to “mi” for “miles.” That’s pretty important — the tool defaults to “m,” or “meters.” There’s a bit of difference between the two…
The results are fantastic. First, CacheSleuth gives me the actual coordinates for each of the two intersections created by these circles.
Next, I get the nice map overlay. I can zoom into this, down to the street level, and I can switch between different imaging views. Of course, since CacheSleuth gave me coordinates, I can just plug those into whatever other mapping program suits me.
There are plenty of other useful tools on the CacheSleuth site, including a three-circle intersection plotter. Meant to be a help to geocachers, the site has some really fun stuff. One of our favorites is the DNA encoder and decoder. If I could just get my doctor to give me a full DNA scan, I could run it through CacheSleuth and figure out just what my body’s trying to tell me…
Finding this kind of info useful for your treasure hunting? Have a look at the first Golden Mantis Hunt and maybe you’ll win our inaugural prize!