There’s a huge geocaching scene around us that I can’t believe I just stumbled upon. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. I was introduced to this treasure hunt by some of the attendees here at the Meego Coference. Here’s my first experience hunting caches around Dublin.

We used an app called GPXView on the Nokia N900. I don’t know if there are geocaching apps for Symbian, but there are definitely apps for Android and iPhone. GPXView is available for the Nokia N900 in the Application manager.

GPXView told us there were many caches nearby. The nearest one was only a couple minutes away. The app gave us the GPS coordinate, comments by others who previously found it, and even some hints. None of us had local SIM cards, but the app worked flawlessly on the streets of Dublin after preloading maps data with hotel wifi.

The first cache we found was attached to a green box in a random street. Inside was a log of people who found the item. After placing it back for another person to find, we went hunting for other caches. Another cache we found was under a bench with a great view of the Grand Canal Docks.

Geocaching is really fun and I’ll be playing it now every time I travel. I’ve included more photos below. Have you geocached yet?