Imagine that the city where you’re living is full of hidden treasures for you to find. Now realize that this is actually the case.
There are more than 750 objects hidden within a five-mile radius of London. These objects are called caches.
Geocaching is an outdoor GPS-game, for which all you need is a GPS-device or the free geocaching app.
How can a simple outdoor game like geocaching make a difference for the community of London?
Founder of Cache Canada, David Westhouse, says geocaching can have an impact on three different levels.
Health
Canadians spend on average almost ten hours sitting down. Research shows that even four hours of sitting can have a negative impact on our health.
The outdoor GPS-game Geocaching can motivate people get on their feet.
Westhouse says for a lot of people it’s just getting off the couch. “Getting out into the world and just exploring the world around you, even if it’s just down the street or a park nearby.”
Numbers by Statistics Canada shows that one in five Canadians identify as being lonely. Feeling lonely can affect a person’s mental health.
“Geocaching gets you out the door and there’s a community too. You’ll meet other people and start going out with them. I don’t usually geocache much on my own anymore,” says the Cache Canada founder.
Environment
Part of geocaching is ‘Cache in trash out’, it’s the name of events that geocachers organise twice a year.
“We pick an area that needs to be cleaned and spend about a half an hour cleaning the place. Then we go geocaching together,” explains Westhouse.
The geocaching events are real life treasure hunts that leave a clean trail behind.
Tourism
Geocaching attracts tourists from all over the world who are looking to discover a city in an unusual way.
Westhouse believes London should consider investing in geocaching as a tourist attraction.
“There are so many communities that have geotours and they build their tourism around it.”
Ontario’s small town Wilberforce revived its tourism by reinventing itself as geocaching capital of Canada.
“It was a dying community in the middle of nowhere. They created this geotour and they have since attracted thousands of people to their community.”
Attracting tourists can be a boost for the local economy. “When people are there they go to the diner, fill their gas tank up, buy some stuff from the store,” says Westhouse.
Westhouse thinks that geotours could also lead people away from downtown London and blow new life into the less travelled areas around it. “Tours don’t have to be downtown, they can be suburban or out in the country.”
Worldwide there are 3,5 million caches hidden.
