Achievements

From Geohashing
Three Geohashing Achievement Icons that can be earned.

As well as having the pure and genuine ecstasy of having reached a Geohash, many Geohashers like to complement those feelings with the joy of having won an achievement. There are many different kinds of achievements, ranging from unavoidable to statistically impossible.

Some are easily obtainable by just about anyone with time and persistence. The "I'm Better Than You" Achievements represent the literal and figurative pinnacles of the sport, showing current and past record holders for various extremes. Some achievements are merely comedic, not very attainable and unlikely to be achieved. For ease of browsing, they are arranged in sections, alphabetically within each section, with one-line descriptions. Click on the achievement names to see the details of each award and to claim your ribbon.

Be sure to click through and read the page describing an achievement before you claim it. Many of the requirements are not obvious from the names and/or short descriptions.

Common and Rare Achievements

This table means to be a useful aid showing which achievements are most common and which are rarities. Feel free to pursue either of them!

Times claimed Achievements
1000+ Land, Bicycle
500—1000 Virgin graticule, No trespassing, Public transport, Consecutive, Drag-along, Minesweeper
100—500 Gratuitous ribbon, Multihash, Walk, Frozen, Midnight, xkcd centurion, Two to the N, Last man standing, Speed racer, Tron, No batteries, Thumbs up, OpenStreetMap, Ambassador, Easy geohash, Meet-up, Geotrash, Hash collision, Geohashing Day, Déjà vu, Border, Radio Yerevan, Picnic, Drowned rat, Regional geohashing
50—100 Dark Ages, Earliest, xkcd-100, Birthday, MNB geohash, Circus, Velociraptor, Police, Water, Puppet master, Blinded by science, A Tale of Two Hashes, Hashiversary, Reverse regional, Prize poultry, Holy hash
10—50 Snowman, Formal attire, MNIMB, Hashcard, Sunrise, Geosquishy, Admit one, Air, Globetrotters, Coffin potato, Pub, My kingdom for a boat, Juggernaut, Hashcat, Leap, Train wreck, Combo, Cliffs of despair, Hobbit, There might be alligators!, Subdivision, Globalhash, Geoflashing, Towel Day, Walking on water, Origin, Restricted area, Youngest geohasher, It's a kitty, Golf, Camping, Displaced origin, Fly a kite, Pie, Twister, Musical
1—10 Largest, Cold, Geohash by proxy, Phonebooth stuffing, Going deep, Geohashing in the media, Oldest geohasher, Trail of blood, Cross that bridge, Buccaneer, Underwater, Handshake, North, Wedding anniversary, High, Low, Calendar girl, Abduction, Sex, Migration, Time-traveller, West, Geobrush, Most active graticules, Hot, East, Graticule hopper, Cubicle, South, Endurance geohashing, Curse of Unawareness, Star photographer, Maker, Couch potato, Beast of burden
Unclaimed Posted, MacGyver, Bill Gates

For detailed numbers, see achievement statistics, for descriptions of what the achiement is, see below or at the individual achievement's page.

Location Achievements

Land Geohash

Everyone can earn one of the Basic Location achievement just by going to a geohash. You may need to wait a while, or go to another graticule for the right conditions to arise for a Lucky Location achievement however, and some require you to actually do something other than merely arrive at the location. Supply the proof of your achievement on your expedition page, and award yourself the appropriate ribbon. Some of these come with physical prizes also.

(Alphabetical within sub-category)

Basic Locations

Every geohash you reach qualifies for one of the Basic Location awards: Land, Water or Air. As altitude is not specified in the geohash algorithm, it's also possible for the same point to be reached through more than one medium. There are also a few special cases here, stretching the meaning of 'basic.'

Lucky Locations

The ultimate in lucky locations would place the geohash right where you're sitting as you look it up, but then you wouldn't get to go on an adventure. Be alert for geohashes occurring places that would allow you or someone else to claim one of these achievements.

Couch Potato Geohash

Activities & Attire Achievements

These achievements commemorate what you do, wear, or don't wear en route to or at the geohash.

Getting There

Border Geohash

You have to get to the geohash somehow, and the spirit of adventure encourages you to get out of your car and use alternative transport. Most of these achievement descriptions include a page where you can list the distance you travelled to get to the hash.

Geohash Fun & Games

Snowman Geohash

Geohashers are enouraged to play games at the geohash or at a nearby safe location. Some of them will even earn you ribbons.

Challenge Achievements

MNIMB Geohash

Into every geohash some rain--or raptors--may fall. The challenges in this section commemorate reaching geohashes regardless of external or self-imposed challenges.

Single Geohash Challenges

Multiple Geohash Challenges

Human Interaction Achievements

Police Geohash

Never forget that Geohashing is intended as a way for people to meet. Whether you meet friendly curious strangers, hostile authority figures, or other geohashers, you have achieved something to celebrate.

Timing Achievements

Generally it doesn't matter what time you reach a geohash, but these achievements depend on time or date.

Daily Coordinates

Annual Events

Geohashing expeditions on particular dates may earn you a ribbon.

Less than Annual Events

Commemorative Dates (Retro expeditions)

Achievements in every other section on this page represent visiting that day's coordinates in any graticule. Achievements in this section require you to visit coordinates for some date in the past. These are good possibilities for dates when you really feel like geohashing, but the algorithm has produced unreachable coordinates.

"I'm Better than You" Achievements

"I'm Better than you" Achievements represent extremes, that is the individuals or parties who have ventured to the highest mountain or the deepest cave, the coldest lake or the hottest desert to get a Geohash. These may require a level of toughness, or at least willingness to travel to a graticule that has these extremes. Others you receive just for being you. On each page there is a high score table, and if you're brave enough, it may finally be a way to immortalise that Internet alias you use.

NOTE: It is possible to achieve a "best of all the rest" geohash achievement for a particular date, only to be dethroned at a later time, when someone older/younger/taller/etc. takes the award. That's ok, you get to keep your achievement for that time. Just like Babe Ruth had the HR record, even though it's been broken since then.

Geographic

Geohashers

  • Oldest Geohasher -- You're never too old to geohash (record is currently 87 years young)
  • Youngest Geohasher -- Giving birth at the geohash ensures a ribbon for your child (record is currently 5 days old)

"My Graticule is Better than yours" Awards

Closest pairs

I didn't know where to put this, but these are pairs of successful expeditions very close to each other physically.

Ultimate Achievements

Consolation Prizes

My Kingdom for a Boat

Despite all your preparation, hard work, and defense against raptors, sometimes you are unable to reach the correct location. You've still achieved something, however, and thanks to this section you can say to yourself, "at least I get a ribbon for this!" To earn these ribbons you must get out there and make the attempt, right up to the point where you cannot go on. It is not, for example, sufficient for the Cliffs of Despair award to look at the terrain contours in Google Maps and declare the grade impassable.

"There Should Be a Ribbon for This" Category

This category is to allow geohashers to commemorate things they have done or seen with colourful ribbons even when the thing they have done is not an achievement, is not provable and/or couldn't be done in enough graticules to make sense as an achievement. Award them to yourself. Award them to others. Have fun.

  • Easy Geohash -- The geohash was so easy to reach you would have had to go out of your way to not reach it.
  • Radio Yerevan -- Should you have won an achievement? Yes, but there was a technicality.
  • Gratuitous Ribbon -- Customize this ribbon for all your "do we get a ribbon for this?" needs.
  • Combo -- Combine multiple achievements into one, while maintaining all the original categories.

If you see a ribbon on someone's page but there is no corresponding achievement listed on this page, that ribbon is probably a gratuitous ribbon or a combo.

Catch all

If you are in the mood for bad puns and your expedition is cool, try this one.

2016-04-22 52 1 Sourcerer Trophy.jpg

Proof

It is recommended that you take photographic proof to demonstrate your achievement. This is, however, only important for proving to the community that you are an accomplished Geohasher and, for many, personal satisfaction is enough. For maximum recognition and commemoration, try to obtain one photograph including:

1. You! (The Stupid Grintm is optional.)
2. Something displaying the date
3. A Geosync device showing your location or alternatively
Something in the photo that proves your location.

A tracklog may also be submitted as evidence of your journey.

Particular achievements may require further or more stringent proof, specified on the individual achievement pages.

Ribbons

Most achievements include ribbons you can display on your user or expedition page. Just copy the template linked in the achievement to the page where you want to see it, and fill in the details.

If you gain multiple achievements in one expeditions, you can fuse them into a single ribbon using the Combo template, to add a silly flavor to your reports and user pages.