Geocaching Travel Bug Views

General Goods

A Travel Bug is a registered trademark of Groundspeak, Inc. used to describe a dog tag used in Geocaching. It is moved from cache to cache, with a unique tracking number allowing its movements to be tracked online (www.geocaching.com). Some tags are fastened to an object, known as a hitchhiker, before they are released into a cache. Travel bugs have also been used as advertising to promote Jeep or to increase diabetes awareness.

A travel bug is an item which is trackable which looks similar to a dog tag. The tag is stamped with a tracking number and the Geocaching.com website address. A travel bug can be attached to another item by use of the chain on the travel bug if required, examples of such items include teddy bears, toy cars, or golf balls.[1] These attached items are called hitchhikers .[2] During the registration of the bug on the website, the owner may create a assign a name and also create a purpose or mission for the bug. These missions can be as simply as to travel as far as possible or to travel to a specific cache, location or a certain type of location.[3][4] On Geocaching.com, each travel bug has an individual page which tracks its movement and calculates the distance travelled.[5]

In late 2006, to promote diabetes awareness and to gather support for a United Nations resolution, the International Diabetes Federation disseminated Unite for Diabetes travel bugs to be released by volunteers around the world.[18] Unlike the Jeep travel bugs, each Unite for Diabetes travel bug has a specific mission. Every individual bug is assigned to one of 20,000 target cities around the world (for example, Guben, Germany).[19] The bug's mission is to travel to, then around, its target city, collecting geocaching logs and photos along the way. Like the Jeep series, the Unite for Diabetes series was tied to a contest. Specially made geocoins were also created for release in 2007.[18]

In the sport of geocaching, participants set out to find a hidden cache, knowing only the coordinates of its location. Once the cache is uncovered, the enclosed items may be taken by the participant and transferred to another cache, if desired. To spice up the game, some cache owners use a tracking device known as a travel bug to follow the progress of goods from person to person or from cache to cache.