geocaching travel bug tracking code

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I found a Travel Bug®. What now?

Trackables  (Travel Bug® and Geocoin) add a great twist to the Geocaching adventure but there can be some confusion as to what to do with them.  Read below to get your questions answered.

You get 2 tags. 1 that travels and 1 to keep.

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What is a Travel Bug ® or Geocoin?

A Travel Bug® is a dog tag that is attached to another item (small stuffed animal, keychain, action figure, etc.) and has a special number assigned to it.  The number is used to prove that a cacher discovered or picked up the tag.  By entering the number here , you will be whisked away to the trackable’s web page where you will be given the following information:

• Name – What the owner has named the tag
• Release Date – When the Travel Bug®was set out on its journey
• Origin – Where the release was made
• Recently Spotted – Which cache the tag is currently in or the name of the Geocacher who has it in their possession.
• Current Goal – This is the mission that the owner has dreamed up for the item.  Some goals are to just travel from cache to the cache, where others are to visit caches with specific criteria (near Major League Baseball parks, the Eiffel Tower, etc.)
• About This Item – Anything the cache owner wants you to know about the traveler.
• Gallery Images – Pictures of the tag’s adventures
• Tracking History – This is where you can see every hop the Travel Bug® has taken.  The really cool feature here is the map that will show you every stop.

Click to go to this coin’s tracking page.

Geocoins are exactly like Travel Bugs® except they are a minted coin (like the military challenge coins).  Sometimes you have to look on the edge to find the tracking number.

OK, so now you know what they are.  It’s time to find out what to do with them.  There are several scenarios that are likely.  We’ll cover 4 of them.

How to Log Trackables:

• You found it in a cache and you picked it up – When you get home to log the caches you found for the day, visit here .  Type in the tracking number.  Read all about it.  Click on Add a Log Entry.  Click the drop down for Type of Log and selected Retrieved from cache name.   Check the date.  The Tracking Number should be filled in for you.  Add a comment and tell the owner about how you found their tag.  Click on Submit Log Entry.  The traveler will show up on your inventory list in the right column of your profile page.  Now, find a cache that matches the bug’s Current Goal and place it there. When you log that cache select the Dropped option for that tag in your inventory.
• You saw a Travel Bug® in a cache but you left it there – You do the same thing as in option 1 above but you select Discovered It as the Type of Log.
• You got the tag from another Geocacher – Follow the steps in 1 above but select Grab It From Current Holder:  cacher name.   If the person you got it from has not logged it yet, use the Retrieve entry type.  Don’t forget to use the Dropped option on the cache page when you place it in a cache.
• You take the trackable to a cache but you don’t place it in the cache.  When you log the cache as found select the Visited option for that trackable in your inventory section of the Found It log.

Some things you should know about Travel Bugs® and Geocoins :

• Sometimes Travel Bugs® and Geocoins are NOT in caches as advertised.  This could be for many reasons, the most common is that the cacher who took it out of the container hasn’t logged it yet.
• It is generally considered fair game play to move the tag or coin in a reasonable amount of time which is about 2 weeks .  Send a message to the owner if you will have to keep it longer (we all have life events that may affect when we can cache again)
• Please respect the owner’s wishes and try to take it to somewhere that will get it closer to its Current Goal.
• Don’t keep the tag or coin.  The whole purpose of these game pieces is to travel.  People pay their hard-earned money to watch it trek across the globe not become part of another cacher’s collection.
• Generally tracking codes should not be published online in forums, Facebook, etc.  If you take a picture of a tag or coin hide or blur the tracking code.

The Geocaching.com website will automatically keep track of all your trackable activities and this will add a new dimension to your caching.  Watch as your stats quickly increase as you move trackables on their way.  It is quite amazing how quickly something can travel across the country or across the world when Geocachers are involved!

Travel Bug® is a registered trademark of Groundspeak, Inc.

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Travel Bug®

• Description
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Geocaching Travel Bug® is a unique tracking tag that you can attach to items and give them goals for others to try and complete! Each Geocaching Travel Bug® gets its own page on geocaching.com where you can track its progress as it passes on from person to person or cache to cache. 

Each Geocaching Travel Bug® comes as a pair; one bug gets attached to an item (or on its own) and the other is a copy that you can hold on to.

Geocaching Travel Bugs® have a unique tracking number stamped into the metal tag. The tag was designed for durability.

Trackable at: www.geocaching.com

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How to Log a Geocaching Travel Bug

Introduction: How to Log a Geocaching Travel Bug

Step 1: Step 1. Get the Tracking Number

Step 2: Step 2. Visit the Travel Bug Trackable's Page

Step 3: Step 3. Found It? Log It!

Step 4: dropping off a travel bug, step 5: troubleshooting.

Tracking Code

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Tracking Code  is an identification code to track Travel Bugs and Geocoins on the Geocaching.com website.

Description [ ]

A tracking code, also referred to as a Tracking Number , is a unique code stamped on a metal plate or a coin. After you activate the Trackable you send it out on its journey for other geocachers to find.  A tracking code is different than a Reference Code (see Etiquette below).

Trackable Etiquette [ ]

Use the Golden Rule when you find a Trackable. Most owners would rather see their Trackable do a lot of travelling, so try not to hold on to one for too long. If you plan on holding onto the bug for more than 2 weeks, it is considered courteous to email the owner, letting them know of your intentions. 

It is considered

The Reference Code is highlighted in green. The space highlighted in blue is where the tracking number would be located on your own trackable.

bad form to post the tracking number online in any media, which can result in Groundspeak locking a trackable due to Armchair logging .  Many geocachers advocate editing a photo of a trackable by blurring or painting over any visible tracking codes before the photo is posted online.

One way to reference a Trackable without risk of revealing the tracking code is to use the item's Reference Code. 

You can find this code on the item's page above the "Current Goal".

More Information [ ]

Travel Bug FAQ's

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Tracking Code or Tracking Number

By luckytwo July 11, 2014 in Website

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When I look at a geocaching.com page for one of my travel bugs, the Tracking number is shown preceded by the words Tracking Number. When I go to make a log of a travel bug, I am asked for the Tracking Code. These are the same two things. Should the words Tracking Code and Tracking Number be interchangeable or should the website be cleaned up to use one word or the other.

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+ Panda Inc

Yes, the tracking number for one of your own travel bugs is the same number as the tracking code on a travel bug you might pick up. And ... Yes it is confusing and should probably be changed to either one term or the other by Groundspeak.

+ CanadianRockies

"Tracking code" probably makes more sense than "tracking number," because the code includes letters as well as digits.

+ The_Incredibles_

I agree that label is wrong and should be "Tracking Code". I always thought "Tracking Number" was the public "for reference" TBxxxxx number that you can use with coord.info, but I don't see anything that actually gives that thing a name.

I was going to move this from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Travel Bug forum, but I think the post raises a good feature enhancement - so it's off to the "big time" in the Website forum.

+ Lil Devil

... off to the "big time"

Perhaps we ought to talk about the 'public' number and the 'private' (or 'secret') number, to reinforce the fact that the latter shouldn't be given to people who haven't seen the trackable.

As for 'number' being used to refer to alphanumeric codes, I don't see this as a problem. Most people would know what is meant by a 'car number' or 'license plate number', and most of those are alphanumeric. It is only in small places such as Guernsey or St Helena where a normal private civilian car registration is a true number, and even then there are other vehicles with alphanumeric registrations.

+ Harry Dolphin

This is true. But it does not make it correct. A number is a number. My license plate does not have a number. My driver's license does not have a number. Once upon a time, they did, and that's why they are called 'numbers'. Corrections should be made to stop abusing the language. A number is a number. ABC-123 is not a number. Code would work, but, perhaps, a new word needs to be invented.

+ NYPaddleCacher

More semantics, but a private tracking code is alphanumeric string used as a "code" for posting logs on the trackable item. The public tracking code is basically used as a trackable identifier.

Coincidentally, this issue came up recently on a project I've been working on. A bug was submitted in our issue tracking system to fix the sorting of journal issues on a search results page. Every journal has a "volume" number which contains journal issue numbers. When sorting as a string, the sort order might but 1, 10, 11, 2, 20....when it should be 1, 2, 3....10,11... The fix that my colleague implemented was to convert the "journal number" to an integer so that the sort would work numerically. That created a side effect because some of the journal issue numbers were alphanumeric (1_part_1, 1_part_2, 2_part_1....). Fortunately he was able to come up with a fix. I can't think of any reason why anyone would need to sort tracking codes, but there are programs that have to deal with these tracking numbers/codes, whether or not it's a number or a string is important.

+ Isonzo Karst

I'd opt for Tracking Code, Reference Code, Activation Code, in line with GC Code.

On the website, Tracking Number is used more than Tracking Code. In the Help Center, Tracking Code is used.

TBXXXX to reference this item - Trackable pages

Reference number (TBXXX) - Adoption page

reference code - in the Help Center articles Two code numbers for each Trackable, and Adopting a trackable

reference code, "TB Number", and reference number, all in 2 sentences in the "how to log a trackable" page

Tracking Code on the main trackable page http://www.geocaching.com/track/

Tracking Code: on the logging page

GSXXXX Tracking Number - Trackable page

tracking number - from the "how to log a trackable" page

tracking ID, tracking number - Geocoin FAQ

tracking number - Travel Bug FAQ

tracking number - activation page http://www.geocaching.com/track/ ActivationCodeRetrieve.aspx

The Help Center chapter on Trackables seems to use tracking code or code in all cases, both in titles and in articles I checked. The article, Two code numbers for each Trackable, uses both Reference Code and Reference number.

In the Help Center, SEARCH using the word "Code" gets no hits, and "Tracking" goes to an article about gps units.

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Geocaching Travel Bug®

A Geocaching Travel Bug® is a unique tracking tag that you can attach to items and give them goals for others to try and complete!

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What are trackables?

Trackables are physical game pieces that move from geocache to geocache.

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Trackable FAQs

Trackables are physical game pieces that move from geocache to geocache. Types of trackables include: geocoins, tags, t-shirts, and more!

Can I keep them?

In most cases, trackables want to travel. Use the tracking code on the trackable to look up its goal. Log trackables in order to move them along.

How do I log a trackable?

Trackables can be found in geocaches, your inventory, or through the trackable code search.

Use the tracking code to access the trackable details page and then choose the appropriate log type.

How do I start my own?

You can get trackables on our website . Give your trackable a goal and drop it in a geocache to send it on its way. You will be notified every time a geocacher logs it.

Trackable tips:

• Try to move trackables within two weeks of taking them.
• If a trackable isn't listed in a geocache, wait 24 hours or contact the last geocacher who logged the trackable.
• If you think a trackable is missing from a geocache, contact the trackable owner or write a note on the trackable details page.

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