“BAVARIA'S MOST BEAUTIFUL GEOSITES” IN FOCUS OF GEOCACHING ACTIVITIES

In 1985, the former Geological Survey of Bavaria (now part of the Bavarian Environment Agency, LfU) provided the basis for the conservation of geosites by establishing the “Geosite Register of Bavaria”. Under the motto “Experience Geology”, the Environment Agency has selected “100 Bavaria’s most beautiful geosites” in order to raise public awareness for the conservation of geoheritage.

Essential information on geosites is provided online (www.geologie.bayern.de, >> Geologie erleben, >> Bayerns schönste Geotope), in flyers and by uniformly designed information boards on site. By mid September 2011, the last of the 100 most beautiful geosites in Bavaria will be inaugurated. The program’s acceptance is beyond expectation regarding the increasing popularity of geosites and geosite protection in Bavaria. However, only little information does exist about the quantification of geotouristic aspects.

When the project started in 2001, activities such as geocaching (a GPS-based outdoor activity, like “paper chase”) were not known, but nowadays, they additionally enhance the geosites’ popularity. Worldwide “geocaches” can be found using the internet-address www.geocaching.com. A specific type are “earthcaches“, which are listed on the site www.earthcache.org. The Geological Society of America (GSA) guarantees, that only sites and information are registered, which are of geoscientific interest. People visiting the earthcaches (geosites) have to answer sucessfully specific questions and then are allowed to log the cache and give comments to the site.

The advanced regional search on www.earthcache.org (e.g. after Germany, Bavaria) enables to determine statistical figures about the amount of people visiting the sites and to view their comments. Preliminary results regarding “Bavaria’s most beautiful geosites” are interesting:

In Bavaria 316 earthcaches have been listed by mid of March 2011. 86 (27%) of these belong to “Bavaria’s most beautiful geosites”. These are 93%, as so far 92 of these geosites have been published by LfU. The 86 geosites have been visited and logged by 9444 persons.