From the LA Times, By W.J. Hennigan

Improvements, including the replacement of satellites, aim to make the system more reliable, more widespread and much more accurate.

Many thanks to jigsawnl for the heads up on this one!

From May 1st 2010, Geocaching.com has increased the limit of cachers per pocket query from a maximum of 500 to its new limit of 1000.

If there are less than 501 caches in a pocket query, the resulting file will continue to be emailed to you.

If there are more than 500 caches in a pocket query, the file is retained on the server and a reminder with a link is emailed to you.

Pocket Queries are a Premium Members feature. I import all the caches each week for the whole of New Zealand into GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) and use the results to generate Event Listings for New Zealand , my Statistics on my geocaching profile, routes for when I am travelling, maintain my public Rotorua Caches Bookmark List and other functions.

The united international assembly of geocachers announced the update today of the satellites specifically allocated to geocaching. The removal of selective availability in May 2000 enabled the sport to develop by ensuring that the accuracy of the received GPS signal from the satellites was measured in metres rather than hundreds of metres.

Todays announcement utilses a little known application of Newton's law to add in a 4th dimension (time) to the positioning calculations. The Multidimensional Newton-Raphson for GPS upgrade ensures that as a GPS receiver is moved, the accuracy is improved. Previously, a cacher had to stand still to verify a fix. Now, the act of moving (GPS in hand) will improve the accuracy of the estimated position to within centimetres.

The immediate application for our sport is tremendous. No longer will we have to hunch furtively in the vicinity of a cache. A 'walk-by', a quick twirl, or even a wave of the hand is all that is required.

Due to its position near the International Date Line, New Zealand is the first Country in the World to receive the benefits of this upgrade. No adjustments to GPS receivers are necessary. Just get moving.