saintsaucey
12-28-2007, 08:41 AM
http://www.geocaching.com/
okay in roommate annoyances i mentioned road tripping to drop a friend off. the girl she is staying with till she flys back to boston brought this up and explained what it is. I was wondering if anyone else has ever heard of it/participated in it. it seems like it could be fun if you had time to kill and a way to travel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 480,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the sport. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
History
Geocaching is similar to the 150-year-old letterboxing, which uses references to landmarks and clues embedded in stories. However, geocaching was not possible until the removal of Selective Availability from GPS on May 1, 2000 (May 2, 04 UTC (http://pnt.gov/public/sa/diagram.shtml shows the improvement)). The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon. The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav [2]. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington).
Origin of the name
The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed after a discussion in the gpsstash discussion group at eGroups (now Yahoo!). On May 30, 2000, Matt Stum suggested that "stash" could have negative connotations, and suggested instead "geocaching."[
For the traditional geocache, a geocacher will place a waterproof container, containing a log book (with pen or pencil) and trinkets or some sort of treasures, then note the cache's coordinates. These coordinates, along with other details of the location, are posted on a website. Other geocachers obtain the coordinates from the Internet and seek out the cache using their GPS handheld receivers. The finding geocachers record their exploits in the logbook and online. Geocachers are free to take objects from the cache in exchange for leaving something of similar or higher value, so there is treasure for the next person to find. Typical cache treasures are not high in monetary value but may hold intrinsic value to the finder. Aside from the logbook, common cache contents are unusual coins or currency, small toys, ornamental buttons, CDs, or books. Also common are objects that are moved from cache to cache, such as Travel Bugs or Geocoins, whose travels may be logged and followed online. Occasionally, higher value items are included in geocaches, normally reserved for the "first finder", or in locations which are harder to reach. Geocaches can range in size from "microcaches," too small to hold anything more than a tiny paper log, to those placed in five-gallon buckets or even larger containers. [4]
If a geocache has been vandalized or stolen, it is said to have been "muggled" or "plundered." The former term plays off the fact that those not familiar with geocaching are called "geo-muggles" or just muggles, a term borrowed from the Harry Potter series of books.[5]
If a cacher discovers that a cache has been muggled, it can be logged as needing maintenance, which sends an e-mail to the cache owner so it can be repaired, replaced, or archived (deactivated).
more in the wikipedia link
okay in roommate annoyances i mentioned road tripping to drop a friend off. the girl she is staying with till she flys back to boston brought this up and explained what it is. I was wondering if anyone else has ever heard of it/participated in it. it seems like it could be fun if you had time to kill and a way to travel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 480,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the sport. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
History
Geocaching is similar to the 150-year-old letterboxing, which uses references to landmarks and clues embedded in stories. However, geocaching was not possible until the removal of Selective Availability from GPS on May 1, 2000 (May 2, 04 UTC (http://pnt.gov/public/sa/diagram.shtml shows the improvement)). The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon. The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav [2]. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington).
Origin of the name
The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed after a discussion in the gpsstash discussion group at eGroups (now Yahoo!). On May 30, 2000, Matt Stum suggested that "stash" could have negative connotations, and suggested instead "geocaching."[
For the traditional geocache, a geocacher will place a waterproof container, containing a log book (with pen or pencil) and trinkets or some sort of treasures, then note the cache's coordinates. These coordinates, along with other details of the location, are posted on a website. Other geocachers obtain the coordinates from the Internet and seek out the cache using their GPS handheld receivers. The finding geocachers record their exploits in the logbook and online. Geocachers are free to take objects from the cache in exchange for leaving something of similar or higher value, so there is treasure for the next person to find. Typical cache treasures are not high in monetary value but may hold intrinsic value to the finder. Aside from the logbook, common cache contents are unusual coins or currency, small toys, ornamental buttons, CDs, or books. Also common are objects that are moved from cache to cache, such as Travel Bugs or Geocoins, whose travels may be logged and followed online. Occasionally, higher value items are included in geocaches, normally reserved for the "first finder", or in locations which are harder to reach. Geocaches can range in size from "microcaches," too small to hold anything more than a tiny paper log, to those placed in five-gallon buckets or even larger containers. [4]
If a geocache has been vandalized or stolen, it is said to have been "muggled" or "plundered." The former term plays off the fact that those not familiar with geocaching are called "geo-muggles" or just muggles, a term borrowed from the Harry Potter series of books.[5]
If a cacher discovers that a cache has been muggled, it can be logged as needing maintenance, which sends an e-mail to the cache owner so it can be repaired, replaced, or archived (deactivated).
more in the wikipedia link