'Geocaching' offers high-tech treasure hunt
February 1, 2001
Web posted at: 8:18 a.m. EST (1318 GMT)
By Daniel Sieberg
CNN.com Technology Editor
and
Ann Kellan
CNN Science Correspondent
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) --
There's an axiom that states, "Wherever you go, there you are." But
where is here? How far away is there? And can you get there from
here?
Answers to these questions were
made clearer last May when former President Bill Clinton removed the
encryption from Global Position System (GPS) units. The GPS
technique was previously the domain of the military and dedicated
outdoors people.
When the Department of Defense
started launching GPS satellites in the 1980s, it provided two
classes of service: signals with an accuracy of 10 to 20 meters for
military users and a degraded signal available to civil users with
an accuracy of 100 meters.
That policy was meant to prevent
potential adversaries from using the GPS technology to launch
attacks against U.S. forces or targets. However, the degradation of
the civil GPS signal was recently removed because officials
determined it would have a "minimal impact on national security."
Now that personal GPS units are
more accurate, an intrepid group of people is using them for a new
hobby. It's a game called "geocaching," but it's likened more to a
high-tech treasure hunt. Players obtain the coordinates of a
particular stash, or cache. They type the data into their GPS
devices, then trek across the terrain to find their reward.
Web site unites users
Jeremy Irish, who lives near
Seattle, Washington, enjoyed the experience so much that he helped
start a Web site to unite geocachers around the globe. By visiting
the site, participants can find cache coordinates close to their
location. Once they've visited the cache, the Web site is also used
as a forum for people to discuss their experiences.
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Jeremy Irish, founder of
Geocaching.com
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"A lot of people get hooked when
they find their first cache. (It's) an interesting adventure like
'Indiana Jones,' but you don't have the boulders, the restless
natives or the spikes," Irish said.
Just like in "Raiders of the Lost
Ark," it's recommended you have a good pair of walking shoes, bug
spray, water and a compass to help you find your way back to the car
after the adventure. Geocaching can be done alone, or with a group
of people. And anyone can place a new cache.
But the spirit of geocaching rests
on the honor system and allows people to connect with others they
may never see in person.
Cache offers trinkets, connection
A self-described "nerd" at heart,
Jason Thomas says that while the game requires technology to
participate, it's really all about getting outdoors. Thomas, an
animator for a local TV station, said he believes that many of those
getting involved with geocaching are hikers before they're techies.
His most recent trek took him to a
cache in Stone Mountain park near Atlanta. Thomas first plugged the
longitude and latitude coordinates from the geocaching Web site into
his GPS unit.
Periodically confirming his
direction, he then walked through the trees and even needed to leap
across a small stream.
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Jason Thomas begins his
geocaching trek
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But when Thomas finally arrived at
the coordinates he was initially stumped -- nothing was in plain
view.
Undaunted, Thomas remembered that
some coordinates are chosen as a place to stand, look around and try
to spot the cache.
Sure enough, he spotted an
ammunition case (used for weatherproofing) leaning against a nearby
tree. Thomas opted to take a plastic canteen and leave a DVD copy of
"Deep Impact" because he says, "somebody's got to like this movie."
As part of the geocache code of
ethics, participants can take any item from the cache, but they must
replace it with a new one.
Among the most common items left in
caches are batteries for the power-hungry GPS units, Thomas says. He
has also come across such trinkets as computer games, laser pointers
and compasses.
He carefully signed the logbook,
which had about a dozen entries since the cache was placed in June.
"It's not really so much the box
itself as it is a connection with another human being. They sat
here, they saw this scene, they felt strong it was a good place for
other people to go to. You feel connected to the person," said
Thomas, pausing to admire the landscape before he packed up the
cache box.
Brushing the dirt off his pants,
Thomas then stood up and headed back to his car, leaving the site
intact for the next adventurer.
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