Final Research Paper

Geocaching

According to Wikipedia, “geocaching is an outdoor activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (“geocaches”) anywhere in the world.” In geocaching, you can either make and hide your own cache, or look up other caches to go find. They are hidden by using the GPS device to determine the coordinates of where the cache is hidden, for example the latitude and longitude of Victoria, Canada would be 48° 26’ 0” N 123° 21’ 0” W. You would enter these coordinates into your GPS device, and then continue using your GPS device to find exactly where that is. Geocaches are usually placed somewhere that is important or has some kind of meaning to the creator of the cache. Location of caches can be extremely diverse and can be found anywhere from underwater or on a cliff, to down the street from your house.

Geocachers have their own terminology and also sometimes use a code when writing in logbooks or in messages. An interesting term they use is the word “muggle” from the Harry Potter series. In this case a muggle is anybody who is not a geocacher. Also, the code they sometimes use is called ROT13, in which each letter of the alphabet is rotated 13 characters up or down. For example A = N, B = O, etc.

There are several different types of caches. Typically a cache might be a Tupperware container or some kind of sturdy, water/nature proof container, containing a log book (or log sheet in smaller caches), writing utensils, and maybe some other objects such as a toy car or some rocks; could be anything! The only rules of geocaching are that if you take an item out, replace the item with a new one, and always remember to write in the logbook! Generally when placing an item such as a toy or something, each item is put in it’s own Ziploc bag to help protect it from nature. In some caches people are looking to trade items or start a collection. One cache in the area was looking for people to trade buttons with, so they could help expand their collection. Caches are posted online for other geocachers so they can look up the coordinates, as well as read a description of the cache, read the log, and sometimes even get a hint as to where the cache is hidden.

Other types of items that may be found in a cache are trackable items. There are two kinds of trackable items: Groundspeak Travel Bugs^®/hitchhikers and official Geocoins. A Groundspeak Travel Bug^® is a tag etched with a unique code that is attached to an item, which travels from cache to cache with help from people who geocache. The unique code on the tag is used to track the item online so you can see where it’s been and maybe even where the original creator of this travel bug wants the item to go. A travel bug is also a good example of a hitchhiker, which works the same way as a travel bug but has some kind of instructions to travel to other caches. Geocoins are coins created by geocachers to remember a special event or as a signature item to leave in caches. Geocoins work the same way as the travel bugs and are moved from cache to cache and tracked online.

Another aspect of geocaching would be benchmarks. A benchmark is a location whose position is known extremely accurately and is usually marked somehow, usually by a metal disk made specifically for the benchmark, but can also be a church spire, radio tower, a mark chiseled into stone, or a metal rod driven into the ground. The benefit in finding and seeking a benchmark is to be able to take pictures and share them with other geocachers based on the benchmark’s unique code. The code on a benchmark works pretty much the same way as a trackable, but benchmarks are in a permanent location. Geocachers are able to take pictures around or of the benchmark and tag them using the code, and then are able to compare their pictures with others from the specific site of the benchmark.

References:

http://www.geocaching.com/faq/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

Geocaching iPhone application

Final Studio Project

For my final studio project I decided to use Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign together to design a poster showing information about Antarctica and all the different research stations there. I wanted to find a way to map out Antarctica as well as showing which other countries are there and how many research stations they have, and where they are.

Final Paper Proposal

For my final paper I really wanted to learn more and write about Geocaching. Geocaching is a treasure hunting game that uses GPS and coordinates to locate the "treasure", or in this case, the cache. There are many types of caches, some which are containers containing a log book or other things, while others might just be a virtual cache, where there is actually nothing even in the area.
I find geocaching really interesting because I like the idea of treasure hunting and I always enjoy looking at a GPS screen being able to see where I am, and geocaching definitely combines the two things. I also find it really interesting and want to learn more about it and understand all the different types of caches.
In my paper I plan to address topics such as what exactly geocaching is, the different types of caches that exist, and other aspects of geocaching such as trackable items and bench marks.