A high-tech treasure hunt in which trinkets are stored in a waterproof container ("geocache") that can be located in the wilderness or in a public venue, typically not in plain view. The GPS coordinates of the cache are published on the geocaching Web site, and the object of the hunt is to locate the cache and enter your name in the log book as well as move objects from one cache to the next. In addition, geocachers may want to share their experiences online. Like a traditional treasure hunt, the contents of one geocache may provide the coordinates to the next one. As of mid-2008, there were more than 600,000 geocaches around the world.
Trackable Travel Bugs and Geocoins
A major goal of geocaching is to track an object as it moves across the country or around the world. In order to track the movement, Groundspeak, Inc., the founder of the geocaching Web site, developed the "Travel Bug," a physical tag with an identifying number. Groundspeak also issues ranges of IDs for minting "geocoins," which are commemorative coins with tracking numbers, and other sites have issued their own geocoins. When geocachers find Travel Bugs and geocoins, they post their IDs online to update the trackable's new geocache location. For more information, visit www.geocaching.com. See portable GPS.
Although any portable GPS can be used to locate a geocache by entering latitude and longitude, Garmin worked with Groundspeak to enable coordinates and descriptions to be downloaded to Garmin units via a USB connection to the computer. In addition, geocache data can be transferred wireless between two Garmin users in close proximity. (Image courtesy of Garmin Ltd, www.garmin.com)
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