| The History of Geocaching GPS Users get an Instant Upgrade On
May 2, 2000, at approximately midnight, eastern savings time, the
great blue switch* controlling selective availability was pressed.
Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed their new orders,
and instantly the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. Tens
of thousands of GPS receivers around the world had an instant
upgrade. The announcement a day before came as a welcome surprise
to everyone who worked with GPS technology. The government had
planned to remove selective availability - but had until 2006 to do
so. Now, said the White House, anyone could "precisely pinpoint
their location or the location of items (such as game) left behind
for later recovery." How right they were. London, Paris, New York,
Beavercreek? For GPS enthusiasts, this was definitely a cause for
celebration. Internet newsgroups suddenly teemed with ideas about
how the technology could be used. On May 3, one such enthusiast,
Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, wanted to test the accuracy by
hiding a navigational target in the woods. He called the idea the
"Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and posted it in an internet GPS
users' group. The idea was simple: Hide a container out in the
woods and note the coordinates with a GPS unit. The finder would
then have to locate the container with only the use of his or her
GPS receiver. The rules for the finder were simple: "Take some
stuff, leave some stuff." On May 3rd he placed his own container, a
black bucket, in the woods near Beavercreek, Oregon, near Portland.
Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various prize items
including videos, books, software, and a slingshot. He shared the
waypoint of his "stash" with the online community on
sci.geo.satellite-nav: N 45° 17.460 W 122° 24.800 Within three
days, two different readers read about his stash on the Internet,
used their own GPS receivers to find the container, and shared
their experiences online. Throughout the next week, others excited
by the prospect of hiding and finding stashes began hiding their
own containers and posting coordinates. Like many new and
innovative ideas on the Internet, the concept spread quickly - but
this one required leaving your computer to participate. Within the
first month, Mike Teague, the first person to find Ulmer's stash,
began gathering the online posts of coordinates around the world
and documenting them on his personal home page. The "GPS Stash
Hunt" mailing list was created to discuss the emerging activity.
Names were even tossed about to replace the name "stash" due to the
negative connotations of that name. One such name was
"geocaching.". |