Rules for this puzzle: No intentional red herrings, no oddball (fishiness) methods of presenting coordinates (UTM, for example, or also having coordinates read backwards), and no leaving off the N32 and W97 just to make it more difficult. There may be more than one layer on this puzzle. Collaboration is allowed and you may ask me for hints after there has been a FTF.

If you want to solve puzzles, you need to understand binary. Now, I don't mean being able to do binary in your head - there are plenty of websites that will do the math; however, having a basic understanding is key.

Basically, binary is a way to count numbers using just two numbers - Zero and One. Here is binary representation of the decimal numbers zero through nine:

The zero is also referred to as "false" or "off". The one is referred to as "true" or "on". The thing is, there are a whole plethora of things that can conform to this pattern. Left and Right hand turns on a map, upper and lower case letters in a string, letters that drop below the line (gpqy), those that stay on the line (mosz), letters that go above the line (hkfb), letters that are closed loops (obgd), letters that are open (ckzf), and so on - ad nauseum.

Binary can even be used to reference specific letters of the alphabet with ASCII - and vice versus. There are also several encoding systems that are basically binary. Morse code (dots and dashes), Bacon code (As and Bs), Postnet (dots and bars), braille (raised and flat dots), etc. There are so many techniques out there that are basically a form of binary - if you understand the basics, then all of the others will make more sense.

When working on a puzzle you should consider binary in every step of the way… the puzzle may not have anything to do with binary, exactly, but so much stuff works like binary that it should always be at the forefront of your puzzle solving plan.

Now, what will really bake your noodle, is you don’t have to necessarily use the obvious when it comes to binary code. Take this puzzle for example...

There is so much more I could discuss on binary, but for some of you, your heads are possibly already spinning.

Puzzle Solving Tools - If I don't discuss a particular tool below in the paragraphs above, you may assume I did not use it for this puzzle; however, it may be useful for puzzles of similar style.

You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.

A NOTE TO PUZZLE COs: Keep in mind how many options there are when encoding in binary. Throw your solver a bone. Also, I don’t suggest using oddball methods of presenting the coordinates (backwards, UTM, decimal, West and North zippered together, zippered backwards, etc) - instead, simply make the underlying puzzle more challenging or add a layer.