Geocaching: Hike and Seek With Your GPS
Book Review

By Dale Farris, Vice President Golden Triangle PC Club May 2004 General Overview Technology can be more than just practical—it can also be fun. And fun is exactly what you’ll have when you try geocaching. It’s a high-tech treasure-seeking game that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS). Because geocaching combines the outdoors, puzzles, and adventure, everyone—from kids to kayakers, and retirees to rock climbers—can easily become involved. You’ll join a rapidly expanding worldwide network of people who hide containers of “prizes” in the wilderness, suburbs, and even in the middle of cities, then provide clues for others to discover them. Borrowing from the classic pursuits of orienteering and letterboxing, geocaching can be as easy as a walk in the park or as challenging as scuba diving to a hundred feet. You don’t need to be an expert in electronics, navigation, or even hiking to start. With this book, you’ll soon understand GPS technology, know how to find your way about, and be able to prepare for your next hike-and-seek adventure! What's Geocaching? We could consider the birth of the sport geocaching to be relatively new, especially when you consider the relatively new arrival on the retail scene of reasonably priced GPS devices. From its beginning as an insider activity involving dozens of people who participated in an electronic newsgroup about Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, geocaching has sprung forth to intrigue and interest people in so many countries that it would be easier to name those who haven't yet been touched by it. Almost anyone can find some appeal in geocaching:  for the gadget hound, electronics; for puzzle fans, mental challenges; for outdoor enthusiasts, hiking, boating, climbing, and diving; and for parents, a chance to get kids away from video screens and have them burn off some energy. The relatively new activity of geocaching involves treasure hunting and outdoor exploration. It owes its birth in 2000 to human ingenuity, the Internet, and GPS technology. The concept is simple. One person puts together a collection of things, and places these in a container, called the cache, takes a reading of its position with a GPS device, then posts the location numbers on a Web site. Someone else looks up the location, finds the cache, takes one item from the collection, and replaces it with another. You can take a short walk down a well-manicured trail in a park to a cache you discover after a few minutes of looking. Or, you can select a hunt that involves hiking into mountains or remote wilderness and searching for hours, or longer, to find the container. You can find caches tucked away in urban nooks and crannies, or on cliff faces that require the seeker to rappel down to reach the hiding place. Geocaching can be as domestic as the wooded area just a five-minute walk from your home, or as exotic as scuba diving 100 feet down off the coast of Bimini to find the final clue to a cache. The experience is as varied as the possibilities, and can lead to moments out of time. Originally called GPS Stash Hunt, geocaching was the brainchild of David J. Ulmer, who created the first cache - containing a can of beans, a compass, and a videotape - in Oregon. Interest quickly grew, and today the sport of geocaching involves hundreds of thousands of cachers all over the world. This is the focus of interest in this fascinating, complete guide to the exciting, fun world of geocaching. Table of Contents The eight (8) chapters include the following: 1)  Starting Off 2)  Cache On 3)  The Technology 4)  Lost in Style 5)  A Good Walk 6)  On The Hunt 7)  In Hiding 8)  Geovariations The two (2) appendixes include the following: Appendix A:  Resources Appendix B:  Outdoor Safety Target Readers Author Sherman has dedicated this super book to all the people who realize that a technology developed for the military can be used peacefully when you are hiking a million miles from your nearest worldly care. This is one of the most useful books available to support the interests of the countless thousands of geocachers that criss-cross the globe finding and leaving their caches for others. Kudos to Apress for publishing this fascinating book that reveals the ever-expanding world of geocaching. With today's GPS devices become more common, the exciting, fun world of geocaching will continue to grow, and this will stimulate more interest in author Sherman's intriguing, thorough book on this growing sport. Book Contents 224 pages; about the author; preface; acknowledgments; tons of figures, diagrams, maps, drawings; photographs; appendixes; index Author Erik Sherman About the Author Erik Sherman knows what it's like to get lost on foot, in the woods, in a car, and even under water, so when he learned about GPS (Global Positioning Systems), he was hooked. He is a freelance writer and photographer, and his work has appeared in such publications as the "New York Times Magazine," "Newsweek," "US News & World Report," "USA Weekend," "Financial Times, "Continental," "Chief Executive," "Columbia Journalism Review," and "Red Herring." He is the author of two books on home networking and one on Pocket PCs. ISBN April 2004 - First Edition 1-59059-122-4 List Price $19.99 About Apress Apress is a publishing company devoted to meeting the needs of programming professionals. Apress' unique approach to computer book publishing grew out of conversations between Dan Appleman and Gary Cornell, Apress' founders, who believe that too many programming books are of such low quality that they are a complete waste of time. Computer professionals need quality books that are not just rehashes of documentation. The "A" in Apress stands for The Author's Press, and their books have "The Expert's Voice." Apress acquires manuscripts of the highest quality by attracting the best authors and technical experts that the world has to offer. Apress makes authors partners in the publishing process, doesn't impose a "house style" on authors, and doesn't make them conform to a series that straightjacket's them. Apress also makes sure that authors are treated equitably. Another key feature of the Apress approach to publishing books is taken from the software industry. Apress treats the technical review process as seriously as the best software companies treat the quality assurance process. Apress is convinced that the innovations listed above make it possible for them to produce the highest quality books, recruit the highest quality authors, and publish titles that information technology professionals need and want. The Apress management team ensures that the distribution and fulfillment of Apress titles is second to none, and that the capital is available to move aggressively and take advantage of any publishing opportunities that arise. To accomplish this, Apress has entered into a partnership with Springer-Verlag, one of the world's most respected publishing houses. Springer-Verlag is convinced that Apress will be the publisher of quality trade computer paperbacks in the years to come. Apress will continue to publish titles of the highest quality, and has compiled a team of authors that reads like a veritable "Who's Who" list of the computing industry. The company founders have published over 200 software titles by leading software professionals, all of whom have "The Expert's Voice." Publisher Contact Chloe Benjamin Marketing Associate Apress 2560 Ninth Street, Suite 219 Berkeley, California 94710 510-549-5930 ext. 120 FAX 510-549-5939 chloe@apress.com www.apress.com