Guest Author: The Top Geocaching Apps of 2012
Geocaching is a great way to discover hidden gems right in the wall of your city. It’s also a great excuse to get outside and explore the terrain. A Geocaching challenge is similar to a real-world treasure hunt, where teams or individuals use GPS tracking to locate “caches” or trinkets that contain lists of who has found them as well as details about the find—including notes about the terrain, hiding spot, and trinkets found within the cache. There are literally thousands of hidden caches all over the world, so you can geocache in any city you visit. Simply, access the official database of caches at geocaching.com, and use your iPhone or Android to locate caches in any area that offers T-Mobile wireless internet or Wi-Fi coverage.
There are thousands of geocaching applications to choose from. However, veteran geocachers will tell you that these apps offer the best quality for the price you pay…
1. Geocaching by Groundspeak Inc. ($9.99 – for Android & iPhone)
The official geocaching (GC) app from Groundspeak offers direct access to the official and ever-growing cache database that I listed above so it makes sense that this app would be first on the list! This app allows users to find nearby caches by address or by GC code, and you can choose specifically where you want your street, topographic, and/or satellite maps to come from. The friendly user interface offers four tabs for caches— search, saved, logs, and trackables—as well as an export button for instant login to geocaching.com so you can sync your saved caches to the master database.
Guest Author: Intro to GPS
This is a guest article about how a GPS works. It was written by RJ Stapell, of High Trail Expeditions, who I met at the Overland Expo 2012.
The GPS System
In General
The GPS navigation system currently maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense consists of:
The GPS system is based on line of site transmission from the satellite to the GPS receiver. A GPS handheld or vehicle-mounted receiver requires a strong signal from a minimum of 4 satellites in order to accurately report the receiver’s position, speed and direction of travel. The GPS signal from the satellite can be adversely affected by:
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11 years ago • Guest Author, Terms • Tags: GPSr, guest author