Replicated from the GGA EZBoard:

erik88l r
Administrator
(10/2/01 6:07:43 am)
Front Page News

Brad Webb (gpsfun) and David Peluso (justdrivin) made the front page of The Gwinnett County News this morning. Not only did they make the front page but the headlines are in typeface larger than any dealing with terrrorists or other topics of the day. The headline "Treasure Hunters" may be a politically incorrect description of our sport, but the rest of the article is very good. It descibes geocaching in the context of a cache hunt David and Brad went on with the paper's photographer and reporter last Saturday. Good job guys! Perhaps someone more technically competent can scan the article and provide a link so others can enjoy it.
Or maybe the paper has a web site?


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AJLacy
Registered Geocacher
(10/2/01 8:08:55 am)
Re: Front Page News

Is this it 207.69.64.62/GDP-Templates/news1.shtml


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erik88l r
Administrator
(10/2/01 12:41:41 pm)
Re: Front Page News

Other than a different title and no photos that looks like it!


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Brad Webb
gpsfun
(10/9/01 9:09:20 pm)
Re: Front Page News

Unfortunately, Allen's link now takes you to this story:

U.S. pounds Afghanistan for second day as Britain hints of next phase

Not exactly a geocaching story...

-Brad


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lmoseley
BigDog
(10/9/01 9:22:18 pm)
Re: Front Page News

I was afraid that would happen, so...

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Gwinnett Daily Post, October 2, 2001

Satellite technology puts a new twist on walking in the woods

By Jim Kvicala, Staff Writer

Satellite technology and hiking through the woods would seem to be two fields of interest completely at odds with each other, but as several Gwinnett residents have found out, both have been melded together to create an engaging new American pastime called geocaching.

For David Peluso, a 36-year-old Dacula resident, it's an opportunity to indulge his enthusiasm for high-tech gadgetry with his love of the outdoors. "My wife could tell you... I am a confirmed gadget freak," he said, "and I've always been into hiking and camping."

It wasn't until recently that Peluso's two areas of interest merged, thanks to newly available technology made accessible to ordinary people by the U.S. government.

The U.S. military first established the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to provide troops, planes, ships and weapons systems a way to locate themselves on the globe with a high degree of accuracy utilizing a network of geostationary satellites. The technology was eventually made available to the general public, but for security reasons a feature called "selective availability" kept civilian receivers from being as accurate as their military counterparts.

In May 2000, the selective availability feature was adjusted to give civilian GPS receivers a higher degree of accuracy, allowing them to locate the user within 10 to 15 feet of his actual position on the globe, a vast improvement over the previous accuracy level of plus or minus 300 feet.

Caching in

Not long after that, the first geocache was hidden near Portland, Ore., and its GPS coordinates posted on a Web site. A short time later, a Web designer named Jeremy Irish launched Geocaching.com, the Web site used by most of the new activity's adherents to locate cache sites. Peluso, a former Gwinnett County paramedic, began using GPS when he started working for a wireless communications company acquiring sites for cell phone towers.

He and his wife Janet now plan entire weekends around the activity, hitting four or five geocaches in one outing.

"We enjoy it because it's something we can do together," said Peluso.

The word "geocache" comes from the Greek "geo" meaning "earth" and the French word "cache" meaning "a hiding place." Geocaches are generally waterproof containers holding a logbook and a collection of trinkets meant to serve as souvenirs of the find.

Geocaching is similar to the sport of orienteering, in which individuals use compasses and maps to find locations.

The handheld GPS receiver adds an element of accuracy difficult for the average participant to attain with just a compass and map, making it possible to find the otherwise hidden caches. Getting involved in geocaching is relatively inexpensive, with prices for new GPS units with basic features currently around $100, while a used unit can be purchased through eBay for around $80.

The geocacher is expected to leave a souvenir and take a souvenir after noting his visit to the site in the logbook.

Many geocachers leave the same "signature item" each time they visit a new cache. Peluso, for example, leaves a Matchbox toy ambulance at each new cache he discovers.

Suwanee resident and geocacher Brad Webb, a 58-year-old products manager for a computer manufacturer, leaves what he calls a "spider deuce" - a $2 bill rolled up inside a plastic Halloween spider ring - at the caches he visits.

Webb is a member of the steering committee for the Georgia Geocachers Association, formed in June at an "event cache" in Cobb County. The GGA's September meeting had 40 people attend, he said. "I became interested in geocaching as a way to get outdoors," he said. "It was a way to mix technology with exercise... I enjoy technology."

Like the Pelusos, Webb and his wife Faye like to go geocaching together. Webb said that's one of the attractive features of the sport - it can be done alone or with several people working together.

"One of the good things about it is it's something the whole family can do," he said. According to the Geocaching.com Web site, there are almost 7,000 active caches in 68 countries, so what was formerly an exclusively American pursuit is catching on around the world. Geocaches are assigned two ratings - one based on the amount of experience and research needed to find them and another based on how challenging it is to traverse the terrain to get to it.

To find some caches, the geocacher has to navigate to intermediate points to get to the final location. Webb said one cache took a half a day and nine separate waypoints to reach the final location. Other caches require library or Internet research to decipher the clues. David Peluso said his wife Janet spent two hours surfing the Net to get the answers needed to find one recent cache.

The hunt for cache

The caches are generally hidden on public land. Getting to them can be a short walk or a physical ordeal, with the difficulty of the terrain rated on a scale of one to five. Terrain rated a "1" is probably close to being handicapped accessible, said Webb. "If you have a '5' rating for terrain, you can assume you should bring climbing gear," he said. Webb said some geocachers enjoy finding the caches, while others enjoy placing them and posting the clues on how to find them.

"For the people who really like puzzles, there's always those who like to create puzzles," said Webb.

Peluso and Webb have each logged more than 30 geocaches, but there are other geocachers who have logged more than a hundred.

Webb said the number of caches logged is less important to geocachers than the challenges involved in finding them.

"It's an adventure ... it's not the getting there as much as the going," he said.