From the folks in Seattle:

Groundspeak is planning to take part in a fantastic event in the US this coming Saturday (December 5th).

DARPA is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Internet, and is (literally) launching a challenge that offers $40,000 to the winner(s).

The challenge is to be the first to submit the coordinates of 10 moored, 8-foot, red weather balloons at 10 fixed locations in the continental United States. Not only is it a challenge with a prize to the winner, it is a social networking experiment, to see how information is communicated between challengers and observers.

The winner will receive $40,000, and if we win Groundspeak will add another $10,000 and then donate the $50,000 to schools in need of GPS equipment through donorschoose.org.

We will be contacting geocachers asking them to submit coordinates of spotted balloons via a designated email address.

However, we ask you all to be on the lookout for a giant red weather balloon somewhere near you.

That's all I know at this time. Sound like fun.

~erik~

Completely awesome. I know you'll update us as you know more!

Here is the web page for the contest:

http://www.insidegnss.com/node/1781

Interesting article.....

Groundspeak participating in $40 DARPA Challenge

quote:

via Facebook from Jeremy Irish "Groundspeak is entering the DARPA balloon challenge. $40k + our $10k would go to DonorsChoose.org programs" http://tinyurl.com/yk4jt8b

Here's another linkie.

We should all get a broadcast communication from Groundspeak later today elaborating on all this.

~erik~

Here's the latest:

http://www.10balloonies.com/20...chers-for-darpa.html

~erik~

Earlier today Groundspeak posted a possible sighting at Oakland Cemetery, but didn't identify the state. Does anyone know if it is Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta?

Well, that was quick...

There was one at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. We had one of the ten.
Bummer that the geocaching team didn't win this time, though.

~erik~

A story about the results. Nice mention of Groundspeak and our 'army of GPS enthusiasts'!
http://www.examiner.com/x-1664...ge-and-the-winner-is

doctor mole, thanks for the post. This is an awesome mention which says a lot for Groundspeak.

Another article, though Groundspeak isn't mentioned:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12...t&twt=nytimesscience

And - what Groundspeak learned from participating in the challenge:

http://www.10balloonies.com/20...have-we-learned.html

Thanks for posting follow-up info. Much appreciated!

Belatedly, and not even relevant, but a distant friend found and/or tracked one. (we're talking brother-of-sister-in-laws-friends-brothers-uncles-friend type of action here.)

Still, they were pretty pumped. Nice stuff.