GPS in Education

Arlington ISD, Instructional Technology Department

October 21, 2006

Navigation Before GPS

landmarks

Navigation Before GPS

Land in sight

Navigation Before GPS

night sky

Navigation Before GPS

chronometer

Navigation Before GPS

sextant

Navigation Before GPS

TRANSIT satellite

GPS

NAVSTAR Global

Positioning System

GPS

Manpack

GPS

Precision Lightweight

GPS Receiver (PLGR)

GPS

So how does it work?

http://video.howstuffworks.com/hsw/player.htm?v=gps

Google Earth

• Free download– http://earth.google.com

• Satellite Imagery

• KMZ’s

Geocaching Background

• Started August 2000

• “Geo” means “earth/geography”

• “Cache” means “container”

• 319,509 caches in 222 countries

• Free (once you have a GPS receiver)

How it Works

• Geocacher searches by zip code for caches in a certain area

http://www.geocaching.com

• Takes the GPS receiver and locates the cache

• Open cache, sign log book, trade items

• Replace as it was found

• Log find on the website

Geocaching Rules

• CITO

• Leave no trace

• No food/candy

• Don’t trade “down”

• Don’t give away the hide in the logs

• Adhere to the creed

Geocaching Lingo

• TFTC

• TNLN

• FTF

• “Muggles”

Types of Caches

• Micros

• Regular/Small

• Virtual

• Multi-cache

• Where’s George

• Letterboxing

Trackables

• Travel Bugs– http://www.geocaching.com/track/search.aspx

• Geocoins

• White Jeeps

Explorist 100

• Power button on right side

• Allow 2 minutes for the satellites to lock on– 3 solid bars

– Will automatically advance to next screen

Explorist 100 (ctd.)

• Odometer tells how far you’ve traveled

• Location screen

Explorist 100 (ctd.)

• Reading the coordinates

Current Position Desired Position

32°46.143 N 32°46.197 N

97°04.816 W 97°04.749 W

In which direction do you need to travel?

Explorist 100 (ctd.)

Has a built-in digital compass.

Compass only works when traveling at least 3 mph.