GPS Lab activity due 3/14/08

February 29, 2008 Leap Day!
GPS Lab activity due 3/14/08 as you come to lab.
For your lab this week you will get a chance to participate in the largest scavenger hunt in the world because the scavenger hunt is the world...welcome to the pastime known as geocaching!
Description
Divide up into groups of 2 or 3 (no more than 3 to a group)
Check out GPS units from our TA Joe Zullo- all GPS units have to be signed out and returned to Joe

At each location:
1) Record the latitude and longitude (in decimal degrees) of the location 3 times with at least 2 minutes of elapsed time between each reading. Make sure that you write down the date/time and the lat/lon information
2) Take a photograph of the location, must include the site and the group members (take 2 photos if you have to). No you don’t need to be holding up a copy of the day’s newspaper.


Part 1. Take a Tour of the Solar System.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c8f892ba-6f0e-4e46-b178-c8d0612c0ce5

The University of Delaware has a scale model of our solar system. The planets are scattered around the campus. Parking is best on Main Street for the first few. The coordinates provided are for the sun. You will be looking for stone markers that stick up about 3-6 inches from the ground. Navigation from planet to planet is on the marker stones.
For this part of the lab report the locations of these 4 celestial bodies 1) Sun 2) Earth, 3) Jupiter, and 4) Saturn use the markers,
Find the answer to these questions
1) what % of mass the sun makes up of the solar system
2) What are the last two phrases on the earth marker.

To complete this portion of the assignment you don't have to go past Saturn. But it's an interesting walk.
A map of the planets can be found here
http://www.museums.udel.edu/mineral/mineral_site/exhibitions/special_projects/planet_walk/planet_walk.html
and a campus map is available here
http://www.publications.udel.edu/UDmap/images/UDmap.pdf

Part 2. Find your own treasure
Now that you have conquered the Universe time to be your own explorer. Go to this link
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gmnearest.aspx?lat=39.68086819978058&lng=-75.74923038482666&zm=15&mt=m
on the geocaching site and click on the geocache links located on the map near campus. After reading up on the various caches from this list
1) All the info you will ever need!!! ID: GCMEQB
2) YoUDee's Automall ID: GCMEQD
3) Main Street Monopoly ID: GCXQ6E
4)Freegan's Treasure ID: GC1725V
5)YoUDee's Transient Cache ID: GCR7BH
6)To be a thespian ID: GC179PP
7) YoUDee is all alone ID: GCR7BN
8) Purr...purr ID: GC18E5X
Remember you only need to do one (1) of the above geocaches for part 2 of the assignment.
If you are an old hand at Geocache and have done all of these choose another one in the area to go after.
Now choose one to go search for.

Instructions for your report
1. For both parts of the lab you will need to provide photographic evidence of the cache or cache sites as the case may be. Photos should show the cache and include your team in the frame to receive credit.

2. Keep a log of GPS positions for each geocache you find you will need to include these with your report. Include the position in Latitude/Longitude and UTM coordinates

3. Make a place mark in Google Earth (I will show you how to do this in class) for your target positions and include the resulting .kmz file with your report. Don’t have Google Earth…go here http://earth.google.com/
5. Send your report- including positions, photos, and any specific notes about your geocache adventure to the class blog either by sending an email to this address art109.geol306@blogger.com. Also send a copy of the report to me (art@udel.edu) and Joe (zulloster@gmail.com)
Don’t forget to check out the blog for course info and updates
http://geol306.blogspot.com/
good luck!
-Art