WEBVTT - GPS Games People Play

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>Hello there, welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Poette.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm an editor at how Stuff Works, and as usual

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<v Speaker 1>I have Jonathan Strickland, one of our senior writers with me. Hi. Oh,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry it was a bit lost lost. Perhaps you

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<v Speaker 1>need a way to find yourself. As you can tell,

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<v Speaker 1>this is one of our corny segues directly into the

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<v Speaker 1>podcast topic, which today is all about GPS and the

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<v Speaker 1>games you get to play with them. You know, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't have a GPS, so I've never experience ends this,

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<v Speaker 1>but I think it's fascinating that you would take something

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<v Speaker 1>as I don't know, utilitarian as a GPS device and

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<v Speaker 1>find a way to play a game with it. Right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and well, I'll talk a little bit about the history

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<v Speaker 1>of GPS and and and kind of how it works.

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<v Speaker 1>Kind of explain how this came about. I mean, the

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<v Speaker 1>fascinating thing about it is it started out as a

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<v Speaker 1>military thing, right, technically cut story, that was a science

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<v Speaker 1>fiction thing. But so an you put it that way,

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<v Speaker 1>I just hey, you know, Arthur C. Clark gotta give

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<v Speaker 1>them props. So um so. Global Positioning System or GPS,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a system that utilizes a kind of location

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<v Speaker 1>um system called three dimensional trilateration. All right, that's a

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<v Speaker 1>fancy way of saying that you determine where your position

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<v Speaker 1>is honest sphere by measuring the distance between you and

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<v Speaker 1>a saddle and several satellites. Usually it's at least three satellites,

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<v Speaker 1>if not more. And by measuring the distance between yourself

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<v Speaker 1>and the satellite, you can figure out where you are

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<v Speaker 1>in pretty specific terms upon that sphere, the sphere of

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<v Speaker 1>course being Earth. Kind of funny how that works, right,

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<v Speaker 1>So yeah, so you're you're you know, it's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>like triangulation, but it's again called trilateration. And uh, the

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<v Speaker 1>way you measure your distance from the satellite is that

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<v Speaker 1>your your GPS receiver sends a signal up and then

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<v Speaker 1>receives a signal back from the satellite. It determines how

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<v Speaker 1>long it took the signal to go out and back,

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<v Speaker 1>and that tells it how far away it is from

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<v Speaker 1>the satellite. But because of course the signal is always

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<v Speaker 1>going to travel at the same speed, right, So by

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<v Speaker 1>doing this multiple times with multiple satellites, you can determine

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<v Speaker 1>your position on the Earth. Um, there's more in there

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<v Speaker 1>that we could talk about. I mean, there's some really

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<v Speaker 1>cool science behind it because obviously a satellite orbiting the Earth,

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<v Speaker 1>it's traveling at a very fast speed as it orbits,

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<v Speaker 1>which means relativity comes into play. You can't just put

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<v Speaker 1>a regular clock on a satellite and expected to stay

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<v Speaker 1>sinked to your clock on Earth. You have to figure

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<v Speaker 1>in relativity. That's cool, do you think it is? And

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<v Speaker 1>it's also cool that it can tell where you are

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<v Speaker 1>from tens of thousands of miles in space because it

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<v Speaker 1>has to stay out at that distance in order to

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<v Speaker 1>keep it SNUS exactly. Yeah, so it's really pretty fascinating.

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<v Speaker 1>It's pretty cool stuff. So anyway, that's technically how the

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<v Speaker 1>GPS works. It's measuring those distances and then determining your location.

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<v Speaker 1>You take a look and most GPS systems now they

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<v Speaker 1>have a map function where it just it shows your

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<v Speaker 1>location on the map, and as you move around your

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<v Speaker 1>your movements are reflected in that map you can see.

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<v Speaker 1>But early GPS systems often what they would do is

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<v Speaker 1>give you coordinates and tell you where you were based.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, you'd have to use coordinates and then refer

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<v Speaker 1>to a physical map to determine where you were. And

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<v Speaker 1>early in the life of GPS systems, it was, as

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<v Speaker 1>Chris mentioned, a military application, and so as a military application,

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<v Speaker 1>the government didn't really want citizens being able to use

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<v Speaker 1>this with any sort of real precision. That's why they

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<v Speaker 1>used selective availability. Yeah, but that's mostly been revoked. At

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<v Speaker 1>one point it was but um ten meters or something

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<v Speaker 1>like that. Yeah, what would happen. What would happen is

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<v Speaker 1>the government created these algorithms that would insert artificial errors

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<v Speaker 1>into the signal so that people using a civilian GPS

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<v Speaker 1>system would never be able to tell for sure if

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<v Speaker 1>the coordinates they received were accurately reflecting where they they

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<v Speaker 1>were standing and it was you know, you the closest

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<v Speaker 1>you could determine is around three hundred feet. That was

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<v Speaker 1>about as about as close as you could figure out

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<v Speaker 1>that you would be um. You know, you can never

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<v Speaker 1>be sure. It could be further than that, even depending

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<v Speaker 1>on the errors that were inserted into the signal. But

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<v Speaker 1>in two thousand, the u S revoked this, this policy

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<v Speaker 1>of selective availability, and then it became possible to determine

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<v Speaker 1>your position within you know, six to twenty ft accuracy.

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<v Speaker 1>And now it's pretty good. It's pretty pretty accurate, which

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<v Speaker 1>gave rise to the ability to play games using your GPS.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, we're not talking football here, We're we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about well and it's almost like hide and seek

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<v Speaker 1>in some ways. Yeah, or treasure hunting is a treasure

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<v Speaker 1>of looking at it. Um. Yeah. So the biggest game

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<v Speaker 1>that folks player, perhaps the most popular, and the biggest

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<v Speaker 1>is probably the wrong word. Most popular game would be

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<v Speaker 1>geo cashing. Now, geo cashing started when this uh, this

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<v Speaker 1>this fellow out and I believe it was California. As

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<v Speaker 1>soon as selective availability was as soon as that was dismissed,

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<v Speaker 1>He's like, Hey, I have this cool idea. I'll go

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<v Speaker 1>out into the woods. I'll hide a box out there

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<v Speaker 1>with a little prize in it, and I will um,

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<v Speaker 1>I will mark the location. I'll figure out where I'll

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<v Speaker 1>carry GPS is a receiver with me. I will fig

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<v Speaker 1>write down the coordinates for the box. I'll go back,

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<v Speaker 1>upload the coordinates to the web and challenge people to

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<v Speaker 1>try and find it. And I think within the first

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<v Speaker 1>couple of days someone had found it. Um. So even

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<v Speaker 1>this early on, there were enough enthusiasts who were just

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for this opportunity to really kind of play with

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<v Speaker 1>these receivers they had access to, but they didn't. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, with the selective availability, they couldn't really do it.

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<v Speaker 1>Now that it was gone, the sky was the limit,

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<v Speaker 1>and that gave birth to geos cashing, excuse me, And

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<v Speaker 1>so with geo cashing, the general idea is that you

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<v Speaker 1>create a cash or a box of some sort of

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<v Speaker 1>container of some sort um, and you hide it in

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<v Speaker 1>a location. You put some stuff in it. Usually there's

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<v Speaker 1>a log book, um, and there's often some little trinkets

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<v Speaker 1>in there, and you, uh, what you do is you

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<v Speaker 1>you upload the coordinates to a website for geo casher's

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<v Speaker 1>and the geo cashers went, you know, if they're planning

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<v Speaker 1>a trip out, they say, hey, you know, I wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to go hiking along this trail and there are some

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<v Speaker 1>some cashes that are along the trail. Let me see

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<v Speaker 1>how many of them I can find while I'm out there.

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<v Speaker 1>They take the receiver with them, they go hiking, they

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<v Speaker 1>look at the numbers, they try and find the cash.

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<v Speaker 1>If they find it, they signed the log book. They

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<v Speaker 1>can take a trinket, and usually they leave a trinket behind,

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<v Speaker 1>and a lot of geo cashiers have specific things they

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<v Speaker 1>leave behind, so that way you know who's been to

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<v Speaker 1>the box before, sort of like the Pink Panther the

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<v Speaker 1>original movie, right, so you know, you could look down

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<v Speaker 1>and if you see, I don't know, like a smurf,

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<v Speaker 1>you're like, oh, Bill was here, because Bill leave smurfs.

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<v Speaker 1>Or maybe even maybe it wasn't Bill. Maybe it was

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<v Speaker 1>someone who had visited one of Bill's cashes found the

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<v Speaker 1>smurf and then they used that as the one they

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<v Speaker 1>traded off when they found the second cash. And the

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<v Speaker 1>games can get way more complicated than that. You can

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<v Speaker 1>maybe get to the first cash, and when you get there,

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<v Speaker 1>the only thing in it is our our coordinates to

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<v Speaker 1>a second cash. Well, you have to make your way

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<v Speaker 1>to the next one. And the idea here is not

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<v Speaker 1>just that your treasure hunting or walking all over the

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<v Speaker 1>places that you're experiencing the outdoors and and ideally the

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<v Speaker 1>Casher's hide these things in locations that are you know,

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<v Speaker 1>beautiful or or remarkable in some way, so that the

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<v Speaker 1>journey really is part of the enjoyment and the destination

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<v Speaker 1>is part of the enjoyment. It's not just that you

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<v Speaker 1>found the cash. Um. I think there's another one that's

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<v Speaker 1>very similar, geo dashing. Yeah, I've heard of that one too,

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<v Speaker 1>where there's a list of way points and you have

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<v Speaker 1>to uh, it's sort of like a rally, I guess

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<v Speaker 1>in a way, because you have a certain spot that

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<v Speaker 1>you're supposed to go to before you can go to

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<v Speaker 1>the next spot, and the point is to get to

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<v Speaker 1>as many of them as you can, I mean, try

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<v Speaker 1>to get all of them, um. And you have to

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<v Speaker 1>be within a hundred meters or so of each point

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to count that you were there. So

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<v Speaker 1>then in fact, you're supposed to describe your experience. So

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<v Speaker 1>I guess that you're you're proving it's like, yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>was at the McDonald's on Fifth and Maine, you know, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>to say, okay, yeah, well, obviously you've been to where

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<v Speaker 1>we were supposed you were supposed to go, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>in the list. So that's that's kind of interesting because

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<v Speaker 1>not only are you going to one specific point, but

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<v Speaker 1>you you are supposed to. It is the journey. It

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<v Speaker 1>is going from point to point point B and then

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<v Speaker 1>C and play different lates and you know which way

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be the most efficient, you know. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's that's another good game. There's a there's a similar

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<v Speaker 1>one called geo Vexilla. Oh yeah, you heard of that one. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>involves flags of the world. Yeah. Um, the thing is

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<v Speaker 1>they're they're not really you're not. If you see like

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<v Speaker 1>the Spanish flag, you're not supposed to go to Spain. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a point that's represented by that. So like the

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<v Speaker 1>McDonald's on Fifth and Maine might be the flag of Spain.

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<v Speaker 1>But the trick is the flags disappear, so you're supposed

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<v Speaker 1>to get to each one of them, but for they

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<v Speaker 1>disappear and something else pops up to get credit for

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<v Speaker 1>actually having visited that spot. So not only are there waypoints,

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<v Speaker 1>but the way points come and go and it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so it really is race in that case. Yeah, you

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<v Speaker 1>have to really pay attention to see when something pops

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<v Speaker 1>up that you can actually make it out to and

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<v Speaker 1>then hopefully when you make it out it's something that

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<v Speaker 1>you you know, it's a flag that you actually needed.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like like I've got eight Union jacks, but I

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<v Speaker 1>need the flag of Portugal. Yeah exactly. Yeah. So that's

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<v Speaker 1>a that's another interesting one, another race oriented. Uh geo game.

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<v Speaker 1>Um have you heard of shutter spot? I have heard

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<v Speaker 1>of shutter spot? This? Uh, this is not so much

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<v Speaker 1>a race type of thing. No, No, this one, this

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<v Speaker 1>one's a puzzle almost. It's in a way geo cashing

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<v Speaker 1>is is very much kind of a puzzle as well.

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<v Speaker 1>And geo cashing, you know, you have the coordinates and

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<v Speaker 1>then you have to find out where those you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you have to find the location that matches those coordinates.

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<v Speaker 1>Shutter spot is the other way around. You. You find

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<v Speaker 1>you're given a picture of a location and you have

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<v Speaker 1>to see if you can find the spot the photographer

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<v Speaker 1>first stood in when he or she took that photo,

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<v Speaker 1>and you then upload those coordinates. Right, So if you

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<v Speaker 1>saw a picture of say Mount Rushmore, you'd have to

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<v Speaker 1>go to Mount Rushmore and look at it and go okay, well,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously the photographer was not standing where I'm standing because

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<v Speaker 1>this is a completely different view. So I need to

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<v Speaker 1>be you know, over to the right, or yards off

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<v Speaker 1>to the right, or a hundred yards off to the left,

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<v Speaker 1>and and yeah, you have to try and use you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I have to match your view to the view of

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<v Speaker 1>the photograph and then consult your GPS receiver and say,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, this is where you were standing in yes

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<v Speaker 1>or no type of thing. Yeah, that's that's pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of a reversal of some of the other games.

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<v Speaker 1>And and what's interesting here is that a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these games are based on even older games that happened

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<v Speaker 1>before there were GPS receivers available on the consumer market.

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<v Speaker 1>There's a game called letter boxing that is kind of

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<v Speaker 1>the the I would say that the grandfather to geo cashing.

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<v Speaker 1>And in letter boxing, you would use clues and and

0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.760
<v Speaker 1>riddles and poems to try and direct people to a

0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.959
<v Speaker 1>specific location to find this letter box. And inside the

0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.719
<v Speaker 1>letter box would be a log book very much like

0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:29.600
<v Speaker 1>the geo cashing one, and a stamp, and every person

0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.080
<v Speaker 1>whose letter boxing would carry their own stamp and stamp

0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.760
<v Speaker 1>the log book and then use the log book stamp

0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.160
<v Speaker 1>to stamp their own personal log book, so it proves

0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.520
<v Speaker 1>that they visited and they have the record of their

0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.480
<v Speaker 1>visit in their own log book. But again, you're not

0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.360
<v Speaker 1>giving coordinates in this case, you're just giving clues. So

0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.360
<v Speaker 1>geo cashing is a little more straightforward usually. I mean

0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.320
<v Speaker 1>you can combine the two where, for example, you follow

0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.520
<v Speaker 1>the the coordinates that you get from whichever geo cashing

0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.000
<v Speaker 1>website you go to, you get there, and the only

0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.200
<v Speaker 1>thing there is a clue to something else, so you

0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.000
<v Speaker 1>can combine the two games. There's no there's no hard

0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.480
<v Speaker 1>and fast rules here. The real point is to create

0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.520
<v Speaker 1>a challenging environment and uh and and and have people

0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.120
<v Speaker 1>have a little adventures out out outside of their normal

0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.640
<v Speaker 1>realm of experience, which is you know, it's definitely there's

0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.000
<v Speaker 1>something romantic about that, and there's also something really techy

0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.079
<v Speaker 1>about that. Um I don't know about you, Chris, but

0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.800
<v Speaker 1>I've met a lot of tech geeks who really are

0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.719
<v Speaker 1>like the hopeless romantic type. So this really tends to

0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.520
<v Speaker 1>appeal to their sense of adventure. And and I mean

0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.720
<v Speaker 1>it's just it's it's a little geeky, a little dorky maybe,

0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.080
<v Speaker 1>But you know, I could I wouldn't mind doing it

0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.480
<v Speaker 1>for a weekend, you know, go go on a nice

0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.560
<v Speaker 1>little hike and see if I can find a cash.

0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.440
<v Speaker 1>And they're everywhere. You can check out several different geo

0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.400
<v Speaker 1>caashing websites and they're all across the world, the United

0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.800
<v Speaker 1>States in particular. It's it's pretty popular. Yeah, and if

0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.959
<v Speaker 1>you're if you're thinking about doing this yourself and actual

0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.280
<v Speaker 1>lead planting a cash, you need to uh check out.

0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.280
<v Speaker 1>There are some sites you should look at, maybe a

0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:09.640
<v Speaker 1>geocashing dot com is one. But there are rules. You

0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.079
<v Speaker 1>need to be very careful about where you go even

0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.480
<v Speaker 1>while either way, when you're planting a cash or when

0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.400
<v Speaker 1>you're going on other people's property, you need to make

0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.080
<v Speaker 1>sure that you are aware whether you're on public or

0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:26.360
<v Speaker 1>private property and basically abide by the laws because and

0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.080
<v Speaker 1>and and the the wishes of the private property owner.

0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.040
<v Speaker 1>If that is, if the cash is in fact on

0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.160
<v Speaker 1>somebody's private land, because um, they may say, yeah, sure

0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:36.560
<v Speaker 1>you can. You can put a box in that old

0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.040
<v Speaker 1>tree down there by the lake. You know, just as

0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.720
<v Speaker 1>long as you're not leaving trash around and and people

0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.720
<v Speaker 1>aren't coming over here and you know, stealing my stuff

0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.160
<v Speaker 1>and making a mass and polluting and all sorts of things.

0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.360
<v Speaker 1>You know, you want to be respectful of other people

0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.640
<v Speaker 1>because it is in fact a game, and as soon

0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.520
<v Speaker 1>as people abuse that, then you know, you know, everyone

0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.920
<v Speaker 1>can um. So there are other rules to live by,

0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.600
<v Speaker 1>Like if you are on a Geo cash hunt, you

0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:07.240
<v Speaker 1>want to be careful not to disturb the environment or

0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.440
<v Speaker 1>or leave as little an imprint as you possibly can.

0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.240
<v Speaker 1>So uh, you know, if you see like, you gotta

0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.440
<v Speaker 1>keep in mind that Geo casher's tend to like to

0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:19.000
<v Speaker 1>hide the box that's not just sitting out in plain view.

0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.760
<v Speaker 1>But you want to make sure that if you're hiding it,

0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.040
<v Speaker 1>don't hide at someplace where people are gonna have to

0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.360
<v Speaker 1>destroy part of the environment or to get to it.

0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.360
<v Speaker 1>And uh, if you're hunting, keep that in mind that

0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.360
<v Speaker 1>it should not be in a place that's gonna make

0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.200
<v Speaker 1>you have to you know, break a tree branch or

0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.120
<v Speaker 1>or or you know, go rooting around in the underbrush

0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.480
<v Speaker 1>or whatever. It should be in some location that would

0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.920
<v Speaker 1>cause the least amount of impact on the environment you

0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.480
<v Speaker 1>are in. And uh, and keeping going back to the

0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.560
<v Speaker 1>getting permission or checking to see what the rules are.

0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.640
<v Speaker 1>Keep in mind that we live in a uh, a

0:15:54.720 --> 0:16:00.120
<v Speaker 1>different world than than the year of two thousand. Mean,

0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.760
<v Speaker 1>we we live in a world now where if you

0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.880
<v Speaker 1>were to walk down the street and see a weird

0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.200
<v Speaker 1>box kind of shoved up behind a corner of the building,

0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.040
<v Speaker 1>you might be a little you might be worried. And

0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.160
<v Speaker 1>there are cases where people who were innocently we're just

0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.240
<v Speaker 1>trying to hide a GEO cash have been mistaken for

0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.600
<v Speaker 1>trying to hide something like a bomb. And it's you

0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.880
<v Speaker 1>obviously don't want that to happen, so do keep that

0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.840
<v Speaker 1>in mind. It's it's you know, it's a fun game

0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.400
<v Speaker 1>to you, and from your perspective, it's fine, but think

0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.320
<v Speaker 1>of it from the person who owns the property or

0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.840
<v Speaker 1>law enforcement. It could be something that, you know, if

0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.800
<v Speaker 1>they're unfamiliar with it, it could be very worrisome. That's true.

0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.560
<v Speaker 1>That's true. And you know, thinking about it, um with

0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:47.600
<v Speaker 1>the recent uh surgeon popularity of smartphones, many of which

0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:49.560
<v Speaker 1>have GPS devices, and then you know, this is the

0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:51.640
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing that more people could get behind simply

0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.240
<v Speaker 1>because they'll say, I got this GPS thing and my

0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:58.600
<v Speaker 1>my iPhone or my uh you know, Google Android enabled phone.

0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.080
<v Speaker 1>I I don't really use it other than for directions.

0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.680
<v Speaker 1>But I've heard of this geo cashing thing here, it's

0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.840
<v Speaker 1>possible that more people will get involved with I wouldn't

0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:11.560
<v Speaker 1>be surprised to see geo cashing applications come up where

0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.440
<v Speaker 1>you would be able to access UH data live and

0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.960
<v Speaker 1>even be able to you know, upload your own find

0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.080
<v Speaker 1>as soon as you find it. And I mean it's

0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.080
<v Speaker 1>it's a perfect kind of device for that sort of application,

0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.199
<v Speaker 1>and because it has not just the GPS capability, but

0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:32.480
<v Speaker 1>of course the phone capability or even WiFi capability. Although

0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.359
<v Speaker 1>most of the time you're not going to find a

0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.920
<v Speaker 1>cash and a WiFi enabled environment. No, I wouldn't. I

0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.120
<v Speaker 1>would imagine that there are urban cashes. There are people

0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.760
<v Speaker 1>who hide them in urban places, but those are more rare.

0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:44.760
<v Speaker 1>For one thing, it's harder to get a signal in

0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:49.080
<v Speaker 1>an urban environment from a GPS device um And for another,

0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:54.600
<v Speaker 1>again it tends to give law enforcement officials ulcers. Well,

0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:56.440
<v Speaker 1>this was a pretty good discussion, I think on different

0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.840
<v Speaker 1>games you can play with your GPS. But I've got

0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.880
<v Speaker 1>another discussion we could talk quickly about about treasure hunting

0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.080
<v Speaker 1>in general. But before we get to it, I think

0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.080
<v Speaker 1>it's about time we think our sponsor. I mean audible

0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.359
<v Speaker 1>dot com. Yeah, audible dot com where you can find

0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.480
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0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.880
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0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.480
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0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.720
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0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:25.960
<v Speaker 1>I said, there's like fifty thou books there now. And

0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.440
<v Speaker 1>we have a couple of suggestions. Chris, do you want

0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.120
<v Speaker 1>to go first? Yeah, this one I think, uh, it's

0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.159
<v Speaker 1>very appropriate for our discussion. It's called Geography of Bliss

0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.480
<v Speaker 1>One grump search for the Happiest Places in the World.

0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.840
<v Speaker 1>It was written by a correspondent for NPR, actually, Eric Winer,

0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.959
<v Speaker 1>and he discusses different places he's been and uh, you know,

0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.640
<v Speaker 1>places that that you might have some kind of happy experience,

0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.080
<v Speaker 1>and it's just kind of an interesting, uh, interesting subject,

0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.560
<v Speaker 1>especially considering the games and the GPS and finding yourself

0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:02.280
<v Speaker 1>in different places. Sure, yeah, that's very much that. Yeah, yeah,

0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:06.080
<v Speaker 1>a good one. Well my suggestion I figure that when

0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:07.960
<v Speaker 1>you use a GPS device in this kind of way,

0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.320
<v Speaker 1>you're really kind of expanding your world knowledge. And there's

0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.840
<v Speaker 1>really one true authority on all world knowledge. And I

0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.920
<v Speaker 1>would like to recommend his book. It is The Areas

0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:24.240
<v Speaker 1>of My Expertise by John Hodgement. It's a book that

0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:29.080
<v Speaker 1>contains everything he knows and it's all lies, which makes

0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.480
<v Speaker 1>it much easier to write. And there are a lot

0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:33.479
<v Speaker 1>of hobo's names in the book and I'm sure they

0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:38.040
<v Speaker 1>would have enjoyed having. Yeah, that sort of thing that

0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.879
<v Speaker 1>hoboes would be all over in a minute. So you

0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.080
<v Speaker 1>can get either of these or any other book on

0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.280
<v Speaker 1>Audible's website by signing up at www dot audible podcast

0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.439
<v Speaker 1>dot com slash tech stuff and remember you get that

0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.879
<v Speaker 1>free download. It's a great deal. So getting back to

0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.080
<v Speaker 1>treasure hunting now, Well, what I wanted to recommend to

0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.359
<v Speaker 1>our listeners is that if you haven't already subscribed to

0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:01.840
<v Speaker 1>Stuff you Missed in History Class, which is one of

0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.280
<v Speaker 1>our I guess a sister podcast you could call it,

0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.040
<v Speaker 1>I highly recommend it as the lovely and intelligent hosts

0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.879
<v Speaker 1>of Jane McGrath and Candice Gibson, and they talk all

0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:17.320
<v Speaker 1>about historical UH scenarios and they answer a lot of questions.

0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.320
<v Speaker 1>And one of the ones they did recently was a

0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:25.120
<v Speaker 1>podcast titled could Treasure Hunters have Discovered Nazi Gold? It's

0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.560
<v Speaker 1>a very very interesting discussion that they have and uh,

0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:34.880
<v Speaker 1>it really dives into politics and morals and ethics, geography. Uh,

0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.600
<v Speaker 1>it's just a great podcast and I highly recommend it.

0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.760
<v Speaker 1>Excellent And if you want to learn more about geocashing

0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.520
<v Speaker 1>or GPS receivers or even letterboxing, we have all those

0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.040
<v Speaker 1>articles uplive right now at how stuff works dot com.

0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.760
<v Speaker 1>And we'll talk to you again really soon. For more

0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.399
<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff

0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.720
<v Speaker 1>works dot com. Let us know what you think, send

0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:04.840
<v Speaker 1>an email to podcast and how stuff dot com brought

0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.080
<v Speaker 1>to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,

0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:08.640
<v Speaker 1>are you