on 7/16/01 5:38 AM, Eric Mings at elm@letterboxing.com wrote:

>
> As a note on history, I believe that US letterboxing pioneered the
> GPS hunt Long before geocaching even existed. I bet they would love
> to hear that ;-) . Way back in the beginning (several years ago)
> there was much discussion about using GPS clues and I believe DanL
> even offered to loan out a GPS unit to help folks in hiding boxes
> using such clues. It has been a long time and my recollection may not
> be exactly correct. If anyone cares, and I get inspired, I will
> search the original talk list archive I have for the details.

I remember that. I think he even loaned it out to some Texas letterboxers
at one point. The first box I placed in Oregon includes GPS coordinates.
In those days, we were under the impression that letterbox clues should be
heavily dependant on compass readings.


TC

>on 7/16/01 5:38 AM, Eric Mings at elm@letterboxing.com wrote:
>
>>
>> As a note on history, I believe that US letterboxing pioneered the
>> GPS hunt Long before geocaching even existed. I bet they would love
>> to hear that ;-) . Way back in the beginning (several years ago)
>> there was much discussion about using GPS clues and I believe DanL
>> even offered to loan out a GPS unit to help folks in hiding boxes
>> using such clues. It has been a long time and my recollection may not
>> be exactly correct. If anyone cares, and I get inspired, I will
>> search the original talk list archive I have for the details.
>
>I remember that. I think he even loaned it out to some Texas letterboxers
>at one point. The first box I placed in Oregon includes GPS coordinates.
>In those days, we were under the impression that letterbox clues should be
>heavily dependant on compass readings.
>
>

Tom,

I am glad you remember that! If you recall the date of you placed
that box I would really like to know. I am curious how many boxes did
have GPS coordinates back then. I will search my archives and
attempt to document the first GPS letterbox clues we can prove. I
know it may sound perhaps petty, but I really think it is important
the the world knows that geocaching people were not the first to come
up with this idea. They just to removed the art of the concept and
replaced it with trinkets ;-)
--
Regards,

Eric Mings

Letterboxing International: http://www.letterboxing.com
Find everything letterboxing at your fingertips!

on 7/16/01 6:11 PM, Eric Mings at elm@letterboxing.com wrote:


>
> I am glad you remember that! If you recall the date of you placed
> that box I would really like to know.

...hmmm... it was in '98, I recall. I think late summer. I'll have to
look for some kind of date. I know it is written in the logbook of the
letterbox. Unless Amanda gets up there, I'll check it next time I'm up in
the Coast Range.

Just an anecdote re: when GPS clues are very useful. Several of my boxes
are planted along the N. Canadian River in Oklahoma. One is really off the
beaten path. In a river basin that runs through pretty flat, but heavily
wooded terrain there are very few useful terrain features. By GPSing the
box coordinates, searchers can get in the right general area and then use
the specific local terrain features to zero in on the box. Even with
selective availability turned off, under dense forest canopy or in a narrow
high sided valley GPS gets a person at best to within 6-20 meters. A box
lying on the ground might be easily found at that range, but not one well
hidden. GPS can be really useful for finding a remote box planted on bland
terrain, especially one not using trail following clues (start here, go to
here, then here, etc). Letterboxing should be available to all, and
compasses are cheap and thus egalitarian, but I would regret seeing any
significant anti-technological bias to creep into the hobby.

DW