October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 54

Operations
How to Leverage Geocaching to
Promote Park and Recreation Events
By Amy Frank

f you're looking for creative ways to engage your community, encourage exploration of your local parks, trails and other natural resources, and give your citizens
the chance to be modern day, hometown treasure hunters, then it's time to learn
about this powerful trend in tech and engagement called geocaching. This recreational, technology-enabled hobby is helping curious treasure seekers to keep the spirit
of exploration alive, and what better place to explore than your own home town?
What Is Geocaching?
Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor
treasure-hunting activity that uses global
positioning system (GPS)-enabled devices
to allow participants to navigate a set of
coordinates to attempt to find a specific
object, or " geocache, " that has been hidden
in the designated location by game-makers.
The " geocache " is the treasure and the
prize, but it is not the reason for playing the
game. Geocachers are all about the hunt,
as it gives outdoor enthusiasts a chance
to explore the world, visit new places and
explore off-the-beaten-path locations, all

Parks & Recreation

while testing their knowledge and skills.
For many geocaching games, when the
geocache is found, it's taken by the successful player and another geocache is left
in its place in the same location. In this
way, the game can be played in perpetuity.
The Origin of the Geocache Hunt
According to geoacaching.com, The first
geocaching activity occurred in 2000,
the year GPS technology improved
significantly. On May 2, 2000, at
approximately 12 a.m. Eastern Standard
Time, the great blue switch was flipped,

| O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

and 24 satellites around the world were
given new instructions that improved GPS
technology exponentially. This resulted in
an instant upgrade to tens of thousands of
GPS receivers around the world and meant
that anyone with a GPS-enabled device
could precisely pinpoint his or her location,
or the location of a specific item. Internet
newsgroups bubbled over with ideas for
how the new technology could be used. The
very next day, computer consultant Dave
Ulmer decided to test the accuracy of GPS
technology. He hid a navigational target
in the woods near Beavercreek, Oregon,
posted the location to an internet GPS
user group and challenged group members
to find the item, calling his challenge, the
" Great American GPS Stash Hunt. " Thus,
geocaching was born.
Geocaching Opportunities for Local
Government Parks and Rec
Even for an activity that already has a
strong niche community of its own, the
opportunity to tap into the excitement of
this trend has powerful implications for
local government park and recreation
departments. Communities across the
nation are constantly looking for creative
ways to encourage new and longtime
residents to get out and explore their local
resources. Finding creative and engaging
ways to encourage exploration of parks,
trails and other local resources is an
ongoing challenge, especially as more
and more young people are spending
time on their mobile devices, and less
time outside. Recent data shows that
the average teenager spends more time
on digital media every day than many

October 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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