In Columbia!

In an effort to bolster the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capabilities within the Audubon South Carolina staff, we're in Columbia on the campus of the University of South Carolina at the South Carolina Geographic Alliance's Summer Technology Institute.

Yesterday, we dealt with geospatial concepts and data to prepare for the instruction during the remainder of the week. The goal of this short course is to provide exposure to geospatial technology and software so that the technology can be used effectively by educators.

Part of today's instruction included a introduction to the basics of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and one possible application for students. The Cruise the Campus geocache was designed for the 2003 SCGA Summer Institute. The geocache has three possible routes to the final cache highlighting historical events, arts/architecture, and monuments. For the first time in four attempts, it did not rain during the activity, though a line of powerful thunderstorms did generate discussions of the "curse" when it formed just east of Columbia. In the end, all 28 participants were competent GPS receiver operators and confident that they could navigate between two points and maybe even find some more geocaches!

Image by Mark Musselman