The Ultimate Geocaching Quiz

Geocaching is basically a kind of hi-tech treasure hunt.

The primary tool used in geocaching is a GPS receiver that enables you to hunt down the container you're trying to find.

Selective Availability was a method used by the Federal Government to ensure the imperfection of civilian GPS signals.

The military wanted to have an advantage in GPS accuracy, to keep sensitive areas and missions more secure, so it introduced inaccurate signals into civilian GPS networks.

Selective Availability rendered most GPS signals inaccurate by as much as 300 feet, which makes hunting for a small item extremely difficult.

By the year 2000 the military had developed scrambling technology that obviated the need for Selective Availability.

Without Selective Availability to interfere with GPS accuracy, you can usually locate yourself to within six to 20 feet (1.8 to 6 meters).

A man by the name of David Ulmer decided to test the accuracy of a GPS signal by hiding some stuff and telling people on the Internet the coordinates.

Within three days the cache was found, first by Mike Teague, then by another GPS enthusiast, neither of whom moved the cache from its location.

Mike Stum, another GPS enthusiast, suggested changing the name of the game from "GPS Stash Hunt" to "Geocaching."

Your waypoint is your goal destination; when you enter the coordinates you wish to reach into a GPS receiver it sets that location as a waypoint.

GPS receivers have a store of information based on the World Geodetic System of 1984, or WGS84.

Many caches will include a small item that is intended to be taken by the finder and hidden in a different location.

Geocaching.com, a major Web-site in the world of geocaching, is managed by the company Groundspeak, which also produces travel bugs.

A travel bug is a tag that many geocachers place on items of interest in the cache. Once the item is found, the tracking number is entered into Geocaching.com's site and the hunt continues!

The last thing a geocacher wants is to be told the location of an item before he or she has found it. They refer to any information that reveals the cache's location as a spoiler.

The term "muggle" was first introduced by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series to refer to a non-magician. Geocachers use the term "geomuggle" to identify those who do not participate in their sport.

Geocachers consider it a badge of honor to be the first to find (FTF) a particular cache, and will write FTF in the log book to that end.

Philadelphia encouraged geocachers to hunt for 12 caches related to the Franklin Mint's King Tut display.

The National Park Service has argued that many of the areas under its purview are too fragile to allow geocaching, and has banned the game on any of its locations.