November 6, 2008

Purdue Libraries to host geocaching event, sessions

As part of Geographic Information Systems Day, Purdue Libraries will run the geocaching event, which is a scavenger hunt using GPS devices, from Nov. 10-18. The hunt is open to anyone, and rules are posted at http://www4.lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday/geocaching

"Starting Nov. 10, participants can grab the coordinates from the Web site and start at their leisure," said Chris Miller, assistant professor of library science and geographical information systems specialist. "Each cache will contain some free items and a log, which is how we'll keep track of players."

There also are GPS receivers available at the Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Library that are available for students, faculty, and staff to check out.

The caches are ranked by the difficulty of each location, and the participants who earn the highest total of caches found, plus difficulty points, will receive prizes. The top two finishers in the geocaching event will receive GPS receivers. The third- and fourth-place finishers will receive a subscription to Geocaching.com or Google Earth Plus.

"Mash Something" is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. Nov. 18 in the iLab of Hicks Undergraduate Library and is free and open to the public. Map mashups are Internet applications that combine mappable data from more than one source into an integrated tool. Anyone interested in this workshop may self-register at http://www4.lib.purdue.edu/gis/

"We came up with activities that we thought would be great learning experiences for using new technologies in gathering information and be fun for the participants," said Marianne Ryan, associate dean of learning in Purdue Libraries.

Nov. 19 is the official Geographical Information Systems Day, and two sessions are scheduled in the West Faculty Lounge of Purdue Memorial Union. A poster session is set from 11 a.m. to noon. A presentation on neogeography will be noon to 12:45 p.m., followed by a presentation on research applications from 12:45-2 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

GIS Day is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Science, and the College of Engineering.

More information on all the events is available online at http://www4.lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday/

Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Sources: Marianne Ryan, (765) 494-2896, marianne@purdue.edu

Chris Miller, (765) 496-9474, ccmiller@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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