GPS games

If you like Geography and understand GPS, then try a few high-tech games that make you explore the great outdoors like no other

The Degree Confluence Project
Chased by an elephant at 21N 85E, nearly bitten by a cobra at 21N 86E, stepped on a sleeping python at 20N 84E, taken hostage by naxalites at 19N 83E, attacked by a porcupine’s quills at 24N 84E, nearly drowned after a boat capsized at 20N 83E. Sounds too cryptic? Well, these are just a few adventures from the online diaries of Odisha-based finance executive Anil Dhir. A contributor to an international collaboration to build ‘an organised sampling of the world’ on the web, Dhir is just one of the 12,204 participants from around the world who use GPS to find the invisible points where latitudes and longitudes meet.

Called the Degree Confluence Project (confluence.org), the aim is to have people visit each of the integer degree intersections of latitude and longitude on earth, posting photographs and a narrative of each visit online. Started by computer programmer and entrepreneur Alex Jarrett in 1996 because he “liked the idea of visiting a location represented by a round number such as 43°00’00’’N 72°00’00’’W”, the project has now covered 6131 confluences. While there are 64,442 such confluences in the world, only 16,194 of these can be accessed cutting out ones which are in water and the many points close to the North and South Pole.

Each visitor posts photographs of the confluence (views from the north, south, east and west), a pictures of the GPS screen as it reads the location and a small story describing their visit. Today the website hosts 97152 such photographs in 184 countries.

While Dhir remarkably covered all the 15 confluences of his state, Odisha, another confluencer, Delhi-based astronomer Chander Devgun visited confluences in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh close by. India has 298 confluence points of which 152 have already been archived by participants.

“It’s a fascinating experience to be able to explore these imaginary lines, some which cross inside forests and some inside people’s homes,” says Devgun.

On his blog, US-based confluencer Tim Vasquez says confluences are interesting because “they represent randomness that emerges from strict order.”

The weather forecaster says, “It goes far beyond a silly quest for invisible man-made boundaries. The confluence latticework is an open defiance of the order our culture imposes on us, which frowns on tourists who abandon the travelled roads, the sanitized vistas, and the stops designed to conjure up dollars for empty memories”.

Devgun who organised educational visits with students to the various confluences recollects how they would often get asked, ‘Where are you going?’ by strangers to whom who they had no answers to give.

“We would walk into private farms and forests following directions the GPS would give us,” says Devgun who runs Delhi-based NGO SPACE that works towards science popularisation. “This was the best way to teach students about latitudes and longitudes. The project also taught us about the geography of different places, like ones that would be barren in summer and have crops in winter,” he says.

Dhir too learnt a lot about his state while covering all its confluences in 18 months, some of which were located in rough terrain, some in Maoist areas.

“In Malingam, we had to walk nearly 30 kms to and fro, crossing many mountain streams with our equipment looking for the point. It rained in the afternoon and we could not cross the flooded streams and had to wait till the water subsided,” says Dhir who used a sturdy Garmin 72 GPS.

“The device picks up signals from 12 orbiting satellites making it handy when there is a cloud cover or thick foliage in the jungle canopy overhead,” adds Dhir. And when GPS signals are too weak, Dhir would just wait for seasons to change.

“In Nandul, the forest canopy was so thick that we had to wait for three months until the summer forest fires had cleared the foliage and then record the visit.”

Dhir plans to publish a book of his travelogues to find confluences soon.

GeocachingDriving tourists to the ancient Agrasen ki Baoli, a stepwell close to Connaught Place is an unusual guide. Looking for a treasure hidden by Delhi-based architect Yogeshwar Kanu treasure hunters from around the world visit the architectural marvel. A clue which when decrypted reads: ‘It is 35mm film cannister placed in an air vent next to an arched window on the left stair case leading to the roof of the well’ leads them to look for it. Those who end up finding it sign the little chit inside the canister and hide it back in the same spot.

“We are so glad you showed us this place as it wasn’t on our itinerary. Our guide decided we were completely crazy. Greetings from South Africa,” reads a message on the Geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) where clues and the GPS coordinates for the cache were posted. This high-tech game of hide-and-seek where players look for hidden geocaches or small waterproof containers carrying a logbook and sometimes a few keepsakes using their GPS devices to locate them is slowly catching up in India.

Like Kanu, Harshavardhan Bhat is one of the few geocachers in the country. The Bangalore-based software engineer learnt about the game from his colleague on a trip to Germany. “It’s big there,” he says. “You’ll find 10-15 caches in an area of 2 km”.

Geocachers hide treasures in places that could be a prime camping spot, a location with a great view or a place that’s unusual. In India, some of the popular locations with treasures include Nandi Hills (Bangalore), Elephanta Caves(Mumbai), Lodi Gardens (Delhi), Bhim Bhadak cave temple (Jodhpur), Grandi Island (Goa) and the Fort Kochi Jawahar Park (Cochin).

Bhat himself has hidden a cache near his hometown in Karnataka. “I’ve posted the GPS coordinates and a small puzzle which you have to solve to find the location. The puzzle also teaches the seeker some trivia about the location,” says Bhat.

Each treasure has a name too. Alice in Wonderland is the name of a cache hidden by Kanu in Begumpur Mosque. “The cache is behind a small doorway making you feel like a giant Alice because you have to bend to find it,” he says.
“One of the caches in Bangalore’s Cubbon Park had a clue that read: Here knowledge and water flows. The GPS coordinates took me to a library (knowledge) and I found the magnetic cache stuck to a drain pipe in front of it. It was an adventure for me,” says Kanu.
Caches come in different sizes including really small ones which only have a log book called nano cache and large ones that contain trinkets like keychains, action figures and coins that can be taken and replaced with something of equal or greater value.
“The only problem in India is the caches tend to get ‘muggled’ geospeak for stolen, so you have to find a safe spot and hide it when no one is watching,” says Kanu. 

Shutterspot

Robert Owens uploads photographs of obscure locations without naming them. He waits patiently till someone else discovers his pictures and takes up the challenge of finding the same location. This location-finding game called Shutterspotting (http://shutterspot.gpsgames.org) has trigger happy travellers creating picture puzzles for others to solve. And unlike most traditional GPS games where you are given a latitude and longitude and the challenge is to find a hidden object at those coordinates, this game expects hunters to find the spot and record its latitude and longitude to prove they found it.
“I found it intriguing. I was a geocacher looking for new experiences. I like how this game turns virtual geocaching on its head. It's a lot more difficult most of the time,” says Owen who now posts populous areas to draw more people to take up the challenge.
“I have posted spots on islands that one has to paddle a mile to, at baseball fields, churches, museums, restaurants, and odd things along the road,” he says.The site allows users to search for Shutterspots by country, region and city, by most recent listings or by owner.
“Users have posted photos of places that either have an interesting monument or places that have a nice view,” says Florida-based Patricia Coelho who recently signed up on the site after she learnt about it from a friend. “It’s a great way to explore local areas,” she says.Owen who has uploaded 79 shutterspots of which 18 have been found describes what he likes best about the game.
“There is something about standing exactly where someone else stood to take the photographs. The original photographer wanted me to stand there to see exactly what he saw. Getting there is thrilling as you know you completed the task,” says Owen.