Getting started - as an education centre

[burhouse]

My Outdoor CEntre is hoping to start thhis as an activity. THere are a few caches in the area around our CEntre and we intend to set up a few more. In particular though, I'm pondering on what device / devices we should be giving our visiting groups (primary school aged children - 7 - 11 yrs) to do this with. And I come at this as a person who really doesn;t understand mobile phone data etc. So a couple of questions.

 

1) I love looking at / setting up the geocaches on the Ipad or other tablet / large mobile phone. I think that for primary school kids this is really instinctive. However, our iPads only work through our wifi - so once they're out of range of this, the map bit stops working. Is this an IPAD problem (ours are Ipad2 I think) or do we need ones on a contract in order for them to do this?

 

2) We bought an etrex 20 as a trial but for kids, this isn;t realyl user freincdly (compared to the ipad / android app. However, 8 iPads is way out of any price range!

 

3) If I were to use cheap smartphones (if there is such a thing) for this would they need to have a sim card in order for the app to work properly - and would the app use masses of data and therefore cost a wodge of money to maintain?

 

These are probably very basic questions - but hopefully there are straightforward answers

Cheers

James

[+kunarion]

Regardless of the device, what you might try is, have an adult set it up, so that it's navigating to a cache, and the can kids follow bearing and distance. So it's set to “compass mode” for any given cache, and the kids follow the arrow. You don't need maps loaded, although having a paper map, cache description and hints, might be handy. An inexpensive handheld GPSr (used, clearance or whatever) with basic navigation might be all you need. Give one a good test before buying a bunch of them.

 

In order for the idea to be viable with caches on “Geocaching.com”, the kids will need to sign up on the site. Parents will be involved, and some may have GPSrs for their kids to use. So you may be instructing on a lot of different kinds of devices.

 

If you prefer that the kids not have to "sign up" for a site, you could place your own unlisted "caches" just for the visitors. That would make the caches easier to set up or move or remove. You'd put coordinates on each device, and go find them.

Edited December 3, 2014 by kunarion

[+NanCycle]

Not an answer to the specific question asked, but. . .

 

If you haven't already, scroll down the Forums page to the Geocaching and Education section. You'll find a lot of other people doing similar activities.

[+whh0]

Hi and welcome.

 

In order to geocache successfully you need a GPS enabled device usually a smart phone or GPS device. Some I pads have GPS but not all.

 

The etrex 20 is a very good device but it takes time to learn how to use it properly, indeed our experience is that geocaching is a skill which needs to be learnt and after 3 years we are still learning! There is lots of good advice on this forum about getting started and it would be worthwhile to spend some time reading it.

 

The "intro app" may be appropriate. You will not see all the geocaches that you see when you look at the map on the I-pad but just those deemed suitable for a beginner. Bear in mind some geocaches are as small as your finger nail!

 

Kunarion's advice about setting caches is excellent. Cache ownership is a big responsibility. Sometimes caches are set by groups only to be abandoned a few weeks later when the group passes that badge or moves on and the caches are left to rot in the countryside. There are also discussions about caches which are trashed when the mini geocachers bring all their friends to see what is hidden behind the tree.

 

If you are not already a geocacher I would suggest load up a few caches on the GPS, go out and see what you can find then you will be in a much better position to decide if it is the right thing to try with your group.

[+kunarion]

our iPads only work through our wifi - so once they're out of range of this, the map bit stops working. Is this an IPAD problem (ours are Ipad2 I think) or do we need ones on a contract in order for them to do this?

I own a wifi-only iPad. There's an issue with that.

 

That model has no built-in GPS guidance (a circuit that isn't in the wifi-only iPad). There are 3rd-party accessories (such as Bluetooth GPS modules) but I wouldn't recommend them in this case. The wifi-only iPad will show a very rough distance, based on some formula, when it is in wifi range. But the inaccuracy will make Geocaching go crazy.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Using phone/GPSr comparison really isn't correct. They are different, but one isn't any HARDER than another.

 

Once you load the geocaches that you wish to use in your "program", nothing would change.

User would simply open the list, select the cache(s), then GOTO and follow the screen as one would on a phone/iPad.

 

 

Choosing a different GPSr... like say the eTrex 10 would work fine. It's cheaper than the 20, so you could acquire multiples.

Or.... you could acquire cheaper units... used or refurbished older eTrex units for as little as ~$10-$15 each.

They too would work just fine (don't know your location, if outside of the U.S., you can convert the pricing values).

No Wifi or wireless signal required.