GPS Hide and Seek

On Monday I introduced the concepts of latitude and longitude. This was review for some students and apparently whole cloth new material to others. Wednesday the hide and seek launched as a self-serve operation with the GPS units left unattended on a desk in the faculty office. Along with the GPS units was a sheet with the search and rescue coordinates.

Coordinates were provided in both degrees and decimal minutes and in decimal degrees.

Renay, holding a GPS and phone, was first to arrive accompanied by Johnston and Richard

Darla was also with this group

As was Cyron

Moving on a parallel track to the north of the first group was a second group led by Saya with the GPS and accompanied by Donnalynn and Adelina. Here they are checking to see how close they were to N 06° 54.601' E 158° 09.329'. While the latitude agreed, their longitude was 158° 09.337' primarily because I was sitting in the shade slightly to the east of the sunny opening in the canopy where I had taken the GPS reading on Monday.

Blossom checks the closeness of the match to the provided coordinates

BLSon and Malika were a third group

Jasmine, Jessie Mae, and Mellyann arrived just on the heels of the third group

I wrapped up the exercise with question on which way was north, south, east, and west. Which way was zero latitude and what is zero latitude called? Which way is zero longitude and what is zero longitude called? Who lives at zero longitude due west of Pohnpei? I also asked how far are these arcminutes, or fractions of an arcminute, in meters? What is the relationship? I mentioned some applications of GPS technologies. The class ended with the blessing of a sudden wind driven rain shower.