On May 1st 2000 Bill Clinton turned off Selective Availability on the GPS system and commercial GPS as we know and appreciate it now was born. A truly red letter day.
On May 3rd 2000 Dave Ulmer placed the 1st Geocache or "Geo Stash" and Geocaching was born. Tupperware was never the same again.

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By YTB

22 thoughts on “Eevblog #82 – 10th anniversary of gps geocaching thanks to bill clinton”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars BKD70 says:

    You Aussies say geocacheing wrong… it is geocacheing!! Since you're always upside down and all the blood is rushed into your heads… you sometimes don't think right.

    🙃

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars One Eighth says:

    Geo Kayesh? Uh, no. Your guarantee doesn't mean anything.

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RoscoZone says:

    'Cache' is a French word. Its pronounced 'cash', not 'caysh'. The Americans getting something right for a change…?

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Ian Butler says:

    How about thanking the American taxpayers? All Clinton did was sign a piece of paper then resume chasing the interns. The taxpayer actually paid billions for GPS and through the generosity of the American people allow its use by anyone in the world, free of charge.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Juan Enrique Teyaotlani says:

    The use of the GPS in my cellphone is basic since I play Ingress

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars SimoWill75 says:

    @Yukari Yakumo Wow. Could you be any more wrong?

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars fleuroman says:

    no internet, no computers, no gps… stop it dave, you'll scare the kiddies…

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars AluVixapede says:

    My first GPS only gave heading, altitude, and speed with a basic way point memory of .. I think, 255

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars cjmillsnun says:

    The military uses fixed receivers at known points that communicate with their mobile receivers.

    Similar accuracy (to within 20cm) is available in the civilian market, but it's not cheap.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Yukari Yakumo says:

    Us "yanks" call it geo-cache-ing because the location is cached to the internet, it's a software term.

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars joblessalex says:

    found one once, it was a pill bottle. Almost threw it away until I noticed the stuff inside!

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Blaise Mibeck says:

    In 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 entered Soviet airspace after a navigation error and was shot down, killing all 269 passengers. This incident resulted in President Ronald Reagan ordering the Unites States military to make the Global Positioning System available for civilian use once it was completed, so that similar incidents could be avoided in the future.

    Good on you Ron! 🙂

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Skräcken says:

    I play a variation of it called Turf, it uses a similar concept to find places. But it's more competitive and points and toplists are involved. 🙂

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Gregg Jaskiewicz says:

    they still have selective availability, we don't get the resolution military gets.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Smartzenegger says:

    Hey, You forgot to blow it up!

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Gameboygenius says:

    What I don't like about the way you pronounce "geocaching" is that it sounds too much like "geolocation".

  17. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Phil B says:

    Thanks much again Dave. Nice video indeed!
    Hey a bit off topic, and sorry, but would like to mention the people at ArduPilot who are doing some great things in UAV's and GPS.

  18. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars AllenKll says:

    Dave, I love it! I still have my little yellow Garmin POS… and I still use it. I've been geocaching since '02, so I know what it used to be like, but heck, I had some mapping software, and I bought the data cable for my Garmin, and my laptop became a live positioning tool with MAPS! Unbelievable! I used the same setup to drive unplannededly across the U.S. in '04.. Great times indeed. But I do love my new NUVI, nav. system and wouldn't go back to the old ways. Well, except for Geocaching

  19. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Piku's Junk says:

    Aww I had one of those little yellow eTrex GPS units. I liked how one of its selling features was the bright yellow colour – so you could find it if it fell on the floor.

    Who owned a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet which had an awful GPS inside it? That thing could take fifteen minutes to get a lock – every time you switched GPS on. My Android phone takes seconds, it's great.

  20. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars artifactingreality says:

    I've been pronouncing cache as cash and I'm from the UK.

    Oh well probably not going to stop now. It hardly ever comes up in conversation anyway.

  21. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Greggan! says:

    Seen the t-shirt huh 🙂

    rfelektronik(dot)se/temp/div/geocaching.jpg

  22. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Joe Reed says:

    Funny timing – I just installed a new GPS in my car about 5 minutes ago.

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