Sunday, February 17, 2008

GPS orienteering

Global Positioning System (GPS)  was originally developped for military purposes by the US Army. Nowadays this technology is more and more in civil use also. Land surveyors have used it precise positioning since mid of 1980's. Today GPS can be found in telephone, laptops and car navigation systems.




At Vallila we learned how to store coordinates and how to navigate with these instruments. International working groups were made of students from every delegation. Then groups entered coordinates for targerts nearby Vallila Unit and used their GPS for finding those places. The main item was a group work with GPS-receivers.

When the group knew the basics they got a larger map of Helsinki and started to look routes for given goals (different attractions and "must-see"). With the help of local students and coordinates, visiting students got familiar with Helsinki city and its most famous sights, for example the Tower of Olympic Stadion, Fish Market Square and the German church.

For some students and teachers this was the first time ever when they had worked with GPS.