GPS data, or Global Positioning System data, is a technology made possible by the US government. To support their military operations they placed several satellites in orbit to provide signals to devices that interpret and triangulate a position. The accuracy can be quite good and in the case of this study can be as close as 3 meters. The device I use is a Magellan SporTrack Map unit capable of tracking 12 satellites and receiving downloaded maps. It also has the ability to create "tracks" or series of coordinates that can be used to follow a trail from a know position. This will be better explained once a track is loaded on the web page.

The readings published in these pages are formatted as 37° 21' 30" N and 081° 09' 37" W. This should be read as north latitude (north of the equator) and west longitude (west of the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England). It is read 37 degrees 21 minutes 30 seconds. If you enter this position in most GPS devices they will guide you from your present location to the entered waypoint.