University of Helsinki Geocaches
Department of Computer
Science and Mathematics will move this
summer to a new location at Kumpula campus area: the Exactum
building.
To find this cache You'll need a scientific approach. What that
means, is that I'm not telling You the real coordinates here.
However, You can figure them out yourself at home: the actual cache
is located at KP20LE59MA34UT. As of 25th May 2004 you no longer
need TB Science to log this cache and the container size also has
diminished significantly. If there's snow or ice, the place is not
very healthy to hang around. In winter the terrain rating is
probably around 2.
If You want to
hike: Tram 8 terminal point at Vallila.
Otherwise: Tram 6 at the Kyläsaarenkatu - Hietalahti stop,
near the Ar@bia shopping centre.
You really can figure it out
The Earth's surface is divided into 18 * 18 = 324 fields, each
one 20 degrees longitude * 10 degrees latitude. Each field is
divided into 10 * 10 = 100 squares, each one 2 degrees longitude *
1 degree latitude. Each square is divided into 24 * 24 = 576
subsquares, each one 5 minutes longitude * 2,5 minutes latitude.
The fields are indicated by two letters AA - RR, the squares by two
digits 00 - 99 and the subsquares by two letters AA - XX. The first
character defines the eastern longitude and the second character
the northern latitude on each level. The numbering is always from
West to East and South to North.
As You see, I described only the six first characters here. But
no matter how long the character sequence is, it works similarily
for the rest of the numbers (10*10 squares) and letters (24*24
squares), describing the location more and more carefully. The
coordinates are the sum of all the characters, no matter how long
the character sequence is. Note that for the last pair of
characters You'll need to evaluate and add the corresponding
subsquare centerpoint measure too. Alternatively You can just
calculate the raw value of KP20LE59MA34UT12, where rounding
is not mandatory due to the higher accuracy.
So it's that easy really. If You're shocked now, study carefully
TB
Science description, it'll help You out if choosed to do so.
But if You don't want to spoil the difficulty rating, and the
exiting world of math, then just do the trivial homework first.
Completely optional leg
Important: You don't need to do the following for
logging this cache as found.
The Exactum
webcam which shows also the current contruction progress
refreshes every minute. The camera is located at the Physicum roof
(near the volley ball looking thing).
Should You choose to include the webcam photo too on Your log,
resave the photo dynamically in under 125 kB sized jpg file.
Attach the smaller photo to Your log, not the original. If You
don't know how to do it, send Your original webcam photo to
jmmlammi@cs.helsinki.fi
and I'll do that for You. It is important to optimize the image
quality on this cache log.
You don't neccessarily need anyone to take the photo for you. If
you hold your GPSr up from a strike of an hour to a couple of
minutes over, the photo will be retrievable on the webcam page for
the next 24 hours. If you'll be there at noon (eg. 11:59-12:02),
the photo will be available even longer.
Hint: you can preset the webcam photo download in advance by
applying the following example with Linux and compatible
operating systems:
solarflare /home/guest> at 16:45
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
at> wget http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/tkt_cam/exactum.jpg
at> ctrl+d
job 8 at 2004-02-02 16:45