ECTC offers Geospatial Camp for kids

This summer Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is offering a unique opportunity for kids 9-14 to learn about latitude/longitude, data collection, and buried treasure. Using a handheld GPS system, students will go to various sites and pinpoint the location of a hidden “cache.” Additionally, they will learn how to use a compass, hide a cache, place/track travel bugs (these are not bees or flies!) and how to log onto a computer to find geospatial data about their area. The camp instruction will come from ECTC Professor Jim Vail, Lisa Deavers, Recreation supervisor for Barren River State Park, and Torey Earle, 4-H Agent at Large for Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service College of Engineering, Extended Campus Programs. This course introduces students to absolute location, mapmaking, marking and finding GPS waypoints, data collection, and computer-based GIS data search. It is based, in part, on curriculum developed by 4H titled Exploring Spaces, Going Places.  The five-day camp will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 28-Aug. 1, at ECTC in the Regional Postsecondary Education Center. Field trips are included in the camp. For information or to enroll in the camp, call the Community and Economic Development Center at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College at 706-8702.