Companies like ours sell GPS vehicle tracker systems to, well, track personal cars and fleet vehicles. However, people are inventive, and it's not surprising to discover them using GPS tracking systems in creative and unusual ways. GPS riding art Michael "Wally" Wallace is a middle school science teacher. His hobby is using GPS vehicle tracking to transform maps of the city into art.
The city streets of Baltimore is his canvas, his mountain bike and GPS technology are his brushes, and Google Maps is his template. Think of his art as a giant Etch-A-Sketch as Wally bicycles up and down streets "drawing" objects such as a boot, a gun and a hammer. Lately he's evolved into more complex "drawings" such as the Jellyfish Invasion and Tee It golfer. His art can only be seen from a bird's-eye view, of course, but fortunately that's no problem with a GPS system.
Solving a mystery of the seas Manta rays are facing extinction. These graceful 25-foot fish are one of the ocean's largest and least-known species. Almost nothing is known about their movements, their habits or their ecological needs. Answers to these questions are urgently needed because manta rays are now listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Manta rays have the highest brain-to-body ratio of all rays and sharks. And because they don't have dangerous stingers like stingrays, they're harmless to humans. Unfortunately, humans aren't harmless to manta rays. They chop the rays for shark chum, use them for traditional Chinese medicine and run over them with ships. If marine biologists hoped to improve the long-term survival of manta rays, they desperately needed more data.
Well, almost impossible. When one farmer complained that more than 30 bales of his hay were stolen, Sheriff Whittington swung into action. He planted a portable GPS vehicle tracker in one of the farmer's bales and waited for the thieves to strike again. They did.
The city streets of Baltimore is his canvas, his mountain bike and GPS technology are his brushes, and Google Maps is his template. Think of his art as a giant Etch-A-Sketch as Wally bicycles up and down streets "drawing" objects such as a boot, a gun and a hammer. Lately he's evolved into more complex "drawings" such as the Jellyfish Invasion and Tee It golfer. His art can only be seen from a bird's-eye view, of course, but fortunately that's no problem with a GPS system.
Solving a mystery of the seas Manta rays are facing extinction. These graceful 25-foot fish are one of the ocean's largest and least-known species. Almost nothing is known about their movements, their habits or their ecological needs. Answers to these questions are urgently needed because manta rays are now listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Manta rays have the highest brain-to-body ratio of all rays and sharks. And because they don't have dangerous stingers like stingrays, they're harmless to humans. Unfortunately, humans aren't harmless to manta rays. They chop the rays for shark chum, use them for traditional Chinese medicine and run over them with ships. If marine biologists hoped to improve the long-term survival of manta rays, they desperately needed more data.
Well, almost impossible. When one farmer complained that more than 30 bales of his hay were stolen, Sheriff Whittington swung into action. He planted a portable GPS vehicle tracker in one of the farmer's bales and waited for the thieves to strike again. They did.
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