Written by Janell Brown, Wayward Waymarking

What is Waymarking?

Waymarking is a way to record unique and interesting locations around the world and share them with others. The waymarking.com Website is similar to an online filing cabinet where you can store information about these places along with their geographic coordinates so others are able to find the information and possibly choose to visit the spots themselves.

These unique and interesting places become waymarks when a person uses a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite Receiver) to mark their coordinates and then submits those coordinates, along with photographs and information about the location, to waymarking.com. If accepted, the waymark then gets its own Webpage that uses the photos, GPS coordinates and textual information to create something akin to an online brochure for the place. Anyone who views the listing is able to learn a little about the spot, and might even choose to visit it, since they have the coordinates to tell them exactly where to find it. Later in the tutorial we'll go into detail about how to submit a waymark to waymarking.com.

The waymarks are organized into waymark categories. A waymark category has a theme, and waymarks that fit that theme are stored there. Each category has specific submission requirements as to what information needs to be included for the waymark to be accepted into the category. Examples of categories that you can find on waymarking.com are "Lighthouses," "Gargoyles" or "Carnegie Libraries."

The categories are then divided into sections. The waymarking site has 15 sections that the categories are organized into. Examples of these sections are "History/Culture," "Sports/Recreation," or "Technology." So a category like "Ice Skating Rinks" would be found in the "Sports/Recreation" section, whereas the "Wifi Hotspots" category would be found in the "Technology" section.

Next: Necessary equipment
Back to the Beginner's Guide outline

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