Crack the Code
Your Mission
Crack the code to find out where the thieves are taking the loot and then plot out your route and with stops along the way.
Briefing
First Challenge - Crafty robbers broke into the Royal Geographical Society in London and stole armfuls of priceless maps. Finding them would be hopeless, except that they dropped a scrap of paper with some odd scribbles on it.
At the top is a rhyme that seems to be an instruction from the thieves' boss:
Hint: Leave out the symbols and the last number when searching in Google Earth.
But the note doesn't mention any places! All you see are weird combinations of letters and numbers. Luckily, a sharp-eyed geographer peers over your shoulder and says, "Coordinates. How fascinating!" She refreshes your memory on latitude and longitude, those imaginary lines that help us locate places.
The numbers, you realize, are the coordinates for cities all over the planet. (1) Find those places using Google Earth. (2) As you find each place, write its name next to the coordinates. (3) Circle the first letter of each name. (4) Read the letters from top to bottom, and they should spell the name of a city. Now you know where to nab those cartographic crooks.Second Challenge - travel to the location from Clare, Michigan and add at least 5 place marks along the way. Next, save your file in your directory. Show the file to your instructor.
Third Challenge - Create your own crack the code. The city of your choice must have at least 7 letters. It should be just like the First Challenge but with a different city as the answer. Have fun.
Lesson modified from the National Graphics
