Where are you now? Where is your great-grandmother buried? Your ancestors lived in a hamlet that no longer exists? How are you going to tell me where? Go ahead, try to write it down.

Ever tried to find an ancestor's cemetery stone in Toronto's Mt. Pleasant Cemetery? The site covers acres. You can waste days in the right place and not find the stone you seek. The situation isn't much better in Simcoe's Oakwood Cemetery.

A friend's ancestors farmed what was until 9/11 the site of the World Trade Center. Most of us aren't that lucky. My ancestors farmed northwest of Vittoria and buried family members there for at least 70 years. Every year several visiting family researchers get lost trying to find those burying grounds.

Over the centuries many a person has sought a way -- a consistent, guaranteed-not-to-fail way of telling others (think future generations) where a specific site is. The family homestead was in Township X and you know the precise spot? Great! But what use will your directions be after that township merges with another and all the streets are renamed and renumbered?

The answer is GPS -- the Global Positioning System.. Centuries ago explorers called the same system Lattitude and Longitude. Just lay a grid all over the planet, number the lines across and down, then... Oh heck, there has to be an easier way.

There isn't. But fortunately all that lattitude and longitude stuff has been automated. Satellites now circle the global just to send precise "you are here" signals to anyone anywhere. All you need is a tiny handheld GPS receiver. (Think Radio Shack, think $200.)

Now that we have (hopefully) sparked your interest, it is time to learn more. Click here to go to this web site's  GPS pages.