GeoScrooting

Think of treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, orienteering, letterboxing and geocaching. GeoScrooting is the Necklace Park's own variation on the theme. The idea was developed as a means of encouraging people to get out and about exploring the park, making the ourdoors their own and giving them a sense of outdoor familliarity and citzenship, all the while following that all important rule of the Park, "Don't leave a mark".

The word 'Scroot' is slang, meaning 'look' or 'search' and comes from the word 'scrutiny'. And its what GeoScrooting is all about: finding a specific location using maps or GPS and searching for the "treasure" in that place. The Necklace Park is full of treasures; secret places and spaces, objects, shapes and patterns, sounds, stories and heritage.

The 'object' that the GeoScrooter will find and take away with them is a virtual one; it is their narrative of that place through images, story, etc. One person may take a photo of the frost on the trees. Another may tell a story about what they see, or share a memory that was triggered by that place. These stories can then be shared and compared, giving a fascinating insight into how different people percieve the same space.

geoscrootable mappineering 'n stuff like that

Another thing a Geoscrootineer might do is map a journey online, using tools like Google Maps and TinyMap. I made a very simple one here as an example. It shows a the possible route of a walk round High Croxdale. Very easy to do with a series of clicks. It would be even better if the maps were embedded on this site, and had bits of dialogue - a journal - to go with.