Caving With Your Pocket PC

For those among us who possess the explorer's mentality, the quest to be first to walk on untouched ground continues unabated — it's just gotten a little harder. That's because the remaining unexplored areas on earth are usually found in the most challenging environments. Hey, if it were easy, someone would have already been there.

The challenge only increases when you consider that you have to bring back proof that you've been somewhere that's truly new. In this day and age, a couple of photos won't cut it. Luckily, the heightened challenge of exploring uncharted spots — and charting them — is being matched by new technology that makes the process easier.

New tools like Trimble's Recon have improved the process of cave exploration tremendously. Perhaps the most impressive benefit of using a rugged handheld computer to map caves was the net time savings.