A retired Bucks County couple has developed a system using GPS coordinates to help us better appreciate an old-fashion past-time, the great outdoors.
"I've always loved nature," said Marge Schwegal. "I grew up in the country, and fell in love with the park."
That's Tamanend Park in Southampton.
Marge and Ray Schwegal, residents of Ann's Choice Retirement Community, nearby, came up with the idea for a system to track and identify the trees on the 100-acre site.
Ray, a former IBM employee, used his knowledge of current technology.
"In the past, you'd do this on a map, and I just saw that a new way of doing this would be to utilize the GPS unit," said Raymond Schwegal.
The older, non-native trees in the former nursery are being overrun by the local Maples and Oaks.
The Schwegels idea was, "to find away to see some of these beautiful trees, unusual trees," says Raymond Schwegal.
It's a high tech method of seek and find.
"All I do is take the information, the latitude and longitude, and then start walking, and then watch my numbers to see the way they change," explained Schwegal.
The location of the tree is recorded, and then the tree is tagged so visitors can easily identify it.
Ray and Marge get their most accurate readings in winter and early spring when the trees have little foliage.
He says children can track the trees, using their cell phones.
"What we're trying to do is get them away from the Gameboys and TV screens," said Schwegal.
Schwegal says they are still working on getting a website, but that could happen.
IBM, which encourages its retirees to give back to the community, is so impressed with the Schwegels' project, it has helped fund it.
