On May 2nd at approximately midnight, the "big blue switch" was pressed and selective availability on civilian GPS receivers was removed. Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed new orders, and the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. On May 3rd, Dave ulmer placed a black bucket in the woods near Beavercreek, Oregon along with a logbook, pencil, and other various trade items - the first geocache. He shared the coordinates of his "stash" with an online community on sci.geo.satellite-nav and geocaching was born.
Fast-forward twenty years and there are now over three million active geocaches in 191 different countries and on all seven continents. On May 3rd, 2020 we celebrated the 20th anniversary of that first cache placement.