Changing cities: geocaching in Dundee

Dundee is the fourth largest city in Scotland. The industries and jobs that Dundee is home to have changed many times over the years.

In this article you can learn:

• what geocaching is
• about different industries in Dundee
• how the Industrial Revolution affected Dundee

This article is suitable for learning about People, Place and Environment in primary school.

Watch as Isla and Connor explore Dundee through geocaching. They learn all about different industries and how the Industrial Revolution affected Dundee.

Geocaching is a type of treasure hunt.

It uses GPS coordinates, clues and maps to help you find hidden log books. You can sign these and put them back for other explorers to find.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It uses satellites to tell you where you are or where you want to get to.

GPS satellites send out signals of where they are above the Earth.

Phones and other devices track these signals. If your device receives signals from four or more satellites, it can work out where you are based on where the satellites are and how long it takes for the different signals to reach you.

Following clues is an important part of geocaching. Clues give you a little bit of information that will help guide you to your destination.

For example, Isla and Connor's first clue was "By the water, not far from the sea, that's where you will discover me".

From this they worked out that their destination was the RSS Discovery, a ship built in Dundee which you can visit at Discovery Point, next to the River Tay.

Isla and Connor had to follow a map while exploring Dundee.

A map is a two-dimensional image of an area. GPS can show you where you and and where you want to go to but a map can help by showing roads, buildings, rivers and other features that you might need to travel along or round.

Dundee has been home to many different industries.

Like all industries, these can be divided into types or sectors of industry.

Primary industries find or grow raw materials.

For example, the forestry industry grows trees and cuts them down for wood, farming grows crops or raises animals, mining digs out coal, metals or other material from the ground.

In the past whaling and fishing were both important primary industries in Dundee.

Secondary industries make products from the items provided by the primary industries.

As Dundee grew, producing woollen cloth from wool and linen from flax were early examples of secondary industries. During the Victorian era, producing jute cloth became Dundee's biggest industry.

Other important secondary industries in Dundee included shipbuilding and making marmalade and jam.

Learn about work in a jute factory in Victorian Dundee here: Working in Victorian Scotland

Tertiary industries provide services. For example, hairdressing, railways, schools, cinemas, shops and hospitals are all tertiary industries.

Dundee grew as a trading port, so shipping goods in and out of the harbour, and buying and selling these goods were important tertiary industries.

Journalism and producing newspapers and comics have also been important tertiary industries in the city. The V&A Museum is a more recent example of one of Dundee's many tertiary industries.

Quaternary industries do research or work with, or provide information.

For example, computing, ICT (information and communication technologies), web design, and scientific research are all quaternary industries.

One of Dundee's biggest quaternary industries is video game development.

The Industrial Revolution is the name for a time of great change in industry, technology and science. It began around 1760 and led to many of the biggest changes of the Victorian era.

Before the Industrial Revolution, many people in Scotland lived in rural areas. Many worked on crofts or farms. Some people produced goods at home, for example making woollen or linen cloth by weaving.

Click through the slideshow below to see how the industrial revolution changed Dundee and Scotland.

Learn more about the Industrial Revolution in Scotland during the Victorian era: The Industrial Revolution

coordinates - A set of numbers that tell you the position of someone or something.

GPS - Global Positioning System. A system that uses satellites to work out where somewhere is on the surface of the Earth.

latitude - How far north or south somewhere is from the Equator.

longitude - How far east or west somewhere is from the Prime Meridian, a line than runs north and south through Greenwich in London.

primary industry - An industry that extracts or grows raw materials, for example mining or farming.

secondary industry - An industry that turns raw materials into new products, for example turning wood into furniture or wheat into bread.

tertiary industry - An industry that provides a service, for example a hairdresser or a supermarket selling food.

quaternary industry - An industry that works with information and technology, for example medical research or computer game design.

linen - Cloth made from the flax plant.

jute - A strong, rough fabric that is made using fibres from the jute plant.

Industrial Revolution - A period during the 18th and 19th Century when the UK and other countries developed new technology and transport, and cities grew around new factories and industries.

Explore your local industries

Can you find examples of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary industries in your local area?

Make a list of products or services you use during a day. Can you group these into the types of industry that provide them?

Learn more about landscapes and industry in Dundee with these BBC Bitesize articles for primary learners.