The major goal of the GEOPA Project is to spark interest in public art in Metropolitan Phoenix through the use of a kid-friendly, family-oriented emerging technology. Since technology is an integral and growing part of daily living in the twenty-first century, the challenge is to use technology effectively to help young people of Arizona take ownership for learning and develop the practical and critical thinking skills necessary to better understand the world around them.

To meet this challenge, The GEOPA Project uses an emerging technology tool, GPS receivers, and an emerging GPS-based activity, geocaching, to create exciting, empowering, exploratory environments that focus on student engagement with public art in Metropolitan Phoenix.