DaveD

I've been with NGS for almost 32 years, before that 3 years as an Army surveyor and 2 years with a private surveying company. While I certainly have my gripes about government work, I still can't believe they pay me to do this job. I worked on triangulation and astronomic field parties for several years, and it certainly was trailer park to trailer park, or motel to motel for months without end. The vast majority of guys loved the life. If you didn't, you didn't stay very long. Being a small part of the oldest scientfic agency in the Federal government, and inheriting the legacy that so many brilliant and dedicated professionals have passed down is very humbling. Anyone who would like to view some of the history of NGS (Survey of the Coast - 1807, Coast Survey - 1836, U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey- 1878, NGS - 1970) should check out the images at -- http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/c&gs/geodesy.htm

Surveyors call it "observing fluid."

Art -- I've worked with the surveying community, marine, land, engineering, cadastral and geodetic for 37 years and as a group you could not ask to find a finer group of professionals. Read the materials that elcamino pointed you to and then if you're still interested get in touch with your states surveying association, and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) www.acsm.net NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORS 146 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210-2203 Executive Director: Ann Marie Schreiber, 518/432-4046, 518-432-4055 fax Email: amschreiber@nysapls.net Internet: www.nysapls.net

The prefix and numbers you're referring to are call the Permanent Identifier or PID. Since the stamping or name of each mark is not unique (e.g. there are numerous marks stamped B 200) a unique PID is assigned to each control monument published by NGS in the National Spatial Reference System. The prefixes are regional and do not repeat. The 4 number identifier is randomly generated.

The designation RESET is applied to geodetic control monuments in one of two ways. A typical bench mark (vertical control point only) was not established with either an underground or nearby reference marks. Should such a mark be in danger or being disturbed or destroyed, the National Geodetic Survey (formerly the Coast and Geodetic Survey) would attempt to establish a new monument nearby with a direct vertical survey connection between the two monuments. The new mark would be given the designation of the old mark (e.g. B 173) plus the work RESET stamped on the disk. In the case of horizontal control points (also referred to as Bench Marks on this board), the vast majority were established with either or both an underground mark centered directly below the surface mark, and/or two or more nearby reference marks (disks with arrows) usually set within 100 ft. In the surface mark were disturbed or destroyed it could be RESET by using the information from the reference marks, assuming they had not also been disturbed or destroyed, and/or centered over the underground mark it if could be located. In these cases the surface mark would be stamped with the name of the original station with the original date it was established and the date of the reset added. Should a horizontal station be moved from is original position, a new mark would be set with the name of the original station and a number 2, 3 etc. added (e.g. WHITE 2).

This is one of the State (KY/TN) boundary monuments established by Commissioners appointed by the states during 1858-59. The legal, but brief description of this line can be in Tennesse State Statues, Title 4, Chapter 2, Section 4-2-104

Elcamino is correct about NGS accepting the recovery information about stations suitability for GPS. I was on the NGS team that developed the specifications for this program. It was our intention to try and provide the best information possible to the public concerning any stations conditions. The user does not have to be submitting a project to NGS for inclusion in the National Spatial Reference System to have information update. Keep watching the NGS web site. We are currently evaluating the capability of users to provide improved positional information specifically for bench marks that currently only have a scaled coordinate value. These updates will take the form of the user providing either corrected (e.g. DGPS) or uncorrected point position values from GPS. These values will be added to the data sheet to improve recovery information. There will be sufficient metadata to ensure the public knows that these values are not the same as obtained from a more rigorous carrier-phase observations network solution.

A small correction to post by Elcamino. The "TT" stamped on USGS marks refers to "Transit Traverse." The Transcontinental Traverse was a high accuracy 1:1,000,000 survey conducted by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey/National Geodetic Survey during the early 70s to early 80s in support of the readjustment of the North American Datum (NAD 83)