TerraVador

I did some more digging around. The comedy of errors continues. Look at this list: |Dist|PID...|H V|Vert_Source|Approx.|Approx..|Stab|Designation | 0.0|GX2980|. u|29/ADJ UNCH|N371738|W0800304|....|W 74 | 1.2|GX0178|. 1|88/ADJUSTED|N371843|W0800310|D...|W 74 X | 0.5|GX0177|. 1|88/ADJUSTED|N371804|W0800258|D...|W 74 XX | 1.8|GX0179|. 1|88/ADJUSTED|N371911|W0800300|C...|X 74 All of these marks were monumented in 1959. Looks to me like they accidentally stamped three marks in a row with W 74, then had to go back and change one to W 74 X and the other to W 74 XX. I would show you a picture of W 74 XXX but this is a family website.

I did a NGS Radial Search and used the LAT/LON for GX0176 DESIGNATION - W 74 X RESET 1970 ,but I also scrolled down and checked the box for Browse Mode before I hit Submit . |Dist|PID...|H V|Vert_Source|Approx.|Approx..|Stab|Designation |----|------|- -|-----------|-------|--------|----|----------- | 0.0|GX2980|. u|29/ADJ UNCH|N371738|W0800304|....|W 74 | 0.0|GX0176|. 1|88/ADJUSTED|N371738|W0800304|D...|W 74 X RESET 1970 The original mark was GX2980 designation W 74 at the same coords as W 74 X RESET 1970. This station is unpublishable for multiple reasons. It looks like no horizontal or vertical control exists for GX2980. It is now listed as destroyed. Something is definitely not right here. GX0176'DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1970 GX0176'1.3 MI N FROM SALEM. GX0176'1.3 MILES NORTH ALONG STATE HIGHWAY 311 FROM THE JUNCTION OF GX0176'U.S. HIGHWAY 460 AT SALEM, 40 FEET EAST OF THE CENTER LINE OF GX0176'THE HIGHWAY, IN THE TOP OF THE SOUTHEAST WINGWALL OF A 6 FOOT GX0176'CONCRETE BOX CULVERT UNDER THE HIGHWAY AND ABOUT 10 FEET BELOW GX0176'THE LEVEL OF THE HIGHWAY. GX0178'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1959 GX0178'1.3 MI N FROM SALEM. GX0178'1.3 MILES NORTH ALONG STATE HIGHWAY 311 FROM THE JUNCTION OF GX0178'U.S. HIGHWAY 460 AT SALEM, 19 1/2 FEET EAST OF THE CENTER LINE GX0178'OF THE HIGHWAY, IN TOP OF THE NORTHEAST WING WALL FOR A 6-FOOT GX0178'CONCRETE BOX CULVERT UNDER THE HIGHWAY, AND ABOUT 1 1/2 FEET GX0178'ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE HIGHWAY. The descriptions are the same except for the width of the road to the wingwall If you go to Topozone for GX0176 (W 74 X RESET), you can see a BM with an elevation of 1073. That is the same as is listed for GX0176 (W 74 X RESET). But it does not look like there would need to be a culvert here, as you found when you were looking for it. If you go to Topozone for GX0178 W 74 X you see a BM at a stream crossing, where you would find a culvert, with an elevation of 1167, which is that listed for W 74 X. I would wager that HIGHWAY 311 was widened sometime after 1959, and GX0178 (W 74 X) was destroyed. In 1970, GX0176 (W 74 X RESET), was put in to replace it, but they screwed up and gave it the coordinates and elevation of GX2980 (W 74) by mistake. I bet if you go back to the coords of GX0178, you will find GX0176 instead. If that is the case, you need to let the NGS know what you found. It could also be that GX2980 W 74 was not actually destroyed. They probably should have listed GX0178 as destroyed instead. You might be able to find GX2980 at N 37 17 38.16 W 80 03 05.11, using the BM on the Topozone Map.

AE8962 has been changed to destroyed as well: AE8962 STATION RECOVERY (2005) AE8962 AE8962'RECOVERY NOTE BY MN DEPT OF TRANSP 2005 (MMB) AE8962'IN ST PAUL, AT JUNCTION OF FORD PARKWAY AND TRUNK HIGHWAY 51 (SNELLING AE8962'AVE), ON OBSERVATION DECK OF HIGHLAND PARK WATER TOWER, STATION IS AE8962'CHISELED X 5.985 FEET SOUTH OF STATION SNELLING, NEW FLOOR ON AE8962'OBSERVATION DECK

The Navy built observation towers along the Potomac. Inside the tower was a pipe holding a pedestal supporting a sighting instrument. One such tower was HV7070 11 NPG . Artman's reference marker, HV7066, was placed 50 meters away. Another nearby tower is HV7077 9 NPG . It also has a B of O reference marker, HV7076 REF STA 9 . I bet the Navy put one of these reference markers near all of their towers. Artman is going to find these markers for us this weekend, right? Any guess as to what NPG stands for? Naval Proving Ground? Naval Pedestal Gear? There is a US NAVAL SURFACE WEAPONS CENTER shown nearby. Did they do live fire exercises here during the World Wars?

If you look at the closeup of HV7066 you can tell from the shadow of the camera strap that the arrow is pointing roughly northeast.

I just love armchair Benchmarking! First, since the mark has an arrow on it, but no dot in the center, my guess is it is a Reference Marker, not a Triangulation Station Marker. Artman, to confirm this, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to find HV7076 HV7076' HV7076'IT IS A BUREAU OF ORDNANCE REFERENCE MARK SET FLUSH AND STAMPED HV7076'REF. STA. 9. HV7076' It was found in 2003 by USPSQD so should be an easy find Then, you could try to find two Bureau of Ordnance Triangulation Stations with associated Reference Marks: HV7076 HV6943 Unfortunately, neither of these have been recovered in 40 years and may be lost. If you can find them, we can see if there is a difference between a B of O Triangulation and Reference Mark HV7066 was not placed as a reference to HV7071, since HV7071 was not monumented until 1954. If you can get this all done by next weekend, we would appreciate it.

Thanks, guys...

Today I found BL1847 . The mark should have been stamped T 1252 1978. To me, it looks like L 1252 1978. Here is a closeup. How do I file this with NGS? Is this a GOOD, and add a note in the text about the incorrect stamping?

You should be able to find what you want here: http://home.pacbell.net/lgalvin/drgnotes.html

You write in your article that the minimum distance for an arrival alarm is .1 mile. That is incorrect. The default is .1 mile, but the minimum is .01 mile (53 feet). If you set it to metric, then the minimum is .01 km, or 10 meters. At least that is how it works for me in firmware version 1.4.0

You can translate the UTM coordinates here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/TOOLS/utm.shtml It looks likes most of the MHD points are in NAD27. After you translate from UTM to Lat/Lon, you will then have to do the datum shift to NAD83 here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/nadcon.prl This looks like a very tedious way to do this, point by point. If someone has a better way, chime in.

I plotted the points on USAPHOTOMAPS: You can faintly tell on the aerial photo that the road used to make a complete circle around GG0683. The shadow of the 12' monument is also faintly visible on the photo. Here is what I think happened. In 1935, there was a flat monument in a grassy median in the middle of a circle in the road, and 1" below the road surface. There was no 12' monument at that time. In 1938, the 12' monument was built 50 feet to the west. The caption on this plaque reads "AD 1938 NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION" Oklahoma became a state in 1907. I think that is what the "OKLAHOMA 1907" means, not that the monument was built in 1907. When the 12' monument was built, the road was straightened. The old flat monument was now in the middle of the gravel road. Over the years it got covered in gravel or was graded away. In 1961, they could not find the flat monument. They took a bearings of the new 12' monument. Somehow ,the paperwork got screwed up, and the coordinates of GG0688 and GG0683 got switched. A Geocacher, BIGDILLO, found an iron pin where they later put the new flat monument in the road in 2004. GG0683 should probably be considered destroyed unless it was resurveyed in 2004 when they put in the new flat monument.

My guess would be that it was previously NONPUBLISHABLE due to no descriptive text: - H Nonpub HORIZONTAL CONTROL NONPUB REASON - - -------- -------------------------------- - - X Surface Mark Reported Destroyed - - Y Surface and underground mark reported destroyed - - A A-Order Horizontal mark not tied to an adjusted HARN - - C C-Nonoperational CORS Station - - W Weakly determined position. - - P Purpose of position is not for network control - - D No Descriptive Text available - - R Restricted position - - O Outside NGS Publication Area - - N No geodetic control at this mark - When you added descriptive text in your recovery report, it became publishable. Note that the datasheet for OC2686 does not list marker type. If I were you, I would amend my report to say something like "STANDARD USGS DISK SET IN ROCK AND STAMPED TT 6 TDA 1940"

Looks like you are right. Topozone puts those coords on the courthouse. Very odd.

This tower has been moved. I am quoting from GRANTSBURG : QO0295 QO0295 STATION RECOVERY (1960) QO0295 QO0295'RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1960 (FAR) QO0295'STATION RECOVERED AND FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION. THE GRANTSBURG QO0295'LOOKOUT TOWER HAS BEEN MOVED AND IS NOW LOCATED ABOUT 0.1 QO0295'MILE SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE STATION. A REQUEST WAS RECEIVED QO0295'TO MOVE THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MARK THAT WAS UNDER THE QO0295'CENTER OF THE TOWER AS A STREET IS PLANNED FOR THE LOCATION. QO0295'FUTURE CONSTRUCTION PLANS WERE DISCUSSED WITH MR. PAUL A. QO0295'OLSON, VILLIAGE PRESIDENT, AND NO OTHER MARKS AT THIS STATION QO0295'APPEARED TO BE IN DANGER OF BEING DISTURBED. Therefore, GRANTSBURG LOOKOUT PID=QO1549 should now be marked as DESTROYED.ROAD RASCAL should email Deb Brown and point this out along with his personal observations. Reading further, probably so should GRANTSBURG PID=QO0295 (unless they never actually found the disk): QO0295 QO0295 STATION RECOVERY (1966) QO0295 QO0295'RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1966 (EBB) QO0295'THE STATION MARK WAS DESTROYED DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A QO0295'NEW HOUSE, WHICH IS BUILT DIRECTLY OVER THE STATION SITE. REFERENCE QO0295'MARK NO. 2 HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SIDE QO0295'STREET. REFERENCE MARK NO. 1 AND THE AZIMUTH MARK WERE QO0295'DESTROYED AT THIS TIME. GRANTSBURG TOWER RESET (USGS) WAS QO0295'RECOVERED AND FOUND IN GOOD CONDITION. THIS MARK WAS LEFT QO0295'IN BECAUSE IT IS IN NO DANGER OF BEING DISTURBED If you get good GPS readings of a location adjusted mark that are far off from the published coords, it bears further investigation!

Unfortunately, here in Central Texas the grass is already knee high in spots and the poison ivy is spreading like crazy after the mild winter we had. Benchmarking is getting a lot harder here now. For me the the prime hunting season is November to March.

I was looking through the NGS list of benchmarks in my area when I ran across BRYAN BM PID=BM0847 . The mark is listed as unpublishable due to "No descriptive text." Approximate coords were given as 30 40 20. /096 22 21 ., and I could see a BM marked on the USGS topo. I then found this mark at N30 40 19.68 W96 22 21.02 The disk is badly marred because it projects from a driveway leading to a parking lot and has been scraped by the underside of cars. I can make out that it is a standard USC&GS Vertical Disk, by I cannot read any letters of the Designation or the date. What I would like to know is, how did this mark end up with "No descriptive text"? Had the paper copy of the file been lost when it came time to computerize the database? Would the NGS like a Recovery Report? I am not sure I can claim a "found " since I cannot read the Designation. About 100 yards South of BRYAN BM, I located a newer NGS benchmark labeled BRYAN RESET 1993. I assume that this one was set since BRYAN BM was so badly marred and in such a poorly protected location Here is the photo: This mark is located at exactly NAD83(1998) N 30 40 15.48514 W 96 22 21.45585 . I say exactly because the mark was used in the Geodetic Control Resurvey for Brazos County Texas, which was a first order horizontal survey. But BRYAN RESET 1993 does not appear in the NGS database at all. Was the NGS still placing its markers in 1993, or did they send the disk to Brazos County to be placed by a local entity? How much trouble is it to submit the data to NGS to be included in the database?

I am taking the liberty of reposting Willy Magoo's photos from his log of OK0120 here : Willy, it looks like sky at the top of your second picture. Is this picture taken horizontally or vertically? From my reading of the description, the cross is on the top (horizontal) surface, and not the side (vertical) surface.

When you log the benchmark on GC.com, just upload the image there. Then we can help you to link to the image here. (In Edit) OOPS. Happy beat me to it.

For EB2570, just add 8 degrees to get the Magnetic Bearing. PID.......Reference Object..........Distance..........Geod. Az ......................................................................dddmm EB3512 PHILADELPHUS RM 1.....32.740 METERS 06055 EB3513 PHILADELPHUS RM 2.....35.966 METERS 32201 To locate the Reference Marks from the Station Mark: Bearing to RM1 is 60 deg 55 min ~ 61degrees True Bearing to RM2 is 322 deg 01 min ~322 degrees True Using your compass: Bearing to RM1 is 61 + 8 = ~69 degrees Magnetic Bearing to RM2 is 322 + 8 =~330 degrees Magnetic

It helps to see the original Datasheet for the mark. On the Geocaching.com page for the benchmark, click on the link that says "view original datasheet". It is near the top of the page. Or , you can get the most current version of the datasheet directly from the NGS at: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/datasheet.prl On the Datasheet for Triangulation Stations, you will find a box like this: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PID Reference Object Distance Geod. Az BM0049 SMETANA RM 1 43.233 METERS 08829 BM0047 SMETANA AZ MK 0922642.4 BM0050 SMETANA RM 2 44.983 METERS 34707 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This gives the exact bearing (Geod. AZ) from the Station to the Reference Marks and Azimuth Mark, and the exact distance to the reference marks. Which Triangulation Station (benchmark) were you looking for?

I found info on the original marker C 36. It was placed by the Florida Geodetic Survey (Fla. Geod. S.) in 1934. Note in the margin is handwritten the word "Reset":

While trying to answer your question, I came across this site which has tons of cool surveying data for the state of Florida. Note that on your pic of the disk it says "U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY AND STATE SURVEY". I believe this means it was placed by the Florida Geodetic Survey, and not all of its marks were incorporated into the NGS database.

I had no trouble downloading bmgpx and its source today. Give it a another try.

To delete the photo, go to the benchmark page. Click on "visit log" Click on "prev image" or "next image" if needed if there is more than one photo Click on "edit image" Click on the little trashcan in the upper right of the image to delete.