happycycler

Thank you BDT!! Yet another fun toy to play with!

NO! ckhd, you are not wrong -- the adjusted latitude / longitude coordinates are very accurate. On a good day our toy GPS will read close to published adjusted coordinates but are NOT more accurate. I have seen cases where my Magellan Merigold would read 3 or 4 feet while setting on a triangulation station. I believe that is just a lucky day, with freak atmospheric conditions. I am sure that the professionals here can explain it better.

YEAH! Welcome to benchmark hunting. Congratulations on your finds but also on the Not Founds! (Sometimes the Not Founds are more work than the finds. As in the case of that stack and the research that you have done.) Oh and by the way GEO*Trailblazer is wrong, wrong, wrong. NOTHING addictive about this hobby and of course NONE OF US are the least bit obsessive or compulive about it either. Welcome and good hunting!

Another excellent reference is Dustyjacket's Images of BenchMarks and Related Objects

Congrats. on your find of Y66 (ER0208)! I have yet to find one that the pros. had listed as a Not Found! Great Job!

I suspect that you have found an Arizona Hwy. Dept. disk instead of the Coast & Geodetic Survey (CGS) disk. Maybe the bridge was replaced since 1934? In which case the Hwy. Dept. may have placed their own benchmark on the newer bridge. Not all state highway dept. (& other agency) disks are in the NGS database. GeoCaching database is derived from the NGS database. from the NGS data base: ---------------------------- ER0206 ********************************************************** ER0206 DESIGNATION - X 66 ER0206 PID - ER0206 ER0206 STATE/COUNTY- AZ/APACHE ER0206 USGS QUAD - SPRINGERVILLE (1969) ER0206 ER0206 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL ER0206 ___________________________________________________________________ ER0206* NAD 83(1986)- 34 07 58. (N) 109 16 18. (W) SCALED ER0206* NAVD 88 - 2125.701 (meters) 6974.07 (feet) ADJUSTED ER0206 ___________________________________________________________________ ER0206 GEOID HEIGHT- -22.52 (meters) GEOID03 ER0206 DYNAMIC HT - 2122.407 (meters) 6963.26 (feet) COMP ER0206 MODELED GRAV- 979,010.0 (mgal) NAVD 88 ER0206 ER0206 VERT ORDER - SECOND CLASS 0 ER0206 ER0206.The horizontal coordinates were scaled from a topographic map and have ER0206.an estimated accuracy of +/- 6 seconds. ER0206 ER0206.The orthometric height was determined by differential leveling ER0206.and adjusted by the National Geodetic Survey in June 1991. ER0206 ER0206.The geoid height was determined by GEOID03. ER0206 ER0206.The dynamic height is computed by dividing the NAVD 88 ER0206.geopotential number by the normal gravity value computed on the ER0206.Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS 80) ellipsoid at 45 ER0206.degrees latitude (g = 980.6199 gals.). ER0206 ER0206.The modeled gravity was interpolated from observed gravity values. ER0206 ER0206; North East Units Estimated Accuracy ER0206;SPC AZ E - 347,740. 295,910. MT (+/- 180 meters Scaled) ER0206 ER0206 SUPERSEDED SURVEY CONTROL ER0206 ER0206 NGVD 29 (??/??/92) 2124.753 (m) 6970.96 (f) ADJ UNCH 2 0 ER0206 ER0206.Superseded values are not recommended for survey control. ER0206.NGS no longer adjusts projects to the NAD 27 or NGVD 29 datums. ER0206.See file dsdata.txt to determine how the superseded data were derived. ER0206 ER0206_U.S. NATIONAL GRID SPATIAL ADDRESS: 12SXC593782(NAD 83) ER0206_MARKER: DB = BENCH MARK DISK ER0206_SETTING: 36 = BRIDGE ER0206_STAMPING: X-66 1934 ER0206_STABILITY: B = PROBABLY HOLD POSITION/ELEVATION WELL ER0206 ER0206 HISTORY - Date Condition Report By ER0206 HISTORY - 1934 MONUMENTED CGS ER0206 HISTORY - 1969 MARK NOT FOUND USGS ER0206 ER0206 STATION DESCRIPTION ER0206 ER0206'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1934 ER0206'0.8 MI E FROM SPRINGERVILLE. ER0206'AT THE JUNCTION OF HWYS. NO. 60 AND NO. 71. ABOUT 400 FEET EAST OF THE ER0206'INTERSECTION. SET ON THE SOUTH HEADWALL OF A CONCRETE BRIDGE. ER0206 ER0206 STATION RECOVERY (1969) ER0206 ER0206'RECOVERY NOTE BY US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1969 ER0206'MARK NOT FOUND.

JC1701 : MARK-----AGENCY/DISK----MONUMENT DESCRIPTION----------STAMPING------- STATION CGS 16 IN DIA. CONC., PROJECTS 14 IN UNION2, 1959 (LEANS SOUTHEAST) RM 3 12 IN DIA. CONC., FLUSH UNION2, NO. 3, 19 RM 4 12 IN SQ. CONC., FLUSH UNION2, NO. 4, 19 (FOUND UNDER BLUE PICK-UP IN JUNK YARD) AZ MK 10 IN SQ. CONC., PROJECTS 4 IN UNION, 1956 (WOULD REQUIRE SOME CLEARING AND AN ELEVATED SIGHT TO BE USEFUL) The last report (2000) was a NOT FOUND by MO HWY DEPT, but no mention how the Blue Pickup was holding up....

I think that is a reasonable request. A local St. Louis area benchmark hunter posted a similar request. When I went to look for the mark; someone had dug it out and placed a stake by it. So I could report those developements via an e-mail to the searcher. He went by and logged the mark also.

DustyJacket's great Images of BenchMarks and Related Objects site has examples of metal rods as well as many other objects used as survey marks (benchmarks).

Not sure if there are any Virgin Islands benchmarks listed on the GeoCaching website. I tried searching for nearest benchmarks from a couple of random Virgin Islands caches with no success. The NGS site does include some survey marks from the U.S. Virgin Islands but we can only log points that GeoCaching includes in their list.

Great! Willy Magoo & Linda Too! Could you include your photo on your GeoCaching log for the mark and then give us the PID? (Opps I guess that we already have the PID -- OK0120. )

I would start looking for some sort of chisled cross on the top of the concrete abutment. When you find it (whatever it turns out to be), then you might consider sending a photo of it to dustyjacket for his super website: benchmarks & witness posts His site is a great resourse for questions of this sort but I don't think he has one of those yet....

Way To Go!! Mr. Magoo!! (BTW what is *team NARF *?)

Does this benchmark have a PID, so that wiser heads could look up the datasheet in GeoCaching and/or NGS? They might be able to discern something from context in the datasheet. (Google only gives me info. about boats and a megalith in the British Isles, and this was all new to me.)

A map of US magnetic declination can be found: Webpage Fortunately right now St. Louis is near 0deg. declination so I just ignore it. Magnetic North here is almost the same as True North. However it will different in different places (and at different times). Another place to look would be: Webpagewhere I think that you could get the declination for a particular spot and time.

Thanks to ALL who responded! I feel like I am getting a post-grad. education by participating in this forum. And you are all my advisors. BUT I don't want to do a thesis, OK?

GREAT elcamino. I knew that I would learn from my question. This is a super forum and I appreciate all the answers.

Thank you Dave for that quick answer!

I found two interesting disks this past weekend in central Missouri: JC0927 ( TTS 28 B ) and JC0954 ( TTS 34 B ) . Both were dated 1932 and had the elevation stamped on the disk. They were both in great readable condition. Were these some sort of vertical control ( elevation) Traverse? Or is the TT(S) just another letter combination used in the disk designation? Can anyone satisfy my curiosity? Thanks.

Thank you gnbrotz. That is reassuring (I think).

I LIKE IT!! Thank you Jeremy!! But I am having a difference in downloaded .loc files. I am not sure if it is due to the new benchmark page, due to my buying ExpertGPS or due to my becomming a premium member? Nothing like changing everything at once huh? My earlier .loc files had the PID in the Waypoint field and the designation in both the Comment and Description fields. Now I am getting a .loc file with the PID in all three fields (Waypoint, Description & Comment) and the designation does not show up at all. I liked having the designation show up on my GPS. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong and/or how I could again get the designation in the .loc files?

Maybe out of the picture, to the right of the folks pointing at that disk?

you could start with: GT0237, GT1812, GT1813, GT0238, GT1810, GT1809, GT1811, GT0239, GT1808 which are all within 0.6 Mile of Latitude: N36° 35' Longitude: W118° 17' . Do a nearest benchmarks search from any of these....

I like your idea of posting a note. I use notes for cases where I did not (or could not) do a good search. However I generally do remember the designation of the one around here (SL-101), thus I have not needed to add a note to it yet. After finding or searching several marks in my local area, it is difficult for me to recall the particulars about EVERY one. (I do remember a lot of them though!) So I would vote for a note. If I visit your *neck of the woods* I will read your notes when deciding which ones to search for. I will probably read many of your found and did not find logs also. Thus seeing a note icon would not discourage me from searching -- I would most likely read the note and then decide.

Yes I miss seeing the finder's name on the gallery pictures. So true!