eahousley

I got Photostitch when I bought my Canon printer. At $50, the i320 didn't cost much more than the ink cartridges that came with it. You can also do photo stitching with Adobe Photoshop Elements both horizontally and vertically. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I have only used the note for cases where I know the marker exists, but I couldn't prove it. In one case the property owner didn't want me to dig up his sod. In the other the marker was covered by a large vinyl X for an arial photo. If I gave it my best effort and didn't find it, I own up to it and mark it accordingly. Personally, I am not dissuaded by someone else's "not found". I tend to view it as a challenge. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

Most of the "to reach" instructions in my county give directions from a major intersection, or from another nearby benchmark. I generally ignore the "to reach" descriptions as I'm more interested in the landmarks in the general vicinity. If you are going to be placing any markers near a road, PLEASE measure its distance from the center line, not the edge. Markers near an uncurbed road tend to get buried and roads get widened. I had three benchmarks this week that took me a long time to find, even with a witness post, because the road had been widened. One was so close that I had to tunnel under the pavement to recover it. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

quote:Originally posted by Black Dog Trackers:It reads the .dat file from NGS directly. You mentioned a .dat file and the program description refers to a CD-ROM. I'm not sure I understand how to make use of this program. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

As a first step, I would recommend you try using EasyGPS. For me, entering the waypoints into the GPS is tedious and EasyGPS really simplifies the process. Also, because you can link to the benchmark descriptions from EasyGPS, it simplifies the logging process when you return from a day's expedition. I personally prefer using my Palm for carrying benchmark descriptions and entering notes. I don't do anything too fancy. I just use the Palm's memo pad to hold the descriptions for a day's expedition. As a programmer, I was able to somewhat automate the process, but I would think that copying and pasting to the Palm desktop would be quicker than writing out the info on a 3x5. Before I used the Palm, I generally found that printing the description pages easier than writing the info on paper. Instead of printing the entire page, I usually selected the text and then chose Selection under Print range in the Print dialog box. Unless the benchmark has a long recovery history, it will fit on one page this way. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

My minimum benchmark hunting kit: garden trowel - many markers are overgrown or buried. shop rag - to clean up marker for snapshot. compass - for finding marker and for describing location or photo orientation. pda - for benchmark descriptions andentering notes. tape measure - for those occasions when I can't find the marker by pacing off the distances. Also useful if you want to submit an updated description. coat hanger - useful for poking through soil and sod when marker is buried. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

Many of the markers in the counties near me have some form of witness post. But there have been several that were very difficult to find or non-existent. For me, the fun and adventure comes from the fact that when you set out on your hunt, you don't really know how much effort it's going to take. By the way, since you have provided such a colorful story, how come you didn't provide a picture in your log? -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I think the best part about benchmarking (vrs cache hunting) is that when you set out, you don't really know if you're going to find it. And even if it's still there, you might have to search quite a while for it. I logged one last week that was hidden under the sod and had a bogus description. I spent almost an hour searching and was never more than 20 ft from it. Gives you more of a sense of accomplishment. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I don't mean to be contrary, but ... Your letter is very polite and informative. However, I would have thrown it out before I reached the third paragraph because it sounds like the beginning of a sales pitch. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. -- [This message was edited by eahousley on April 18, 2003 at 08:50 AM.]

My code was not in an envelope. It was on a single 8.5x11 sheet of paper, folded in thirds, then in half. The code is at the bottom of the page with a message in 7 or 8 different language translations. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I went out to recover a marker that I'd found earlier but couldn't take a picture because melting snow filled the hole with more water than I could clear. Now I find this X positioned precisely at the markers location. I chose to leave it be for now. Anyone know why someone would do this? -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I tend to prefer benchmarking over caching because it adds a degree of history to the activity. Also I find the people in the benchmarking forum to be more helpful, more educated, and definitely more friendly. Many of the caching threads have really soured me to the sport. I mostly do benchmark hunting alone, but cache hunting is an activity I can share with my wife. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I'm guessing that the tool used to parse the official history simply looked for NOT FOUND and couldn't see that it had later been recovered. Perhaps we need a way to get the BM description reclassified when we find things like this. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

quote:Originally posted by canadazuuk:I don't think the disrespect shown to Jeremy directly or indirectly, (and from many directions) is going to assist in helping to move geocaching forward. I would add: I don't think the disrespect shown by Jeremy is helping either. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I seem to recall reading somewhere here not long ago that if you want to appeal an approver's rejection, you should bring it to the forum for discussion. In fact, I believe it was Jeromy that submitted that suggestion. Now when Pulaski brings it up to the forum he's called a troll. I'm fairly new to this and although I have enjoyed the activity, it would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't discovered the forum. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

Looks like a wrinkle in the database. If you don't get acknowledgement here, I'd report it. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

I don't think they work anyway. Every time I've gotten a list of placenames, the map links for all of them brought up a map of the same place; usually 2 or 3 miles from their actual location. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

quote:Originally posted by IV_Warrior:I would also like to be able to "Search from home coordinates" without having to remember them to punch into the boxes, like I can do for caches from my cache page.... The shortcut I use is to go to a benchmark page that I know is near my home. (Its the first one on my found list.) Then click on "Find nearest benchmarks". However, as I begin to move away from my home area, I use the same technique using a benchmark page in the area I want to explore. This give me a more useful list than those near my home. I've only been interested in markers that have not been found yet, so I just filter out those that have already been logged. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

quote:Originally posted by survey tech:If you have some reason to believe that markers are being destroyed or damaged through negligence in your area, this may be a matter that should be brought to the attention of your city council or other local authorities. I'm not concerned about them being destroyed or neglected. I just find it curious that the markers in my area are so rigorously documented except when they are destroyed. I would have expected to find some sort of record of their demise. -- I'm agin it. Could lead to dancing. --

Reasons I haven't hidden a geocache yet: 1) Weather in the area does not encourage spending the time necessary to do the job right. 2) I want to get enough experience under my belt to feel comfortable that I've planted an entertaining cache. I would rather see a few high-quality caches than a lot of caches where the hider gave it very little thought. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. -- [This message was edited by eahousley on February 17, 2003 at 02:14 PM.]

I have read several threads here that have expressed how markers are not to be disturbed, collected, sold on EBay, whatever. On my recent BM expeditions, I have encountered several sites where the marker was obviously destroyed or covered up by construction or development; situations where there was probably a great deal of surveying activity. If these things are so sacred, why aren't their destruction documented in the markers' official history? -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

For BMs where I might look suspicious, I bring my wife with me. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

Now if I could just copy and paste between the two, my joy would be complete. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

We should be able to start a new geo game now. Wherify is a wrist device for tracking kids and Alzheimer patients. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --

Using City Select (which is the map set supplied with the GPS V) the St. Louis maps (w/West County) takes about 9 MB. That's with routing data. If you're loading them into a non-routing GPSr, it'll be a little less. -- Its from aliens. I seen um. --