Neo_Geo Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 I was just on the hunt for a virtual cache when I went by one of the Dept. of Agriculture buildings near the Washington Monument. There was a marble marker about one square foot and about two feet high with the inscription "High Accuracy Geodetic Control Mark". It has a date of 2005 on it, so I'm guessing it's pretty new. It is located at N38° 53.289' W77° 01.903' It does not appear in the database. Anybody know anything about it? Would it be "The Mother of all Benchmarks"??? Quote Link to comment
ArtMan Posted September 2, 2005 Share Posted September 2, 2005 Neo_Geo, The Geocaching database is years out of date. I did a radius search on the NGS site for marks near the coordinates you gave (translated into decimal degrees as 38.8881, -77.03172), but didn't turn up anything that seems to fit. As you've no doubt read on the FAQ page, there are approximately a gazillion benchmarks out there that are not in this database. Don't suppose you have a photo of this interesting sounding mark? -ArtMan- Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 3, 2005 Author Share Posted September 3, 2005 Nah - I didn't have my camera with me. I'm going to go back and get a photo of it this weekend - probably tomorrow. I'll post it as soon as I get it. Quote Link to comment
DaveD Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Neo_Geo the mark you found was recently set by the U.S. Forest Service in cooperation with NGS in dedication of the centennial of the Forest Service. It is one of approximately 15 marks set by USFS from Puerto Rico to Alaska at various national forest offices as part of the commemoration effort. The GPS observations have been performed by USFS and are currently be processed for submission to NGS for inclusion in the National Spatial Reference System. The mark was officially dedicated by the Secretary of Agriculture, Director of the Forest Service and Director of the National Geodetic Survey on July 1, 2005. Quote Link to comment
+seventhings Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Great! Another series of commemorative benchmarks that I can (must?) recover. Actually, CallawayMT already gave me a heads-up on the Forest Service series. BuckBrooke - make room on your website!! Will Quote Link to comment
ArtMan Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Don't suppose the Forest Service or anyone else has placed this marks online yet? -ArtMan- Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted September 3, 2005 Author Share Posted September 3, 2005 (edited) Neo_Geo the mark you found was recently set by the U.S. Forest Service in cooperation with NGS in dedication of the centennial of the Forest Service. It is one of approximately 15 marks set by USFS from Puerto Rico to Alaska at various national forest offices as part of the commemoration effort. The GPS observations have been performed by USFS and are currently be processed for submission to NGS for inclusion in the National Spatial Reference System. The mark was officially dedicated by the Secretary of Agriculture, Director of the Forest Service and Director of the National Geodetic Survey on July 1, 2005. Thanks for the info! Are the coordinates and elevations of these markers available to the public, or will they be? Who would I go to to get that information? Edited September 3, 2005 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
evenfall Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 Neo Geo, For information on the Mother of all Bench Marks, Read here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/NAVD88/navd88report.htm In that you will find information about a Bench Mark located in Quebec at Father Point/Rimowski which is considered the primary Bench mark for the NAVD 88 Vertical Datum. Triangulation Stations do not currently have a Mother of all stations in the NAD 83 Datum, however, there was a mother of all triangulation during the NAD 27 called Meades Ranch Reset: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=KG0640 That will give you a little background on some stations which are and were considered the the reference standards for their respective Datum The NAD 83 Datum is an Earth centered Datum and does not use a Mother Station. The old NGVD 29 Vertical Datum did not use a single Mother station either, instead that Datum used 26 stations as their "mother"... Worth learning about... Enjoy! Rob Quote Link to comment
ArtMan Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 I posted info and my photos of the US Forest Service mark at the nearest benchmark, BUREAU ENGRAVING RED TWR (HV4522). -ArtMan- Quote Link to comment
CallawayMT Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Here is an earlier post with one of the marks in Missoula, MT. I like the added color that they put on their mark. US Forest Service 100th Anniversary CallawayMT Quote Link to comment
caseyb Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 Neo_Geo the mark you found was recently set by the U.S. Forest Service in cooperation with NGS in dedication of the centennial of the Forest Service. It is one of approximately 15 marks set by USFS from Puerto Rico to Alaska at various national forest offices as part of the commemoration effort. The GPS observations have been performed by USFS and are currently be processed for submission to NGS for inclusion in the National Spatial Reference System. The mark was officially dedicated by the Secretary of Agriculture, Director of the Forest Service and Director of the National Geodetic Survey on July 1, 2005. Thanks for the info! Are the coordinates and elevations of these markers available to the public, or will they be? Who would I go to to get that information? It is not yet available, but eventually it will be. And you will be able to get the info the same way you get info on any other mark in our database. -Casey- Quote Link to comment
+BuckBrooke Posted September 7, 2005 Share Posted September 7, 2005 (edited) W/ direction from Casey, I spoke to the folks at the Forest Service. They plan to have 20+ markers around the country, with some being set in the ground into the beginning of next year. I will be getting basic information on some of them, and a map of the US, that I will post on my website. As they are still in the midst of the project, as well as are pulling together the material for NGS to qualify for the database for PIDs, I'll get the basics now and then more towards the end of the year. Edited September 7, 2005 by BuckBrooke Quote Link to comment
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