South Surrey Scavengers Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 The link below will direct you to the original discussion. Previous discussion regarding Canadian Benchmarks Now we have a place for discussion about categories. What does the benchmarking community think of the Canadian Benchmark category. What are the views on the way it is setup? How can it become more popular? Do people want a database uploaded to Waymarking.com instead of looking for information elsewhere? Link to comment
+tec_64 Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 Hi there, Wayne here in Sudbury Ontario. I'm new to Waymarking and geocaching but old to bushwhacking and hiking. I originally logged on to the CGSD database to find high accuracy control points to trek to in order to check the accuracy of my Garmin and Maggie GPSr's. In the process I found that there were a few really interesting waymarks in and around the Sudbury region. Long story short. It's now a hobby and here I am! There are a ton of marks listed for my area. Many destroyed etc. I plan on getting the boots on when the weather dries up and heading out and logging few of the sweeter ones here first, such as the pad for the now removed NASA tracking telescope in the Laurentian Conservation trail area (the trip is worth the view too) and the fairly new high-accuracy ref point near Lively. So, this catagory is just what I'm looking for. As for the complete database being uploaded? hmmm Lots of flotsom to weed out. If it was easy to do, I'd say go for it. If it's starts turning out to be more than can be chewed, then . . . . .? Wayne Sudbury, Ontario tec_64 Link to comment
South Surrey Scavengers Posted March 16, 2006 Author Share Posted March 16, 2006 Thanks for the feedback tec_64. It is true that uploading a database would result in some bad data. Some benchmarks would be missing, overgrown, damaged, removed, etc. But then some of the fun is going to those sites and confirming their existence. Or perhaps putting into doubt their existence. A few really keen people like yourself will go to the trouble of finding the benchmarks without having a central database to direct them. But I think a lot more people would be attracted to the sport if they had an easy way to get the information in the beginning so that they can spend their time looking for benchmarks instead of trying to use various different database searches or come across benchmarks by accident. However, one of the points of having this forum is to see what everyone else thinks about this and other related matters. So thanks for your input and I look forward to your waymark submittals. Link to comment
South Surrey Scavengers Posted April 18, 2006 Author Share Posted April 18, 2006 We're under group management now and we have 58 waymarks created. 100 is just around the corner. Link to comment
+PG GoldWing Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Before Waymarking, There was (still is) a "Brass Cap" geocache in Alberta. And very active. While visiting out there, managed to find a couple. Got into a discussion about Survey markers in general with the cache owner, and was going to try and set something up here, in BC. Nice to see that the Surrey folks have grabbed on to this. What would be nice would be a link (or links) to Canadian information of survey markers. Both the feds and BC Gov should have something. I stumbled onto one, here in PG on my way to get a geocache today and that's what jogged me into this conversation. I'll go back tomorrow and get a fix on it. Link to comment
+Hard Oiler Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 What would be nice would be a link (or links) to Canadian information of survey markers. Both the feds and BC Gov should have something. If you look at the Canadian Benchmarks category you'll find that there are links to many of these databases. The national one is the Canadian Spatial Reference system and the link only takes you as far as access page since you need to register to get to the actual database (its free). The BC one is MASCOT and that does have direct access and you'll find enough BC markers there to keep you busy for a long long time. Link to comment
South Surrey Scavengers Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 Thanks Hard Oiler for replying before I could. Indeed the Canadian Benchmark detail page has a number of links to Canadian databases. The MASCOT database has many thousands of benchmarks just in the lower mainland. Far outnumbering the number of caches in the same area. You could look for years before finding them all. If there are any other database links that you think I should add to the Category page please let me know. Link to comment
dubious20 Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 So many stations... so little time. I know that I will only be able to visit a very small number of Canadian Benchmarks, but I also know that each one I do manage to visit has a bit of history and significance attached to it. I guess that is part of the thrill. Undoubtably, looking for benchmarks will be part of my camping and hiking experience (along with the usual geocaches). Before every trip, I will scan the CSRS online database and Waymarking.com to select a few benchmarks to visit. As I live in SE Alberta, I will attempt to log a few benchmarks in the immediate area. However, the challenge will remain on which sites to pick. Perhaps a few near the major roads for those driving passing through; maybe a few in interesting places; and some of particular historical significance. Link to comment
South Surrey Scavengers Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 Canadian Benchmarks hits 100! Only several million to go. Link to comment
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