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Benchmark Picture Contest 2007 - Part 1


mloser

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I found an image in the gallery that just HAD to be seen here, so I have started the 2007 thread...

 

Once again here's the picture 'contest' 'rules'.

==========================================

 

Contest rules:

 

1. No intersection stations (the station IS the tower, building, etc.) Why? Well they all look pretty good, but they're not really all that 'benchmarky'.

 

2. The disk has to be at least vaguely visible in the picture. No - 'view from', 'the area', etc. with no PID marker in it. Why? It's gotta be a Benchmark picture!

 

3. It has to be a PID in the database, or at least one of its reference marks or its azimuth mark (in case they don't have their own PID).

 

4. Waymarked benchmark disk - any country.

 

5. No closeup of just the disk. (Comeon, it's just a disk - where's the nice scenery?)

 

==========================================

 

Even though this topic is called 2006 part 3, feel free to put in your favorite 'contest picture' (either yours or someone else's) from any previous time.

 

What's the prize in this contest? The prize is that your picture will be seen here with all the other excellent benchmark pictures! (Put your own in if you like, of course.)

 

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OD1317 STRATTON MTN LOOKOUT TOWER

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mloser, thanks for re-starting the photo contest!

Here's some I collected starting just after Jan 1 --

 

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NN 91 by lost02

 

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MORGANTOWN AZ MARK by Ernmark

 

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SAN BONITO by bullit

 

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IMMACULATA by mloser

 

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HOLES (view South) by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)

 

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HOLES (view West) by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)

 

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X 2 by Geo-trekkers-6

 

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Court sheriff recreation area...Cadastral survey disk by skeezicks

 

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TURN NOSE by Nitro929

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Here are a couple of pix of benchmark "area" shots that I took in January. I was kinda proud that I found them, as the coordinates were 52 miles off. Located them by description alone. Thinking that I was probably going to be the first to locate them since they were created, I was a little excited about checking these out. My excitement died down a bit when I finally get did get the chance to pursue them and discovered marking paint circling both BM's. They were old paint marks, but enough to show that somebody was here before me.

 

BM PID's are in upper LH corner of pix.

 

Hope these pix come out correctly, first time using this image-hosting service.

 

bmla04963tv6.jpg

 

 

bmla04952zu6.jpg

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LA0495 and LA0496 have VERTCON elevations, which means they took the old NGVD 29 values and used an offset that is typical of the general area to get to NAVD88. Those aren't very precise values but are still useful. If the coordinates are 52 miles off (is that a whole degree?) then the VERTCON is not correct for their location, and the NAVD88 elevation values are even less accurate. This should probably be noted in any log to NGS.

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What I believe happened was that whoever was originally entering the BM's in 1947 somehow erred and entered the same coordinates for other BM's with the same designation that were 52 miles away. LA0495 and LA0166 have the same designation (1), and are listed with the exact same coords. Same thing for LA0496 and LA0165, with the designation of 2. A human mistake that hasn't been corrected all these years.

 

I don't usually sent reports in to the NGS, but in this case an exception should be made and I'll get to it this week.

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What I believe happened was that whoever was originally entering the BM's in 1947 somehow erred and entered the same coordinates for other BM's with the same designation that were 52 miles away. LA0495 and LA0166 have the same designation (1), and are listed with the exact same coords. Same thing for LA0496 and LA0165, with the designation of 2. A human mistake that hasn't been corrected all these years.

 

I don't usually sent reports in to the NGS, but in this case an exception should be made and I'll get to it this week.

GrizzFlyer

 

Good research on these stations. However, surveying parties setting bench marks do not specify locations (as in lat/lon) in their reports since they don't know that information, and it is not derivable from their data (unlike triangulation stations). They specify the TO REACH information which is what you see. According to DaveD, the locations were put in by the NGS in the 1970s by NGS personell based on loooking at topographic maps using the original descriptions. These are called scaled coordinates.

 

Errors can be of several types:

 

Inaccurate reading of the map. If a mark was set at a street intersection for instance, they could use a drafting table and read off the map for that place. They would be off by the errors in this process.

 

Wrong interpretation of the description: I have see marks which were at the wrong end of a road where someone read a description and switched north for south, etc.

 

Blunders: They may have read the description for A instead of B because it was the next one in the pile (or the same designation as you point out). This is what you are inplying happened. But it did not happen in 1947, more likely in the 1970s when the locations were added.

 

Here's a thread on how these coordinates were set: Scaled Coordinates.

Edited by Papa-Bear-NYC
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Papa Bear -NYC:

Thanks for jogging the memory on when the scaled coords were actually derived. It does appear to be just some type of human blunder.

 

Bill93:

The elevations for the two BM's I found are consistant with other BM's with adjusted altitudes in the area, right around 750 feet, and the land in that part of Ohio is very flat. The altitudes for BM's in the other county are in the 950-955 foot range, including the two BM's previously mentioned with the exact same coordinates.

 

It is curious to note that the two errant BM's were listed in the Van Wert County NGS database, despite their coordinates putting them in Shelby County, so they did get the county name correct. That's how I discovered the errors, when plotting all the Van Wert County BM's with DeLorme Street Atlas and those two show up 52 miles away.

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Here's an unusual and somewhat difficult mark to get to - HV9345

I'm not sure that it meets the criteria of the Benchmark Picture Contest Rules, but it's so unusual, I had to share with everyone. :D

Now there's a benchmark that's got glitz, history, glamor and some pretty good scenery to boot; the fact that it's one of those relatively rare 'indoor' benchmarks adds immensely to its stature. Thanks for posting the photo - that's a real treat!

 

Gee... I wonder how often that grate sees water???

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My caching partners (the Ladybug Kids & Scobey) graciously indulged me in a few spectacular benchmark locations during a February caching trip across southern California...

 

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DX0780 F753 RESET located on the shaded front step of Palm Springs CA City Hall (looking south). Found within a hundred yards of rental car pickup at Palm Springs airport - our first recovery on the California expedition!

 

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DW0367 H1254 located just outside the southern entrance to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. My geobuddy Scobey spied the naked witness post 50' off the road from the back seat of the cachemobile, earning himself a 'first to find' and a 'first GECOCAC recovery' and his own personal first reported recovery to NGS here! View is north to the mountains of Joshua Tree NP.

 

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DW0363 M1254 on Box Canyon Rd, just south of I-10 (visible in the middle distance) and the mountains of Joshua Tree NP's southern border.

 

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AH9153 V1462 perched high atop the scenic twisty Palms to Pines Highway, looking north to the Palm Springs area.

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...ON LAND OWNED AND FARMED IN 1922 BY 5 DAUGHTERS OF MR. MOSES H. TIPTON, ALL LIVING AT THE HOME PLACE.

 

GEO:

 

I'm trying to remember how the story goes. "A benchmark hunter is recovering marks on Mr. Tipton's land, when darkness falls. He asks Mr. Tipton if he can spend the night. Mr. Tipton points to his five daughters, and says......"

 

Oh well, even if I can't recall the ending of the story, it's a great find! Good job!

 

-Paul-

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..this is always one of my favorite threads & there hasn't been any activity for awhile - so I looked back to see if I had any good pics to add to bump it up...how 'bout this one:

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KW2805 - KINK (quit chuckling, Harry!)

 

..has kind of a "Bank of America Logo" look to it & a good 30+ foot drop to the tracks!

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Here is one from the Columbia River in Oregon looking north into Washington.

The mark is at the base of the pillar in lower left corner of photo. ZZ 104

 

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Looking South at another Bridge in the Gorge. Z 104

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Squaw in North Eastern Oregon.

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The real view here is from the witness post just a few feet away. I couldn't get the mark in view for the photo though.

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WOW!! Why don't I have anything like these pixs?? Wisconsin really is a boring state (the parts we hunted in anyways). Here's one of our favorites, although the pix really doesn't do it justice....

 

formattedmediumshotBMManitou.jpg

 

PM0129 - Manitowoc County, WI

Edited by AstroD-Team
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