October Statistics

[Wintertime]

Trying to automate the process introduces error, as some of us have found when using the ScardyCat benchmark viewer. It codes marks as green if they have a recovery log, and white if they do not. The problem is, some of the green marks have not been recovered in 30 to 50 years!

Black Dog Tracker's (g)awk program for displaying benchmarks on Google Earth offers all sorts of color-coding options. (Perhaps his NGSREAD program does, too.) One option I've been using is color coding the pushpins by when the last report was filed. I think I was using something like Before 1990, 1990-2000, and After 2000, but the awk file, at least, is a text file and can be edited to the dates you prefer.

 

Patty

[+Harry Dolphin]

Interesting. I guess that I'm surprised that any county has over 50% found. But, I'm from north Jersey, the land of rampant suburbia. And, we're blessed with that series of over a hundred benchmarks, set by boat, along the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in 1913. Disks set in concrete set in clay tile pipes that have not been seen since. Definitely interesting. Guess I'll have to talk my sister into hunting benchmarks when I help her with her Maine Delorme challenge next year.

[Team Fawlty]

 

I was talking about percentage of logs, not percentage found. The map on the left shows the percentage of stations visited (logged) by county. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. The map on the right is the current one based on counts.

 

 

Here is a list of the top counties. Barry County, Missouri has greater than 100% because some marks have been logged more than once. That is the exception, since most marks have at most one GEOCAC log. Only 10% of the counties have more than 10% of the stations logged.

 

 

Thank you. We (Illinois/Indiana) have some counties with a small number (30) and some very large ones (391). It is nice to see logged v total to see if it is good for hunting (or at least logging). I realize perusing the datasheets gives some indication, its just that a visual is easier to digest. It is also interesting to see from a nationwide perspective as well.

 

Thanks,

Brendan

[+Klemmer]

It is also interesting to see from a nationwide perspective as well.

Hey Brendan:

For a bit more perspective, the next county over from me (Los Angeles County) , which I work in and often benchmark hunt in, has 8,189 benchmarks in the NGS database. The total for the six surrounding counties I sometimes hike/BM hunt in is 22,179 benchmarks. It provides different sorts of challenges in just manipulating all the data. The percentages of the recoveries by us GC folks is very tiny. But it's still fun!

Klemmer

[Team Fawlty]

 

Hey Brendan:

For a bit more perspective, the next county over from me (Los Angeles County) , which I work in and often benchmark hunt in, has 8,189 benchmarks in the NGS database. The total for the six surrounding counties I sometimes hike/BM hunt in is 22,179 benchmarks. It provides different sorts of challenges in just manipulating all the data. The percentages of the recoveries by us GC folks is very tiny. But it's still fun!

Klemmer

 

Wow! Cook county (largest by population) only has 985 and McLean (largest area) has only 391.

 

Brendan

[+Harry Dolphin]

Off topic, but cute. I was looking at benchmarks in Nassau County, and ran across this one:

KU2979

Loved the part:

KU2979 STATION RECOVERY (1951)

KU2979

KU2979'RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1951 (FGJ)

KU2979'THIS STATION AND ALL MARKS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. THE SUMMIT

KU2979'OF HARROW HILL HAS BEEN CUT DOWN AND FLATTENED INTO A

KU2979'LEVEL AREA BY THE U.S. AIR FORCE AND NOW IS THE SITE OF

KU2979'VARIOUS SECRET INSTRUMENTS OF THAT ORGANIZATION.

[Team Fawlty]

Off topic, but cute. I was looking at benchmarks in Nassau County, and ran across this one:

KU2979

Loved the part:

KU2979 STATION RECOVERY (1951)

KU2979

KU2979'RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1951 (FGJ)

KU2979'THIS STATION AND ALL MARKS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. THE SUMMIT

KU2979'OF HARROW HILL HAS BEEN CUT DOWN AND FLATTENED INTO A

KU2979'LEVEL AREA BY THE U.S. AIR FORCE AND NOW IS THE SITE OF

KU2979'VARIOUS SECRET INSTRUMENTS OF THAT ORGANIZATION.

Looking at the aerial, it seems to be a top secret subdivision now .

 

Brendan

[holograph]

Oh boy, we're really drifting off topic here...

 

Harry, that happened more than once. When I was investigating the old marks from the 1800's for the Eastern Oblique Arc, I found one in New England that was approximately the same wording. It seems the Air Force discovered that some of the mountain tops that were good for triangulation stations were also excellent sites for radars and other "secret equipment"!