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State Center of Population Monuments Challenge


Ernmark

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As many of the readers of this forum know, holograph maintains an excellent website - www.holoscenes.com which documents a tally of GEOCAC adventures, as well as some excellent maps.

 

Another part of the site - visit link references the U.S. State Center of Population monuments, all of which were set after the 2000 Census. I have had occasion to visit 2 of them so far, and since most (if not all) were set too late to make it into the GC database (some not even in the NGS database), my challenge is this:

 

If you have visited any of these monuments, please list the pictures to provide a gallery/tally of what's out there so far!

 

I'll start w/ the 2 I've collected so far:

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I visited the New Jersey Center of Population monument several years ago. It is just off the N.J. Turnpike a few miles south of New Brunswick in the borough of Milltown and located on the grounds of a municipal building.

 

NEW JERSEY POPULATION CENTER (DE6224) was monumented in December 2001 and there are several recovery reports since then. (I didn't file one, presumably because it had been less than a year since the last report had been filed.)

 

Unfortunately my photos were archived and unavailable at the moment.

 

I have also seen the Maryland COP monument located in Laurel.

 

-ArtMan-

Edited by ArtMan
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I set that mark. What a nice little town.

 

Yes I know and it was the main reason I went by to see and log it.

You are a great mentor Mr. DaveD.

 

The first recorded modern usage of the term can be traced to a book entitled "Les Aventures de Telemaque", by the French writer François Fénelon. In the book the lead character is that of Mentor. This book was published in 1699 and was very popular during the 18th century and the modern application of the term can be traced to this publication.

 

This is the source of the modern use of the word mentor: a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person. Some professions have "mentoring programs" in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people in order to obtain good examples and advice as they advance, and schools sometimes have mentoring programs for new students or students who are having difficulties.

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I have a cache at the Vermont Population center. It is an offset that includes finding the mark. I dont have a picture handy, but I know it surprises a lot of cachers when they stumble upon it. It's in a very inconspicuous place in a farmer's field in Warren, VT.

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Picture from a log at NC's center...in a town called "Erect".

 

b2408ea6-b8e7-4394-8953-88fabfc95354.jpg

 

Nearby cache: GCQPGM

 

DI0243 HT_MOD - This is a Height Modernization Survey Station.

DI0243 DESIGNATION - CENTER OF POPULATION

DI0243 PID - DI0243

DI0243 STATE/COUNTY- NC/RANDOLPH

DI0243 USGS QUAD - ERECT (1994)

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Found the Colorado Center of Population monument today. I reported it to the NGS as it does

have it's own PID# DH0707 Designation..SAMPSON MTN

 

I noticed in an earlier post that this one in Colorado had been Waymarked. I was under the

impression if a mark was in the database that it couldn't be Waymarked. Doesn't matter to

me, just a question. Do the other ones around the country have PID#'s?

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Found the Colorado Center of Population monument today. I reported it to the NGS as it does

have it's own PID# DH0707 Designation..SAMPSON MTN

 

I noticed in an earlier post that this one in Colorado had been Waymarked. I was under the

impression if a mark was in the database that it couldn't be Waymarked. Doesn't matter to

me, just a question. Do the other ones around the country have PID#'s?

 

The Geocaching database doesn't contain the PID, so there is no way to log it on GC.com other than through Waymarking. BTW, the PID is DH7070, not DH0707.

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I have the TX marker (3 pics) from Holland, TX. I still dont understand how others post a large static image in the thread. And my imageshack pix is so small and/or I can't upload the picture from my PC. I clearly need to spend a few minutes learning the tools better.

 

dscf0553id3.th.jpg

dscf0555hx1.th.jpg

Edited by LegendOfZelda
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Either log and upload them into the Waymarking Category, or upload them somewhere else, such as Flikr, or one of your archived caches. I put lots of strange pictures on one of my missing geocoins. :blink: Which is where I'll put the Center of Populaton disk photo, if and when I find it. Then use the url from that site.

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My work in Sullivan County, New York is done! After the next update, I should have turned Sulliovan County red (on holographs' maps)! Next project is Monroe County, Pa. :unsure: In the meantime, the New York Center of Population marker is a short distance north of Port Gerbil. I should get that this weekend. I'm not a fan of WhyBotherMarking.com, so I'll upload the photo to one of my dead geocoins (and log it with NGS). And post the photo here. :) You all may wait with baited breath. :D

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I have the TX marker (3 pics) from Holland, TX. I still dont understand how others post a large static image in the thread. And my imageshack pix is so small and/or I can't upload the picture from my PC. I clearly need to spend a few minutes learning the tools better.

 

What you need to do is get the URL of the large image shack photo, then enclose that URL in [ IMG ] [ /IMG ] tags, eliminating the spaces. The result is this:

 

dscf0553id3.jpg

dscf0555hx1.jpg

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DG9708 2000 New York State Center of Population

 

9a545e83-7b4d-4e67-ac72-ff46587a0e51.jpg

 

Close up of disk

 

91d0fbfc-dffa-4eb4-a6bd-c8eb7a4932e9.jpg

 

View Northwest toward Center of Population Monument

 

Boy! These things are large!

Okay. Who told on me?!? I was cleaning off the disk, when a gentleman approached. He was driving through the parking lot when he espied us, and wondered what we were doing. He was part of the crew that set the disk. We had a discussion. The disk is a few miles off from the actual center, but NGS wanted a public spot, with GPS coveraage, so the Delaware and Hudson Canal Park was selected. He was delighted to see someone actually looking for the disk, and had never heard of using cornstarch to bring out the markings. We were joined by a park employee, who promised to replant the flower bed, and take better care of the monument.

 

I also entered it on Whymarking. That was tougher than setting up a cache! I doubt that I would ever go back to that location! What a pain! But, I did it as a courtesy. Oh, well.

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Looks like Illinois has a sewer grate for its monument!

 

I finally got down to the area of the mark and was excited to look for it. I found this witness post but nothing else. Kicked around some dirt and crushed limestone from the walking path, but no dice. So I circled the park twice, and cannot figure out where the mark is -- if it's even monumented yet.

 

3e3ba175-9aba-431f-afb1-c44cce70eba1.jpg

 

The holoscenes web states: "This station was dedicated July 10, 2004 but has not yet been accepted into the NGS database. It is located at the edge of Centennial Park in Mazon, Illinois."

 

I went to the village hall (closed at 12:30) and later talked to 3 locals who did not know about the mark. One person, after I told him I went to the village hall, told me "yeah it's closed the lady across the street works there and she just came home. You might ask her husband -- he's the police officer here -- but I think he's out of town."

 

Heh heh heh -- I always did like small towns and the people therein. My quest is to be continued, I hope.

Edited by CoyoteTrust
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Heh, I wonder how far out to sea Hawaii's would be.

 

It’s about 13.8 miles SW of Makapuu Light house and 14.2 miles WNW of the southwest point of Molokai.

 

Coordinates are here 21 8 48.36 N 157 31 28.03 W

 

I took a guess and was off by about 14.5 miles.

Edited by 68-eldo
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Heh, I wonder how far out to sea Hawaii's would be.

 

It’s about 13.8 miles SW of Makapuu Light house and 14.2 miles WNW of the southwest point of Molokai.

 

Coordinates are here 21 8 48.36 N 157 31 28.03 W

 

I took a guess and was off by about 14.5 miles.

Oops, I should read the original link's information first. My bad. I wonder how much effort it would take to get a buoy out there... :laughing:

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I thought it was high time for me to get mine posted, so I headed over there this morning.

 

A close-up of the mark with the GPSr. GPS (HH2) co-ordinates N33º 21.367' W111º 48.990'.

031e2f1e-baaa-40b8-9514-04e1d90c764d.jpg

 

A close-up of the mark alone.

c7b7df79-91af-4364-a295-fb669c84e361.jpg

 

The nearby sign.

cddb8c8d-bf6e-4335-904d-9b04a954a8aa.jpg

 

A wide view at the co-ordinates given at the sign, looking west.

ac38d058-070a-4937-8145-949a1449fb42.jpg

 

The actual spot appears to be a few feet inside this back yard.

e9db2b4d-33f1-419b-942c-335178f4624d.jpg

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We went out to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park in King County, Washington, to see the Population Center monument put there in 2002. Here's a close-up of the 8-inch disk:

DE6225.jpg

 

And here's the "eye-level" of the boulder from about eight feet away. The plaque does not refer to the mark.

DE6225eye.jpg

 

And this is an area shot, showing on the left the picnic pavilion and on the right the restrooms, both of which are used as reference points in the data sheet description (not in a box score):

DE6225area.jpg

 

There's a King County disk not far from the boulder. It's a reference mark, and the number on it has been obliterated, apparently professionally. We'll look further into that.

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aloha...this topic caught my eye and i did a little research...thinking i would either find our marker or make a cache with this as a theme...turnd out that hawaii's COP is in the water.....not just a little bit...but a lot....so is this the only state that wont have a marker?...fortunately i found the info for the counties as well and may pursue locating those COPs or maybe make a cache series....interesting...any input???

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aloha...this topic caught my eye and i did a little research...thinking i would either find our marker or make a cache with this as a theme...turnd out that hawaii's COP is in the water.....not just a little bit...but a lot....so is this the only state that wont have a marker?...fortunately i found the info for the counties as well and may pursue locating those COPs or maybe make a cache series....interesting...any input???

 

..alas, there are other states which haven't set markers - Holograph's website is a great resource for 'extreme' benchmak info!

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This last Sunday, the Arizona COP mark was occupied to get it into the database!

 

19386c1b-3aec-44da-b94d-731e1e26cbc0.jpg

 

The results of the four hour occupation are:

 

NAD83 lat\lon

N 33 21.3641 W 111 48.9886

 

WGS84 lat\lon

N 33 21.3643 W 111.48.9894

 

OPUS solution : 23642720.obs 000439520

 

FILE: 23642720.obs 000439520

 

2005 NOTE: The IGS precise and IGS rapid orbits were not available

2005 at processing time. The IGS ultra-rapid orbit was/will be used

to

2005 process the data.

2005

NGS OPUS SOLUTION REPORT

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

 

All computed coordinate accuracies are listed as peak-to-peak values.

For additional information:

www.ngs.noaa.gov/OPUS/Using_OPUS.html#accuracy

 

USER: brian.fisher AT surpriseaz.com DATE: September 29,

2008

RINEX FILE: 2364272l.08o TIME: 13:38:24 UTC

 

SOFTWARE: page5 0612.06 master30.pl START: 2008/09/28

11:00:00

EPHEMERIS: igu14990.eph [ultra-rapid] STOP: 2008/09/28

17:06:30

NAV FILE: brdc2720.08n OBS USED: 15121 / 17340

: 87%

ANT NAME: TRM_R8_GNSS NONE # FIXED AMB: 104 / 114

: 91%

ARP HEIGHT: 2.2 OVERALL RMS: 0.018(m)

 

REF FRAME: NAD_83(CORS96)(EPOCH:2002.0000) ITRF00

(EPOCH:2008.7421)

 

X: -1981984.041(m) 0.004(m) -1981984.765(m)

0.004(m)

Y: -4951183.862(m) 0.013(m) -4951182.510(m)

0.013(m)

Z: 3487199.246(m) 0.011(m) 3487199.135(m)

0.011(m)

 

LAT: 33 21 21.84591 0.003(m) 33 21 21.86050

0.003(m)

E LON: 248 11 0.68431 0.007(m) 248 11 0.63888

0.007(m)

W LON: 111 48 59.31569 0.007(m) 111 48 59.36112

0.007(m)

EL HGT: 341.861(m) 0.015(m) 340.976(m)

0.015(m)

ORTHO HGT: 371.692(m) 0.044(m) [NAVD88 (Computed using

GEOID03)]

 

UTM COORDINATES STATE PLANE COORDINATES

UTM (Zone 12) SPC (0202 AZ C)

Northing (Y) [meters] 3691059.458 261242.768

Easting (X) [meters] 424034.972 222684.365

Convergence [degrees] -0.44895336 0.05508860

Point Scale 0.99967115 0.99990107

Combined Factor 0.99961750 0.99984741

 

US NATIONAL GRID DESIGNATOR: 12SVB2403591059(NAD 83)

 

 

BASE STATIONS USED

PID DESIGNATION LATITUDE LONGITUDE

DISTANCE(m)

AJ6820 SRP1 SALT RIVER PROJEC CORS ARP N332702.248 W1121339.999

39674.7

DG6513 AZSC CNTR FOR ARTS CORS ARP N332930.462 W1115521.447

18003.1

AH3759 COSA SCOTTSDALE CORS ARP N333407.379 W1115255.734

24364.2

 

NEAREST NGS PUBLISHED CONTROL POINT

DU0764 RV 268 N332147. W1114823.

1218.5

 

This position and the above vector components were computed without any

knowledge by the National Geodetic Survey regarding the equipment or

field operating procedures used.

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Not if you wait for four or more years after the monument was installed! :laughing:

 

Actually, I was there to discuss the upcoming GEOCAC BM for Arizona, the NSPS Geocache project, and ESRI GIS day. Getting a photo of the monument being occupied was a bonus.

 

Mr. Fisher (Party Chief) stated he needed to return with an extension, as there is a tree blocking to the northeast.

 

P.S. I received a PM from DaveD to tell me that one only needs a single observation session if the data is submitted via OPUS-DB.

 

EDITED: To add P.S.

Edited by AZcachemeister
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A tenacious cacher placed a geocache near the State of Illinois Center of Population mark (GC1Z7TN).

 

He was lucky enough to find people who KNEW about the mark while I had some trouble on my previous visits (refer to my earlier post in this thread). Now, the witness post is gone, and some of the greenery and crushed limestone (a park recreational path) have been moved to make the mark visible.

 

2475c96e-43da-4aa4-a22f-22da1845be45.jpg

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I visited the Alaska Center of Population Disk on Sunday. Coordinates I had were N 61° 34.693, W 149° 08.331 with 7 Ft of variation.

[Just saw this thread since someone posted re: the IL mark]

 

Having been to Alaska, my first reaction was surprise when I saw that the mark was in an apparently populated area -- but then I remembered that -- Oh Yeah! -- Everybody pretty much lives in Anchorage ;-)

 

(OK, not exactly -- ~40% of Alaska's population is in the Anchorage area, so I'm sure that heavily weights the centering to be in that area)

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This last Sunday, the Arizona COP mark was occupied to get it into the database!

Kinda cool that the mark (or rather the monument that the mark itself is set in) is visible via Google Maps. Also looks like Google Maps may be more tuned to the NAD83 data than the WGS84 :D Edited by Growf
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