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Witness Post, but no marker


MMarshall

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Found a witness post by a road in my town, but don't see a marker anywhere nearby, and can't find any record of one, either here or the NGS website.

 

Is this common?

 

Thanks, all!

 

Mike

O-

 

Went back and looked today, and it says "Nebraska Department of Roads Geodetic Surveys."

 

Guess they don't compare notes, eh?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

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Actually, they often do compare notes, but it is not at all unusual for a state's highway or transportation dept. to have a geodetic section, with responsibility for setting marks, and for deciding which of those marks will be established according to the rigorous standards of NGS, and which will not. So it is not uncommon to find, in the NGS database, marks that were set by a state highway department. But a great many more of the state's marks will not be in the NGS database.

 

Advanced Google search "Nebraska Department of Roads" (phrase) and "geodetic" (first window), and then go to the site with "dor" in its url. Looking around there might turn up somebody who can help with the mark you are closing in on. Good hunting!

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Actually, they often do compare notes, but it is not at all unusual for a state's highway or transportation dept. to have a geodetic section, with responsibility for setting marks, and for deciding which of those marks will be established according to the rigorous standards of NGS, and which will not. So it is not uncommon to find, in the NGS database, marks that were set by a state highway department. But a great many more of the state's marks will not be in the NGS database.

 

Advanced Google search "Nebraska Department of Roads" (phrase) and "geodetic" (first window), and then go to the site with "dor" in its url. Looking around there might turn up somebody who can help with the mark you are closing in on. Good hunting!

 

Hey M&H, your advice to Mike helped me find something too. I was curious after reading your post above, and decided to look at the Louisiana Department of Transportations website just to see if they had anything like you were talking about. Well, lo and behold, they have an interactive map of the NGS benchmarks for the entire state, which allows you to link back to the original datasheets for them.

 

http://dotdgis.dotd.louisiana.gov/website/...arks/viewer.htm

 

I would have never thought to look on their site for anything like that. Thanks for teaching me something new today.

 

Bobby

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Actually, I've run into a number of instances where the witness post is obvious, but I couldn't find the marker. Several are in NPS land, where digging and metal detectors are prohibited.

a685d7b2-5b06-47e5-b478-22b383f6b48c.jpg

Grade levels change. Disk set on a stainless steel rod, with a cover, flush with the ground. Oh, it's probably still there, in the thicket of wild roses. But, I haven't found it . Yet.

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Actually, I've run into a number of instances where the witness post is obvious, but I couldn't find the marker. Several are in NPS land, where digging and metal detectors are prohibited.

a685d7b2-5b06-47e5-b478-22b383f6b48c.jpg

Grade levels change. Disk set on a stainless steel rod, with a cover, flush with the ground. Oh, it's probably still there, in the thicket of wild roses. But, I haven't found it . Yet.

 

Use a probe.

They are legal.

 

One is fairly easy to make from the local hardware store.

 

Or my walking pole has a carbide tip for probing.

Look for the Swiss one with a removable tip.

Edited by GEO*Trailblazer 1
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I was curious after reading your post above, and decided to look at the Louisiana Department of Transportations website just to see if they had anything like you were talking about. Well, lo and behold, they have an interactive map of the NGS benchmarks for the entire state, which allows you to link back to the original datasheets for them.

 

http://dotdgis.dotd.louisiana.gov/website/...arks/viewer.htm

YMMV, but I've always found those Javascript maps on government sites to be slow and persnickety. Also, I see that the Louisiana folks haven't updated their benchmark database since 2002. You may instead want to use the maps of one of our very own benchmark hunters, which he updates frequently. His maps also offer links to Geocaching.com reports. Here's the link to his Lousiana map:

 

http://benchmarks.scaredycatfilms.com/LA.html

 

Patty

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Use a probe.

They are legal.

 

One is fairly easy to make from the local hardware store.

 

Or my walking pole has a carbide tip for probing.

Look for the Swiss one with a removable tip.

 

I use a 6" screwdriver. :rolleyes: It can be a bit though on the hands after a while. But, the problem I run into is gravel. In the above case, from the telephone pole that was taken out by the NPS. (It is in what used to be the frot yard of a hunt club.) In other cases, from being alongside a road that was rebuilt. There are several witness posts visable along Rte 209 in the Water Gap...

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Check out my logging of AI4356 (8 D 1) in a ballpark in Mullica Hill, NJ. The monument is fifty feet away from the marker post. I just uploaded a photograph showing the area. The marker is on the signpost with two other signs fifty feet distant from the monument, on the grassed area between the corner of the parking lot and the bend in the bituminous walkway. At least the sign did warn that a monument was somewhere "in the area."

 

http://img.geocaching.com/benchmark/316881...faa82f87803.jpg

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I was curious after reading your post above, and decided to look at the Louisiana Department of Transportations website just to see if they had anything like you were talking about. Well, lo and behold, they have an interactive map of the NGS benchmarks for the entire state, which allows you to link back to the original datasheets for them.

 

http://dotdgis.dotd.louisiana.gov/website/...arks/viewer.htm

YMMV, but I've always found those Javascript maps on government sites to be slow and persnickety. Also, I see that the Louisiana folks haven't updated their benchmark database since 2002. You may instead want to use the maps of one of our very own benchmark hunters, which he updates frequently. His maps also offer links to Geocaching.com reports. Here's the link to his Lousiana map:

 

http://benchmarks.scaredycatfilms.com/LA.html

 

Patty

 

Thanks Patty. I didn't even notice that it was a 2002 database. Sorry, it took me so long to acknowledge your help. I somehow missed the post.

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