Not so newbie - A few questions for the 'pro's'

[+Black Dog Trackers]

1. I haven't logged anything in the NGS database yet, but feel I should in a very few cases. What do our surveying representatives feel is the criteria we should use for deciding whether or not to make these reports. If the verbal description has elements that have changed since the last report we should probably put in a report to NGS, but:

 

If the description is adequate for all the marks at a PID, should a report be made to the NGS (to re-confirm this) if the latest report on their database was 1940, 1960, 1980, or should we not do it at all in this case?

 

2. I notice that most stations have almost no notes by surveyors in the NGS database in my area after 1992, and the 1992 ones were for stations set then. Most reports are from 1976 or earlier. Why is this? I'm assuming that, if all descriptions are adequate, then they hardly ever bother to re-confirm (and so neither should we). The alternative is that most stations just aren't used anymore, but I doubt that.

 

3. Lots of stations I look for (or just look at in the proximity list) are pretty obviously gone. Should we amateurs ever report to the NGS database that the station are unlikely to be found, or should we leave that to people 'in the profession'? It's pretty obvious when the description says: "on the wall of the X building" and the X building is long gone - it doesn't take a professional to figure this out. Let's call this 99.94% likely gone. Should/could we be reporting such things to the NGS?

[survey tech]

#1 Time is not a factor. A new description is needed only if things have changed enough that the current description is no longer likely to lead a person to the spot. Remember that NGS is taxpayer funded. Do you want your tax dollars spent to pay a bureaucrat to review and file an endless stream of mostly redundant descriptions all day long?

 

#2 See the thread "benchmarks recovered" for a good discussion of the reasons less descriptions have been filed in recent years.

 

#3 Let your conscience be your guide and always identify yourself as a non-professional so others can judge your results accordingly.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

I assume you mean doing this by using the INDIV category?

[survey tech]

I would prefer to see it stated in the text, but I do not expect most people to be inclined to do that.