But they are not all benchmarks...

[+ca_surveyor]

In case someone ever walks up to you on a street and asks..

 

When you are refering to the brass/bronze/Aluminum disks or tablets..

 

Benchmarks measure UP and DOWN.. not position !!!

Monuments reference position (and may have an elevation on them which also makes them a benchmark).

 

I set these things for a living (does the collection in my living room count as individual finds??)

 

and lastly.. locations you prob. didn't know about.

 

If you have a City Hall built before the 70's there is generally a tablet at the front door.

 

If you have a harbor.. look on the corners of the piers.

 

Monuments are always set with long lines of visibility from one to another. Often these monuments are referenced on a document filed with the County Recorder - in California it is called a Record of Survey. Federal Monuments are exempt from that.

 

0k.. any questions? Otherwise good hunting.

 

gil

[+Mtn_Bkng_Dave]

Its according to the type of control point you are looking at. You are correct that some are only vertical control points. However some are horizontal control points and some are horizontal and vertical. At least they are here on the east coast. At least I hope so or we moved all that dirt from the wrong place for this shopping center!

 

Mtn_Bkng_Dave

[+Maps-R-Us]

quote:

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Benchmarks measure UP and DOWN.. not position !!!

Monuments reference position (and may have an elevation on them which also makes them a benchmark).

---

 

ca_surveyor makes a good point even though most folks won't appreciate the difference or really care. Not all survey monuments measure elevation and, therefore, are not technically a 'benchmark'.

 

So should we call the new variation on geocaching Benchmark Hunting? or Survey Monument Hunting? or Disk Hunting? or NGS point recovery?

 

How about Geopointing?

 

Or maybe just leave it at benchmark hunting and not worry about the finer details.

 

And thanks for the insight, ca_surveyor! Especially the practice of putting monuments at the front door of city halls. We already have a cache hunt near here that uses one of those as a waypoint. See:Makaio's XYZ/NGS cache

[+EraSeek]

Thanks ca_surveyor for the info. Benchmark vs monument. Makes sense now why I've seen elevation stamped on some. Stick around ca_surveyor and teach us some more.

 

[+MissJenn]

Please tell us more "tips" like these. I found them very helpful, and I'd bet that I am not alone.

quote:

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Originally posted by ca_surveyor:

If you have a City Hall built before the 70's there is generally a tablet at the front door.

 

If you have a harbor.. look on the corners of the piers.

....

0k.. any questions? Otherwise good hunting.

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