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Bloencustoms

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In the benchmark section, is there a provision for written logs?

 

Also, In order to log a find, must one actually TOUCH the marker, or is visual confirmation sufficient? For instance, you see a disk, but it is three feet inside a fence and you can't get to it.

 

[This message was edited by BloenCustoms on February 10, 2003 at 02:28 AM.]

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Do you mean to say that there is a church spire somewhere that is a benchmark of some kind? Fascinating. I used to work for a surveyor as an instrument man here in New Orleans. There is a benchmark in Jackson Square in the French Quarter that we used to run a elevation on the St. Louis cathedral. If you walk down the alleys on either side of the building, you can see small aluminum masonry anchors we placed in the cathedral walls. The building is very old and as it predates pile drivers, the foundation is somewhat unstable. There are cracks in the walls because parts of the structure are sinking faster than others. Every couple of months we would go to check up on it.

Anyway, I wish I had know about Geocaching back then, I could have logged hundreds of bechmarks. Now, I'll not have the ability to go to those "off limits" benhmark sites. Maybe they need some weekend help. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Get off the cellphone and DRIVE!

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When we're talking about a disk, I DO actually touch the disk. The point for me isn't to touch it, but to confirm the stamping on the disk matches the one in the description I am using. I have found disks that have been reset in the same spot (or VERY close) as the original one. On more that one occasion, this has meant a "not found" for me because even though I found 'A' disk, I didn't find 'THE' disk. Sometimes the new one is loggable on this site, and sometimes it isn't.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

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I would think you should be able to be in a position to snap a picture of whatever the marker is. If it is a brass marker, for example, you'd need to see the brass. If a church spire is the marker, getting within close visual range is required.

 

If it is in an off-limits or dangerous location, don't go after it.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

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I would think you should be able to be in a position to snap a picture of whatever the marker is.

 

I ahve taken pics of a lot of my finds and some I haven't. I'm bad about forgetting to bring my camera and sometimes I don't take it because there's nasty, wet weather. I know the pictures serve as proof, but I can proudly state that I have found everyone that I have logged. There's no real incentive to cheat, as you would only be cheating yourself out of the experience of actually finding the marker.

 

Jeff

http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com

http://www.NotAChance.com

If you hide it, they will come....

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quote:
Also, In order to log a find, must one actually TOUCH the marker, or is visual confirmation sufficient? For instance, you see a disk, but it is three feet inside a fence and you can't get to it.

 

I don't think there's any real requirement per se, but I know I will only log finds that I can photograph. As has already been mentioned, stations are sometimes out of reach (spires, water towers, etc.), but are perfectly visible. I haven't logged two or three such stations near a client site specifically because I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me when I go out there -- even though I see them at least once a week!

 

Barbarian - Founder of the Barbarian Illuminati

Don't make me use the mind control laser on you!

SJ Games - http://www.sjgames.com

GURPS, Ogre, INWO, Munchkin and more. Fnord

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I think this benchmark hunting idea is great. It gives us an opportunity to get outside and use a GPSr in the absence of actual geocaches. I think I'm going to start hunting these benchmarks untill some new caches pop up in my area. On the benchmark page , can you read other players logs? I'm not sure how to do that. Perhaps noone has found any near my home coords, and there just aren't any logs.

 

Get off the cellphone and DRIVE!

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quote:
Originally posted by BloenCustoms:

On the benchmark page , can you read other players logs? I'm not sure how to do that. Perhaps noone has found any near my home coords, and there just aren't any logs.

 


 

Take a look at AU2642 and AU1018. Both are examples of what you'll see if someone else has logged visits (or attempts).

 

With less that 3% of the benchmarks found, there are a lot of areas with no attempts. You're in nearly virgin territory. Have fun!

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quote:
Originally posted by Orygun-Connie:

We have found two benchmarks now, but neither are on the list of benchmarks. I'm new to this so would like to know what I do now. I would like to mark these as finds, and am not sure how. The one we found today is at N33 17.577 W111 26.528

 

orygun-connie


 

As of the last I read, benchmarks that are not listed in the NGS database were not availble to mark as found in the GeoCache or NGS systems. GeoCache listings are pulled from the NGS database, meaning that if you find a benchmark that is not listed in the GeoCache database, it has not been reported to the NGS by the people who placed it there. This may be for a number of reasons. Including the posibility that the people who placed the mark you have found having no relationship with the NGS.

 

GPS readings of benchmarks are not always useful. If you read the descriptions of some of the marks in the database, they will point out that the mark may be as much as 6" of arc from the co-ordinates provided. On top of the inherent inaccuracy that the GPS itself will inform you of, (usually no less than 15', this 6" (not inches, seconds of arc) can place the mark you have found anywhere within a 600' (foot) radius of the co-ordinates you provided. That's quite a bit of ground.

 

I think I have recomended to others in the past to keep track of any benchmarks you find that are not listed in the database. How you format this database will be your own prefernce. You may want to use a datasheet from the NGS database, or even the GeoCache website as a template for your own database. Or you may want to simply keep track of things on 3x5 cards. It's up to you.

 

At some time in the future there may be a way to add entries to the database. When that happens, having a database of your own to work from will simplify adding your finds.

 

Good Hunting.

 

-Rusty

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As of today 02-25-03. Some in New Orleans and others in Hammond. I avoid the church spires and water tanks and only go for brass disks. That is my own preference of course.

 

I was a rodman with the Army Corps of Engineers. I walked out across the Bonne Carre Spillway locks once a week to take eleveations on the benchmarks there. Now I track them down and photograph them.

 

Vini Vidi Velcro I came I saw I stuck around. Capn Skully

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They tend to pop up in some interesting spots. It would be hard to say which was the most memorable. I do recall the one we used the first time we actually used GPS for a survey. There was a church down past Chalmette that had a cemetary across the road. The were adding a couple of new mausoleums. For some reason the required a complete comprehensive topo survey of the entire property. Anyway, the benchmark was buried under about a foot of dirt close to the side of the road. We rented these neat litte LOCUS GPS recievers, one sat above the benchmark, and the other travelled with us to various points and had to sit there for a good 45 minutes untill it had collected sufficient data to dtermine a position with reasonable expectation of accuracy. Those things looked like mushrooms if you ask me. icon_wink.gif I guess what made it memorable was the first use of GPS, and the density of spiders while cutting line of sight! We had to walk swinging our machetes in an arc before us!

 

Don't even think about putting those muddy boots in my car.

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First of all, there are 11 stations listed under "mesquite" in the NGS index, in Texas alone, so there is plenty of room for confusion. Only 7 of them have datasheets, only 5 of them are involved in this case, and only 3 of those have datasheets.

 

Generally, anytime a disk is stamped with more than one date, it has been reset, though "reset" is sometimes also stamped on it, and sometimes not. Looking at the NGS datasheets in detail, it becomes pretty clear what happened here, although it is not spelled out and has even been masked by the removal of some of the data.

 

The original mesquite was set in 1947, apparently as a triangulation station, since only tri-stations have reference marks. In 1969, it was reset, presumably near its original position, probably after being discovered laying on the ground. At that time, it no longer had any value as a tri-station, so its original datasheet and PID were retired, and it became CS1403. Also at that time, each of its 3 reference marks got PIDs (CS1404-1406). There is no definite indication of whether or not the reference marks were actually reset, or merely restamped with the 1969 date. There is no way of telling for sure, since the original 1947 data, which would have given the exact relationship between the four points, is gone. Anyway, as of 1969, the tri-station and its reference marks officially no longer existed. They were now simply 4 separate benchmarks that happen to be close together. The lat/long given is the same for all of them and is not exact because they are now vertical control points, not horizontal control points. Note that they all have different elevations, which are exact.

 

The lesson to be learned, for anyone interested, is to pay close attention to all of the relevant data available, as well as all of the stamping, in order to avoid this kind of confusion and the resulting errors.

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quote:
Originally posted by Orygun-Connie:

We have found two benchmarks now, but neither are on the list of benchmarks. I'm new to this so would like to know what I do now. I would like to mark these as finds, and am not sure how. The one we found today is at N33 17.577 W111 26.528

 

orygun-connie


 

Those might have been county flood control markers or perhaps even city markers. I've found a city marker embedded in a street corner that is definitely a city marker. My friend and I also found four Los Angeles County Flood control benchmarks, none of which are in the database here. Until all the databases are in the system, we'll sometimes find some that we cannot log.

 

Webfoot icon_razz.gif

 

Tromping through the underbrush looking for Ammo cans, Tupperware containers, & little round disks.

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