County markers in the Benchmark Database???

[HJS]

This benchmark is a county marker. See the picture that the finder posted.

It is near or at the location for GV5970. But the marking is county of York, not NGS markings. Is this the marker??? It even has the number 061 as indicated in the database.

 

I tried to locate this benchmark last year, but a county survey crew was using it. They had placed a tarp panel over it which stayed several weeks. Later I went to the location, but I only found the disk with the county markings (see picture). Checked it off my list as can't find it. My question to the community is this. Is that the marker in the NGS database and can I log it? Or did the person who logged this as a find make an error by claiming a county survey marker as an NGS benchmark.

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/benchmark/lg/31783_100.jpg

[+Enakops]

Don't worry, this is indeed the benchmark, and the situation is not strange at all.

 

Seeking "to extend and/or densify the national horizontal and vertical geodetic control networks." (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/FGCS/BlueBook/annexc/annexc.index.html) the NGS has established procedures by which other federal, state, and local organizations can add survey data to the National Spatial Reference System (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/INFO/incorp_data.html)

 

The NGS datasheet for GV5970 gives the stamping for the disk as "Station No. 061," which matches the photo. Further, if you search NGS for York county in VA you'll see that GV5970 / 061 sits in the middle of 130 survey disks (numbered 002 through 131 or GV5913 through GV6039) which were placed by the BSC group (http://www.bscgroup.com) in 1988. Notice that GV6027 / 119 is identical (except for the designation) to the one you are wondering about (http://img.Groundspeak.com/benchmark/lg/31751_100.jpg)

 

Since you've got such clean data (all new as of 1988), it might be fun to plot the 130 disks on a map and see what the pattern, if any, is.

[DaveD]

The National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) maintained by NGS contains data on tens of thousands of survey monuments other than NGS or C&GS (Coast & Geodetic Survey). NSRS is unique in the world in that virtually anyone can submit data for QC and publication by NGS as long as they follow very strict specifications for the design, observation, reduction and adjustment of the survey data and submission of the results. If you note in the data immediately preceding the description the line “GV5970_MARK LOGO: VA-199”, and check the NGS contributors' list -- http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/get_contrib2.prl, you will find that VA-199 is York County, Virginia.

[+geo_eclectic]

I have logged a number of the these markers from the 1988 survey of York County. The county has a pretty foward thinking GIS effort and I think this was part of that work.

 

I have drifted away from looking for these marks since they are almost too easy to find. Since they are all "adjusted" you can generally be standing on top of the mark if your GPS has WAAS capabilities. Since they have not been in the ground too long I just look down and find a depression and that is usually the mark.

 

But when I do find the mark I trying to submit a recovery because most of these marks have not been recovered since they were placed 15 years ago.