Benchmark section - wishlist

[+Black Dog Trackers]

A couple of things I'd like to see in the benchmar section:

 

1. In the Nearest Benchmarks Search list, a code(s) in the "Date Found" column for a not-found.

With different people working the same area, it would be good to see which benchmark sites we (geocachers) have checked out and which we haven't, whether actually found or not. No date is needed for not-found of course, but an indicator (code like NF) instead would be nice instead of the current blank mystery until you click in. This way, an area could be more systematically worked by geobenchmarkers. (Whether or not not-founds show up "My Cache Page" or not is, I think, unimportant.)

 

2. Additional special classification(s) for benchmarking.

As mentioned in another thread, benchmarking is a bit more complex than geocaching and deserves at least one additional code. This would be a special case of not-found in which the structure on which the benchmark existed is completely gone. Examples are a benchmark on a bridge over a creek that is now in an underground pipe, an benchmark last seen in 1935 on a school building that is now gone and replaced by a parking lot surrounded by high-rise commercial buildings, etc. Again, such a code would make finding benchmarks in an area more efficient as well as more fun. Satellite pictures help but it isn't the same as being there. The radio button description I'd suggest is: "Benchmark's platform is gone" with a PG code showing in the benchmark search listing.

 

3. A latest official date column (Last Date) in the benchmark search listing.

This would be the latest official history recorded date from the original datasheet. (Instead of a new column, the date could be appended to the type in the Type field.) This would make the listing much more cool, especially with a geocaching found date next to a really old official history date!

[+MaxEntropy]

2. Additional special classification(s) for benchmarking.

As mentioned in another thread, benchmarking is a bit more complex than geocaching and deserves at least one additional code. This would be a special case of not-found in which the structure on which the benchmark existed is completely gone. Examples are a benchmark on a bridge over a creek that is now in an underground pipe, an benchmark last seen in 1935 on a school building that is now gone and replaced by a parking lot surrounded by high-rise commercial buildings, etc. Again, such a code would make finding benchmarks in an area more efficient as well as more fun. Satellite pictures help but it isn't the same as being there. The radio button description I'd suggest is: "Benchmark's platform is gone" with a PG code showing in the benchmark search listing.

 

QUOTE]

 

Take this one for example:

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=HS5048

There used to be a produce station there with a mark on a telescoping mast (apparently to see the mark from a long way off)

If you click the Mapquest Link and click on Aerial Photo you'll see an outline of a demolished building.

If you walk there as I did, you'll see a brand-new Home Depot.

I'd say that this mark is toes-up.

[+n8aho]

I would like to be able to sort the data base by direction, it would make planning easier. I would also like to be able to search for keywords in the datasheet, I tend to chase radio towers and bridges.

 

j.

 

Sommes-nous perdus encore?

[+Black Dog Trackers]

Another wishlist item - a lat-lon data link, if possible, to the lostoutdoors site http://www.lostoutdoors.com/ from the benchmark page in addition to or instead of the microsoft terraserver. The lostoutdoors site seems to do a much better job of putting benchmark's location in the center of the map and puts a marker on it as well.

[+Casey's Crew]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Black Dog Trackers:

1. In the Nearest Benchmarks Search list, a code(s) in the "Date Found" column for a not-found.

With different people working the same area, it would be good to see which benchmark sites we (geocachers) have checked out and which we haven't, whether actually found or not. No date is needed for not-found of course, but an indicator (code like NF) instead would be nice instead of the current blank mystery until you click in. This way, an area could be more systematically worked by geobenchmarkers. (Whether or not not-founds show up "My Cache Page" or not is, I think, unimportant.)

---

 

Let me second this request and bump this topic up. I've been trying to go through as many local benchmarks as possible, but I'm obviously going to have some not found. I'd like to be able to look at the list of nearby benchmarks and quickly scan down the list for any I haven't tried yet. Having something in that column indicating that a log exists regardless of what kind of log it is would help immensely.

[+infosponge]

I would like to see one more column added to the list of benchmarks that shows what year the benchmark was monumented and what year was the last recovery, i.e. show a column like "1910/1982". That would help greatly in finding "interesting" benchmarks vs. run-of-the-mill benchmarks.

[survey tech]

Taking that a step further, one would also like to see at a glance how many recovery notes have been filed for a point. So the column might read "1910-1982-5" if it already has 5 recovery notes or "1910-1910-0" if there are none. This might help discourage redundancy, which could become an issue over time.

[Cracker.]

I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned this one:

 

1) I'd like to have a drop down down box in the search section that lets you select the distance/radius from your search point.

 

10 miles only makes it hard to cover a 50 mile radius around where I live......

 

You basically have to search section by section, which leads to overlapping, and gaps, and takes quite a bit of time to get all waypoints into ONE file......

 

And

 

2) How about a search page for surfing the gallery?

Search methods:

a) By PID number

By location (ie city,county,state)

c) By last official date recovered or monumented

d) By last date found/not found

e) by Lat/Lon

f) by type of marker

g) by contributor

h) by ZIP

 

And have under all the above searches, a drop down so you can select radius from your search criteria.

 

3) I would also like to see a link for downloading the selected benchamrks that covers multiple pages of the results.

The geochache results page needs this also.

 

Art

www.yankeetoys.org

www.BudBuilt.com

http://www.ttora-ne.mainpage.net/

 

[This message was edited by Cracker7M on September 29, 2002 at 10:08 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by Cracker7M on September 29, 2002 at 10:09 AM.]

 

[This message was edited by Cracker7M on September 29, 2002 at 10:20 AM.]

[+rogbarn]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cracker7M:

1) I'd like to have a drop down down box in the search section that lets you select the distance/radius from your search point.

 

10 miles only makes it hard to cover a 50 mile radius around where I live......

---

 

It has not been mentioned on this thread but it has been mentioned several times on this forum:

If you add "&dist=30" to the search URL, you can get a list up to 30 miles away. You can use any number up to 30 to help control the length of the list. While not as elegant as your suggestion, it is something that is usable right now.

 

Another suggestion is to use the NGS site. There is an option to get a list of benchmarks based on a rectangular box using min/max latitude and longitude. There is also an option to list by topo map name.

[+pkpaul]

My Suggestion:

On the user profile page.

When you click on "benchmarks found" it simply takes you the main Benchmark page as opposed to providing a listing of benchmarks found by the user. I have been disappointed (burned) many times by this, when I click I expect to get a listing that the user has found (like Geocaches). Can this feature be added/updated? Especially since there is so few of us.

PKPaul

 

PS I really like the latest updates to cache pages. Good work.

And I just planted my first "Member's Only" and that audit feature is REALLY cool.

The CC of my GC outbound email to regular email is also great. Thanks.

[+Rich in NEPA]

quote:

---

Originally posted by pkpaul:

On the user profile page. When you click on "benchmarks found" it simply takes you the main Benchmark page as opposed to providing a listing of benchmarks found by the user.

---

 

This seems like such a gross oversight. I think the benchmark section has become interesting enough and important enough to warrant this feature, as well as to maintain consistency with the rest of the Geocaching website features.

 

I'd also like to see all of the NGS datasheets listed in a Zip Code search, whether they are missing/destroyed or not. Perhaps a check box on the search page to make it optional to include them?

 

Thanks, and cheers ...

 

~Rich in NEPA~

 

 

=== A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. ===

[+Zhanna]

And don't forget there's no efficient way to find out which benchmark pages you've made notes on, or logged as not-found (at least, I'm not aware of a way). It would be nice if the "my cache" page listed all logs made to benchmark pages, not just finds.

 

I'd also like to see some more consistency with the way the photos are displayed. I like the nicely formatted page I get when I click a link to a photo from a geocache page. But from a benchmark page, when I click a photo link, it just opens a new window and shows the single photo. However, if I view photos from the Gallery, I do see the formatted log page! Why can't this appear when I choose to see a photo from the benchmark page itself?

 

(Don't mean to sound demanding, but I am the Benchmark Queen, or so someone once said. )

 

Zhanna

[Cracker.]

I know this one might be picky, but....

I'd like to see a tab/link to the benchmark search/info page off to the left on the geocaching home page.

 

Asit is, anyone going to the home page, and then wanting to hit the benchmark page has to hit the underlined link over in the text on the right...

 

I'd have to agree that it would be nice to see my Not found logs on My Cache page, also...

 

And I would like to see more options for searching benchmarks. Like by designation, keyword, and by Geocaching member name.....

 

 

Thanx Jeremy!

I'm a newbie, but I can tell this is a VERY nice and well maintained website!

 

Art

 

www.yankeetoys.org

www.BudBuilt.com

http://www.ttora-ne.mainpage.net/

[+Casey's Crew]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cracker7M:

I know this one might be picky, but....

I'd like to see a tab/link to the benchmark search/info page off to the left on the geocaching home page.

---

I don't think it's picky, because I sent the same suggestion directly to TPTB a week or two ago.

 

I think what a lot of this comes down to is a request to take an overall look at how the benchmarking area works and is integrated into the rest of the site and make some small changes for the sake of consistency.

[+Geojiggs]

I would like to see a larger search diameter when you do a search for local Benchmarks. I am pretty new to this side of Groundspeak so I havent developed a "big" list for improvments

 

[+gnbrotz]

I agree with the suggestions made by Black Dog Trackers. Although I wouldn't personally use the directional sorting, (I use a map with ExpertGPS) I can see where that would be helpful. I also agree that having a marker on the map (LostOutdoors.com) is much more user friendly than the Terra Server page.

 

I also would love to have my benchmark finds linked to my logs rather than just the BM 'home' page as mentioned by pkpaul and Rich in NEPA; and, I think all marks should be listed, even if they have been previously 'not recovered'. To me, that doesn't mean the mark is gone any more than the last recovery assures it's still there when I go to find it.

 

My one original thought would be to make benchmarks available using the Pocket Query feature. Although the data would remain static other than an (infrequent) update, it would be nice to grab a bunch of descriptions to load into a pda, and especially be useful when travelling out of your 'home' area.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

 

[This message was edited by gnbrotz on October 11, 2002 at 04:13 PM.]

[jfitzpat]

quote:

---

Originally posted by gnbrotz:

I agree with the suggestions made by Black Dog Trackers. Although I wouldn't personally use the directional sorting, (I use a map with ExpertGPS) I can see where that would be helpful. I also agree that having a marker on the map (LostOutdoors.com) is much more user friendly than the Terra Server page.

---

 

I wouldn't count on Geocaching.com ever linking to LostOutdoors. If nothing else, Jeremy would have to pay me the $30 he owes me...

 

Seriously, Jeremy needs to make a living and there is a financial incentive to link to sites like Topozone. I don't offer incentives because I don't look to make any money off my site.

 

However, I do try to make it easy to copy and paste direct from sites like Geocaching. And, if anyone is interested, I have an Internet Explorer plug-in toolbar I did that searches pages for anything remotely resembing a coordinate and makes a one click link to a topo or aerial. Of course, once you are at the map, you can download directly to your Garmin or Magellen, just like LostOutdoors.

 

I did the toolbar for some aviation pages I use, but I'd be happy to clean it up and give it away if there is enough interest.

 

-jjf

[+Egnix]

Wow! Most of the suggestions mentioned have been on my want list too! Cool. I usually don't like "me too"s, but I'd really love to see any/all of these suggestions come to life.

[+Zhanna]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Egnix:

... I usually don't like "me too"s, but I'd really love to see any/all of these suggestions come to life.

---

 

Well, I can see now that some of them have been implemented; for example, you can now get a list of found benchmarks from the profile page, and the "my cache" page lists all types of logs, including notes and not-founds. To those responsible -- thank you!

 

Zhanna

[+Casey's Crew]

Bravo Jeremy and crew! I figured our requests would be pretty low on the priority list, but it's nice to see effort and attention spread around to the different areas of the web site.

 

Now, if we could just get that link on the left side of the main page.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

The "Nearest Benchmarks" search results pages now have the 'grumpy face' icon for 'not founds'. Now we have a full record of our benchmark hunting activity on the proximity search whether it was a found or not.

 

Way cool !!!

[zdv]

Figured I'd add my two cents..

 

I think it would be great if we could browse logged benchmarks by radius and/or state. I just like to browse benchmarks "already found" in my area, just to see what others have posted. This feature would make it slightly easier than searching a radius and only selecting the found entries.

 

The benchmarking is my favorite part of the site!

[+embra]

When the promised pocket queries for benchmarks come, this should be doable.

 

Don't get even - get odd

[+flask]

what i'd really like to see is a glossary of common survey/benchmark terms. i've looked at the NGS site and they seem to assume that we know what they're talking about.

 

i understand the basic function, but I'M A MUSICIAN by trade for pete's sake, and i need mathematical and measurement concepts provided to me in language i can understand.

 

i'm good with words, but mathematical concepts are a new and unfolding delight for me. i kind of get the concept of a triangulation station, but i'm not working from a lot of solid information. azimuth marker? i've seen 'em, but..

[survey tech]

There are enough people here now who know the basics that you should be able to get any terminology questions answered quickly. (And maybe even correctly!)

[+gnbrotz]

Thought I'd give this topic a bump. I've thought of something else I'd like to see, and perhaps it's simple enough that it could be implemented before any of the "major" changes that we are all hoping for:

 

The ability to "watch" a benchmark like we can with caches. In my area, there are a handful of us within 50 miles or so that occasionally overlap when searching. It'd be nice to know if someone came along and found that last RM that I just couldn't find.

 

Greg

N 39 54.705'

W 77 33.137'

[+Stump]

quote:

---

Originally posted by embra:

When the promised pocket queries for benchmarks come, this should be doable.

---

 

Did this ever happen? I don't see benchmarks as a choice on the pocket query page.