How complete is the listing of benchmarks?

[+PI Joe]

Why I ask is that there is one in a park near a cache I maintain but when I enter the WGS84 coordinates for it the nearest one listed in the search results is almost a mile away on a bridge overpass. Could this be a "missing or lost" benchmark that the government has dropped from the list?

 

I'll take a picture of it tomorrow morning on the way into work and post it here (somewhere) for your comments.

 

Lou Catozzi

Austin, TX

[+Markwell]

heheheh. Beat ya to it. See my thread on Missing Ones.

 

Ooooo. Our first historical post reference.

 

Markwell

My Geocaching Page

[+jef]

There are at least three real official brass-disk benchmarks near my house that don't show up in the database. I'm interested in this question too.

[Elias]

I worked very hard to import as many sheets as I could. Unfortunately, there were some sheets that either didn't conform to the specifications, or contained invalid data that my parsing code couldn't handle. In these relatively rare cases where all other error checking failed, I tossed out the whole sheet and didn't import it. I think in the end, of the 750,000+ sheets I imported, there were between 10,000 - 20,000 that failed.

 

If you do find some that we don't have, please send me the PIDs so I can see if it was one that failed, or perhaps one that was added after the our CDs were made.

 

-Elias

[Jeremy]

We purchased the CDs in January of 2001, so anything newer placed will not exist in the database. If this is popular enough we'll purchase and parse the new data in.

 

Jeremy

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[+PI Joe]

I stopped by this BM this morning and it was placed by the Texas Antiquities Committee not the USGS, so that explains that.

 

Lou

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by txhipowr:

Why I ask is that there is one in a park near a cache I maintain but when I enter the WGS84 coordinates for it the nearest one listed in the search results is almost a mile away on a bridge overpass. Could this be a "missing or lost" benchmark that the government has dropped from the list?

 

I'll take a picture of it tomorrow morning on the way into work and post it here (somewhere) for your comments.

 

Lou Catozzi

Austin, TX

---

[+alchemist2000]

Texas Antiquities Committee??? Kewl!! There must be a bunch of different types of markers out there. I had already included a Army Corps of Engineers marker in one of my caches, Sunset Point , although I am unaware of anyway to get data for these online. If this catches on, maybe there will be lots of different types of markers that Jeremy could include in this?!

 

Alchemist2000

[+jef]

How do I figure out the PID for a benchmark I find? Is it supposed to appear on the disk? Here's a photo of one near the geocache PLAIN SIGHT at N 37° 47.632 W 122° 16.609:

 

http://www.acme.com/jef/geocaching/plain_sight_1.JPG

 

Is the PID for this "SEAFOOD"?

[+alchemist2000]

Hey, Jef, it looks like we were both typing simultaneously. Your marker is a Corps marker, just like the one I refer to above, and not one of the USGS markers. If anyone has a data base for these, I would love to know the url.

 

Alchemist2000

[+jef]

Ah, ok. I didn't realize there was a whole nother set of markers not in the db.

[+Klemmer]

Yup, I've got pics of three more Army Corps of Engineers marks also. Any ACE Dam will have a bunch, it seems. The hunt is on for the data base! I bet it is on-line somewhere!

 

[+Klemmer]

Yup, I've got pics of three more Army Corps of Engineers marks also. Any ACE Dam will have a bunch, it seems. The hunt is on for the data base! I bet it is on-line somewhere!

 

[Team Grayrun]

I've also found a Corps of Engineers marker, this one on the remains of an old canal lock. It is a traverse station marker placed in 1951. I spent a little time on the COE Web site yesterday looking for a database, but didn't find anything.

 

Gary // Team Grayrun

 

Take care of the land. Someday, you'll be part of it.

[+jef]

So, how hard would it be to implement a way for seekers to add new benchmarks not in the NGS DB?

 

I suppose one problem with doing this is what happens if the official USGS DB does eventually get added? We would have duplicate entries, which would need to be merged or something.

[Elias]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jef:

So, how hard would it be to implement a way for seekers to add new benchmarks not in the NGS DB?

---

All my conversion code is in place such that if we get an updated set of datasheets from the NGS, I can reimport them and we'll have current data. As is, we're using a snapshot of the NGS database from May 2000. We can (and probably will) add marks from other "official" sources eventually, but I don't think it makes sense to allow user-submitted marks.

 

-Elias

[+Klemmer]

Well, I bet wrong. I got a nice reply from them to an inquirey I send.

 

****** Quoting in part *********

 

""... called the Corps' Vicksburg District and was told there is not a benchmark database accessible by the public. They are working on one that

will be available in the future. You can call the Vicksburg District at {{removed by Klemmer}} and they can supply benchmark info over the phone.

 

Hope this helps!

 

{{name & email address removed by Klemmer}}

US ERDC WES

Research Library

Vicksburg, MS""

 

****** end quote ********

 

So, I guess no USACE Benchmark data for the moment.

 

I "sanitized" the name, address & phone from above, since I don't think I would like many emails or phone calls per day. Personally, I'm not going to be making many calls to MS for Benchmark data.

[+alchemist2000]

quote:

---

there is not a benchmark database accessible by the public

---

 

That is unfortunate. However....

 

quote:

---

They are working on one that will be available in the future.

---

 

I will definately look forward to that, given all of the many Corps lakes in my area. I bet there must be a bunch of them, and mostly on public land!

 

Thanks, Klemmer, for pursuing this.

 

Alchemist2000

[+alchemist2000]

quote:

---

there is not a benchmark database accessible by the public

---

 

That is unfortunate. However....

 

quote:

---

They are working on one that will be available in the future.

---

 

I will definately look forward to that, given all of the many Corps lakes in my area. I bet there must be a bunch of them, and mostly on public land!

 

Thanks, Klemmer, for pursuing this.

 

Alchemist2000

[+jef]

I searched the DB for marks near Badwater in Death Valley, and the lowest one I found was -256 feet. Since Badwater goes down to -282 feet and the map shows lots of benchmark-like notations out there, I guess none of the interesting marks in the area are in the NGS database.

[+Web-ling]

I've discovered that benchmarks noted MARK NOT FOUND on the official datasheets do not show up on my Nearest Benchmarks search. Example: CS1947 is only a couple miles from my house, but doesn't show up on my Nearest Benchmarks page. In fact, if you click the "Nearest Benchmarks" link on the page for CS1947, CS1947 doesn't even show up there.

 

[survey tech]

Hello everyone, Im here to promote, and to thank you for your interest in Land Surveying.

 

There are literally millions of brass caps out there in the United States. They are routinely used by local government agencies, as well as by many national agencies. In fact, they are also available to private users, but are infrequently set by private surveyors since they are relatively costly, difficult and time consuming to set. If you live in a major american city, there are probably 100 within a mile or so of your home, but most are discreetly placed to avoid easy detection and possible vandalism. If you happened to have a friend who works for such an agency, with access to comprehensive mapping, you would have a major advantage.

 

For further information on Land Surveying, please feel free to visit us at rpls.com and ask any questions you may have.

[+Harv]

I'm interested in going after AI5811 which shows up on the www.ngs.noaa.gov web site, but not on geocaching.com.

 

I suppose I COULD go after ones like this without logging them, but what Jeremy and Elias have done with these on geocaching.com is so cool.

[+Harv]

I'm interested in going after AI5811 which shows up on the www.ngs.noaa.gov web site, but not on geocaching.com.

 

I suppose I COULD go after ones like this without logging them, but what Jeremy and Elias have done with these on geocaching.com is so cool.

[Couch_Potato]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Harv:

I'm interested in going after AI5811 which shows up on the http://www.ngs.noaa.gov web site, but not on geocaching.com.

---

 

well, that one was just monumented in 1999. Maybe the version of the database that geocaching.com uses is older than that. You can still go after it and grab the photos/rubbings, you just can't log it here (yet).

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.