More difficult then expected.

[+NuBi]

I just started benchmarking and have noticed a few things.

 

1. More times then not I haven't been able to locate the benchmark either because it was on private property, fenced in, or on top of a tower.

 

2. People look at me as if I'm up to something illegal. For example, today I was in an alley next to the interstate. I was in public property that was adjacent to private property. I felt uncomfortable. I have actually considered looking into buying a bright yellow hard hat so people think I'm official or something. (don't laugh)

 

Oh, one question. I found a benchmark at our post-office that was located about 4' above the ground plastered to the wall. There was the usual text on the mark, and it had a line stamped horizontally across the mark. What does the line mean?

 

Thanks!

[Dream_Catcher]

I logged my first two benchmarks this past weekend. The online descriptions do not always meet reality. In my case, I was able to log two that were about fifty feet apart. Reading the online descriptions was quite interesting, but the actual benchmarks were three foot masts, one inch in diameter. Not even close to the online description.

 

I found another partial 'benchmark' on my way to the cache - that was not listed. Keep looking, they are out there somewhere and always neat to find.

[+Web-ling]

quote:

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Originally posted by NuBi:

More times then not I haven't been able to locate the benchmark either because it was on private property, fenced in, or on top of a tower.

---

Based on what Jeremy says in this thread, I'd count a benchmark on a tower as a find if I found the tower. Nobody expects benchmark hunters to climb towers, water tanks, buildings, and such. Private property is another matter. I log them as Not Found, or sometimes as a note to the effect that I didn't hunt it because it's on private property.

 

[walkerk]

quote:

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Originally posted by Web-ling:

Nobody expects benchmark hunters to climb towers, water tanks, buildings, and such.

---

 

Oh, great. NOW you tell me!

 

http://www.crocuta.com/NGS/HT3099.HTML

[MTU_Cache_Spot]

I'm not sure exactly what kind of thing you're talking about, but it sounds like a vertical benchmark. One used for elevation on a known datum, probably a local one for the town.

[survey tech]

Remember that any data sheets describing the point as an "intersection station" will have no disk to find. The object, usually a tower, steeple or beacon, is visually intersected from other points and no marker is ever set there, so there would be nothing there to find even if you did climb it. You may happen to find other markers at ground level near the object, but this would be merely coincidental.

[+ca_surveyor]

Actually your hard hat is not a bad idea. Carry a clipboard (which is handy anyway) and even a red vest and you will automatically become invisible.

 

As for the disk, remember that disks generally come in two 'flavors' monuments - which are placed to typically provide horizontal locations and benchmarks - which perpetuate elevations to some established datum.

 

To be a monument, it must be physically possible to occupy that location with equipment (a transit, a tripod, a gps antenna..etc). Locations which refer to the 'pointy' end of a tall tower or structure are simply backsights or often called 'natural's. This means that the surveyor uses them to sight an initial or closing observation from another known point.

 

To be a benchmark, it must reference a plane. This is done easily by setting it into a wall and making a measurement to that line that runs across the middle surface.

 

So that disk in the Post Office wall is a benchmark. The surveyor or person running a level will simply measure up (or down) from the line to his/her sightline with a tape held against the building, and then continue with their work.

 

voila...

 

gil

(ca_surveyor)

[+Web-ling]

quote:

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Originally posted by NuBi:

I have actually considered looking into buying a bright yellow hard hat so people think I'm official or something. (don't laugh)

---

 

I've thought about getting some sort of shirt that looks like a uniform, having "Benchmark Recovery Team" embroidered, along with my user id. Then, if I carry a clipboard, I'd just sort of blend in to the environment.