fredgrigg Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I visited the NGS site today and the only online form for logging BM finds was a .pdf that was more of an advertisement than anything. It just told me how NGS has made it easier to log finds but didn't have any information on how to do this. Can anyone help me out? - fred Quote Link to comment
+makaio Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 All the way at the bottom of the NGS Datasheet page you'll find a Submit Recovery link. Good luck - Quote Link to comment
fredgrigg Posted October 8, 2002 Author Share Posted October 8, 2002 Found the link, thanks very much! Quote Link to comment
+Faderaven Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Enter agency code of the recovering organization/agency: What do we put in this field? You can't log the find without filling this out. I looked through the list but I can't find anything in it. Maybe Jeremy would like to address this? Quote Link to comment
+infosponge Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Use "INDIV" and give your initials. Quote Link to comment
Rubbertoe Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Faderaven:Enter agency code of the recovering organization/agency: What do we put in this field? You can't log the find without filling this out. I looked through the list but I can't find anything in it. Maybe Jeremy would like to address this? It is right there on the recovery form: "Enter the approved agency code of the organization which recovered the mark. The approved agency code for a private individual is INDIV." FredG, I'm kinda wondering what your plans are... people often get in a hurry to do "official" reporting to the NGS and such. I always advise everyone that does that to be very sure that if they are declaring a marker destroyed, that it definitely be destroyed. Sometimes when a person is new to hunting benchmarks, they might just not spot one - and then declare it missing or destroyed. I just hope that hundreds of people don't start filling out forms because of geocaching, only to find that a bunch of them just weren't looking in the right places for the markers. The Toe Pages Quote Link to comment
+makaio Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 I agree with Rubbertoe. Since the advent of benchmark hunting within the geocaching community, it seems many consider submitting a recovery of their finds (or lack therof) with the NGS almost requirement. On the contrary. Recovery submissions should be the exception more so than the rule. I've been hunting benchmarks since long before geocaching.com added the feature and have over 100 successful finds along with a few dozen no finds. From that total, I've submitted less than 10 recovery reports. Those I've submitted were either because they hadn't been recovered for many years (usually at least 20) or had previously been marked as Not Found. I have never submitted a mark as Destroyed simply because I've never "found" a destroyed mark. I've failed to find many, some of which I'm 99.9% sure don't exist anymore, but just because I couldn't find it doesn't mean it's not there. I've failed to find marks, for example, after 3 or 4 trips to the location and hours of hunting, only to have someone else locate them or finally find them myself on yet another trip to the location. Had I submitted them as destroyed, others may not have made an attempt, or worse, the data could have been deleted from the database. I encourage everyone to have fun with hunting these marks but don't place so much emphasis on submitting recovery reports to the NGS. If you find any which were previously reported Not Found, or if it's been many years since the last submission, by all means, submit a recovery. Just don't be so quick to report a mark Destroyed unless you actually "find" it in such a condition that it meets the destroyed mark criteria as posted on the NGS site. And certainly don't submit Not Found recoveries after a single failed attempt. Many of these marks can be difficult to locate. - Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 Go by INDIV. We (Groundspeak folks) aren't actively pursuing a designation for the Geocaching community. I am aware of some folks who wish to speak with the officials at the NGS to explore ideas, but I'm not currently one of them. Let's play for a while and see where it takes us. If there's data that needs to be updated, I think it's a great service to report it. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted October 14, 2002 Share Posted October 14, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Rubbertoe: I just hope that hundreds of people don't start filling out forms because of geocaching, only to find that a bunch of them just weren't looking in the right places for the markers. Yep. But if this happens I'm sure I'll get an email from the NGS about it. The NPS weren't shy . Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Quote Link to comment
+raouljan Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 I think that there are a couple of cases that would indicate that an update should be filed with the NGS. 1. Where the description to the control has changed such that anyone without a GPSr would have a hard time locating it. This would include road changes and changes to area surrounding the control, especially landmarks called out in the description. 2. where a control has not been visited in a long, long time. Say, 30 years. 3. an obviously destroyed control. By obvious I mean one where you see the wreckage (based on the description)... a broken monument... a missing wall... whatever structure the control was supposed to be mounted on/in. Higher confidence should be given to Horz vs. Vert .. and a "No Find" does not constitute a "Destroyed" being my $.02 >Personally Responsible for the Recovery of .00217% of the Benchmark Database!<--watch this number! Quote Link to comment
survey tech Posted October 15, 2002 Share Posted October 15, 2002 Rubbertoe, Makaio & Raouljan Well said, gentlemen. Thank you for leading the way in the right direction. Obviously there is no shame in not finding these points. The only shame lies in reporting incomplete or incorrect information. Hopefully everyone here will leave that to the Power Squadron and try to establish a higher standard. Quote Link to comment
+infosponge Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Perhaps there should be some "official" guidelines on NGS reporting added to the web site, to discourage rabid hamster reports to the official database. I have filed a few reports, but they go along with the guidelines others here have mentioned: 1. Report if a site is obviously destroyed, i.e. the station was on a water tower or chemical factory smokestack that has since been torn down. 2. Report if I found it, but it's been more than 10 years since the last reported recovery. 3. Do NOT report anything if I can't find it. It could still be there, but hard to find. Quote Link to comment
Cracker. Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Is this link posted anywhere on Geocaching.com? Perhaps reading this would help people's judgements on what should/should NOT be reported to NGS, and the best format to do it in..... http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PROJECTS/INSTRUCTIONS/Digital_Photo_Requirements.pdf Art www.yankeetoys.org www.BudBuilt.com http://www.ttora-ne.mainpage.net/ Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I updated the FAQ to include reporting information for those who want to do this. I also contacted Deb Brown to ask her opinion on the text we should use for would-be reporting so she isn't inundated with chaff. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Quote Link to comment
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