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Totally Confused


pictom

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I found a benchmark on the ground and took a photo. Went to geocaching.com to see if it was listed but I have no idea how to go about doing this. I did a search and found two nearby but they refer to a lightpost and the one I found was in the ground (well, the roadway of a bridge)

How can I search using the information on the disk itself?

 

Let's say it's not listed, how do I then list it?

 

Its on a fairly common trail and I suspect it is listed.

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Since we seem to see questions like pictom's about once a week, I went over to the FAQ to see what a newcomer would be faced with if this was their info. source.

 

I'm not sure, but I think the Scaredy Cat Benchmark Viewer is by far the easiest way for a novice hunter who says, "I found a benchmark in this general area. Now how do I identify and then log it?" to quickly see if there are any marks in an area, and if so, pull up their NGS or GC descriptions.

 

Maybe I missed it, but this tool seem to be missing from our FAQ page.

 

Wouldn't the easiest answer to them be (1) check the Scaredy Cat viewer, (2) check description of mark you found vs. the NGS or GC description, and (3) log it? (With an explanation of Waymarking for those who feel the need to log everything.)

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I wouldn't bet that very many "can't find it posters" use the "By Postal Code:" or "Advanced Search" features on the Benchmark Hunting page; but would it be possible to have another linked line "Still Can't Find It" that would take them directly to the "Pinned: Me First! 'Me First!, Before you post read this.' " topic at the top of the Benchmark Hunting forum page?

 

Maybe also a sentence requesting a description, stamping, Lat/Long (or at least an approximate location) and a photo on their first RFI post; and pointing out that TOP SECRET NEED TO KNOW is not required here. kayakbird

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My problem is I can't match up the disk I found with the descriptions of the disk in the area. Maybe because it's not listed? Let's say it was listed at the site. should I be able to find it by searching for "GP27016"?

 

Here's the benchmark:

img0672g.jpg

 

Here's the view a few feet away (standing on the disk, there is a wall blocking view of the bridge)

Please note there are two bridges. One with green towers and one with grey towers. I believe the two disk I found online are for the green tower bridge, which you can no longer walk across.

The gray tower bridge is new and the one you can now walk across, and has the photographed disk.

img0697ru.jpg

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pictom,

 

Welcome to benchmark hunting!

 

Great pictures and lets us see that the mark you found is newer than the captured NGS database that Geocaching site uses. So the mark will not be listed here.

 

Now if it was listed in that database, you could go here by clicking on the 'advanced search' on the Benchmark Hunting page (or FAQ) other than clicking my inserted link. Then you would have been able to click in the small By Designation circle and typed in your mark Designation and typed in the state. This would have let you know if there were any marks with that designation in the NGS/GC database.

 

I suggest going to GC's sister site (Waymarking) to log your benchmark there if you so choose. Or, for more fun on GC - pull up some local benchmarks - done by typing your zip code into the search for local Benchmarks - here.

 

Whatever way you decide to play the game, there is more help in the pinned topic at the top of the forum page labeled 'Me First'.

 

Happy Hunting.

Let us know when you find one and log it on GC.

 

Shirley~

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Hi Pitcom:

Let me echo Shirley's comments. Based on the date stamped on the disk (2008), we know it is not in the geocaching.com data base. Our most recent disks are from the Year 2000--and that's a partial year.

 

This survey marker was set by the highway department. I doubt that it has been submitted to the master database maintained by the National Geodetic Survey.

 

Your option for logging this is to create an entry on Waymarking.com. (Use your geocaching.com user name and password .) There is a category for benchmarks which cannot be logged on geocaching.com. You will need the coordinates from your GPS receiver, and be prepared to write a description of the setting, as well as directions to the site from some well-known landmark or highway intersection.

 

You will have the opportunity to upload photos, and the two posted above will be excellent. This is a great find. Keep up the good work!

 

-Paul-

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A way to check on a benchmark you find is, mark the coordinates with your GPS, then when you get home, from the Benchmarking page, do Advanced Search, and then search by the coordinates you noted earlier. Look at the closest one that comes up, if it's fairly close, read the description, if the description matches, then it's the one, if the description doesn't match, then it's not the one.

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I t0 was out on a mission to hind some geocach's last weekend and came across a bench mark disk - survey disk,to0k pictures of it and am still trying to find in on Search for Local Benchmarks:→By Postal Code: i am trying to find it on geocaching.com before i can even post my geo cach's its holding me up but i belive come this weekend iwill be able to go 0ut and do some hunting than.I am reading FAQ and hope thta i can learn something from it thanks for making a post of this †

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This is interesting. The site, first of all, is the southerly end of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, opened in the summer of 2007. The green bridge on the right was finished in 1950, ten years after the famously-filmed collapse of the original (1940) Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Washington DOT has a batch of new marks set in the area of the new bridge. They have designations GP27016-, followed by other numbers. GP27016-129 does not turn up in their data base, and their friendly and informative office folks are out for the weekend. The website is:

 

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/monument/

 

where we’ve tried the designation search and the zoomable map, but haven’t found this mark.

 

Note that relatively few WSDOT marks have been blue-booked into the NGS database, so Waymarking probably is your drug of choice here.

 

The two marks actually on the older bridge (SY2924 and SY2946) are the towers themselves, intersection stations which the NGS doesn’t care to have us log any more.

 

If you were several feet taller you could look through the cables about 16 or 17 degrees to the right and see a bunch of houses across the Narrows, one of which we live in.

 

Great find!

 

Cheers,

Edited by m&h
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Thank you so much everyone. That was my original question--how do I know if its not in the database or if I am using the incorrect terms.

 

From what I am understanding, you CAN search by the data on the disk but this one is not in the database and no one has added it.

 

I'll try to find some time to add this one and if I am successful at it I may add a few more I have found.

 

Thanks again!

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