Benchmarking Made Easy

[MRAS]

DSWorld V 2.10 is now available from NGS for plotting bench marks in Google Earth:

 

'http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PC_PROD/PARTNERS/index.shtm'

 

New tools for submitting photos, positions, recovery notes, State/County corrections, etc.!

Download multiple datasheets by drawing a polygon around them in Google Earth!

Each Google Earth bubble now contains a link to NGS's photos and Geocaching.com's mark details pages!

[+LSUFan]

DSWorld V 2.10 is now available from NGS for plotting bench marks in Google Earth:

 

'http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PC_PROD/PARTNERS/index.shtm'

 

New tools for submitting photos, positions, recovery notes, State/County corrections, etc.!

Download multiple datasheets by drawing a polygon around them in Google Earth!

Each Google Earth bubble now contains a link to NGS's photos and Geocaching.com's mark details pages!

 

I have just started really using DSWorld over the last few months, and find it extremely helpful. Thanks for the info. I am heading there now to try the new version out.

[+BasicPoke]

So what is NGS's motivation for doing this? Do they want to know the condition of the markers? I thought these permanent markers were going obsolete because of how easy it is to establish a position with GPS. Honestly it surprises me that a federal gov't. agency is so up-to-date with technology, especially in a sort of recession.

BasicPoke

[MRAS]

NGS is still utilizing and maintaining data on passive marks for now and is still very interested in the quality of the data in the NGS IDB.

 

The latest version of DSWorld is an attempt to improve on the existing recovery web page, 'http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/ngs-cgi-bin/recvy_entry_www.prl'. The recovery page has no provision for entering hand-held GPS positions, mark LOGOs, State and County corrections, no built-in spelling checker for text, etc.

 

While GPS is an excellent tool for determining horizontal position to the sub-centimeter level, precise orthometric height (elevation) determination with GPS is still in the 2-5 cm range. To improve on this, precise gravity surveys are required (see NGS's GRAV-D program).

[kayakbird]

While GPS is an excellent tool for determining horizontal position to the sub-centimeter level, precise orthometric height (elevation) determination with GPS is still in the 2-5 cm range. To improve on this, precise gravity surveys are required (see NGS's GRAV-D program).

 

MRAS,

 

Thanks for that nice, precise information. Good to know that lowly BM differential leveling techniques from over 100 years ago still rule.

 

Now, before I get brave enough to try my next batch of recoveries there, is there a simple layman's tutorial at the NGS site; or does some one here have one?

 

One of my big concerns will be photo upload time - do you have to do them twice or can you link between GC & NGS or NGS & GC?

 

kayakbird

Edited April 17, 2011 by kayakbird

[MRAS]

Recovery info - There is a good tutorial in DSWorld's help system. DSWorld's recovery procedure is actually easier than using the web page, especially for multiple recoveries.

 

Photos - Set your camera to 640 x 480 pixels so you will not need to resize or crop them for submittal. In .jpg format, this will give a reasonable file size. Check the DSWorld help for additional information.

[+LSUFan]

While GPS is an excellent tool for determining horizontal position to the sub-centimeter level, precise orthometric height (elevation) determination with GPS is still in the 2-5 cm range. To improve on this, precise gravity surveys are required (see NGS's GRAV-D program).

 

MRAS,

 

Thanks for that nice, precise information. Good to know that lowly BM differential leveling techniques from over 100 years ago still rule.

 

Now, before I get brave enough to try my next batch of recoveries there, is there a simple layman's tutorial at the NGS site; or does some one here have one?

 

One of my big concerns will be photo upload time - do you have to do them twice or can you link between GC & NGS or NGS & GC?

 

kayakbird

 

Mike, I actually use DSWorld to do my photo editing first with, then save them and upload them to the gc.com site second. DSworld will rename/save the photos so I can save them in a naming format the NGS likes to use, as well as allow you to place a label on the photo telling the PID, station name, type of photo, direction photo taken from, and date. When you save your pics like this, there will be no need to name them anything else, as you will see it's all there.

 

You will tell DSworld all of this before you edit the pic and it will put the info and name this pic for you using it.

 

To learn how this works in DSWorld.....open DSworld, then click---help---dsworld help--- make sure the contents tab at top is active, then open the recovering control stations file---taking digital photos

 

It will explain how to use the editing part of DSWorld for photos....and you can check out all the other help file categories too, if necessary.

 

The trickiest part to learn is the photo numbering below: The program will automatically number them for you depending on the parameters you tell it as you begin to edit the pic.

 

1 is closeup view

2 is tripod height view or standing view

3 is a scale pic, and you will also add the direction facing in these pics. You can have more than one #3 pic (ie reference marks, etc)

 

Here is a recovery report on gc.com from this morning, where I uploaded the photos edited by DSWorld, and to see how it named them and placed the name on the photo itself also. You will see there is a 3 facing South, and a 3 facing ENE.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.aspx?PID=CQ0200

Edited April 18, 2011 by LSUFan

[kayakbird]

Thanks, LSUFan

 

I'll try it out on a few that I picked up in NW Wheatland Co, Montana today. Won't have any green grass to show, but not quite tracking snow either.

 

kayakbird

[Bill93]

The link in the original post didn't seem to work for me. If you have trouble, try this Link for DSWORLD.

[TillaMurphs]

Hi MRAS,

 

I wondered if you could help? I found an issue with with DSWORLD. Perhaps it is a misunderstanding on my part.

 

I am finding bench marks that do not show up on certain types of DSWORLD searches – even though surrounding marks do show up.

 

For example:

 

When I perform a Station / Published / By State and County search for Harney County, Oregon I cannot see the icon for PA0475 (4552 H) even though some surrounding marks do show up. (although nearby O 18 and 4404 H are also missing)

 

Also, if I perform a Station / Published / By PIDs search for that single PID, Google Earth goes direct to the point where PA0475 should be, but there is no symbol or marker on the map.

 

However, if I run a Station / Published / By Lat Lon Radius search (using N433217 W1191948 and a 5 mile radius) the symbol for 4552 H does show up (as do 0 18 and 4404 H).

 

 

All searches were with ANY TYPE / ANY STABILITY.

 

I like using DSWORLD. However, State and County is my preferred search method. It becomes problematic if I can’t trust DSWORLD will show ALL of the marks.

 

Do you have any thoughts on this?

 

Thank you,

[LIParks]

does anyone have a link to the updated Google Maps version?

[+SinopeanDog]

www.ngs.noaa.gov Seems to be down at present.

Pinging tgftp.nws.noaa.gov (IP 140.90.128.71)= FAILEDFAILEDFAILED