County Downloads

[+HoustonControl]

Hi all,

I tried doing a new county download from NGS to create a GPX file as described in the pinned topic Me First!, but something has changed or I'm doing something wrong. The NGS webpage linked to only has the option for statewide archive downloads, not by county. Attempting a statewide download (for Texas, anyway) results in an error message. Am I going to the wrong area of the NGS site? Is there a workaround? Thanks for any help with this!

[kayakbird]

Hi HoustonControl,

 

I just downloaded the 236 PID's for Hildago Co, NM; my next target area for a few old rivets. Seemed a bit slow, but I have only one bar on my Verizon air-card at the entrance to the Chiricahua National Monument.

 

I have found that I now use GSAK for almost instantaneous DS info for any NAME that catches my eye on GE pinned county by county via DSWORLD.

 

kayakbird

 

Were you ATC there in 1969-70 giving F-9's from NQI a bad time?

[+HoustonControl]

Hi HoustonControl,

 

I just downloaded the 236 PID's for Hildago Co, NM; my next target area for a few old rivets. Seemed a bit slow, but I have only one bar on my Verizon air-card at the entrance to the Chiricahua National Monument.

 

I have found that I now use GSAK for almost instantaneous DS info for any NAME that catches my eye on GE pinned county by county via DSWORLD.

 

kayakbird

 

Were you ATC there in 1969-70 giving F-9's from NQI a bad time?

Hmmmmm, didn't understand much of that. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to all things benchmarking. I'd created a GPX file for my county several years ago, but haven't tried to update it until now -- an I've forgotten how to do it. I didn't know you could get datasheets via GSAK. Guess I need DSWORLD (whatever that is).

 

No, sorry, I was in 6th grade in 69-70. ;-)

[+LSUFan]

HoustonControl, we placed a lot of the information gleaned from several forums here on our local geocaching forums. There is a tutorial there on a few ways to get the county downloads, as well as how to convert the county/state downloads into gpx files.. It should be in the first post about mid-way down the page.

 

Let us know if that helps you. We'll start you out slow at first, then get you totally addicted.

 

http://www.nelageo.net/index.php/forum/13-benchmarking-and-related-topics/6841-benchmark-101

Edited January 22, 2012 by LSUFan

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Bookmark this page so you can return to it when you want to download another county.

 

Select "datasheets", then select "county".

 

Pick a state (Texas would be a good choice ) and then click on "get county list".

 

Choose the county you want download.

 

Click "get marks".

 

Click "select all".

 

Click "get datasheets" and be patient as this may take some time to bring them all up.

 

Go to the File button in the upper left of the screen and select "save page as" give it the county name and select 'save as type' = "text file".

 

Note that there is a limit of about 1000 datasheets that can be downloaded at a single time. If the county has over that amount you will need to choose the first half of the list and get those and then select the rest of the datasheets for another download.

 

Once you have save the Text file you should open it by double-clicking it. Edit out any lines above the first datasheet, the edit out anything after the last datasheet (from *** retrieval complete). Your text file is now ready to drag and drop on BMGPX to get the gpx file for GSAK.

 

If you need more assistance, just ask.

 

John

[+HoustonControl]

Bookmark this page so you can return to it when you want to download another county.

 

Select "datasheets", then select "county".

 

Pick a state (Texas would be a good choice ) and then click on "get county list".

 

Choose the county you want download.

 

Click "get marks".

 

Click "select all".

 

Click "get datasheets" and be patient as this may take some time to bring them all up.

 

Go to the File button in the upper left of the screen and select "save page as" give it the county name and select 'save as type' = "text file".

 

Note that there is a limit of about 1000 datasheets that can be downloaded at a single time. If the county has over that amount you will need to choose the first half of the list and get those and then select the rest of the datasheets for another download.

 

Once you have save the Text file you should open it by double-clicking it. Edit out any lines above the first datasheet, the edit out anything after the last datasheet (from *** retrieval complete). Your text file is now ready to drag and drop on BMGPX to get the gpx file for GSAK.

 

If you need more assistance, just ask.

 

John

Thanks John! That worked like a charm! I had gotten as far as pulling up the datasheets for the county in question, but didn't know what to do with the results to turn them into a GPX file. I've found benchmarks and other survey markers in one's and two's over the years while geocaching around town. I was playing around with GoogleEarth recently and was trying to see if I could zero in better coordinates for Scaled markers by using the documented description. Armed with some better numbers (and a GPSr that loads the description as well as the coordinates), I set out yesterday and found 11 of 13 that I attempted, being first to log on GC.com for 10 of them. Two had been marked as Not Found by the USPSQD in recent years, so I thought that was pretty cool. Anyhoo, thanks for the feedback and help everyone.

[AZcachemeister]

Another source for Benchmark downloads by state/county.