Benchmark area looks to be paved over soon.

[+outdoorsoccer]

Hello All,

 

I tried searching the forum first but couldn't really find an answer to my question, but it probably is due to not putting in the correct key words in the search.  So I apologize in advance if this has been covered in a previous topic.

 

I recently drove by an area that I recovered a benchmark (a few years ago) and it looks like the area is now being cleared to potentially widen the road and the BM may be paved over.  Not really sure what is happening, but the area is definitely being cleared for something.    There was a wooden survey marker when I passed the area last week, but now it looks to be covered by  some tree debris.  Do folks report this to NGS (so they can recover the disk)  or do they know already and there is nothing really to do about it.

 

Thank you for your help in advance.

 

Take care,

 

                 ODS

[Bill93]

This happens all the time and nobody does anything about it. NGS doesn't have funds to send crews out for this stuff. The "right" way is for a local surveyor to go through the NGS official RESET process to preserve a related elevation on a nearby new mark. That takes time $$ and knowledge that isn't going to happen very often.

 

NGS officially says you should send in a destroyed disk, but that doesn't happen often either. Lots of people have souvenirs. We just hope they don't end up on eBay to encourage people to grab ones that weren't already destroyed.

 

And then there is the upcoming redefinition of elevation NATRF2022 that should be released by 2025, after which all new work should use that, with GPS corrected for gravity variations, instead of physical disks. So the old disks will only be of use for finishing work in progress or checking historical work.

 

Don't think your past recovery reports have been in vain. Many of the old disks were used to check whether the new datum was coming out consistent, via the GPSonBM program, so knowing which markers were still there helped guide the collection of the check data.

 

[+outdoorsoccer]

Hi Bill,

 

  I will see if it gets dug up or just paved over.   I did find one BM disk dug up and left next to the side of the woods.  I sent in the report to NGS about it.  I have wondered what happened to it.  Maybe one day I will swing by there and check and see if it got reclaimed.  Thank you for your response. 

 

  Take care,

 

                          ODS