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Quesyions for the surveyors out there...


Readymixer

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Since I have gotten into benchmark hunting I have become, let's say, overly aware of survey flagging. I have a fw questions regarding survey flagging:

 

1. Is there any significance to flagging color? I have seen orange, pink, red, blue, and green. Do the colors represent anthing or is it just whatever ther surveyor picked up at the store?

 

2.Today I was riding my ATV at a popular area near my home. I observered rows and rows of fresh flagging through the woods. The flagging was in lines that I assume denotes property lines. Can anyone speculate why the flagging was in rows like this through the woods?

 

Thanks!

 

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

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for the question on color, for me its generally what ever kind of a mood im in. having siad that ive used different color flagging tape on the same job site to denote different point/marks, but generally thats just for me and an aide to keep things straight and it has no 'official' meaning.

 

as for the lines, they could have been lines for a topo survey, or they could have been property lines. impossible question to answer without knowing the habits of the surveyor if it was a surveyor marking lines.

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The surveyors flagging is used extensively in forestry. In my area the colors do mean something, sometimes only to a particular land owner but basically there is a universal flagging color code that is generally used by most foresters and surveyors. Red in Northern California (and Oregon and Washington for that matter) is almost exclusively property lines in a forest / rural stting. The other colors can denote multiple things but usually follow a local custom. White flagging is the usually the neutral color. Neutral meaning ignore it. That flagging only means something to whoever hung it.

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1. Around here, many companies used pink for property, but others used orange. Red and blue together and sometimes with white, typically was a bench mark (elevation reference point). Everyone has thier own uses. And the variety of colors is usefull on a job site where the surveyor stakes out more than one of the following: the building footprint, the water lines, the sewer lines and back of curbs, etc.

 

2. Was the flagging tied to stakes or lathes? If so, it may have some text on it to indicate what it is. For instance, Lot # 3. Or Prop. ROW (proposed right of way). Or CL New Street (center line). Or perhaps a proposed or exiting pipeline.

 

Hope this helps.

 

'A good traveler has no specific destination, and isn't intent on arriving.'-take pleasure in the journey

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The flagging was orange and was tied to trees through the woods. Does being tied to trees mean anything significant? I have also noticed flagging nailed into the ground. Is that just a way to keep the flagging place?

 

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

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Probably staking out a pipe line or something similar. We typically would use 60-D nails with flagging tied to the head for that. Spaced at either 50' or 100' intervals and at PI's (point of intersection).

 

Immposible to say for sure, unless you catch the surveyor out there.

 

Of course, then you may not get a straight answer. My favorite smart #&@* response was: 'This site is a future hazardous waste dump'

 

'A good traveler has no specific destination, and isn't intent on arriving.'-take pleasure in the journey

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One thing to remember is that 'surveyor' flagging is not only used by surveyors. Foresters, that were already mentioned, and other agencies, public and private, use flagging for just about anything they may need to mark or identify. As Forester II stated: the 'flagging only means something to whoever hung it.'

 

Unless specified by the company or agency, the flagging colors could mean nothing more than that was what the surveyor (or whoever) had with him at the time. I've worked with companies that specified certain colors for different things, and others that didn't. My practice is not to specify a certain color to a specific meaning, which can be too limiting, but rather to use different colors to define different types of points within a certain job - such as a color for my control points, another for property lines & corners, and others for utility locations, buildings, roadwork, etc. Sometimes the colors are defined by the client. (I had one client that not only specified the color, but also the brand of flagging he wanted me to use!)

 

As to the flagging you found on the trees: I would assume that it was not used to identify a property line by a surveyor. Surveyors invest too much time to calculate the exact position of a property line to identify it by tying flagging on a tree, letting it blow in the wind. A surveyor would mark a property line with something more stable. That being said, it could used by a property owner to roughly identify his property, or anyone else who wanted to identify a certain area of land for a certain purpose.

 

Keep on Caching!

- Kewaneh

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I have noticed that they are using red for theodilite surveys and pink on the GPS surveys.Forest Service Blue Paint where the forest meets private lands,which I believe has been used for numerous years.I have noticed here lately tagging trees with # tags.FEMA surveyors are painting red spots on their GPS,TBM's,We are all out there now and seeing things that we used to wouldn't have payed much attention to.They have to get the system straitened out. And for the next couple of years you will see even the benchmarks that we have been recoveringare being documented and surveyed,even at this moment.

 

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS *GEOTRYAGAIN* http://www.msnusers.com/MissouriTrails

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