Guest glenn95630 Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 I noticed that there is a "Zero Milestone" on Mr. Bush's front lawn. http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4306783&e=323367&s=25&size=s&u=1 Does anybody know what that is? Quote Link to comment
Guest GammaBoo Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 Haven't seen it for a long time now, but the local maps used to have a series of concentric rings marking the distance from the "zero milestone" to the surrounding area. I'm pretty sure this is the center of the original 10-mile-square area of the District of Columbia. It is no longer square because portions have been given back to Virginia. In France, all of the distances from Paris are measured from a similar marker in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. Quote Link to comment
Guest Pote Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 I'd say Gamma is right on. The zero milestone for a city is the place from which highway miles are measured. If you are on I95 and a sign says Washington, DC 124 miles, it is measured to that milestone. I have a virtual cache for a Zero Milestone in Norfolk, VA here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=7344 It has 2 NGS markers on it, so you can check your GPS accuracy for that day if you wnat to. Quote Link to comment
Guest Rich in NEPA Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Pote: ... The zero milestone for a city is the place from which highway miles are measured. If you are on I95 and a sign says Washington, DC 124 miles, it is measured to that milestone. Ok, then ... would the coordinates that Garmin, for example, uses for its built-in cities & towns database be based on these same Zero Milestones? ------------------ ~Rich in NEPA~ ==================================================================== ? A man with a GPS receiver knows where he is; a man with two GPS receivers is never sure. ? ==================================================================== Quote Link to comment
Guest DisQuoi Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 Yes ... in MapSource, the coordinate for Washington DC is located right at the point where the zero milestone is located. ... and I, too remember the maps of Maryland having cocentric circles representing the distance to the milestone. Quote Link to comment
Guest web-ling Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 iced that there is a "Zero Milestone" on Mr. Bush's front lawn. http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4306783&e=323367&s=25&size=s&u=1 Does anybody know what that is? Better yet, has anybody tried to use the benchmark for the NGS Benchmark Recovery Cache ------------------ Web-ling www.web-ling.com Quote Link to comment
Guest web-ling Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 iced that there is a "Zero Milestone" on Mr. Bush's front lawn. http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4306783&e=323367&s=25&size=s&u=1 Does anybody know what that is? Better yet, has anybody tried to use the benchmark for the NGS Benchmark Recovery Cache ------------------ Web-ling www.web-ling.com Quote Link to comment
Guest makaio Posted January 30, 2002 Share Posted January 30, 2002 Here's a good writeup of the history of the marker and that it was originally placed in a spot..."from which all distances of places through the continent were to be calculated." http://www.fly2dc.com/articles/2000/2000_07_se1.asp Quote Link to comment
Guest topografix Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 ExpertGPS/EasyGPS trivia: The default value for a waypoint when you first run the software corresponds to the Zero Milestone! ------------------ Dan Foster TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps http://www.topografix.com Quote Link to comment
Guest BLEdwardsJ Posted January 31, 2002 Share Posted January 31, 2002 Should there be a zero milestone in my city, if so how do I go about locating it? Quote Link to comment
Guest bunkerdave Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 I did this when I first got my Maggie 330, and I was disappointed to find that it simply put me in the middle of a street somewhat central in my town. I have noticed as I have traveled through some small towns that it appears to point to the post office on the main street as I pass. Not the case with my town, but I think it is probably generally true. I am sure it depends on the software, as I doubt there is much uniformity in it. Quote Link to comment
Guest rdwatson78 Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Much of the location info for the US comes from the USGS GNIS server or is at least based on this info. It is the official US government standard for "where things are" and what they are officially called. There are also alot of links to other useless but interesting bits of info. (I'm currently learning about my local watershed on the EPA website.) rdw Quote Link to comment
Guest rdwatson78 Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Much of the location info for the US comes from the USGS GNIS server or is at least based on this info. It is the official US government standard for "where things are" and what they are officially called. There are also alot of links to other useless but interesting bits of info. (I'm currently learning about my local watershed on the EPA website.) rdw Quote Link to comment
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