Why Only Benchmarks?

[NatalieFord]

This site describes itself as "The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site" but only lists benchmarks (which are a US only phenomenon) and not trigpoints (UK) and similar 'devices' in other countries. That is not very global and is more than a little xenophobic....

Edited April 20, 2004 by NatalieFord

[WH]

On the right side of the GC.com main page, theres a drop down menu where you can search out caches by US state or country.

 

If you click on the advanced search link below that, you can tailor your search to a specific zipcode, cache type, or difficulty.

[NatalieFord]

On the right side of the GC.com main page, theres a drop down menu where you can search out caches by US state or country.

 

If you click on the advanced search link below that, you can tailor your search to a specific zipcode, cache type, or difficulty.

Grrr - that is for caches, not trigpoints...

[+bons]

Got those not in the states, I should point out that it only lists a specific type of US benchmark, namely those in the National Geodetic Survey Datasheets.

 

I"m not sure what other organizations/countries have publicly accessable datasheets. I suspect some must, but I've asked for such a list here and never seen any. If you know where we can download datasheets for trigpoints please tell us and perhaps something can be done either on geocaching.com or elsewhere.

[+gbod]

The problem is that the data is not freely available for most markers like it is for the NGS markers. There have been countless threads about the desire to have Canadian markers included in the database, for example. Just to echo bons, if you read the FAQ on the benchmark home page, it states that there are lots of bechmarks that are not in the database.

 

I found a benchmark, but it isn't in your database. Why?

The NGS is not the only organization that creates and uses benchmarks and other types of control markers.....

We'll try to find other databases and add them to the site as well. If you have access to one of these databases and would like to submit it to Groundspeak, contact us.

 

If you have access to a UK database, let GC.com know.

 

With regards to your original concern, GC.com never states anywhere that Benchmark Hunting is a global activity, like it does for Geocaching.

[+Desert_Warrior]

This is simple to solve.

 

All you need to do is to get the authorities of the country of interest to you to allow GC.COM access to their benchmark database for listing on the site.

 

That simple.

 

And please be sure to let the rest of us know when it happens... we often hunt marks while travelling away from home.

 

I would do it for you... but

 

A - I don't know where you are.

B - I don't live there anyway.

C - I don't have the contacts that you do there - wherever that is.

D - I haven't found all the benchmarks here yet.

 

[NatalieFord]

Got those not in the states, I should point out that it only lists a specific type of US benchmark, namely those in the National Geodetic Survey Datasheets.

 

I"m not sure what other organizations/countries have publicly accessable datasheets. I suspect some must, but I've asked for such a list here and never seen any. If you know where we can download datasheets for trigpoints please tell us and perhaps something can be done either on geocaching.com or elsewhere.

See http://www.trigpointinguk.com/

Once again, apologies for crossposting - I was not sure which forum was more relevant - they both seemed to be...

[AJK]

As stated in trigpointinguk's TOS:

 

The data in this site were put together from a number of sources, each of which were themselves inaccurate or incomplete. In addition, this site allows people to update the database with new locations. We have no way of vetting people's integrity, so these locations should be treated with extra suspicion. Existance of an entry in this database does not mean that anything remains at the location, or indeed, that anything ever was there!

 

This would suggest that there is no central database similar to the NGS. Equally, trigpointinguk would likely be protective of their list (rightfully so, just like GC.com is protective of its cache database).

 

Edit: Now I see that trigpointinguk seems affiliated with GC.com somehow anyway...., so maybe there is a chance, though a GC.com version of their database would seem redundant - maybe there' just a way to tie the "found" databases together (doubtful)

Edited April 20, 2004 by AJK

[mloser]

Someone learned a big word and wanted to use it, because all you did was take something that is positive and make it negative. Nobody on here ever talked about hating you dadgum foreigners and how you are different and therefore evil.

Just kidding Natalie, but let's turn this around and think of how the benchmark part of this site got started, which was probably with a positive action to add the database found at NGS to the site, perhaps at someone's request. I seriously doubt that anyone ever thought of leaving out other nations, but the truth is that it is an American site and it centers on American data.

As has been mentioned in this thread, access to other benchmark-ish data isn't real easy, so to expect someone to provide it may be too much to ask. Maybe you want to work with Jeremy to provide access to what you want to get to.

Also, the cache section is indeed global, but I am really to engrossed in my Americanness to bother looking at it. *

 

*This is a lie. I just don't cache. I only look for benchmarks. In America. Because that is where I live.

[+garri]

We also have an online database of Benchmarks (Vertexs geodesics) in Catalunya:

 

Link

 

I would like that these were possible to be logged in GC.

[ArtMan]

Thanks for the link, Garri. I wasn't into benchmarking when I was in Barcelona a few years ago, but for anyone who has never been there, I highly recommend it. Wonderful city, fantastic and beautiful people, great food, amazing museums and good vibes.

 

-ArtMan-

[+Hard Oiler]

This is simple to solve.

 

All you need to do is to get the authorities of the country of interest to you to allow GC.COM access to their benchmark database for listing on the site.

 

That simple. 

Not quite that simple. There are certainly a number of benchmark databases freely available to GC.com including Canada and the UK but putting them on the site isn't a priority. I've been collecting a few in anticipation of being able to log them one of these days - including some US ones that are in the Canadian database but not in the US one (being US Benchmarks on the Canadian side of the border)

[sky high boys]

There is a full list of UK active and passive benchmarks available at :

http://www.gps.gov.uk/index.asp

 

Nowhere to log them tho.....well not that I've found

 

Some trig points double as passive stations, but not many.