Benchmark Maps?

[+superpowerdave]

I saw on Delormes web site that they produce a benchmark map for each state. Does anybody use these? And if so, how good are they? Curious as I'm looking for a good tool to use when I'm out and about and have some time to do some benchmarking but haven't planned accordingly.

[evenfall]

Hi Dave,

 

I am familiar with some of DeLorme's products. I have their Washington State Atlas and Gazetteer. It does not show the location of Survey marks in that offering. You know, I really do not consult it too often, but it covers topo mapping gaps I have in some areas... Sort of. It is not of intense detail.

 

As to the Value of the map you are asking about, I cannot say, but I have a couple thoughts which I hope will give you some guidance.

 

First, though you may already be aware, The game of benchmark hunting as we know it here on geocaching is played on the survey stations which are part of the NSRS, or National spatial Reference System, and administered by the US Government agency known as the National Geodetic Survey. Now as a rule, they do not publish any map, nor have they commissioned any other party to develop a map which would show where all of their Survey Markers are, or were located. So in a very big way your choice of map will not really get you where you want to go as far as the game of benchmark hunting will be concerned.

 

However, there is more to the story. The USGS or U.S. Geological Survey set many Survey markers as well. Some, but no where near all were submitted to the NGS over the years for inclusion in the NSRS, so some of the USGS stations which are on the USGS Maps will be included as loggable finds for Geocaching. The only way to predetermine if the station you are looking for will be on a map, and playable for benchmark hunting as a game, is to look on the NGS Datasheet, available from the NGS website, or an older out of date copy from the Geocaching website. The Datasheet will tell you who monumented the station, and if it was monumented by the USGS, and included in the NGS NSRS, then it should for the most part be both on a USGS Map and Playable at Geocaching. Planning accordingly will be the only way you will really know if you have a good geocaching benchmark find or not.

 

Going back to the DeLorme Question, is it a good value? It is hard to say, but my feeling is that it is hard to beat the source for mapping data. The USGS TOPO Maps on CD-ROM are the best value, and you can even work waypoints to and from your GPS with these computer based maps. then you can print the maps with your waypoints shown. If your waypoints are uploaded NGS Data, then you will have mapping for use with NGS-Geocaching based Marks. The point is , if you want maps like this, you will have to create them yourself and this is (basically) how. Followed next by topozone.com, a membership there would be of higher value although I have found everything I ever wanted on topozone for free. If I had to have something on paper, I would just go buy the actual Quads from a USGS Reseller, this way I can include the use of UTM grid for navigation. I know a lot of search and rescue types use UTM grids for searching, so the Quads are indispensable to them.

 

For the GPS itself, I own Garmin's, and I would highly recommend owning the proprietary software for the respective brands and versions of the GPS units owned. My work has taken me out into the sticks on very remote logging roads, yet interestingly I have found that even those old dirt roads have shown up on my GPS Maps... As an aside, I was once in San Diego on business and was hungry for Mexican food. I had loaded the mapping for San Diego into my GPS prior to going. I looked up where I could find mexican food in my GPS and it showed me all the places in town starting with the nearest, including the Phone Number. So I phoned and got a table as the GPS showed me the way there. How cool was that? :-) It was a good meal too, by the way.

 

It's your budget, but I think you get what you pay for.

 

Rob

Edited December 6, 2004 by evenfall

[ArtMan]

You may want to have a look at USAPhotoMaps (free download), which plucks topo maps off the web for display on your PC and can overlay benchmark coordinates on those maps. If you are looking for hard copy, you would have to do the printouts, and it may not be what you need. But if nothing else, it is useful to see how may bench marks printed on the USGS maps are not in the database we use for our game at geocaching.com.