Pocket Queries For Benchmarks

[+WxGuesser]

I finally got a premium membership and i'm wondering if there's a way to download (like pocket queries) lots of benchmarks at one time... Also where is the best place to find lists of old a** benchmarks?

Edited January 14, 2005 by WxGuesser

[evenfall]

WxGuesser,

 

It is absolutely possible and has been asked for many times in the Pinned topic at the top of the forum entitled Ask Jeremy... concerning things and functionalities people would like to see. However this is something that has not been made available yet. Since you ask, Maybe many other people will post to this specific thread as a show of support to Jeremy for this often requested capability. Perhaps then, he may undertake developing it. Currently there are no membership perks that are provided to the Benchmark hunters.

 

Squeeky wheels you know...

 

Rob

Edited January 14, 2005 by evenfall

[+WxGuesser]

Actually... I just figured out how to do it.. i went to this link http://www.geocaching.com/mark/nearest.aspx and put in the nearest zip code that I knew of and downloaded all of the benchmarks by pressing the button on the top right of the page.. to GSAK it worked quite easily.. now i just wonder if the NAD83 cords are going to be a problem..

[evenfall]

Nope, the NAD 83 coordinates are the only coordinates appropriate to Benchmark Hunting. Any other Datum is the wrong Datum.

 

Happy Hunting,

 

Rob

[+WxGuesser]

ok so when i download my caches and benchmarks i'm not going to have to switch my brand new 60cs between cords for caches and bm's am i?

 

The PIDs i found on this site are all 50's-60's.. is it difficult to find really old ones?

 

I've done a few geocaches but i think the benchmarks will be more fun... I need help starting out...

Edited January 14, 2005 by WxGuesser

[evenfall]

WxGuesser,

 

Your GPS is defaulted to the WGS 84 Datum, and though this too is an earth centered Datum that uses the same satellites to derive location, it uses a different location to locate its theoretical earth center than NAD 83. The difference is about one meter.

 

WGS84 will get you close, but it is best to set your GPS to the proper Datum for hunting and discussing the locations. The most appropriate Datum used for discussing horizontal locations in North America is NAD 83 followed by NAD 27. WGS is as not highly accurized for North America as the North American Datum is. These benchmarks are in part the basis for the NAD 83 Datum.

 

When dealing with vertical location, the NAVD 88 Datum is the most accurate Datum currently in use, and superseded the NGDV 29 Vertical Datum which was in use prior to it.

 

Most importantly, there is the FAQ Page and a great deal of information already written about this here at geocaching. Please feel free to play with the functionality of the forum are read through many of the threads already posted here at the Forum. There is a wealth of info already here.

 

Enjoy,

 

Rob

Edited January 15, 2005 by evenfall

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

WxGuesser,

 

NAD83 and WGS84 are almost identical when it comes to the handheld GPSrs. The coordinates on the Geocaching pages will work just fine for benchmark hunting. With our GPSr I can set it to show both datums and there is never any difference.

 

Whether the coordinates are 'scaled' or 'adjusted' will have more impact on your success.

 

Good luck on those old a** marks.

 

John

 

Forgot to capitalize "I"....John

Edited January 14, 2005 by 2oldfarts (the rockhounders)

[+5Wishes]

Here's a great article about getting your benchmark files from NGS and putting them into a handheld pda.

 

Data Planning for Benchmark Hunting

 

You can also use ClayJar's Watcher (http://www.clayjar.com/) to sort the GPX file by date. That way you can find the oldest benchmarks in your area.

 

When hunting benchmarks, it is best to use your GPSr to get 'close' to the mark and then rely on the written description to actually find the mark.

 

Edit: fixed URL

Edited January 15, 2005 by 5Wishes

[+jmstacey]

Ok if anybody is interested. I compiled all of Colorado. You can download the zipped gpx file here: http://www.saevian.com/geocaching/index.html

 

There are 12,267 benchmarks in the .gpx file

I highly suggest using GSAK to sort through this. While it's parsing you might want to get some coffee, or plan upcomming geocaching events

On the bright side, once it's in your GSAK database, it's very efficient and fast.

 

I might do other states upon request, just drop me a line. Or if you have done this for a state not listed on the download page, send the .gpx my way and I'll make it available to everyone

 

geocacher@saevian.com

Edited January 23, 2005 by jmstacey

[+Absolut&KittyKat]

I just made a gpx with all of Los Angeles County benchmarks... the file is 43mb

 

I gotta work on making this smaller.

[+skdrozdick]

New to the whole thing, but I too would like a more robust download than .LOC files. As mentioned by others, the descriptions are the thing, so if there could be a download for premiium members in GPX format that included the descriptions, It woudl streamline things for folks a lot, in my newbie opinion. I would think the file structure would stay the same, just put official descriptions into decriptions field, and make available the logs.

 

My contribution to the squeaky wheel theory

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Try this link to how we do it.

 

Hope this helps you out.

 

John