Personal Benchmarks, Opiinions?

[marty621]

What do surveyors think about these personal benchmarks or fake benchmarks offered by http://benchmark.gps-fun.com/ ? I am thinking the surveyors would really be opposed to these being placed.

Edited March 15, 2005 by marty621

[+Renegade Knight]

Sure if you dig up a real mark and replace it with one of these maybe. Beyond that anyone can place a benchmark for their own use at any time. Obviously you should only place them where you have the authority to do so.

[a/r/sf/ret]

I don't think the real users of survey marks will even take the time. The info they use is already provided by state and federal agencies in most cases. To me it appears to be another form of a cache.

[evenfall]

Marty,

 

There is literally tons of survey in the field and much of it only matters to the companies that placed it or had it placed. Beings this is so, you and I both probably drive past hundreds of survey stations of various types every day and we hardly notice.

 

Like the stations we hunt here, the data for those is recorded in various ways and they are placed for various reasons, so if a game company places a bunch of marks across the country, how is it any different than having yet another survey company in town doing it? And further, no one will know what they mean unless they have the data, just like all the rest of the survey markers in the country. They will make no impact at all... No more than a manhole cover does and no one cares about those either.

 

I am a surveyor, If I saw one in the field, I would not have the data for it with me and I would move on. Even an NGS Bench Mark is useless to me without the datasheet that corresponds to the station, yet the design keeps the placeholder out of most peoples way. I sat at a park one day and watched people parallel park next to 2 NGS RM's which were in drill holes in the top of the curbs. They were stepped on and over, yet no one even noticed or cared... Monumented in 1940, they are still in fine shape, no biggie... The gps fun folks have a similar design and it will be just another mark... another of many, many... And we don't notice most of them now...

 

Rob

[marty621]

I just think that a surveyor out searching for property line evidence might come across this thing labeled Official Benchmark and be confused as to what it really is. Don't get me wrong, I am fully in support of our hobby and promoting same, but I think here in NJ, the State Board of Professional Engineer's and Land Surveyors might take a dim view of laymen (non-surveyors) placing objects that have traditionally been associated with property lines. It may very well border on being illegal. My suggestion would be to only place these "Personal Benchmarks" far away from anything that could be construed as a property corner, property line, or boundary of any sort. I think, also that the design should be changed to remove the word "Official" and remove the triangle in the center which is used to represent the punch mark, accurately delineating a property line on a real benchmark.

[+nfa]

Hi Marty,

 

Thanks for your interest and comments, here and through the website. As others have pointed out, there are tons of kinds of benchmarks out there, not just the ones marking property lines. GPS-Fun.com Benchmarks are shipped with instructions on how to place them safely and legally, and it is hoped/assumed that people will follow the instructions and obey local and federal laws.

 

As to the design...They are official GPS-Fun.com benchmarks, and do not claim to be anything else, the triangle looks nice as a part of the design, and any confused surveyor can visit the website using the url listed to confirm/check what they have found.

 

Please feel free to respond here, or through the comments section of the website:http://gps-fun.com/

 

Here is a picture of Benchmark #001 for those who have been wondering what Marty is talking about:

 

Again, thanks for your interest in the program, and the positive nature of your concern and questions.

 

nfa-jamie

Edited March 15, 2005 by NFA

[evenfall]

Marty,

 

The important thing about Survey marks, and all surveyors know this, is that if we do not have the data for any given marker we see in the field, we simply are not concerned with it. Period. It is simply not on our radar. If we are handed data for a new station, then we become concerned. I mean we deal with hundreds of stations of Many Many types every month. When I am Chasing PLSS I have the data for it and the Data has recorded in it what I am looking for and where I should find it, so a Disc that says GPS Fun on it will be of no concern to be should I cross paths with it. I know it is a marker but it rates so what status because it is not on my radar, and it will not confuse me nor be misconstrue.

 

PLSS work on someone's yard is not a big deal, even if it has no markers left from the last time it was surveyed. I just have to work backwards until I get to known locations which still exist and have not been seemingly disturbed... Then I work forward, with the measurements and angles I am given in the "formula" (if you will) for reaccomplishing the lines and corners... PLSS is not going to contain Vertical Data so I am not even concerned about something called a Benchmark... I mean it isn't a BM or a Bench Mark... Two words, not one. In other words we have ways to piece it together. If the survey does not contain the words Do something at the GPS Fun Marker, that I am not considering that station as part of the work I am doing. All this stuff is recorded at each county seat and is age old. Every change and all... The GPS fun Station is pretty clear about it's use right on the Disc... It is no big deal... The Word Fun is not work eh? No Surveyor will be concerned nor care, as it is no different to me than some other Surveyor's Pink Flagging tied in a tree. It is not my stuff. There are already tons of firms with monuments in the field, what is a few more?

 

Try thinking of it this way. I stopped at 100 when I was looking at Land Surveyors in the Phonebook, so what would one more make? I mean what if a new licensee hangs out a shingle tomorrow? It won't upset the balance a bit. They all have markers set out there somewhere that are unique to them and, along the same lines the GPS Fun Disc does say how to obtain info about the Monument so they are playing the game as well as the rest. Any surveyor could go back to the office and get on the net to see what it is...

 

It seems I have defended GPS Fun more than once. But really it is about fun and they are forthcoming with their info... It is just another Monument... Not unlike yet another Geo Metro... Or another Cell Phone... I think they have been up front about what they are doing from the Name of their Organization On... It is all about GPS Fun! And well, GPS is Fun!

 

I am not dissing Geocaching at all, but think. Geocaching is Fun and it is GPS oriented, yet some Cachers abandon their Caches and they just become trash, Litter. These Monuments are buried in the ground and most people want them in their yard. They are wanted, and even if they become unwanted, they are not going to be blown by the wind or become a form of litter in the environment... Pretty low maintenance and impact I'd say, you can even mow the grass without disturbing them! Heheheh, I think they will be fine!

 

Rob