Pid Question

[+m&h]

We’ve looked around the forums pretty thoroughly, but haven’t yet found an answer to this exact question:

 

Why is there no PID for a disk that is clearly marked “U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey and State Survey Station”?

 

In other words, not a mark placed by another agency such as USGS or USACE.

 

We found it 5/29/05 in Nantucket on Orange Street about 800 ft. SE of LW4180, the Unitarian Church Tower. It is set in a curbstone on the SE corner of a driveway at #43 Orange Street, on the S side of the street.

 

Handheld coordinates N 41 16 49.5, W070 05 53.8. Stamping: NO. 31 DB

The disk is of the same style as AJ4075, stamped NO. 31D.

 

In addition to having pulled all Nantucket County datasheets at NGS, we have used Radial Search with the LW4180 coordinates, and just to be sure we have checked the NOS Tidal Mark file for Nantucket, which uses VM numbers instead of PIDs. No PID turns up.

 

We regret that we have not yet figured out how to upload an image to the message board so it can be seen by anyone interested. We have a picture, and will be grateful for guidance on posting it.

 

We’re hoping some wiser heads here can spare Deb Brown the trouble of an e-mail from us. Many thanks.

 

m&h

[+m&h]

Begging your pardon. PID #AJ4075, referred to above, is in the NGS database but not in this one.

 

We're sorry to have forgotten that when we posted the question.

 

m&h

[+BuckBrooke]

m&htaylor,

There are a large number of USCGS marks that don't have PIDs and aren't in the database. They didn't include all of their marks, just some of them.

[DaveD]

The "Coast & Geodetic Survey and State Survey" marks were used on thousands of survey monuments set as part of the Civil Works Authority (CWA) 1933 - 1934. Initially, C&GS had the responsiblity for the fiscal managment of the CWA surveys and by 1934 more than 10,000 men were employed throughout the country. Instruments used in these surveys were often borrowed from local sources and were not of the highest geodetic caliber. Most, but by no means all of these surveys were ulimately forwarded to C&GS (the data for MA was not). Unfortunately, the data provided was just positions and elevations and the original observations were never delivered. Until the completion of the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) NGS used to provide these data in paper format similiar to the data available from USGS. The specifications for including data in NAD 83 requires that NGS have the original observations, so only those C&GS and State Survey monuments that were tied into later C&GS/NGS surveys ever made it into the NGS data base.

[+m&h]

Many thanks for that fine, informative response. I was wondering about the criteria for inclusion and exclusion.

 

m&h

[+cjf]

No one addressed your other question: How to post photos to the forum. It's a question I had too, but I just found the answer in another forum. For instructions, see How do I Get a Photo to Display on my Cache Page? posted October 15 2004.

 

The most important piece of information there is that the photo already has to be on the internet somewhere--you can't just upload a photo from your computer to your message.

 

Good Luck!