Is the groundspeak benchmark database tied in with the official government database in any way? For instance, if you find a benchmark and log it at geocaching.com, does that get registered automatically as a 'recovery' in some other database? Roger Barnes wrote: > My poor GPS budget just got taken by my un-employed 24 1/2 year old son > in Seattle. But benchmarks, now that's something I know something > about..... :) > > Success rate will certainly vary in many ways. In suburban St. Louis, > the Mo Dept of Natural Resources came thru in the early 1990s and set > many of the survey disks that I find. Always with a azimuth disk but no > reference disks which is unusual because disks of this type usually have > two reference disks in addition to an azimuth disk. There are also a > fair number of benchmarks along the railroads, that seems to true > throughout the country. Of course, some are gone and some are difficult > to get to, both physically and legally. > > I suggest that you read the description carefully and if it mentions > reference disk and/or azimuth disks, try to find them too. Sometimes > these disks will have their own entry in the database, but typically > not. And without their own entry, you won't have coordinates, so the > GPS will really be useless then. Any disk set for vertical control only > (that is, elevation and this means real "benchmarks") may not have > dependable coordinates and again reading the description carefully > becomes necessary. The database on geocaching is from the National > Geodetic Survey (NGS), a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric > Administration (NOAA), not the USGS. Markers in the database may have > been placed by any of numerous qualified agencies, including the USGS > and, as I indicated above, MODNR. There are several queries on > geocaching about what to do if you find a marker that is not in the > database and the short answer is "not much". Many people have searched > the net for additional databases, but they don't seem to be there. > Anyway, if you are interested in submitting "recovery" reports to the > NGS, go to www.ngs.noaa.gov/datasheet.html and go to "Submit Recovery" > at the bottom. You can also search their database from here in several > different ways. Note that "recovery" to the NGS means only that you > have found the marker(s). The form gives you the opportunity to enter > text, but if it's pretty much the same, just leave it blank and it will > go in as "found as described". > > Well, I think I just organized my talk for the picnic, now I have to > think up some additional stuff to make it interesting again.... > > Have fun! > > Roger > > p.s. the most fun I've had finding a benchmark in St. Louis is this one: > http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=JC0215 > > another one I had fun with is in Ohio when we went out to pick up my > daughter. You can read about it on the geocaching forum on benchmark > hunting at: > http://opentopic.groundspeak.com/0/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1750973553&f=5790959854&m=6310953135 > I hope the url goes thru ok, it's topic is "Fun finding a benchmark" > started by RogBarn (me). > ***************************************************************************** > Our NEW WebPage! WWW.GeoStL.com > Mail List & Archive Info. > //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=geocaching > Msg. of the day, "The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been > cancelled due to a conflict." > ******************************************************************************