Survey Marker (Benchmark) Listing?

[rogerw3]

I am sure this has been brought up before but I am wondering if it could be possible to list the State Survey Marker or Benchmarks as they are found, rather than as a complete listing, which would be much too large to do.
It seems to me that a large number of Marks are either missing, destroyed or not accessible for various reasons. They are quite fun to find and it would be great to be able to log them in.
GCA could perhaps allow listing of these as they are found and give them a different prefix, SM or BM or whatever it does not matter. Possibly a separate kml file could be made for these to show up on Google Earth, that way it would not clutter up the screen and could be ignored if not interested.

[fathrtime]

That would be awesome. I'd definitely support that.

I'm in the process of creating a category in Waymarking.com for logging these as I had nowhere to log all my finds.

It would be great to be able to create a new entry in GCA for each benchmark disc found, as it's really hard to navigate through the State Survey marker cache log to find details for each marker.

If you're a Premium Groudspeak member we'd love to have you as a group member of the "Australia/NZ benchmark" group. Category should be available soon.

Hopefully GCA addresses this in the near future as benchmarking becomes more popular...!!

[Varuna]

rogerw3

GCA already has a separated Survey Marker (locationless) list for each state except Vic, Tas, and ACT.

WanAus 137 - WA State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1613

WanAus 133 - SA State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1595

NSW State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga0094

QLD State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1444

NT State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1216

Is the above that you are referring to...?

[Damo.]

Vic http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1203
ACT http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1433

Doesn't look like there is one for Tas?

[fathrtime]

rogerw3

GCA already has a separated Survey Marker (locationless) list for each state except Vic, Tas, and ACT.

WanAus 137 - WA State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1613

WanAus 133 - SA State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1595

NSW State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga0094

QLD State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1444

NT State Survey Marks (Locationless)
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga1216

Is the above that you are referring to...?

I think rogerw3 is referring to having individual benchmarks logged seperately with a prefix such as BM (much the way Trig Points are indexed with the TP code). This would be like the way US benchmarks are found on the GC US site.

Having lived in the US and searched for benchmarks, it works great to be able to download a bunch of caches along with benchmarks when you set off for an area. Obviously as there doesnt appear to be publicly available surveying info in Australia such as the USGS provides it couldnt be preloaded the same here.

The best solution would be to create a new entry for GCA as a new benchmark location is discovered.

New Trig Points can be logged on the Waymarking website and imported across under a TP code to GCA currently. My hope by making a new category for benchmark discs specifically for Aust/NZ is that in the future could be sent across to the GCA site under a code like BM or SSM.

Logging all the BMs for an entire state on one page sucks.. Say you want to visit a benchmark logged by someone else in an area you are going to, you first have to pick each log to find one. Pretty time consuming stuff.

[rogerw3]

Hi Guys.

I have been away for a couple days, what I mean is exactly what fathrtime
is saying.
Having the Survey Marks individually listed instead of being all on one page as logs would be much easier to locate the ones of interest to you in particular, specially if a kml file could be made available so that they could be viewed on Google Earth or Google Maps.

[tronador]

Ahhhh then the GCA main cache page will be flooded by thousands of these as well as the trigs.
Thats why the state location less cache pages were developed. Or alternatively why not just put them on Waymarking,com

[CraigRat]

We have no plans to add survey markers at this point in time.

We'll keep it in mind, but for now, I'd log them under the options suggested above.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[fathrtime]

We have no plans to add survey markers at this point in time.

We'll keep it in mind, but for now, I'd log them under the options suggested above.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Appreciate it Craigrat. Thats all we can ask!

Rogerw3, I'm hoping to have the Waymarking.com category "Australia/NZ benchmarks" past peer review and ready for benchmark logs in the next week or so. If you're a member there you will then be able to log each one you find individually.

I'll try to remember to send you a message when the category is up!

[poorPDOP]

"There are approximately 110,000 permanent survey marks (PM).....(at March 2009)" in Victoria. This should keep GPSr's busy.
(source:-h ttp://services.land.vic.gov.au/landchannel/content/surveyMarkIntroduction)
Each state is required to keep a database of registered marks. A registered mark can be in the form of a rivet/ramset in concrete to a Trig plaque. Not all have (co-ordinate) values (I can only speak for Victoria). Access to the database vary as to freedom of retrieving the information. SMES (Victoria) is a free service whereas SCIMS (NSW) was (not sure if it still is) a registered service.
As an earlier member said they can be at various locations, although mostly on state/crown/public land, however there are many instances of marks being placed on private property.

[ianc]

For Victoria, if you want a map you can go to:

http://services.land.vic.gov.au/maps/lassi.jsp zoom in to your local area , then

Select "Build Map" and then select "Survey Marks" under "Survey Information"

When you refresh the map there should be a whole lot of markers with names like Mordialloc PM 123 which are permanent marks and you can normally access a sketch of the location of these. The once with prefix PCM don't appear to have sketches , but do have locations
k0mpass

[poorPDOP]

For Victoria, if you want a map you can go to:

http://services.land.vic.gov.au/maps/lassi.jsp zoom in to your local area , then

Select "Build Map" and then select "Survey Marks" under "Survey Information"

When you refresh the map there should be a whole lot of markers with names like Mordialloc PM 123 which are permanent marks and you can normally access a sketch of the location of these. The once with prefix PCM don't appear to have sketches , but do have locations
k0mpass

LASSI has an added benefit in that it will tell you the land status if you are unsure if a trig or survey mark is on public land, i.e. RES for council land, CL-crown land, Roads, etc. By the way PCMs won't have sketch plans. They have a certain purpose and are not as substantial a mark as the general listing. Best to ignore PCMs.

[blossom*]

I found a metal disc on the weekend that says "State Survery Mark NSW" but it has no Number engraved on it. Is it really a survery marker? Or did they just use this handy metal disc for some other purpose? It was right near a Trig Point although I'm not sure what that means????

[rogerw3]

I found a metal disc on the weekend that says "State Survey Mark NSW" but it has no Number engraved on it. Is it really a survey marker? Or did they just use this handy metal disc for some other purpose? It was right near a Trig Point although I'm not sure what that means????

I guess you might be referring to the disk near Bell Trig Station.

S33° 31.188' E150° 18.206'
NSW State Survey Mark, not numbered for whatever reason. I can only speculate that as it is right next to the Bell Trig Station someone changed their mind and decided to put a Geodetic Station on that spot instead and abandoned the marker, so it was never registered and has no number.

I would be interested to know if the one you saw is another unnumbered disc.

[Captain Terror]

Just on the original topic, living in Queensland I have logged several finds on GA1444. Personally, I like it this way, rather than having them recorded like TP's.

GA1444 is the only locationless I log, as I think it is the only concrete find (well it makes sense in my head ). TP's being listed under TP code I think is awesome, but Survey Markers, for me, add something else to the hunt, something else to always be looking for. I find them fun.

And I fear that like the TrigPoints there will be some Survey Markers listed that don't exist (due to being removed, development, private property etc.) and then there will be those that are there but don't get listed (I know I found a TP on Mt. Larcom and listed it myself, and there have been others).