Should the log read "not found" or "destroyed"

[+LSUFan]

I have a few questions for the benchmark guru's here, and am asking for guidance, please.

 

I am wanting to know what would be the proper way to log some benchmark situations I have encountered lately. The first one is where disks are set into roadways (highway overpasses), and the benchmark has been asphalted over when roads are repaired/replaced. Would this classify as destroyed, missing, not found?

 

My next quandary is we have had several local overpasses recently widened, with the entire overpass being replaced. Here, the benchmark is definitely gone, but how should I log it?

 

I appreciate any help and/or advice.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

Hi LSUFan -

 

Question #1 - this should always be logged as not found. I logged one disk that was in a dug hole in asphalt 5" in diameter and a couple inches deep. If someone wants it enough, they will uncover it.

 

Question #2 - this is an example of two things:

a ) people tend to use 2 different standards between geobenchmarking logs and NGS logs. In this case, you could be justified in using destroyed on this site, but not on the NGS site, where it must be logged as not-found.

b ) one usual scenario is to send in your log to the NGS site and use whatever decision Deb gives (not-found or destroyed) on your log on this site. (You can always change your log on this site accordingly after the fact as well.)

[+seventhings]

LSUFan -

 

Welcome to benchmark hunting.

 

Black Dog Trackers (il guru di tutti gurus) is absolutely correct. I would add one thing: were you inclined to report a questionable recovery to the NGS for Deb Brown's decision (as the BDT suggested), do so via e-mail to Deb (and not the automated recovery reporting facility at NGS Datashhet Page

 

Will

[Bill93]

My guess for a bridge is that if you had "before and after" pictures Deb might possibly let it be marked destroyed, but definitely not with just an "after" picture. It is easy to get fooled on those things and the worst thing would be for a surviving disk to get marked destroyed by mistake.

 

We have seen several examples where an old bridge abutment or wingwall is left behind to preserve the mark but sometimes it may be slightly buried.

 

I personally was fooled by a small bridge that couldn't possibly be there, until I went back and found that the road was built up so the old bridge railing was essentially the headwall of a culvert and the disk was still there.

 

Your situation may be more clear-cut than these examples, but they illustrate why the rule is in favor of caution. I'd just report the facts as I observed them and be content with a Not Found.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Bill93

[Z15]

I have a few questions for the benchmark guru's here, and am asking for guidance, please.

 

I am wanting to know what would be the proper way to log some benchmark situations I have encountered lately. The first one is where disks are set into roadways (highway overpasses), and the benchmark has been asphalted over when roads are repaired/replaced. Would this classify as destroyed, missing, not found?

NOT FOUND

 

ASSUMED DESTROYED BY HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

 

My next quandary is we have had several local overpasses recently widened, with the entire overpass being replaced. Here, the benchmark is definitely gone, but how should I log it?

 

I appreciate any help and/or advice.

NOT FOUND

 

ASSUMED DESTROYED BY HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION.

 

In both instances you cannot prove they were destroyed, you can only assume.

 

The following are some NGS examples when marks appeared to be destroyed but not provable

 

SG0047  HISTORY	 - 19960717 MARK NOT FOUND   NGS

SG0047						  STATION RECOVERY (1996)
SG0047
SG0047'RECOVERY NOTE BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1996 (GAS)
SG0047'A THOROUGH SEARCH REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF THE MARK.

 RL0066  HISTORY	 - 19960725 MARK NOT FOUND   NGS
RL0066
RL0066						  STATION DESCRIPTION
RL0066
RL0066'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1934
RL0066'1.5 MI W FROM PORTAGE ENTRY.
RL0066'1.5 MILES WEST ALONG U.S. HIGHWAY 41 FROM PORTAGE ENTRY, HOUGHTON
RL0066'COUNTY, IN THE YARD OF THE SNAKE RIVER SCHOOL, 22 FEET EAST
RL0066'OF THE PAVEMENT, 15 FEET SOUTHWEST OF A WELL, AND 4 FEET BACK
RL0066'FROM A ROAD DITCH.  A STANDARD DISK, STAMPED C 62 1934 AND
RL0066'SET IN THE TOP OF A CONCRETE POST.
RL0066
RL0066						  STATION RECOVERY (1996)
RL0066
RL0066'RECOVERY NOTE BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1996 (GAS)
RL0066'THERE HAS BEEN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION AT THE DESCRIBED LOCATION. ASSUMED
RL0066'DESTROYED.

Edited July 18, 2008 by Z15

[+LSUFan]

Thanks everyone for the guidance. That was why I came here, to ask the experts.

 

I enjoy benchmarking as much as geocaching, and plan to try and learn as much as I can. I have some more questions, but need my pics from my camera to show properly what I am referring to. I will try and post it tonite.

 

Everyone has been extremely helpful.