Benchmarks......

One of the more interesting aspects of my job is using GPS to tie our jobs to NGS, USGS or MODNR benchmarks, when required to.  Benchmarks are found in a lot of interesting places and this one was no exception.  This is the original datasheet from NGS for the benchmark I am at but the description was incorrect.  It called for the

 "TOP OF THE NORTHEAST WING OF ABUTMENT OF BRIDGE A-3021"

when actually I'm standing on the northwest wing.  We looked all over the northeast wing and found a chiseled square but that must have been a TBM set by the bridge construction crew.  From experience I knew that the datasheets could be wrong so I checked the other side and sho-nuff thar hit were!  We did check to another benchmark on the courthouse lawn just to verify that this benchmark was good (I could hear all you surveyors out there saying "YOU USED A THIRD-ORDER BENCHMARK, DESCRIBED INCORRECTLY WITHOUT CHECKING TO SOMETHING ELSE???!!!)

For the Acronym challenged folks out there......

GPS - Global Positioning System

NGS - National Geodetic Survey

USGS - United States Geological Survey

MODNR - Missouri Department of Natural Resources

TBM - Temporary Bench Mark

(I used the word and not the acronym for benchmark for obvious reasons)

Looking north along the west side of US65 southeast of Warsaw, Missouri.  The site we were surveying is directly behind me in the far background.

This picture is really deceiving.  I am not that fat and my britches are not about to fall off!!  I really must get a better photographer!  The highway is US65 looking south on the southeast side of Warsaw, Missouri.