Friday, November 2, 2011
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey Releases Kindle-friendly Document of its Popular Bench Mark Reset Procedures
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has converted one of its most popular publications, Bench Mark Reset Procedures, into an EPUB format for use with popular electronic devices, such as the Kindle and iPad!
The document can be downloaded most easily via the Kindle app on virtually any electronic device you own. You can visit NGS' Operations and Field Procedures publications page, and download the Mobipocket electronic publication (EPUB) for free! For the Kindle, the EPUB needs only to be copied to your documents folder after you have plugged your Kindle into your computer, and then it will appear as its own clickable, readable document. Click here for further instructions.
This new Kindle-compatible EPUB version of NGS' popular Bench Mark Reset Procedures will also open on your computer and most smartphones. Just download the free Kindle app from the Amazon website or your smartphone provider's App store, then download the Bench Mark Reset Procedures Kindle-friendly EPUB, send it to your e-mail account, open the e-mail on your iPhone or iPad, for example, and double click on the attachment. The file will open as a Kindle document within your Kindle app.
The Bench Mark Reset Procedures is one the most popular NGS documents used by land surveyors and engineers. NGS is the official U.S. government source for precise latitude, longitude, and elevation measurements throughout the United States and its territories. By managing the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), NGS ensures positioning information and data is readily accessible to its customers around the nation. The Kindle-compatible EPUB version of the Bench Mark Reset Procedures will provide instant access to the most up-to-date version of this popular document, providing a convenient tool for surveyors, engineers, and other NGS product users working in the field.
Since 1807, NGS and its predecessor agencies have partnered with surveyors in both the public and private sectors to place hundreds of thousands of survey marks throughout the United States, determining positional information for each mark. Each survey mark is published with accurate horizontal and/or vertical information such as latitude, longitude, and/or height. NGS maintains and manages the NSRS, which is comprised of a collection of more than 1.5 million survey points, along with more than 1,900 Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS).
Each vertical control bench mark is a survey point representing a large investment of resources. Bench marks provide a continuous record of elevation changes, as well as vertical control for many local surveyors, and for this reason, bench mark preservation is vital. Although bench marks are constructed in locations where they are less likely to be disturbed, many are disturbed or destroyed by highway rebuilding and retrofitting, railroad maintenance, urban development, addition of buried utilities, and building construction and demolition. The Kindle-friendly EPUB Bench Mark Reset Procedures will provide local surveyors and engineers the guidance to preserve critical information prior to the disturbance or destruction of a bench mark in the NGS database. The support and cooperation of local surveyors and engineers is not only important, but is essential to the preservation of bench marks, and the Kindle-compatible EPUB is a valuable tool for on-location reference.
