David Doyle, Chief Geodetic Surveyor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey, turns a steel rod at the base of the Washington Monument used for surveying,
I have not had an opportunity to meet young David.
I understand he is well receive by our professional surveying community by way of his contributions.
With a bit of a TNAI wink ................... are we certain from the pic within that he isn't merely winding up the Washington Monument's self levelling machine that he acquired from McMoundfinder Freres' Moose Jaw Emporium as per the NAFTA agreement?
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/washington-monument-didnt-sink-1503540.html
YOS
TNAI
On a trip to Washington, D.C., any surveyor worth his or her salt would bypass the Washington Monument and go straight to the monument in the first picture in TNAI’s link.
David is a very nice man. He's a big Monty Python fan.
> On a trip to Washington, D.C., any surveyor worth his or her salt would bypass the Washington Monument and go straight to the monument in the first picture in TNAI’s link.
That's for pikers, a REAL surveyor yanks manhole lids around the monument until he finds the buried miniature obelisk that was the original benchmark used to monitor the site during construction
David Doyle, Monty Fan !
Anyone who is a Monty fan shows great taste !
"...I have not had an opportunity to meet young David...."
I am guessing that the opoortunity may have passed. 🙂
David Doyle, Monty Fan !
> Anyone who is a Monty fan shows great taste !
>
Hearing that sealed my admiration for Dave as well. I saw him on the History Channel "How the States Got Their Shapes" show several times. He just seems like a super pleasant feller to me.
I have The Grail movie and a box set of classics from the "Flying Circus" days. My pajama pants have a bunch of sayings from the Grail movie in fact. Occasionally, someone recognizes it. No doubt Dave would.
In fact I think I'll enjoy a fine plate of "crunchy frog" with a side of "buttered scones and tea" all while wearing my lumberjack shirt with suspenders and a bra. Of course, that's after I'm done pressing my wild flowers I collected while practicing my "run and skip and jump".
😀
E.
AND...NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
.
David Doyle, Monty Fan !
My favorite will always be the Life of Brian.
You guys are da best - You know you've done something right in your life when you walk in the house and there are your 20something boys watching Holy Grail and knowing all the lines - brings a tear to your eyes.
Well, James...
> That's for pikers, a REAL surveyor yanks manhole lids around the monument...
I would concede your point as long as prying the lids off manholes in the vicinity of the Washington Monument doesn’t result in one waking up the next day in Gitmo.
Back in April, 2002, during the FIG Conference in Washington, D.C., I had some free time one afternoon, so I decided to see if I could find the Meridian Stone, which is located, more or less, in the center of the Ellipse.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRAM = datasheet95, VERSION = 7.89.3
1 National Geodetic Survey, Retrieval Date = AUGUST 22, 2012
HV1846 ***********************************************************************
HV1846 DESIGNATION - MERIDIAN STONE
HV1846 PID - HV1846
HV1846 STATE/COUNTY- DC/DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
HV1846 COUNTRY - US
HV1846 USGS QUAD - WASHINGTON WEST (1983)
HV1846
HV1846 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL
HV1846 ______________________________________________________________________
HV1846* NAD 83(2011) POSITION- 38 53 38.16944(N) 077 02 11.55811(W) ADJUSTED
HV1846* NAD 83(2011) ELLIP HT- -26.883 (meters) (06/27/12) ADJUSTED
HV1846* NAD 83(2011) EPOCH - 2010.00
HV1846* NAVD 88 ORTHO HEIGHT - 5.204 (meters) 17.07 (feet) ADJUSTED
...
HV1846 STATION DESCRIPTION
HV1846
HV1846'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1921
HV1846'AT WASHINGTON.
HV1846'AT WASHINGTON, NORTH OF THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT, SOUTH OF THE
HV1846'WHITE HOUSE, AT THE CENTER OF THE ELLIPSE, AND AT THE
HV1846'MERIDIAN STONE (THIS SQUARE STONE IS MARKED U.S. MERIDIAN
HV1846'1890 AND SET FLUSH WITH THE GROUND). A COPPER BOLT, SET IN
HV1846'THE TOP OF THE STONE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I grabbed my hand-held GPS, rode the Metro to the Federal Triangle station and made my way west along the Mall and onto the Washington Monument grounds until I intercepted the line of longitude that I was certain would lead me to the monument. I then headed north toward the Ellipse. I walked past a black Suburban with tinted windows but didn’t pay much attention, since I was focused on my GPS. It soon became apparent that I was going to reach a chain link fence looming in front of me before I reached the desired latitude.
It was then I heard a voice behind me say, "May I help you, sir." I turned to find that the Suburban had been occupied and the occupant had opened his door, placed one foot on the ground and was staring at me through mirrored sunglasses. I turned abruptly and approached the Suburban at a pace that was probably, in retrospect, too enthusiastic, since the man then casually reached back into the vehicle and placed his hand on the stock of the M16 that was clipped to the dash.
I said (probably in a voice an octave higher than normal, I don’t recall), "I’m a surveyor. I’m attending a conference and during my free time, I’m going around looking for historically significant survey monuments."
No response.
"There’s one out there in the middle of the Ellipse. I have the coordinates," I said, pulling my data sheet printout from my pocket and waving it senselessly in his direction.
No Response.
"Uh, would I be correct in assuming the fence is a post 9/11 security measure?"
"Yes, sir."
"Would I also be correct in assuming you won’t allow me to go out to the middle of the Ellipse and look for my monument?"
"Yes, sir."
"And would I also be correct that you aren’t going to tell me why the Ellipse would rate such a high security effort?"
"Yes, sir."
"Okay, well, thank you. Have a nice day."
And, with that, I made my way back to the Metro station and I haven’t been back to the Ellipse since.
Men in Black Suburbans
Around 1986 or so, back in the days before HARN and CORS, we always needed to recover a few triangulation stations to control our GPS networks. I was working along the PA-MD border. My quad map showed station HIGHTOP in a state park...
'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1939 (APR)
'THIS STATION IS LOCATED ABOUT 3.5 MILES WNW OF THURMONT, 1.75
'MILES NE OF FOXVILLE ON THE SUMMIT OF A HIGH ROUND-TOPPED
'TIMBERED MOUNTAIN ON GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. THE STATION MARK IS
'A STANDARD DISK SET IN A DRILL HOLE IN AN OUTCROPPING BOULDER
'2 BY 3 FEET IN CROSS SECTION, 37 FEET SE OF A BLACK IRON WATER
'RESERVOIR, 90 FEET NW OF THE CENTER LINE OF THE GRAVEL ROAD OVER
'TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN. BOULDER PROJECTS 6 INCHES.
'
'THE SURFACE MARK AND THE REFERENCE MARK NO.2 ARE STANDARD BRONZE
'DISKS WEDGED IN BOULDERS AS DESCRIBED IN NOTES 4 AND
'12C. REFERENCE MARK NO.1 IS A STANDARD BRONZE DISK SET IN
'CONCRETE AS DESCRIBED IN NOTE 11C.
'
'REFERENCE MARK NO.1 IS NW OF THE STATION, MARK IS SET IN THE
'CONCRETE BASE OF WATER RESERVOIR 3 FEET SW OF THE LADDER.
'
'REFERENCE MARK NO.2 IS SSW OF THE STATION, MARK IS SET IN AN
'OUTCROPPING BOULDER, PROJECTING 6 INCHES, 4 FEET E OF A 14-INCH
'BASSWOOD TREE.
'
'NO AZIMUTH MARK WAS SET, DUE TO THE DENSE TREES AND POOR
'VISIBILITY THE DAY STATION WAS BUILT.
'
'TO REACH FROM THE STOP LIGHT IN THURMONT, GO W ON PAVED AND
'DIRT ROAD FOR 3.5 MILES TO A FORKS, TURN RIGHT AND GO UP THE
'MOUNTAIN FOR 2.5 MILES TO T-ROAD RIGHT, TURN RIGHT GO 0.25 MILE
'TO THE TOP AND STATION ON THE LEFT.
'
'HEIGHT OF LIGHT ABOVE STATION MARK 27 METERS.
So I start driving up there, and I see a guy in a park ranger uniform cutting the grass along the road at the bottom of the mountain. So I stop, show him the map where I want to go, and ask him if the road is open. Turns out he was a deaf-mute, but he started waving his arms, like telling me "don't go there". I thought he was nuts, so I continued up the mountain. At the top, there was a nice road leading off, with a sign "US NAVY INSTALLATION-KEEP OUT". Well, that never stopped me before, so I turned in. As I rounded a bend, there was a big sign that said "Welcome to Camp David". I did an immediate U-Turn. By the time I got back to the main road, there were two truckloads of Marines surrounding me, with guns drawn. I explained that I was looking for a survey point. They made me follow them in, one truck ahead and one behind. By the time we got to the main gate, they must of radio'd my story ahead, because they then told me I could leave (and don't come back!). So there is/was a first order triangulation station right in the middle of Camp David, just south of the tennis courts.
Men in Black Suburbans
Working primarily in the Washington DC area for over 20 years, I've had numerous run-ins with "Men in Black Suburbans". Some of my favorites: stumbling across communications infrastructure for Site R while looking for Mason/Dixon stones and setting up a total at Ft Meade 20 feet from a sign stating the "photographic and map making equipment are banned" - only took them 90 seconds to get to me, luckily my USACE escorts arrived at about the same time.
In the same vein, I was working at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground once and my "handler" warned me not to disturb any old metallic canisters I might come across and leave the area immediately. As he related the story, a landscaper recently got into some old WWI era blood agents and, to quote, "wacked his last weed that day".
Men in Black Suburbans
Jim: last year I was flying down to the Baltimore area. I took a northerly route to avoid Camp David. I saw Site R, very impressive from the air, but didn't at the time know what it was. Now I do!
At about the same time I was helping survey a county boundary in northern Virginia, and we stumbled upon <a href="" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Weather_Emergency_Operations_Cente r"
">Mount Weather
That was also the site where I saw the first of three crashed planes that I have found over the years. It wasn't the 727 mentioned in the Wikipedia article above, just a small single engine plane.
Men in Black Suburbans
I was doing recon for a boundary survey that abutted the NGA facility in Arnold, Missouri about a month after 9/11.... big chain link fence around it set inside the boundary, so I was outside of it of course....out there with a machete and a metal detector....
It did not take long for armed security guards to swarm down upon me. They listened to my story and told me to leave.
Years later....we were going to do a 3D scan of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Two of us were wandering around the Arch grounds with a laser rangefinder that looked like a ray gun from outer space....walked right by guards and they did not even look at us. Set up the scanner and pointed it at the Arch....no one ever bothered us.
Then....we move down to the cobblestone river front to scan the Eads Bridge...again...no problem. So I cross the river to recon some points to scan from on the Illinois side..... happens to be on Casino property. I was out of my truck for about 10 seconds before the armed guards came and said "I don't care who you are or what you are thinking of doing...get back in your truck and leave NOW."
I left...
Black Suburbans indeed.... I bet it is fun in the DC area!!!
Men in Black Suburbans
i saw a black suburban and state trooper drive down the road today
apparently biden is coming to town
Well, Rich...
In honor of your adventure described above... I dub thee Sir Richard of the Higher Ranges...;-)[sarcasm][/sa[sarcasm][/sarcasm]rcasm]